Current currents

[ggunn]

We went to San Clemente and Paradise yesterday, and La Francesca and Tormentos today. Current at San Clemente and Paradise was moderate and kept changing. Current at Tormentos was practically nothing, but at La Francesca it was an E ticket ride. Strong wind from NNE both days.

 

[Cozdreamer]

ahhh. 4 fun dives in two days....I'm jealous no matter what the currents were. enjoy

 

[ggunn]

ahhh. 4 fun dives in two days....I'm jealous no matter what the currents were. enjoy

Paseo Cedral and Yucab today. Cedral was ripping; we ended up in Santa Rosa. Yucab was very slow but north to south. The wind is still pretty strong from NNE.

At Yucab we saw the loggerhead with the propellor damage to his shell.

 

[Sharkygill]

San Clemente reversed in the middle of the dive for us today... typical south to north the first half then reversed. Viz dropped and the current took us 180 degrees back past what we dived the first half.

 

[tridacna]

We did Dante’s Hell yesterday AKA Santa Rosa Wall. Current took us on a wild ride. 4 outta 6 divers ‘chickened’ out. I’ve never had a current like the one we had yesterday. Did Chakanaab an hour after and it was as calm as a resort pool. 11 dives in 4 days. So far so good.

 

[gopbroek]

Paseo Cedral and Yucab today. Cedral was ripping; we ended up in Santa Rosa. Yucab was very slow but north to south. The wind is still pretty strong from NNE.

At Yucab we saw the loggerhead with the propellor damage to his shell.

Cedral can be fun sometimes when it is ripping. Sometimes I end up beyond Santa Rosa. Back to the basics, a buoy and the knowledge on how to use it is always a good idea in heavy current. Between the current and the debris kicked up you can be all alone in the blink of an eye. That is when you will relax and be grateful that you practiced deploying it under less stressful conditions and just let mussle memory take over.

 

[Guitarcrazy]

I just returned from Cozumel and we had a scary dive at Punta Tunich. I had never dove the wall there before, and wasn't familiar when the divemaster said he was taking us there. We had two friends that we brought down to get their OW certification. This was the first dive after their training, and I am disappointed and a bit angry that the divemaster took us there knowing that it was their first dives after cert (he was their instructor).

We all entered the water and began to descend to 40ish feet. One of our friends had some ear squeeze so he was staying higher and trying to work through his issue. I stayed close to him and my wife and his wife descended to the bottom of the upper shelf. They proceeded to swim towards the top of the wall, along with 3 other divers that were on the boat that day. I didn't notice exactly when, but at some point all of the deeper divers got caught in a ripping current that was headed straight out to the wall, and then were carried down the face of the wall in the strongest current I have ever been in. I was higher and was immediately swept out to blue water beyond the divers who where now going downhill at a rapid pace. I was waiting for the divemaster to do something but he just kept banging his tank. The 4 divers going down the wall were only getting pulled deeper and could not hear him.

I couldn't take it any longer so I started swimming down as fast as I could to try to get my wife and our friend to turn around and try to swim up. When I reached them my computer said 100' and I grabbed their arms and tried to get all 3 of us to swim upward. I glanced back at my computer and it said 120' and it was alarming for high PPO2 (I was on nitrox). I was worried we would not be able to outswim the downcurrent so I started filling my bcd and also filled my friend's bcd. During this process I was separated from my wife. We then began rising at a fairly quick pace so I started dumping air as fast as I could. We were not able to get it all dumped in time and we ended up on the surface.

I was worried for the other divers but within minutes all of the others surfaced as well. We all got back on the boat, shaken, but luckily uninjured. I was worried about possible DCS, but it all happened so early in the dive that we all seemed to have survived unhurt. If you look at the profile from my Perdix you can see that it took me 1 minute and 40 seconds to reach them and go down to 120', and only 1 minute and 10 seconds later we were at the surface.

I learned a valuable lesson though, I will research all of the sites more thoroughly and not just go where the DM says, especially with new divers. After going back to the hotel I looked up Punta Tunich and it was described as a dive for experts, due to the frequency of strong currents, and strong downcurrents. I am very glad we were all safe, but it could have been much worse.

 

[gopbroek]

And yet today I understand Punta Tunich had very little current

 

[DandyDon]

They proceeded to swim towards the top of the wall, along with 3 other divers that were on the boat that day. I didn't notice exactly when, but at some point all of the deeper divers got caught in a ripping current that was headed straight out to the wall, and then were carried down the face of the wall in the strongest current I have ever been in.

That was a classic Cozumel down current that can happen at the top of a wall. Two currents meet and one heads down the wall. Some suggest climbing the wall, staying close, while I prefer to swim away from the wall to escape altho such an open water escape and ascent can be intimidating to some. I do wish that all new to Cozumel would hire a private DM and request instructions on how to deal with those rare incidents, but they are not discussed much. You have to ask.

We then began rising at a fairly quick pace so I started dumping air as fast as I could. We were not able to get it all dumped in time and we ended up on the surface.

That can be scary and risky, for lung overexpansion mostly. Glad y'all are ok.

 

[tridacna]

Delilah was amazing today. Acropora is abundant and looks super healthy. Current was tame until it wasn’t at the end. But Villa Blanco was better. Tons of fish and we had a curious Eagle Ray come pay us a visit. It was absolutely enormous. Came within 6 feet of us and hang out for about 30 seconds. We then saw a huge Green Turtle that obligingly posed for pictures. Gotta love Cozumel!