DOWN CURRENTS -Any with true real-life experience?

[boulderjohn]

Truly dangerous down currents are thankfully rare. The ones I have experienced were easily handled and gave us something to talk about after the dive. The really bad ones, including the one that took the life of a well known ScubaBoard member, are often actually eddy's caused by a rapid change in current direction. They are sudden, scary, but (fortunately) short.

On the other hand....

Some reports of down currents may be exaggerated at best, or hoaxes at worst.

• A much replayed video of a woman struggling to the surface in a down current is clearly actually an inexperienced diver who dumped all her air at depth to initiate an ascent while wearing a 7mm wetsuit. She quite predictable became severely negative and had to kick hard to ascend. (Hint: a down current will affect more than one diver in a group.)
• Another video claiming to show a fierce down current is from a GoPro worn by a young, inexperienced diver who descended rapidly at the beginning of the dive and panicked in that "down current." The father caught up with him, inflated his BCD, and the two ascended easily. (No one else in the group was affected by that fierce "down current.")
• A down current was reported to have swept three experienced divers to 400 feet in Cozumel, eventually resulting in a DCS fatality. It eventually turned out to be a hoax. They claimed it was a down current to hide the fact that they had intentionally planned a dive to 300 feet (and accidentally gone to 400 due to narcosis.)

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

I would be interested to hear more firsthand accounts of downcurrents here, to understand where & when they specifically occur.

The bottom of Deception Pass itself (anywhere near the bridge) bottoms out at only ~40 metres / 130ft, probably because the rock is too solid for deeper erosions. Within +/-15 minutes of the true slack, a full flush to the bottom is survivable for a non-panicked diver--but few divers are going to remain 'cool' when that happens. And an open water ascent there at slack time puts you right into a traffic jam of powerboats trying to sneak through the pass on slack

If you end up blown outside of the pass itself, max depth is around ~60 metres in spots, certainly hazardous for most divers. There is very nice depth data here (uncheck everything except "BAG Color Shaded Relief")

I've heard there is a "geyser" just beyond(?) the bridge position, caused by water constriction that can blow a diver to the surface near the end of the flood tide (just before we typically aim for the 'North Beach' entry). I have yet to experience it directly.

[Probably] significantly beyond that I once encountered an ascending ramp feature at ~25 metres depth, which led me to cling on for 10 minutes (waiting for slack to finally occur) before rock climbing back down to 30m+ to get out of the upwell. Fortunately had time to stop, assess, and backtrack on a rebreather.

I have only dived Deception Pass twice. Once with a group of advanced divers, so we got to go with a faster current. That's where I experienced the downcurrent. Probably the fastest current I've ever experienced, as I was a flag sailing in the wind waiting for my buddy to catch up or vice versa. Whoever was farther from the bottom moved a lot faster. This was a boat where the captain and owner knew everyone. That's why we got to have so much fun.

I'd leave it to more experienced locals who have done that dive more than me when faster currents were allowed due to everyone's experience/skill level. Normally the current is fairly slow and not so exciting.

 

[Jai Bar]

Changes in current direction can cause local eddy currents- both upwards and downwards. These are quite common in the Red Sea, for example along reef walls such as the straits of Tiran, Ras Mohammed etc.

If one looks at the clouds of Red Goldies their heads tell the direction of the current, and how frantically they are swimming also an idea of its magnitude.

Usually a few good fin strokes are sufficient to pass these eddy currents, they are very localized as the reef boundary conditions change the currents can reduce or reverse direction. Just follow the fish behavior.

 

[LKJ]

It happened to me once at Cozumel, about 8 years ago. It was during a safety stop and I managed to Kick and inflate my way to the surface. I really didn't notice anything at first, until while looking at my computer, I saw that just kicking was not getting me to the surface. Then I noticed my exhaust bubbles going down and the divemaster signaling me to inflate. This all happened very quickly and I really wasn't sucked-down, but there was a brief struggle to maintain depth.

 

[34109411]

diving in galapagos it was like a washing machine. The effect of the swirl was unbelievable even at 30-40 feet. We were going up and down at any time.

I dove often in cozumel never experienced down current.

 

[BoltSnap]

Beach 8th Street in NYC has "down currents" regularly because of the underwater obstructions and strong currents, Its never killed a diver but it has killed several swimmers over the years.

I remember diving it in late 80's. Too many syringes around then. I dove it once and never again. Currents are bad there too.

 

[Snoweman]

I was in a rip current in St. Lucia. This wasn't too far from Superman's Leap. I was being dragged down and out along the sloping surface. It took me by surprise and I kept adding air to my BCD. When I got out of it, I had to rapidly dump air.

The DMs in Coz seem to be able to read the currents from the surface. I've been on more than one dive where the assessed the surface conditions, looked in the water and moved on to another site. I did do one crazy dive there where the currents were moving all over the place. It was the first and only time I have seen sand tornadoes at depth. I would fight to get through somewhere and then crash into the wall/column on the other side.

 

[boulderjohn]

I was in a rip current in St. Lucia. This wasn't too far from Superman's Leap. I was being dragged down and out along the sloping surface. It took me by surprise and I kept adding air to my BCD. When I got out of it, I had to rapidly dump air.

The DMs in Coz seem to be able to read the currents from the surface. I've been on more than one dive where the assessed the surface conditions, looked in the water and moved on to another site. I did do one crazy dive there where the currents were moving all over the place. It was the first and only time I have seen sand tornadoes at depth. I would fight to get through somewhere and then crash into the wall/column on the other side.

Whatever their ability to read currents from the surface may be (and I have seen it screwed up), they have no control over what happens during the dive. I was once on a night dive in Cozumel on Paradise Reef, and halfway through the dive everything started swirling (gently), after which we went the opposite direction and ended the dive about where we had started. A friend of mine experienced a more dramatic swing on Yucab Wall at the end of her dive, with the entire group caught in a tornado, thrown down to 100 feet, and then shot to the surface. The boat picked them up, headed for shore, and they took everyone to the chamber as a precaution.

 

[Richard Dayan]

I experienced a down current at 150 ft at HIBO reef Puerto galera, inflated the BCD to maximum and kick up at the same time. With out kicking I wasn't going anywhere, then all I could see was bubbles and my computer. Whole dive lasted 6 minutes, max depth 170 ft. I skipped the 3 minutes deco at 15 ft., bc I wanted the dive boat to find me as there were strong currents at 15 ft as well and 3 minutes would have put me out of his sight and around the corner of the mountain. It was a horrible dive. The owner of the shop, an expat doesn't care about safety just profit. He doesn't even hydro test his scuba tanks, with some not tested in 15-20 years. He sent us there with no DM just 2 customers, I lost the other guy right away. I don't dive with that shop anymore and feel sorry for the ones that do.

 

[34109411]

Whatever their ability to read currents from the surface may be (and I have seen it screwed up), they have no control over what happens during the dive. I was once on a night dive in Cozumel on Paradise Reef, and halfway through the dive everything started swirling (gently), after which we went the opposite direction and ended the dive about where we had started. A friend of mine experienced a more dramatic swing on Yucab Wall at the end of her dive, with the entire group caught in a tornado, thrown down to 100 feet, and then shot to the surface. The boat picked them up, headed for shore, and they took everyone to the chamber as a precaution.

what you experience in cozumel is the same while i was diving in the galapagos.