Two things I learned diving in places with strongest currents such as in R4, Komodo, NL, Sipadan, etc: 1. Stay as low as possible (or closest to the reef without touching it) 2. Put away your camera and focus!
@formosepuer I agree- especially the go pro ones very reckless and not aware of their surroundings. Worst is when they chase turtles and follow them to the surface without thinking of its consequences
@@leecha3444 Ascending too fast can lead to decompression sickness, as nitrogen dissolved in the blood/tissues comes out of solution as bubbles. Death is a possibility, if bubbles stop blood flow in the heart, or the brain.
And when it potentially become dangerous or life threatening, grab on and pull yourself hand over hand, while continuing kicking. Cling, stop and rest a minute and continue to safety. Try to avoid live coral (if you can), but get to safety. I have had to use this technique a time or two. Currents strengths can be less predictable than we think/plan for.
@@RrRr-or5tw if 1 hand is enough, that is when you can take the opportunity to compose yourself, look around, shake it off, and start making decisions on how to get back to a safe depth, and continue to enjoy the dive. Taking a pic is not really the first thing to do.
This reminds me of my fourth scuba dive EVER that I just came back from!! I was in a place called Coral Garden in Pulau Payar, Langkawi in malaysia too when something like this happened to me but in a much lesser scale. The visibility for the previous 3 dives was not the best, silt particles and fish crap suspended in the water EVERYWHERE, the visibility only about 2 metres. However, on my 4th dive, the visibility was about 6 metres!! So we descended on the ocean bed and peacefully floated pass the corals, enjoying the view and we reached a wall of coral we had to swim up and over to turn around (there were more variety of corals there). Keep in mind there was a very mild current when we were swimming along the sea bed. As soon as I swam up to go over the coral wall, a strong current suddenly came and pushed me away from my buddy and the visibility changed from 6m to 1m! I lost sight of my dive master and buddy, only surrounded by white flurries getting pushed farther and farther out into the sea, and this being my 4th dive ever, I panicked. I looked around frantically, breathed a lot more air than I should and hyperventilated, before deciding to swim against the current where in the direction I came from, instead of the normal procedure of slowly ascending to the surface. The current was so strong, I used lots of air and my energy, and I literally could not see a THING in front of me. Suddenly I see my dive masters face in front of mine, pulling me downwards to hide behind a coral wall with everyone else where they were hiding from the current. It was so scary!!!!
In a situation like this dont panic and just ascend to be honest. On the surface everything looks much better and in one or two minutes your group would abort the dive and join you at the top..
I'll never understand why people think it is a fabulous idea to take people in outside water, especially sea water, with such little dives under their belt.
Quote from Nemo,‘ I love it and gave it a like. Thanks for the laugh man, but fr though if I ever scuba dive I’m gonna watch this guy for tips on how to not die.
@@einarbk885 You have to swim horizontally away from the wall out toward the big blue water. Down drafts or currents are typically only right beside the wall, so instead of swimming up you swim away from the wall and out of the current.
You definitely should leave your camera on the boat for some more dives. It’s very clear that you are not experienced. This is a seriously normal situation at many dive sites in Komodo, Raja Ampat and many other places. You weren’t able to handle it and then decided to Film whilst kicking the shit out of the corals … 🤦♂️
I remember being caught in a down current in the Indian Ocean with 4 other instructors. Each of us came up in a completely different location. We were scared we lost our Japanese friend and colleague Mikiko but luckily she was just admiring the reef. Glad you made it safely.
