Down Currents Cozumel

[DandyDon]

They're not common, thank goodness - but with the walls and common currents, can certainly happen. I've read a few reports here of divers being caught in them - enough that we should all be mentally and physically prepared for one, I think. I did not carry my pony on shallow dives at Cozumel until I got pulled off of the top of a wall - from 30 ft to 100 ft alone.

This article has an excellent discussion by a renown diver and author, specially mentioning Coz experiences: Upwellings and Downwellings, how to get out of trouble; February, 2001 Undercurrent feature story

I agree with the author - swim away from the wall. I stated such in the Coz forum and was told by a local expert that I was a fool, swim to the wall - but I don't want to be between the two, trying to go up the wall and hit the down current again.

Who else has taken a vertical ride at Coz - up or down...?

 

[jjwdiver]

Hey Don! Did the ride one aweful & great dive 2 years ago. Hardest I have ever tried to swim and grip onto the wall. 4 others and I got through it and while trying to catch our breath at 30 feet...we were treated to the most perfect Spotted Eagle Ray fly-by. Sun light that sucker up and it looked "heaven sent".

Current can be a mother sometimes, but proper mindset and redundancy are a great preventive medicine!

 

[Christi]

They're not common, thank goodness - but with the walls and common currents, can certainly happen. I've read a few reports here of divers being caught in them - enough that we should all be mentally and physically prepared for one, I think. I did not carry my pony on shallow dives at Cozumel until I got pulled off of the top of a wall - from 30 ft to 100 ft alone.

This article has an excellent discussion by a renown diver and author, specially mentioning Coz experiences: Upwellings and Downwellings, how to get out of trouble; February, 2001 Undercurrent feature story

I agree with the author - swim away from the wall. I stated such in the Coz forum and was told by a local expert that I was a fool, swim to the wall - but I don't want to be between the two, trying to go up the wall and hit the down current again.

Who else has taken a vertical ride at Coz - up or down...?

Don...I never said you were a fool..please don't exaggerate.

You can swim away from the wall or towards the wall. The closer to the wall you are, the less chance you have of being in the down current. I can't draw a picture of it...but think of a waterfall. It goes over the edge and out a little...if you can get inside of it...at least you have something to grab onto in the event of an emergency and/or extreme fatigue. The risk of swimming away from the wall is that you can't predict how far out the current runs and the further away fro the wall you get...the harder it is to gain your bearings. Towards the wall is the better option.

I will also add, that I've never in over 2000 dives here over the past seven years been caught in a downcurrent I couldn't easily get out of with a few strong fin kicks towards the wall.

 

[ggunn]

Don...I never said you were a fool..please don't exaggerate.

You can swim away from the wall or towards the wall. The closer to the wall you are, the less chance you have of being in the down current. I can't draw a picture of it...but think of a waterfall. It goes over the edge and out a little...if you can get inside of it...at least you have something to grab onto in the event of an emergency and/or extreme fatigue. The risk of swimming away from the wall is that you can't predict how far out the current runs and the further away fro the wall you get...the harder it is to gain your bearings. Towards the wall is the better option.

If you go over to and up the wall, then you're under the stream that's going off the cliff, and you have to go back through it to get to the surface. Maybe that's why he's thinking that away from the wall is better.

 

[Willie77]

I'm new to this board but I've been diving awhile. Several friends were caught in a down current in Coz several years ago. All were experienced divers. Two ended up doing time in the chamber as a direct result of the experience. I believe the consensus after the fact that swimming to the wall would have been a prudent action. In that situation one or two kicks would not have been sufficient to escape the current.

 

[TXColin]

I got hit by a down current up north on Barrcuda a few years ago. The only thing I could do was work to maintain my depth and go with the flow away from the wall. As soon as I felt the downward pressure let off I started an easy (i.e. calm/slow) ascent and kick back toward the wall.

