Down Currents Cozumel

[drl]

We got caught in an upcurrent once in Cozumel. I don’t remember which reef. We were ascending on the DMs SMB line, at or approaching our safety stop, when the water started swirling and bubbles going every which way, and then we were all at the surface, looking at each other and wondering wtf just happened. No one was hurt. It was a weird feeling.

 

[wnctarheel]

We had a group of 8 diving this past December, while we were on one of the Columbia sites we were dropped over the reef and going down close to each other as a group. At 30 ft I looked at my gauge and then looked at the reef below us, in just a few seconds I looked for the reef and it was way off to the side and disappearing quickly. I then looked at my gauge and I was at 99 ft. I did not feel the current at all. It was just like any other dive. I looked around and there was only one other person that I could see. We kicked hard to the reef and looked around and did not see anyone else. At first, I looked down the wall and saw bubbles below me. I thought that someone was really deep, I then realized that it was my bubbles going down the wall. We did not have any current at the reef, so we stayed there for a few minutes to look for the other divers. We were just getting ready to call the dive when off in the distance I could see a flashlight making a big circle motion. We swam over to him, and it was two dive masters with two other people. One of the dive masters told us to stay there and he went off and came back with two more people. We made our way up the reef and a few minutes in we all went and did our safety stop. If you are counting the number of people, we are still missing two people in our group. When we got to the boat the other two were on the boat and we found out later that they were pulled down to 152 ft. They did several safety stops on the way up and it shook them up, but everyone was ok.

 

[Charred]

One point hinted is how absolutely disorienting it is to not see the wall/reef/bottom. This is a good point about swimming out from the wall - you could end up in the blue with no point of reference.

If you have never experienced this, try. Swim away from a way from a wall until its all blue. And bring a compass

 

[ggunn]

One point hinted is how absolutely disorienting it is to not see the wall/reef/bottom. This is a good point about swimming out from the wall - you could end up in the blue with no point of reference.

If you have never experienced this, try. Swim away from a way from a wall until its all blue. And bring a compass

...and a plumbob?

 

[nwflyboy]

One point hinted is how absolutely disorienting it is to not see the wall/reef/bottom. This is a good point about swimming out from the wall - you could end up in the blue with no point of reference.

If you have never experienced this, try. Swim away from a way from a wall until its all blue. And bring a compass

Actually, there's another "disorientation" that has been mentioned in passing a couple of times: bubbles.

When I got (presumably) sucked down by a downcurrent, one of the first clues I noticed was that I was surrounded by dense, tiny bubbles, which did not seem to be behaving like all the other bubbles I had ever experienced underwater. These were not the big, wide, flat, slow-moving bubbles I'm used to seeing by divers exhaling which slowly rise straight up towards the surface. These bubbles were round, fully spherical, and tiny - like maybe the size of a BB or smaller. It just seemed strange at the time, and they were so dense around me, it was momentarily difficult to see through/past them. I was just a few feet off the wall, but the reef and the deeper blue water were no longer in view, only bubbles.

I have not discussed this experience with my spouse for a long while (probably a few years); she went through it, too. Seeing the interest and recent updates here, I brought it up with her yesterday, asking if she remembered the incident. She said oh, yes, she remembered it clearly, and the first thing she commented on were the tiny bubbles: "It was like being in a giant champagne glass, the bubbles were very thick but so tiny, and they weren't just going straight up like other bubbles do."

In one of the linked articles they mention that in a downcurrent you may see bubbles doing unusual things, and actually sinking. I can tell you, if you're underwater and watching bubbles, and those bubbles are not going up towards the surface, something very unusual is going on, and suddenly the world seems a bit crazy. When "follow the bubbles, they always go up to the surface" is no longer a valid assumption, it may lead you to question lots of other things (like your sanity), if only briefly.

I was only disoriented for a couple seconds, and it was more of a general confusion/shock than feeling "lost." I knew the wall was only a few feet away, though I lost sight of it.

 

[likestodive001]

I have probably done over 1500 dives in Cozumel in the last 35 years. I've always loved the place and go regularly. Occasional downcurrents there are just part of diving in Cozumel - or really any place with stiff current, drift diving, and walls. The amount of current you are in is highly dependent on your positioning in relation to the wall and/or relief the reef is providing. The current at 5 feet from the wall is quite a bit different than 10 feet. Too far to the wall, right at the top of the wall, and in certain sites (Punta Tunich, Barracuda/San Juan, etc) positioning is critical when the current is high. I have noticed many people positioned slightly outside the rest of the group and wondered if they knew just how much trouble they could get in quickly. In all the dives I've done in Cozumel I'd say I've been in maybe a dozen serious downcurrents (and in slight ones lots of times). It is important to 'read the current' and be in the right place to avoid an emergency though sometimes we are simply at the mercy of a stiff current and better kick HARD. The ocean occassionally reminds us we aren't nearly as strong as it is.

 

[Zman96]

I have about 200 dives in Cozumel and I have felt down current twice, both on/ near Barracuda. The first time wasnt a big deal and we were through it quickly, last year it was a different story. We were near lionfish hunting and the current was ripping, we started to run out of reef after about 25 minutes, which we knew was going to happen. I was a bit in front of the other divers as the reef came to an end and I saw the sand flowing below me out over the wall. It started to suck everybody down, we saw the tiny bubbles that were mentioned above, that made even reading your computer a challenge. I was a bit higher so I wasnt pulled deep like others but I went from 50 to 80 feet. Myself and 2 other divers managed to get together and then we struggled to get up and complete a safety stop, even off the bottom our bubbles were swirling. I threw up my buoy and we all stayed in touching distance of one another. We surface and the boat was a long way from us but we got their attention after a few minutes. The DM and another diver were up a long way from us towards shore and up stream. Another diver was blown further out the other direction, he was by far the most experienced and was an instructor. He was taken from 90 feet to 130 feet, also worth noting we were all on 32% Nitrox. He made a controlled ascent to the surface and luckily we saw him, needless to say he was shocked at what happened since he had more than 6000 dives I believe he had said. Before anybody says how did we get that far apart and buddy systems broke down, it didnt, the current did not care about our buddy system and blew us apart quickly.

 

[pakoR]

Thanks to all who've provided their experience with down currents. I've logged about 50 dives, and those have mostly been where I can see the bottom. The topic is new to me. For those who have experienced this, I am curious about what equalization was like since your descend quickly, or was there even time to think about it. Thanks again.

 

[nwflyboy]

Thanks to all who've provided their experience with down currents. I've logged about 50 dives, and those have mostly been where I can see the bottom. The topic is new to me. For those who have experienced this, I am curious about what equalization was like since your descend quickly, or was there even time to think about it. Thanks again.

I wrote up my description of what I experienced here and here (there are now multiple threads on this). To summarize and answer the above question directly:

The first thing I noticed was sharp, intense ear pain. At first I just equalized quickly (easy for me), almost without thinking about it, then just a couple seconds later I had more sharp ear pain. That got my attention - not because equalizing was difficult, but because I was already at depth, had been there for a while, and I rarely experience much need to equalize at that point. Getting sharp ear pain out of the blue -- unexpectedly, and then after clearing it getting it again just seconds later -- that was the jolt I needed to realize that something unusual was going on. The ear pain was easy enough to deal with, but I soon realized I had better focus my attention on other things once I glanced at my depth gauge ("oh, that explains the sudden ear pain...").

 

[DandyDon]

For those who have experienced this, I am curious about what equalization was like since your descend quickly, or was there even time to think about it. Thanks again.

I seldom notice any issues below 20 feet as I clear easily anyway, YMMV.