Diving with currents (Part 1) I really wanted to write about diving with currents, as there is a video circulating over here. Most of the time in diving, it really depends on the situation, and the most important thing, is to have logical, thinking divers, rather than just follow straight off from the book. Sometimes, the solution may not be so straight-forward at all. One of my most furious current dives was in a dive site called Batu Bolong, Komodo Island back in 2011. The current came quite sudden, and the whole group of divers was swept quickly off horizontally. I managed to grab hold of a large boulder, and quickly swam behind it with another diver. When I glanced around, my regulator was free-flowing, and I managed to see my buddy and our local Indonesian guide flashed past me with the current. While we were hanging on to the reef around 18 meters, I managed to spot my buddy further back on the reef around 30 meters away. For about 10 minutes hanging there, I thought about how best we can ascend safely. Our dive guide warned us earlier that this dive site could get strong currents, but he didn’t mention whether it was up or down currents. All this while, we saw the large swimming fishes (Giant Trevally and Chevron Barrudas) were swimming against mid current, but all the small fishes like damsel fish and anthias has gone with the wind. I assessed the situation and decided how best to ascend (since I was the most senior diver there),and I signaled to the diver and my buddy to ascend via the coral. Both of the divers watched my next move, and they followed the same. This was the one time that I had to use the ‘Geko Diving’ over the reef. The three of us managed to climb up to 6 meters depth, which was almost at the top of a submerged reef. The current was still as furious as ever. We had already dived for 30 minutes, and with the current pushing, we had limited air supply. We managed to do safety stop while hanging on with our tired hands, still clinging to the edge of the reef. The next decision was the toughest to make. Not knowing whether this was up or down current (after the submerged reef) could affect the fate for the three of us. If it was a down-current, we could be dragged deeper. So finning straight up hard was the only option. But if it was up-current, and if we finned up hard, we could shoot up like a balloon, risking ourselves to lung over-expansion injury and DCS. Since the two divers were following my lead, I decided to fin diagonally to the surface. Thankfully, it was a horizontal current, pushing sideway across the submerged reef. When we reached the surface safely, we met the rest of the diver on the boat. They managed to get behind the submerged reef, but the current was too strong to continue, so they decided to surface as well. This was one of the most challenging dive experiences I have had, but if I had to go do it again, I am sure I know how to manage it. So, to the Rescue Divers out there, remember the phrase ‘Stop-Breathe-Think-& Act’, can be useful in many situations. Practice this often, and you know you can always get yourself out in any tough situations! Next : Judging the currents youtube/watch?v=lAsICJVYbgU
Posted on: Mon, 18 Aug 2014 06:14:34 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015