I get Christi's analogy, but, in my case, it was impractical to go back toward the wall. That strategy will certainly be a part of my mental preparations in the future, however.

On another interesting dive our group was literally blown into four or five pieces with my wife and I being driven rapidly down and then away from the wall. We watched it fade away and soon we were surrounded by that wonderful, deep blue of the Caribe.

Unfortunately this was the second dive and my wife's computer was telling us (I had locked on to her BC to keep us from getting separated) that she needed a long decompression stop. So, it was not a simple up and out, but a long ride away from the island that ended about an hour after the dive began. Luckily Cozumel dive operations look out for each other and all divers so when a boat saw me waving them down with a fin, they stopped and radioed our location to our boat.

I love Cozumel diving! I would not trade those memories for the world. They are stories I have told over and over. They are adventure stories and cautionary tales that make me a better diver.

 

[MMM]

Don, as I read the article, the author says "one strategy is to do x" and then later says "another strategy is to do y" and isn't indicating a preference for one or the other.

I was caught in a downcurrent last year - we were about at our safety stop and two divers in our group were pulled to about 60 feet; I was pulled to about 30 feet before finning out of it. I was far off a wall, so it didn't matter which direction I went! No big whoop.

I agree with the author - swim away from the wall. I stated such in the Coz forum and was told by a local expert that I was a fool, swim to the wall - but I don't want to be between the two, trying to go up the wall and hit the down current again.

 

[waynel]

Well, this thread is news to me. Wife and I are going to Cozumel Jan. 25 - Feb. 1. Our first diving trip to Coz was this past Mardi Gras and we've decided to make it a yearly trip with our LDS.

Upward, downward currents.?First I've heard of it. I've since studied up on this but a little confused. Are you talking about the current hitting a wall? We dove Santa Rosa Wall (as well as several other sites) and I don't recall seeing any walls or drop offs so large as to create currents that couldn't easily be negoiated. Are you referring to the huge wall/dropoff along the channel? I have, in a "flat" current drifted over the edge of the cliff and back just to get that floating in outer space feeling (drifting over the abyss). Again, I am familiar with most of the southern sites, and will be diving those same sites this Jan. Any tips on exactly where these currents occur? Thanks in advance, because I'll need to put this into my emergency response thinking. Never had an instructor or Coz DM mention this before.

 

[DandyDon]

If you go over to and up the wall, then you're under the stream that's going off the cliff, and you have to go back through it to get to the surface. Maybe that's why he's thinking that away from the wall is better.

Yep, those are my thots exactly. Doc Vikingo's article favored getting away from the wall also, but also mentioned the advantages for grabbing the wall. You didn't say what you did, or have you never rode one?

I know Wayne, not common, not mentioned much, but do happen. Do read the linked article.

Thanks to all who posted. They do happen at Coz, and I do not remember ever hearing any discussion on such in a DM briefing there. Whichever approach you use, stay ready.

 

[ggunn]

Well, this thread is news to me. Wife and I are going to Cozumel Jan. 25 - Feb. 1. Our first diving trip to Coz was this past Mardi Gras and we've decided to make it a yearly trip with our LDS.

Upward, downward currents.?First I've heard of it. I've since studied up on this but a little confused. Are you talking about the current hitting a wall? We dove Santa Rosa Wall (as well as several other sites) and I don't recall seeing any walls or drop offs so large as to create currents that couldn't easily be negoiated. Are you referring to the huge wall/dropoff along the channel? I have, in a "flat" current drifted over the edge of the cliff and back just to get that floating in outer space feeling (drifting over the abyss). Again, I am familiar with most of the southern sites, and will be diving those same sites this Jan. Any tips on exactly where these currents occur? Thanks in advance, because I'll need to put this into my emergency response thinking. Never had an instructor or Coz DM mention this before.

FWIW, in more than 15 years diving Cozumel, I have never encountered this type of thing. Of course that's not to say it doesn't happen, but based on my experience I'd have to say that it's not an everyday occurrence.