I live in Wisconsin and since I was a kid my biggest hobby has been snorkeling. (Yet to scuba) Only a few dozen timesI have had opportunity to snorkel in Ocean. Doing much researching about currents/ riptide prior to being in Ocean, NOTHING can prepare you like the real deal as like this there is little to no warning as a Person needs to be aware of surroundings while having fun. Nowhere like a Professional I know I'm an above stronger swimmer than the Average person, but as I was diving just barely in and outside the reef in 10ft to 30ft deep water when without warning as in video when your going sideways with nothing to grab onto being dragged so fast as I trying to grab anything but all I'm accomplishing is losing skin from corral. It very difficult to not panic but not panicking is only reason I'm commenting here. Long story short, by time I reached surface my ears felt like ice picks were jammed in them and my whole body looked like someone sliced me up. When I reached shore I didn't recognize anything. Took me almost 7hrs to make my way back to where Resort was. And this was when this Area of 100miles either direction was first available for Vacationers. Beach where Jungle is stretching itself out into Ocean. Yes, my Family was in panic as I would raise my fins out of water so they could see me from shore so when I didn't come up they thought worse. I was just dragged down and out towards deeper water. Luckily I knew from watching Documentarys (before you tube) to not fight with current but tumble (swimming with style like Buzz Lightyear) kinda same direction of shoreline. Panic you die. Being pulled out deeper away from Coast, you die. Be aware of your surroundings. Great Video
I’m barely knowing about underwater currents and they look very scary. When you say if you get pull out of the Coast you die, what do you mean? How do you die? Do you know if a current can pull you in from being 5 feet into the beach, in the ocean? I’m very curious. Thank you if you reply.
@@user-ut7vi6mr5d you sound like a beachgoer concerned about being pulled into the ocean. If youre not deep diving you will probably never encounter a vertical current. Youre probably worried about rip currents on the beach that might pull you out. Its actually very easy to beat but like everyone tells you just DONT PANIC. the moment you do you will be in actual life threatening danger from YOURSELF. you see how the water on the beach comes in straight, pulls out straight? When the water is pulling away from the beach, fighting it is stupid, the ocean is stronger than you. Relax, figure it out, swim sideways out of the current. The current is a straight line in and out, if you go left or right a few seconds youre already out. Then calmly go back to the beach. Actually think of a treadmill. You cant beat the treadmill and if you try to, you will get tired and lose and the treadmill will pull you all the way back and down. But if you just step off sideways you beat it
Basic stuff: always carry a SBM. If you can't swim against the current, go up and deploy it while you decompress. Someone at the surface will spot you.
@@ailigstruthers7301 hasn't happened to me but I've heard depending on the type it can make your profile larger and the current has even more area to push
@@Gotwoh3ll not an issue atall. Its a very small change in volume/surface area and doesnt have a great affect. The only potential issue on ascent - rapid runaway when shallowing up and not dumping, or when you eventually find an up current (typically on a wall) and it launches you to the surface in seconds (even less when fully inflated..)
It’s ok and sometimes even advisable to hold on the coral in a last ditch attempt to keep yourself in place in a sudden strong current. Thankfully, the dive master knew this and did it. It’s good to have gloves so you can do this without hurting yourself. In the meantime, for the sake of the coral, try to maintain the rest of your body away from the reef so you don’t scrape or knock against it
@@ppo2424 how do you surface when it's a down current ?? Lateral currents, sure, go up and abort - but how in the heck do you get out of a down draft without being pushed down further ??
I experienced a down current, more like a pull down current, on a military dive. We were conducting a dive survey of a man made lake in preparation for a “ water jump “ ; suddenly we went from 20 feet down to 80 feet in seconds, in addition to visibility going from murky to zero. We had to kick with everything we had and pump air into our buoyancy compensators just to break free from the rapid decent. A very unexpected experience.
@@intrepidsouls You can can get down currents in quarries. One end of the lake is shallow and the water heats up and flows out over to the other end and sinks to the bottom like an elevator going down. They are invisible from the surface but can drown swimmers really easily.
one of the addition things to check in the maldives is looking at where your bubble go - it gives advance warning of current. At the start you can see the bubbles being pushed away and down.
