My wife and I were caught in a ferocious down current at a local site wed been on together many times. We were heading back to the entry/exit point (shore dive) when I noticed that all the little floaty stuff in the water was heading down. About the time my mind got to the first m in hmmm we shot down from twenty to forty feet. I instinctively grabbed my wife with one hand and a rock with another. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mike, the third in our trio disappear like something from lost in space. I remember thinking, damn, thats too bad, I really liked Mike. Its not that Im that callus about my dive buddies, its just that thats all the thought I had time for and this was one helluva current. We had shot down the wall to a sloping field of rocks and sand. The rock I had grabbed didnt hold and began to be drug down with us; I let go and grabbed the next rock that came along, same effect. The third rock I grabbed held. Now at about 60-65 feet I tried to pull my wife up to the rock. There was little I could do with both hands busy but if I could get her to the rock we could climb out. Pulling as hard as I could and her kicking, I still couldnt get her up to the rock. After a few attempts, I stopped and caught my breath. I pondered our situation and thought well, Im not going to die here
so I pulled again and this time got her to the rock.
Once on the rock we did a little hand over hand across the current and tucked under the lee side of a near by bolder. There we caught our breath, and our bearings. This had all happened at the end of our dive so I almost didnt want to know what my air gauge said (one emergency per dive is quite enough). Fortunately, we both still had the better part of 500psi left so life was good. We continued to move across the current and were very quickly out of it.
Once clear of the current we ascended safely to the surface.
Discussing it later, we both felt that airing up wasnt an option (there just wasnt time). Also, we always knew that dumping our weight belts was an option but we both felt we hadnt hit that point yet. Down currents arent that uncommon around here so we had already discussed what we would do if we encountered one, and thats exactly what we did. Im a fanatic no touch diver but when push comes to shove, Im going to assert my place on the food chain rather than become part of it. I apologize heartily to all the invertebrates I squished but theyll grow back, I wont.
Lessons learned: We are very small and Mother Nature is very very big (its hard to appreciate this until youre just another leaf in the wind). Watch whats going on around you, kelp is a great way to see whats going on above you and where youre going. The little floaty stuff (of which we have lots) responds to current trends much faster than our ponderous bulk does, watch it. If something doesnt make sense pay attention! Do exactly what youre doing here; discuss the possibilities with your buddy and others. What we did may not have been what the textbooks say to do but we knew what to expect from each other and thats exactly what we did. Finally, DONT PANIC. As reefraff said, Stop. Breathe. Think.
My 2 cents,
Dave