Stiffest current you have ever been in?

[Vicksburg Diver]

Dive trip coming up this weekend. Local reports are indicating 3+ knot current. Got me to wondering what the strongest current people dive in. I imagine some of you guys in the Pacific NW and NJ/NY area have the strongest. Just wondering what everyone has been diving in before.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

You can dive in all sorts of current so long as you're not trying to go against it.

If you're diving from a 'live boat', such as are often found in resort destinations, just ensure you have a spool and an impressively sized Surface Marker Bouy. (Remember that if swells are 2-3' and waves are 2'-3', then a 6' tall SMB is going to be only marginally visible from the deck of the boat...) The boat comes to your location after you surface.

If you're trying to surface at a fixed point, on the other hand, such as when the boat is tied into a wreck, or when you need to exit the water at a specific point on shore, diving with strong currents gets a bit more tricky.

The answer to your specific question depends on many factors, such as what sort of physical condition the diver is in, or what sort of activity is going on around the diver (so that if the diver gets swept away some other boat might spot you and pick you up), and the answers you'll get are going to vary accordingly. For example, a diver may be able to put on a burst of energy and with great effort swim against the current to reach the swim platform some 5' away. But the same diver surfacing 35' away from the swim platform isn't going to make it.

In general, for all divers but for new divers particularly, the best way to deal with an emergency is to avoid it in the first place.

Don't be afraid to call a dive if the conditions become too adverse, and never be concerned about thumbing a dive when it becomes apparent that the currents are too strong. Getting blown off a wreck by strong current is inconvenient under the best circumstances, and may end up with you drifting for a considerable length of time under worst-case circumstances (which might include fog, rainstorms, or nightfall).

And just for the sake of comparison, a 3+ knot current is a ripping current wearing a drysuit with double tanks in cold water,...in my humble opinion. You can fight against it for awhile, but you'll wear yourself out pretty quick. Unless you're diving off a live boat, I suggest you think twice before jumping into a 3+ knot current and trying to ensure you surface precisely where you need to surface to get back onto the boat. Just MHO...

Best,

Doc

 

[Vicksburg Diver]

I've been in some rather strong currents before and it presents all types of challenges. Luckily, this wreck site offers several tie-ins and also a large amount of relief to get behind and get out of the "wind". The ascents will also be on the line.

Just wondering (taking a poll) of the strongest currents some of us have encountered.

 

[Doc]

OK, if it's just an academic exercise.

In Philippines, Isla Verde- there is an aircraft cable tied to a concrete filled drum. I've herad it called the "Waterfall Kite". Edge yourself out into the downcurrent and fly off of the underwater waterfall. Maybe 4 mph, currents then get appreciably stronger as you approach the wall, you will be buffeted and rebuffed away. Anybody's guess at that point. One guy's flipper got sucked off.

Tobago, African Express (the Chute) 5+mph, just tumble. Surrender yourself, resistance is futile. Be dumped in a pool at the end, the boat will be waiting. If you miss the turn into the chute, that's why they call it what they do... next stop? Africa.

 

[bubba105]

The pass at Rangiroa. Took 3 days for the water to be moving right but when it did, it was great. Turning my head to look at my buddy almost got my mask sucked off my face. Very cool dive.

 

[DeepSeaDan]

...there I was, diving 170' down to the mouth of a 36" effluent pipeline for an inspection / repair , carrying a video camera, hydraulic wire-brush scale remover & a 5 gal. bucket of pipe treatment, to be applied to any damaged areas found. As always, I'm in a surface-supplied diving helmet with umbilical supply. That's a total of 5 separate lines to manage.

...I back into the pipe feet first & scurry my way into the pipe about 150'. I am diving on the W. Coast of Vancouver Island, an area known for it's rippin' tidal flows. My Supervisor has studied the tide charts & has slipped me in for this job during a brief slack-tide window.

...I wish he had read the charts a little more carefully.

...About :7 into the dive, & I'm videoing the interior of the pipe, giving a running dialogue of all that I see, when in an instant I am exiting the pipe like a fart from a bloated boa! All the lines I'm mangaing are acting like a giant kite in the sooner-than-planned-for tidal surge booking along at about 6 freakin' knots! I'm spat out the end of that pipe like a dart from a blowgun, but I mange to grab the flange face on the end of the pipe & hang on for all I'm worth. All my lines are gone save my umbilical, though the force of the current on it alone was enough to have me flapping in the current like a penant on an SST. Good thing I had my trusty 2' stab line with carabiner, which I clipped into the shot line to take up most of the pull. I'm breathing like a bull in a pen of playmate cows as I make my water stops, anxious to get topside & back down to 40', on O2, in my nice, climate-controlled deck chamber.

...I surface with the worst dam CO2 headache ever recorded. Gut-churning nausea to boot. Into the chamber I go & honk on the O2 bibs mask for all I'm worth. Slowly, the little man with the pick-axe whose been chipping away at my brain, gets bored of it all & leaves me alone.

...Just another day in the deepsea.

...So yes, I've dived in current some.

Best fishes,
DSD

 

[diver 85]

5+ knots @ the Flower Gardens last summer on a couple of the dives....Be Sure and Don't miss the tag line, lol.......

 

[Annie Crawley]

Circle currents in Indonesia. They suck you in, they throw you out...you have to watch what the fish are doing in front of you....

 

[1_T_Submariner]

I seen a video of a dive downstream of a dam was pretty cool they really cruised along. You couldn't take any pictures though.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Somewhere between 5 and 6 knots drifting Agate Passage ... don't even try doing anything, just go with the flow.

Watching the bottom fly by was like watching a movie in fast-forward ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)