Oh! Let me share this Sipadan madness with you.. Me, my daughter and 7 year old grandson went out with a dive boat to snorkel on Sipadan... we were staying on Mabul island. The dive boat just dropped us off in the water about 100-150 yards from the island and then took off, leaving us out there alone. At first it was cool, amazing sea life and fish, but all of a sudden, boom, the current caught us. The boat was completely out of sight and we were drifting in very fast current around to the north west of the island. We are all excellent swimmers, we just held hands so we wouldn’t be separated from each other. There was no way to swim to the island because of the shallow coral, on the other side was a deep AF drop off into the abbess. We were flying super fast along the drop off and the coral, like a speeding car. I was almost in a panic, my grandson enjoyed the entire nightmare, too young to understand how dangerous it was. We were out there alone for over an hour, then the boat reappeared. I was pissed, they never told us they were gonna just leave us out there like that. Crazy shit for sure.
Be very careful folks. Even free diving you could get stuck in a current. My friend Hoku RIP 🙏🏽 was pulled out to sea in Guam Spearfishing, they never found him. He left his wife and young kids that day. 💔. I had a similar experience on Oahu in Makaha Spearfishing of the coast. There is a sudden drop off near the point where some larger pelagics tend to travel. I was in that area during a tide change and the current picked up quick. It was so strong I had to hook my spear to a piece of reef and just hold onto my gun and take a break because I was so out of breath trying to swim against the current. I was out alone and I knew this current was going to pull me out to deep water fast if I didn’t grab something. I was in about 15’ of water at that moment but the drop off was about 50’ away and about 100’+ deep. I’m so thankful I was able to catch my breath and use that same tactic to slowly move out of the rip zone. It was a few months later my friend was lost in Guam. He was Spearfishing with a group at night which is pretty common in Hawaii. Sleeping fish are easy to sneak up on. In Guam two ocean currents collide off the peninsula. It is a very dangerous place to swim and many have been taken by the sea there. RIP brother Hoku 😪 miss you my friend.
How did you all get out of it? It's so scary! I was almost dragged out to deep waters by ocean currents once and it was a feeling of coming very close to being in a life or death situation. This is what I hate about ocean adventures, the ocean waters can be so deceitful and treacherous.
Why not inflate the bcd a little to maintain your buoyancy if it's pulling you down? Was the current not mentioned in the dive briefing? Just from watching this, it doesn't seem like a down current to me. It looks like a washing machine type current while the reef is deepening. Glad you're safe and well.
In a properly bad downcurrent, that BCD may not be enough, Ive tried it at a reef that drops off to a few hundred meters deep. I had to swim away from the reef into the blue to get around the current, which left me about 75-100 meters to swim back to the reef. Oh well, interesting dive I guess..
@@luyongci Normally a current will go horizontally through the water. A downcurrent is a current that for some reason goes towards the bottom, kinda like an underwater waterfall. As with all currents the downcurrents can be anything from barely noticeable to very dangerous if you dont know how to get out of them
@@tigerman1978 yeah I am trying to see if the air bubble is going down, but I can’t really tell due to camera angles, also they are already at sand beach bottom, if it is only down current, while not horizontal current why would her drift apart from the DM?
It is unfair to let you learn dive in a dive site that still have strong current.But hey, that's the skill you need to learn further down the line anyway. Just remember to stay as low as possible, and as close as the reef. Keep calm, and having fun (diving) !
Thank you for the tips. Ill be sure to keep them in mind. 👍🏻 Btw, just to clarify, this was a fun dive just so happened my instructor and I joined the same dive group when we went to Sipadan hence us diving together. Hehehe 🐟🐠🐡
That would have been really scary. Upwelling can be just as bad because of surfacing too quickly, but truly the thought of getting dragged down into waters way below your depth is very terrifying! Fascinating to read about, but scary . . .
It's why even when not on a deco dive, i still dive doubles, and may even sling an O2 al40. Even turning the dive at 1200, I still have almost 30 minutes to get to a safety stop, and even deco gas at 20 for almost an hour... Heavy as heck though.. at this point it's either CCR or back surgery
I got caught in a down current whilst snorkeling around the tropical island of Samoa’s version of the blue hole. I had to cling to the sharpe edges of coral and hand walk my way along the top of the coral to where I could stand up on sand. Ripped my hands apart but beats getting fatigued trying to swim against it and drowning. Ocean currents can creep up quickly in deep water if you don’t pay attention.
