Craziness continues

[Mossman]

Down currents won't only happen in March. The one time I got caught in one was in July 2002 at Palancar Caves/Deep. We exited a swim through at 90' and when the down current hit, I remember kicking as hard as I could, only to watch my depth slowly increase past 100'. Our bubbles were going downward. That was my 172nd dive, so I wan't exactly a newbie, but I had no idea how to get out of it. Apparently we did, since we survived - we probably just drifted away from it. Most of us laughed it off back at the surface, but my buddy (who only had around 50 dives under her belt) was in tears and so freaked out that she sat out the next dive, a current-free easy-as-pie drop on the Felipe X wreck.

I've tried 7 different dive ops in Cozumel over 6 trips to the island and not one has ever briefed on down currents that I recall. Now that I think I know what I'm supposed to do, I'm ready for the next one to see if the theory works in practice.

 

[bhalah]

Down currents are rare, but Coz does get them. I don't remember a DM ever briefing on what to do in one. Maybe it needs to be discussed more here...?

Here are 3 links to some previous threads discussing this issue.

• What to do in a down welling/down current?
  
  Dealing with down currents
  
  Handling down current

 

[pidgiepoo]

Down currents won't only happen in March.
.

Mossman,this comment was specifically for DiverKat. It's a thingy between us Thanks for your comments..very informative.

This thread has been very informative and a good review. Thanks for all the great comments/references. It helps those of us who haven't experienced these things.

 

[robint]

As I said earlier... we had it happen at Santa Rosa reef in August. The current was heading north to south for us, but we saw divers coming towards us, so the current was going south to north for them. That meant that a downwell was coming up somewhere in between. We immediately went through a swimthrough to the sand side of reef, away from wall, and DM called the dive shortly afterwards. First time ever I had encountered that, and the only time in Cozumel.

robin

 

[cvchief]

Mossman,this comment was specifically for DiverKat. It's a thingy between us Thanks for your comments..very informative.

This thread has been very informative and a good review. Thanks for all the great comments/references. It helps those of us who haven't experienced these things.

REAllllllyyyyyy? Now you and Kat have a 'thingy'?

 

[pidgiepoo]

REAllllllyyyyyy? Now you and Kat have a 'thingy'?

Are you just NOW finding that out?????? Yes, we have a" thingy" about diving together sometime in March..and a more recent "thingy" about your "traveling" apparel. Want to join our "thingy" club??

 

[scubawife]

I liked Scubawife's suggestion to have the DM's do a special briefing when the currents are stronger/more hazardous than usual (such as now). I agree with Jax..we've been going at least three times/year since 2005 and haven't gotten a"what to do in a down current" briefing either, however, we haven't been to Coz during "crazy" current occasions. Maybe that's a good excuse to give DiverKat next year when she asks why I don't get on her famous March in Coz list.

The only time I remember hearing it in a briefing was a dive on Barracuda when the current was strong by that site's standards. I've had several dives over the year with changing current direction during the dive, strong current, etc., but I don't recall ever hearing about a week as nutty as this has been, and I've never experienced it myself in Cozumel. I've had several March trips over the years and it's usually been great. I don't think this is typical for March, or any month, at least not in my experience.

 

[azscubadude]

The only time I remember hearing it in a briefing was a dive on Barracuda when the current was strong by that site's standards. I've had several dives over the year with changing current direction during the dive, strong current, etc., but I don't recall ever hearing about a week as nutty as this has been, and I've never experienced it myself in Cozumel. I've had several March trips over the years and it's usually been great. I don't think this is typical for March, or any month, at least not in my experience.

I'm heading down in a couple days and was there for 10 days last year from March 18th to the 28th.

Last year.. not a problem and nothing unusual on any of the sites, just great diving.

August trip we had some rippin currents on Punta Tunich. It was a blast and one wild ride but just followed the top of the wall south to north.

 

[boulderjohn]

As I said earlier... we had it happen at Santa Rosa reef in August. The current was heading north to south for us, but we saw divers coming towards us, so the current was going south to north for them. That meant that a downwell was coming up somewhere in between. We immediately went through a swimthrough to the sand side of reef, away from wall, and DM called the dive shortly afterwards. First time ever I had encountered that, and the only time in Cozumel.

The only time I was ever in a group and saw another group coming toward us was on Las Palmas. The explanation was much simpler. The idiot DM we had was taking us into the current, a fact that everyone in our group knew all along but didn't know how to handle. When we met the other group, the DM must have been too embarrassed to continue, so he finally turned us around to cover the same ground briefly and then drift over sand for the rest of the dive.

On another occasion, we were doing a night dive on Paradise Reef. About half way through the dive everything started swirling. We were very disoriented for a while, and then we continued the dive, eventually realizing we were now going the other direction.

 

[Mike]

I think dive briefings should be more localized then just general dive guidelines. Barracuda gets's a special briefing because of it's unique localized challenges. Same with Devil's Throat. Santa Rosa Wall probably deserves one too, even though I don't ever recall hearing one that was special or mentioned currents. Typically the dive briefings I've heard in Cozumel are more about the actual dive plan then the dive location itself. "we will descend to 80 ft... do some swim thrus.... toward the end of the dive cross over a sandy bottom to a shallower spot..."