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In Palm Beach, there are certain areas where we can run into very big currents on some days. You don't always know about the big current, until you are near the bottom.
The first thing we do is to have a plan like the pickup by the boat, and how they will track us. In places where there is no good likelihood of predicting how far the current will pull the divers, the divers will normally have one or more ( iif in groups) towing a float. Where the currents are really big, as in our 270 foot deep reefs with full gulfstream intrusion, the best plan is using a torpedo float, since it is easy to tow in big currents, and can be hooked off on the wreck without sinking like a float ball( which will happen in big currents). If it is just a shipwreck, a big current can be handled by the boat KNOWING THAT the group will do one of two things...either do a dive of a planned duration-say 25 minutes, and then ascend together, and shoot a SMB at the 50 foot stop ( very soon after leaving the wreck--so that the boat can begin tracking the divers as they leave the wreck). The alternative behavior, would be the divers thumbing the dive and shooting the SMB almost right after descent to the wreck....the Captain would be paying attention, and would be watching.
On a Reef with big currents, like the Hole in the Wall, or the next reefline out at 250, the current can drive a diver along so fast that stopping requires something in the way of whitewater kayaking skills....in that you naturally "read" the area ahead of you, and look for points you could "eddy out". This is almost an identical skillset, the reading ahead, and the positioning to take advantage. If we are cruising down a big ledge with a 5 mph current, and we want to stop, what we are doing is scanning everywhere for the largest boulder or outcropping or structure that you can see will deflect current. You approach upcurrent, and plan on swimming into the area just immediately behind the structure...just like a kayaker would...though we have up and down or vertical opportunites they don't have.
Gloves come in handy, as a big reverse eddy can actually push you right up against the back of the structure...you would want gloves for this possibility. Then you relax, and "plan" your next "traverse" to get to the next structure you can hide behind. If you are lobster hunting, or shooting video or photos, then your areas to take shots become areas along your traverses or behind large structures.
While doing the traverse between one large boulder or outcrop, and another, if they are 45% to either side ( you may not want to try anything more perpendicular than that in a huge current) then you face the current, rub your chest to the bottom, and staying as slick as possible, make your traverse to the next structure point, while kicking chest rubbing or near rubbing the bottom. Obviously this rubbing or almost rubbing will be determined by the bottom being sand, or coral or, whatever. If it is sand, you will likely have your chest on the sand as you swim
If you are behind a structure, or the hull area of a wreck, the moment you swim straight up, or out sideways, you will be caught and accelerated instantly with the current. If you stay close to it, skin friction drag slows the current, so the jolt of the current is lessened, but if you are leaving the structure, plan on your body and the torque on it when you push it in to the current...imagine the kayaker leaving the eddie behind a big rock, and the sudden action of the current on the bow of the boat...the way the kayak will react is very predictable...as it is for a diver when they push out of the protected area.
When you practice this in a 2mph current, it will make it much easier if you run into a 4 mph current someday. If you might need to be good in a 6 mph current, you better practice in a 4 mph current. One easy way to practicwe this in Palm Beach, is at the tidal switch near the mouth of the Inlet. You can get some huge currents to practice with, and there is lots of bottom structure to experiment with.
As others have said, it needs to be BOTH you and your buddy that have this skill set...if it is just one of you, this could be a CF
The first thing we do is to have a plan like the pickup by the boat, and how they will track us. In places where there is no good likelihood of predicting how far the current will pull the divers, the divers will normally have one or more ( iif in groups) towing a float. Where the currents are really big, as in our 270 foot deep reefs with full gulfstream intrusion, the best plan is using a torpedo float, since it is easy to tow in big currents, and can be hooked off on the wreck without sinking like a float ball( which will happen in big currents). If it is just a shipwreck, a big current can be handled by the boat KNOWING THAT the group will do one of two things...either do a dive of a planned duration-say 25 minutes, and then ascend together, and shoot a SMB at the 50 foot stop ( very soon after leaving the wreck--so that the boat can begin tracking the divers as they leave the wreck). The alternative behavior, would be the divers thumbing the dive and shooting the SMB almost right after descent to the wreck....the Captain would be paying attention, and would be watching.
On a Reef with big currents, like the Hole in the Wall, or the next reefline out at 250, the current can drive a diver along so fast that stopping requires something in the way of whitewater kayaking skills....in that you naturally "read" the area ahead of you, and look for points you could "eddy out". This is almost an identical skillset, the reading ahead, and the positioning to take advantage. If we are cruising down a big ledge with a 5 mph current, and we want to stop, what we are doing is scanning everywhere for the largest boulder or outcropping or structure that you can see will deflect current. You approach upcurrent, and plan on swimming into the area just immediately behind the structure...just like a kayaker would...though we have up and down or vertical opportunites they don't have.
Gloves come in handy, as a big reverse eddy can actually push you right up against the back of the structure...you would want gloves for this possibility. Then you relax, and "plan" your next "traverse" to get to the next structure you can hide behind. If you are lobster hunting, or shooting video or photos, then your areas to take shots become areas along your traverses or behind large structures.
While doing the traverse between one large boulder or outcrop, and another, if they are 45% to either side ( you may not want to try anything more perpendicular than that in a huge current) then you face the current, rub your chest to the bottom, and staying as slick as possible, make your traverse to the next structure point, while kicking chest rubbing or near rubbing the bottom. Obviously this rubbing or almost rubbing will be determined by the bottom being sand, or coral or, whatever. If it is sand, you will likely have your chest on the sand as you swim
If you are behind a structure, or the hull area of a wreck, the moment you swim straight up, or out sideways, you will be caught and accelerated instantly with the current. If you stay close to it, skin friction drag slows the current, so the jolt of the current is lessened, but if you are leaving the structure, plan on your body and the torque on it when you push it in to the current...imagine the kayaker leaving the eddie behind a big rock, and the sudden action of the current on the bow of the boat...the way the kayak will react is very predictable...as it is for a diver when they push out of the protected area.
When you practice this in a 2mph current, it will make it much easier if you run into a 4 mph current someday. If you might need to be good in a 6 mph current, you better practice in a 4 mph current. One easy way to practicwe this in Palm Beach, is at the tidal switch near the mouth of the Inlet. You can get some huge currents to practice with, and there is lots of bottom structure to experiment with.
As others have said, it needs to be BOTH you and your buddy that have this skill set...if it is just one of you, this could be a CF
