fluff_astrid
Contributor
Recently did some diving at BDE, where I found myself once again struggling with currents and zodiac drops despite over 200 dives, including some intense ones at Raja Ampat. I still to this day struggle to enjoy a drift or current dive, and I want to be able to handle them better and stop being so uptight and worried during them.
Part of my ongoing struggle with some current diving has been the fear of being swept away from the group/my buddy OR slamming into them, which is often task-loaded by the fact I always end up with an insta-buddy who rarely stays as close as I'd like them to be (or some less than stellar guides who insist you stay with them while also not being attentive).
The Red Sea was particularly challenging in this regard because there are so many boats, so many divers dropped at seemingly the same times, so you are simultaneously trying not get spread too far from your group while also not running into another diver as you focus on the blue or the wall. To date, even outside of BDE, these kinds of worries and having to keep track of everyone have made it so that I've yet to fully enjoy a drift dive (although I did enjoy the beauty that was Elphinstone!). I'm always afraid I'm not strong enough to swim against the current if I overshoot the group. Meanwhile, it seems like even less experienced divers who are more afraid of current than I am end up having a blast and say it was easy for them. Whereas I always feel stressed after any of those dives.
Another factor that adds to this stress is that I just can't get negatively buoyant for a drop even though I know all the physics of doing so and even after extremely and incrementally overweighting myself which also didn't work (aka to the point I was negatively buoyant at a near empty tank safety stop with a nearly full BCD!). On a normal positive buoyancy classic boat dive, I can descend, it takes me just a bit longer than others but I get down mostly fine, sometimes I might have to do a bit of heads down finning or yanking myself down on a mooring line because my fins or boots seem most buoyant, but I'll have perfect buoyancy through the dive and with an empty tank at the end of a dive. At BDE and for drift dives in strong current this problem is incredibly stressful because I am not only worried about getting down quickly to avoid getting spread out from the group, but also because I was constantly worried that finning downward was going to attract OWTs. I did tons of backrolls in Indonesia but those were typically less stressful.
Is there anywhere I can go to try this style of diving without being pressured to move fast? I want to be able to feel confident and actually have some fun in currents like everyone else seems to, but I feel like I need a better environment for it.
Part of my ongoing struggle with some current diving has been the fear of being swept away from the group/my buddy OR slamming into them, which is often task-loaded by the fact I always end up with an insta-buddy who rarely stays as close as I'd like them to be (or some less than stellar guides who insist you stay with them while also not being attentive).
The Red Sea was particularly challenging in this regard because there are so many boats, so many divers dropped at seemingly the same times, so you are simultaneously trying not get spread too far from your group while also not running into another diver as you focus on the blue or the wall. To date, even outside of BDE, these kinds of worries and having to keep track of everyone have made it so that I've yet to fully enjoy a drift dive (although I did enjoy the beauty that was Elphinstone!). I'm always afraid I'm not strong enough to swim against the current if I overshoot the group. Meanwhile, it seems like even less experienced divers who are more afraid of current than I am end up having a blast and say it was easy for them. Whereas I always feel stressed after any of those dives.
Another factor that adds to this stress is that I just can't get negatively buoyant for a drop even though I know all the physics of doing so and even after extremely and incrementally overweighting myself which also didn't work (aka to the point I was negatively buoyant at a near empty tank safety stop with a nearly full BCD!). On a normal positive buoyancy classic boat dive, I can descend, it takes me just a bit longer than others but I get down mostly fine, sometimes I might have to do a bit of heads down finning or yanking myself down on a mooring line because my fins or boots seem most buoyant, but I'll have perfect buoyancy through the dive and with an empty tank at the end of a dive. At BDE and for drift dives in strong current this problem is incredibly stressful because I am not only worried about getting down quickly to avoid getting spread out from the group, but also because I was constantly worried that finning downward was going to attract OWTs. I did tons of backrolls in Indonesia but those were typically less stressful.
Is there anywhere I can go to try this style of diving without being pressured to move fast? I want to be able to feel confident and actually have some fun in currents like everyone else seems to, but I feel like I need a better environment for it.
