Missing diver.
- Thread starter jlyle
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Harro10
Contributor
I was close to the wall so I went to the wall and pulled myself across. Yes, I know you are not supposed to touch the wall but finning and air was not working.
L13
Contributor
Well, I only have a couple hundred dives in Cozumel, and I have not experienced such an outrageous current, but I have experienced a mild downcurrent. It was on Yucab Wall. It seemed like I was in a waterfall, and I swam out of it along the wall. I believe the current was coming down through a break in the coral above me, just like a waterfall on land.
I do, however, have a friend who experienced a very serious vortex-like current, and it was also on Yucab Wall. She and her husband had started their ascent, following the DMs DSMB line, slightly ahead of the others because they were lower on air. Suddenly they were swirling about out of control, and after a while, they popped to the surface. Their computers indicated that in that time they had gone to 100 feet and come back up. Just after they popped to the surface, the rest of their group popped up, too, including the DM. The DM took them all to the hospital for observation and possible chamber treatment, but they didn't need it. I guarantee you she wasn't lying about it.
This person was a teacher with me in my school district, and it was nearly 20 years ago that she told me the story.
On another occasion, I was in a group doing a night dive on Paradise Reef. We were having a good time, drifting with the mild current, and then suddenly things got a little weird. Then we were back to drifting with the current again, only now we were going the other way, drifting over terrain we had already covered. We ended the dive roughly where we had started it.
I do, however, have a friend who experienced a very serious vortex-like current, and it was also on Yucab Wall. She and her husband had started their ascent, following the DMs DSMB line, slightly ahead of the others because they were lower on air. Suddenly they were swirling about out of control, and after a while, they popped to the surface. Their computers indicated that in that time they had gone to 100 feet and come back up. Just after they popped to the surface, the rest of their group popped up, too, including the DM. The DM took them all to the hospital for observation and possible chamber treatment, but they didn't need it. I guarantee you she wasn't lying about it.
This person was a teacher with me in my school district, and it was nearly 20 years ago that she told me the story.
On another occasion, I was in a group doing a night dive on Paradise Reef. We were having a good time, drifting with the mild current, and then suddenly things got a little weird. Then we were back to drifting with the current again, only now we were going the other way, drifting over terrain we had already covered. We ended the dive roughly where we had started it.
So all the people who've experienced such things are lying? It is easier to believe that you are just lucky.
mcohen1021
Contributor
No, not really.
What you are referring to is the Caribbean Current that flows north of South America, brushes Nicaragua,, and comes up past the Yucatan.
The Gulf Stream has multiple smaller currents that combine to contribute to its flow, but the acual "Gulf Stream" doesn't really start until the Florida Current emerges from between Florida and Cuba and combines with the Antilles Current that flows north of the island chain. Some even say the Gulf Stream doesn't start until the Florida Current breaks away from the coastline around Cape Hatteras.
What you are referring to is the Caribbean Current that flows north of South America, brushes Nicaragua,, and comes up past the Yucatan.
Right. Because 99% of all divers video pretty much all of their dives from beginning to end. Is that what you think?
The events are rare, but they exist. The odds of one getting caught on video are so low that it would be remarkable if one were actually caught on video.
I think one of the problems we have is that there have been some false narratives pushed, and those false narratives fuel cynicism.
- The Opal Cohen story was originally reported as a down current to hide the truth, but the lie was eventually exposed.
- A video of a child caught in a downcurrent was widely reported as a downcurrent, and I assume lots of people still think it is true. To me, it is obvious that the boy, a new diver with a go-pro on a helmet, was overweighted and forgot to inflate his BCD as he descended. For some reason the downcurrent ends as soon as the father catches up to him and inflates his BCD for him. What a coincidence!
Similar threads