I always carry little extras with me underwater - a storm whistle, a signal mini strobe, a reef hook etc.Always observe the angle of the bubbles before the camera lens.Dive safely.👍👍👍
Did you not hear the change in the sound of your breathe (the bubbles) or feel the extra squeeze that indicates a depth change? Those would have been warning signs that something wasn’t quite right, then you may have been able to get out of the current while you are at the edge of it. Some other people here said it best though, always carry a delayed smb. At least that gives you something to hold on to, stops you going deeper and hopefully provides something that you can move up along.
Also spent 4 days diving in Sipadan last year, absolutely amazing. But the very first dive we also had a really mean current, luckily it just carried us along the ledge nicely. I was pretty nervous though I didn't have much experience (like 30 dives) and it was definitely the strongest current i had ever experienced. Really glad that it wasn't a downcurrent now, your video looked like it was quite sketchy.
That must have been a fun & thrilling first dive 😅 did you see a lot of schools during your dive? Glad to know you also had an amazing time exploring the waters of Sipadan. I myself enjoyed every bit of it. But this downcurrent is by far the scariest I’ve experienced in my 3 years of diving 😂
Was it a DRIFT DIVE? did you guys have surface support? this is great, but could have been deadly, also if you ever encounter a down current (not downstream) then air your BCD to avoid descent. Great video and greater yet that you were still filming and did not panic. Way to go, bow you have LOTS OF MORE EXPERIENCE, believe me, the hard way to learn...we learn ALOT. congrats and thanks for the video.
best thing to do in this case is to use ur compass to see what direction you are going, and get INTO the reef so you dont get blown off the site. Most important stay calm, and if you REALLY start getting washed away send up your DSMB. Safe diving friends!
Other divers have called me a wuss but this is why I prefer reef diving over finger coral in calm seas at a max depth at around 40 feet. Love those sunny days with flat conditions where visibility is AMAZING. Strong currents can still happen in those areas but they're not as common due to the shallower depth. On one dive off of Key Largo a storm came up which produced a really bad current I had to swim against to get back to the boat. Ohhhhhhhh did I regret those cheap fins. It was MISERABLE. That swim wore me the heck out - I was practically hyperventalating. I went out the next day and bought a better pair of fins.
OK so how do you get out of this situation ? Video ends with everyone clinging to the wall. Are you waiting for the current to die down or shift direction? What do you do to get out of this?
You all let go and drift. The current may drop off as you cross into deep water. You can swim through this if you go low and use a steady frog kick, but you need excellent technique and buoyancy. In this case that’s probably the end of the dive.
"Doing my thing... LOL!" As she creates a dangerous situation for her entire class, and not paying attention to where she should be swimming. Wreckless!
That is a very smart thing to do. Anything to give yourself a better chance. It's scary as hell being dragged out to the deep open sea, it almost happened to me once and I wish I had a tracker on me at that moment, but fortunately I didn't need it. Still though, the risk is there.
Even with over 300 dives at this point I prefer to mount the main camera on my head… and keep a small go pro hanging off D-loop in case I need to take a quick shot. It can be distracting when you are focusing on the shot rather than what’s happening around you.
I've had my share of frightening encounters in and on the Ocean. Training and having good equipment and a competent buddy are your lifelines. Yet, in the end the Seas always have the last word.
Crush death is at 1,000 meters aka 3,282 ft. You would be probably dead before even getting that deep. Water pressure at 1,000 meters is around 5,000 PSI. equivalent to you getting crushed by a small truck. It’s also pitch black at 1,000 meters so good luck being in that situation. Because without a submersible, you’re dead as fuck.
