DOWN CURRENTS -Any with true real-life experience?

[John Bantin]

Mike's Point in the Dampier Strait, Raja Ampat. It was bombed during the war because the Americans thought it was a Japanese warship disguised as an island thanks to the visible wake coming from it. It makes for an exhilarating dive but it's not for the faint-hearted. That's some current and it goes each and every way. Tiputa Pass, Rangiroa. It has a standing wave on the rising tide. Stan Waterman dived it when he was 85.

 

[ClayFish]

Raja Ampat in Indonesia and Alor, also in Indonesia, have strong Dow currents depending on the tide and moon cycle. I have experienced strong ones there many times. Also in Galapagos and Cocos Island. The fish are swimming strongly while facing the surface while they barely hold their place in the water column. Plus, your bubbles gather around your mask as you exhale. Your pulse rate increases. Typically you are riding a current toward a point and speed increases. I turn back into the current and get a reef hook out and set it to solid limestone and then feed the line slowly so as to not putt out the stitched D-ring in my OMS tech bcd. Then I get out my second reef hook ready to deploy in my left hand and solidly hooked by clip or caribener to a left side D-ring. I swim to the engaged reef hook and at a kick just up current of it I disengage it with the second one already engaged and in this fashion, claw point to claw point work my way back up current and away from the point.

Too many times have I been swept over the point drop-off and pulled down with my bubbles all around me and gorgonians sweeping downward. I have done both, claw my way back up the wall, off gassing at 15’ while holding on and then blow and go from there after a safety stop, or kicking away from the wall while inflating my bcd and kicking up hard watching my depth gauge or computer and bubbles to gauge when I am making progress. If possible I gave back toward the wall for some further reference. As soon as I am actuall moving back toward the surface and safety stop depth I am venting hard and exhaling hard to avoid any gas expansion problems.

Strong down currents should be avoided whenever possible. That is why I spend time discussing what the site is like with the guides that have been there a long time. Plus I meter the current taking me toward known points and I watch fish and soft corals and gorgonians and bubbles and other divers around me. When I see the tell-tale signs of down-currents I do an about-face and move away from those points, drop-offs and areas.
Many years diving in Indonesia as well as in places like Galapagos and Cozumel make me cautious.

Peace and safety,
Clay

 

[Guille G]

I did once in Cozumel at the San Francisco wall. We had just splashed, were coming down to the top of the wall. It felt like I had somehow missed the top of the wall and was pushed out with two other divers. I realized I was not stopping normally, puffed the bc, still not stopping, looked at depth, 20 meters and dropping, and just as my brain was clicking into “oh crap” mode the diver next to me started shooting for the wall, and so did I.

It was an adventurous climb up, I could not have swam against it. When we reached the top and went over the edges I dropped all air in my bc, tried to become as negative as possible and crouched behind a small rock hugging the sand to catch my breath again and rest a bit m. So did the other two divers. The current wasn’t straight down, it was pushing south-west, towards the edge and down after it.
If caught in something like that again I would go for the wall even faster, if it was a sandy “climbable” part. If it were on a coral-filled part, where it will be harder and more dangerous to grab and climb, I would probably try to swim out. Swimming against it would not be possible.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

in Deception Pass in Washington state. But that's certainly not a basic dive. There's supposedly an "underwater waterfall" in the Tacoma Narrows, but I haven't hit it the few times I've drifted through there.

Have experienced the "waterfall" affect drifting Dodd Narrows back in the day off the Nautilus VII and Nautilus Explorer. The solution was to swim away from the wall.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

What to Do if You’re Caught in a Downcurrent • Scuba Diver Life

Getting caught in a downcurrent is unnerving for even the most seasoned diver. Here’s what to do (and what not to do) if you’re caught in a downcurrent.

scubadiverlife.com

 

[Superlyte27]

I’m thinking way longer than your PSI.

Just another reason for a CCR

 

[Doc]

Just another reason for a CCR

Point taken, but it makes me think of the remote nature of the places I’ve reliably encountered serious downwellings, the really fun ones- they were all pretty well out in the boonies. No grass huts with a CCR Quick Stop Shop.

I always explained to the DM what I was wanting, proved my skills. Fondest memories are Sabang/Galera (Atlantis) and the DM would see the unexplained swirling whitewater out in the middle of the Batangas Straight and decide that… that’s where we would jump in.

2nd Prize: African Express, Speyside Tobago (w/ RedMan)

 

[Superlyte27]

Point taken, but it makes me think of the remote nature of the places I’ve reliably encountered serious downwellings, the really fun ones- they were all pretty well out in the boonies. No grass huts with a CCR Quick Stop Shop.

I always explained to the DM what I was wanting, proved my skills. Fondest memories are Sabang/Galera (Atlantis) and the DM would see the unexplained swirling whitewater out in the middle of the Batangas Straight and decide that… that’s where we would jump in.

2nd Prize: African Express, Speyside Tobago (w/ RedMan)

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I take my own plane to those places with all my sorb, bailout, ccr stuffs.

 

[Joneill]

Just another reason for a CCR

Until you have to bail out due to a CCR issue…

 

[Doc]

Until you have to bail out due to a CCR issue…

Amateurs…