Gdog
Contributor
So I was in an extremely strong down current on Cantarell wall in February 2017. Feb 15th to be exact. This downwelling was so strong there was no swimming anywhere. Not away, not to, not up from the wall. Went from 60' on the wall to 140' in less than 15-20 seconds, and was vertical, bcd filled to the max, kicking with everything I had. Looked at my computer a couple times, then gave up and understood this was it as it didnt matter what I did or which direction I tried to kick. I just kept kicking as the air bubbles exhausted from my reg went down like heavy rocks. Then, just as suddenly, I was out of it and then shooting up, dumping air like crazy. Our group of 6 that were all within about 20' of each other was scattered beyond visual range. I have memories of seeing what was the closest buddy, now about 100' away, kicking up like crazy, and the stream of air bubble going down looked like the dust from wiley coyote running in the desert. When I surfaced, I couldn't see anyone. I was certain some of us had not made it. If this had been at the end of the dive, none of us would have made it either, and we are all highly experienced, cold water divers. However, after the boat spent some time finding us and picking us up, all of us were back on board. Reading about this today was a bit rough. Ive been in down currents. Ive logged a few hundred dives in Coz. But this was nothing even close to anything Ive been in.
I say all this to say it is totally understandable that there was absolutely nothing anyone could have done to prevent this or help this diver if it was one of those extreme down currents. My only advice is if the currents are being odd, swapping directions, underwater dust devils, blowing sand, ect, stay on the wall. Tight. And move up over the wall. The spring currents in Coz are no joke.
I say all this to say it is totally understandable that there was absolutely nothing anyone could have done to prevent this or help this diver if it was one of those extreme down currents. My only advice is if the currents are being odd, swapping directions, underwater dust devils, blowing sand, ect, stay on the wall. Tight. And move up over the wall. The spring currents in Coz are no joke.
I thought that brass keyrings were the thing to use diving, but nope. There is such a thing as Marine Grade Stainless Steel, and they sell keyrings made from it. I use 2" wide electric tape over the neck of my pony when I remove the valve for air travel because it does not leave a residue like high-quality duct tape, and that should work ok on a mirror. Leave the ends double back on themselves just a little for removal handles.
