Current / Drift diving sub forum

[edwants2dive]

Hey mods / community I have been thinking about this the past couple of weeks. I wonder if there would be interest and participation enough for a sub forum on this topic. I feel like there might be due to the fact that a lot of us here in south Florida deal with currents and drifting on a regular basis and it might be a good place to ask, answer questions and share experiences on this topic. Just a thought.

 

[lowwall]

Has anyone written a technique thread on drift diving? Maybe that would be a way to attract support and measure the response? We are in negative territory so far on this suggestion, but I would hate to see the basic concept go completely unaddressed.

I haven't seen one. The problem is that there isn't much that's universal about drift diving. The questions that do come up are location specific, such as about diving with a flag off Palm Beach County or the mechanics of group dives and DSMBs in Coz or using a reef hook in Palau.

 

[rhwestfall]

What about up here in the Niagara River and the St. Lawrence River....

 

[Akimbo]

I haven't seen one. The problem is that there isn't much that's universal about drift diving. The questions that do come up are location specific, such as about diving with a flag off Palm Beach County or the mechanics of group dives and DSMBs in Coz or using a reef hook in Palau.

Agreed, which contributes to my reservations using a dedicated forum as the best way to handle the information sharing objective. A Knowledge Base thread could address geographic specific practices, much like @drrich2's very detailed Dive Travel Planning thread covers a broad number of related subjects. Members can then reply on that thread with their experiences, questions, and ideas.

People can draft long and complex threads like this in the Testing forum. There is no time limit to edit your posts there so you can take as long as needed to complete. Moderators will move it to a more public forum of your choice on request. Several people can team up and collaborate on a multi-post project.

I'm not promoting this as the best option, only one to consider.

 

[Wibble]

Can you add tags to a thread after it's posted? Similarly edit them.

Personally I can't see what's so special about drift diving that isn't covered in generic skills. Certainly not enough for a new forum. Tags though...

 

[Divin'Papaw]

What about up here in the Niagara River and the St. Lawrence River....

My final check out dive for TDI AN/DP was a 150' St Lawrence river drift dive. That was a fun dive! Similar procedures in some regard to other drift dives, but certain elements were very unique to the river environment. For example, the boat dropped us off right along the shore in shallow water so we could gather up, get all set, and then push off and descend together from shore working our way down the stair-stepped wall of the river to our target depth. Not something you can do in an ocean live boat drift dive environment like we have off of Palm Beach County here in Florida.

 

[rhwestfall]

And the Niagara is shallow, but 3kts. You can't stop.....

 

[mcohen1021]

Drift diving. #1 piece of advice: go with the flow and not upcurrent. Now we can close the subforum

 

[Divin'Papaw]

And the Niagara is shallow, but 3kts. You can't stop.....

Sounds like what I've heard of the St. Clair as well. I've never dived either of them, but I have done the St. Lawrence and the Santa Fe next to Ginnie Springs. Drift diving for sure but there are unique elements to all of them.

 

[Wibble]

If there's a drift diving forum, can we have one for SMBs. Seems like a PADI specialist course - gouge more money from the diving industry.

And it's $30 for a plastic card

 

[BlueTrin]

If there's a drift diving forum, can we have one for SMBs. Seems like a PADI specialist course - gouge more money from the diving industry.

And it's $30 for a plastic card

Can we have a master scuba diver forum?