Underwater Vortex from Hell? Socorro Island

[jagfish]

Underwater Vortex from Hell? Socorro Island
This video was sent to me by a channel viewer for feedback. Divers stuck and struggling in an underwater vortex. If this video is genuine, I’ve never seen a more hellish underwater current pattern. The whole event takes place off the west coast of Mexico, near the island of Socorro, a spectacular dive area featuring every bucket list creature I can think of.

 

[Diving Dubai]

To me it looks plausible because you can see the horizontal bubbles swirling in a tight vortex

But it is a very small horizontal area affected so perhaps they were hamming it up for effect. A simple inflate would get them out of that baby current.

I speak as someone who gets hit by at least 1 down current per month, some are just an annoyance, a few quite dangerous and serious, requiring full inflate and max power from a scooter, and most importantly keeping a clear head. Panic won't help

I was once pushed down 25m to 50m before I could arrest the descent - the sand was another 50m below that.

We literally had to rock climb around and up a pinnacle to escape, and then rely on others to assist with more gas so we could honour the unplanned deco.

Most textbook recommendations about dealing with down currents are written by people who've never been in one

 

[drrich2]

I speak as someone who gets hit by at least 1 down current per month, some are just an annoyance, a few quite dangerous and serious, requiring full inflate and max power from a scooter, and most importantly keeping a clear head.

Very interesting! I've never been in one. When I've read of downcurrents in other threads, I got the impression they were fairly rare. Any idea why they're common where you're diving? Are the places you're finding these popular recreational dive sites, or unusual technical dive sites, or what? Any idea why down currents are so common there?

 

[NorCalDM]

This does happen a friend of mine is a dive guide at the Socorro's and they brief the divers about this when at this site.

 

[O-ring]

Thanks for posting. I am heading there in a couple months and will be on the lookout. If I get stuck in one I'll try to remember to video it so everybody can get a good laugh out of it. @Dan has been there a bunch of times.. maybe he'll drop by and comment on whether or not he's ever experienced it himself. I also noticed the dude that got caught was wearing split fins and those didn't seem to be doing much propulsion wise to get him out of there. Not saying that a paddle fin would have necessarily completely changed the game, but I'd much rather be in jets/eddys than split fins if I was dealing with something like this.

 

[Dan]

I have never heard of such vortex happened in Socorro, but I have only been there 3 times. On my second trip there, I did experience an upwelling in Roca Partida,

Trip Report - Socorro Jan 2021 Diving Trip Report

There was an upwelling too, where I just couldn’t swim against it even by deflating all the air out of my BCD. It bought me near to the surface, but the upwelling somehow died down near the surface and I was able to descend back to the deep in relatively short of time. What a ride that was.

https://www.scubaboard.com/communit...-2021-diving-trip-report.604520/#post-9271638
@jagfish video showing Great White Shark in Socorro is highly unusual. Great White Sharks are more commonly seen in colder water around Guadalupe Island and northwards. At least I haven’t seen, nor heard them in Socorro. Neither schooling of mobulas, which is more often seen in Sea of Cortez.

The worst down current I have experienced was in Crystal Bay, Bali, Indonesia. The fast current quickly flooded my mask. I had to swim fast towards the reef and hide behind boulders until the down current subsided. It usually happens around new moon or full moon, where Mola-Mola come there to be cleaned by Anglefish. We swim near the reef, not in the blue water, just in case of we swim into a downdraft, then we can get back to the reef before being pushed too deep.

My Mola Mola avatar was taken in Crystal Bay at 137’ (41m) depth with 27% Nitrox. 66F (19C) water temperature. Luckily, there was no downdraft at the time. You can see how big the Mola Mola was, relatively to a foot-long Emperor Anglefish, which was busy cleaning the Mola Mola.

 

[O-ring]

Great pic, Dan! I have only ever seen 2 Mola Mola and they were on the same dive. We were diving the Ocean Venture out of Virginia Beach of all places and two of them cruised by us on deco at the 20' stop. The first one was about the size of a Volkswagen and the second about the size of a truck tire. That one hovered maybe 3-4' away from us for a minute or so and then just slowly swam away. Very, very cool encounter.

 

[wnissen]

Underwater Vortex from Hell? Socorro Island
This video was sent to me by a channel viewer for feedback. Divers stuck and struggling in an underwater vortex. If this video is genuine, I’ve never seen a more hellish underwater current pattern. The whole event takes place off the west coast of Mexico, near the island of Socorro, a spectacular dive area featuring every bucket list creature I can think of.

That looks terrifying. Bubbles like to go up, anything that prevents them from doing so is a powerful force. Thanks for posting.

If I saw someone trapped like that, I would say that a basic principle of Rescue is that you wouldn't do anything that was likely to create a second victim. Even sending a line looks like it would be more likely to get tangled up than help.

 

[O-ring]

That looks terrifying. Bubbles like to go up, anything that prevents them from doing so is a powerful force. Thanks for posting.

If I saw someone trapped like that, I would say that a basic principle of Rescue is that you wouldn't do anything that was likely to create a second victim. Even sending a line looks like it would be more likely to get tangled up than help.

Maybe scooter by at a high rate of speed with an F-14 arresting hook and grab the diver in the vortex and tow him/her/they to safety.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Very interesting! I've never been in one. When I've read of downcurrents in other threads, I got the impression they were fairly rare. Any idea why they're common where you're diving? Are the places you're finding these popular recreational dive sites, or unusual technical dive sites, or what? Any idea why down currents are so common there?

Yes we know why.

combination of factors, strong current hitting pinnacle’s, and trying to reverse, under water topography abusing upwellings which then want to go down. You have the Persian Gulf waters which are very warm (36C in the summer and quite saline, hitting the cool waters of the Indian Ocean - 15C cooler. These Convection currents can moderate of amplify the moon tidal currents.

There’s a whole host of factors, but none are that predictable. Sure you can see some evidence on the surface which gives you an indication of not to dive that site at that time, but generally the appear out of no where and remain for a limited time. Hence most dives in that area you go prepared.

if I’m on a scooter it’s easier. Go to max power with the scooter pointing up, an inflate until I stop the descent, then power away from the area, deflating when necessary.

if no scooter than all you have is your wing. An 18lb wing is of no point. We all dive 40lb units. If you’re in the blue then pick a direction, if you’re near a reef wall, the last thing I would do is swim out in to the blue, since you don’t know how large a current it is. Carry a muck stick and ram it into the wall as a grip while you get yourself together

stopping yourself going down is the most important thing. If it’s a washing machine and you’re being tosses about too then focus on you depth gauge to ensure you’re ascending

the harsh fact of severe down currents, is that you either get to the surface or die. Even though I’ve been in quite a few I treat the potential conditions with upmost respect

sometime there are clues that you’re close to one, but not always