@@beazrich2.017 No, you won't be dead even if you reached that depth. I said it before replying to another one of your comments but since humans are mostly made of water we are incompressible and immune to the pressure exerted on us by the ocean. The only problems pressure poses to us is when it comes to equalizing the pressure in the parts of our body that are filled with air which is compressible. Like having to equalize the pressure in your inner ear, and the higher pressure requiring you to breathe special gas mixes to avoid dying from oxygen toxicity or nitrogen narcosis. Human bone would not be crushed until we reach 35,000 meters of depth, nowhere in the ocean is that deep. We can stand at the bottom of the marianas trench and be unharmed, humans are more durable than you'd think. Water pressure only affects things that are filled with air, which is why submarines can be crushed like a tin can at depths that humans would be unharmed at, the water in our body pushes back against the ocean with the same pressure that the ocean presses against us with, you don't really "feel" pressure at all because of this.
That's why always stay close to your dive master and/or instructor. I've got fun divers who likes to move around, I don't mind as long as they listen when i tell them to stay close when the current is strong, but when they don't listen and still proceed going far even when called (not saying that you didn't listen here), it's pretty stressful.
That turned into a drift dive pretty fast , similar thing happened to me in the Maldives when a pistol shrimp decided to flick my fingers I was anchored to the rocks with , luckily enough my dive buddy managed to grab a fin and pull me back, literally 1mtr away from the reef the current was twice as fast.
Doesn't a drift dive usually END at this point? Why in the he'll was everyone battling the curent? time to deploy the SMB and get the hell outta there.
@@Octpuz the downcurrent will be strongest close to the wall/ bottom. as soon as you remove yourself a little from there you can conduct a normal safety stop
There are literally waterfalls underwater with currents, etc. Anytime you approach a dropoff you have to be aware of these phenomena, you would think they would teach this to new students.
Yup, the ocean drop offs are also 1 to 2 miles deep. So imagine looking down at the Grand Canyon from a cliff side which is 6,000 ft deep, now just picture that but potentially twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and not being able to see the bottom because even at 660 ft deep, the water around you is already dim. Have you’ve ever scuba dive at reefs at dusk hour? yeah? well, that’s the light visibility at 660ft deep and once you are at 3,282 ft its hello pitch black water for you along with being crushed.
@@beazrich2.017 You won't be crushed. Humans are mostly made up of water which is incompressible which is why we can easily withstand walking under 1,000fsw on the seafloor, which saturation divers do pretty regularly. But since our lungs are not filled with water they are susceptible to being compressed at those depths and the partial pressure of oxygen increases as well so to safely go that deep you need to breathe a gas mixture that contains very little oxygen or you will go into convulsions from oxygen toxicity. You will run out of oxygen much more quickly at greater depths since you consume more gas with every breath the deeper you go. It's pretty cool how resistant we are to hydrostatic pressure because we are basically filled with water. You could take a water balloon to the bottom of the Marianas Trench and it'd be just fine.
@@JohnDoeWasntTaken I get it, but once you’re at 1,000 meters aka 3,282 ft you’re at such enormous pressure that if you’re not in a submersible then you would simply be crushed in seconds.
@@beazrich2.017 Your lungs would be, but that's about it my friend. It is quite amazing that we would be largely unharmed at that depth. The deepest saturation dive was 2 hours at 2,300 feet, keep in mind that's without one of those sci-fi "armored diving suits". We also have suits that we can pressurize with gas equal to the hydrostatic pressure of water. Amazing that he could stay that deep for that long. That's why we want to invent liquid breathing so badly, once we eliminate the factor of our lungs being crushed, by filling them with an incompressible liquid, we can push the limits even further. We do face some physiological problems past 2,000 feet but to be outright crushed would take a deeper depth than our oceans can provide. At 3,282fsw (saltwater and freshwater have different densities so divers make a distinction in their measurements) you just wouldn't be able to breathe very effectively if at all. You would need to breathe gases at incredible pressure to counteract the force applied to your lungs.
Can somebody explain this for someone that doesn't know the first thing about diving? The current was pushing them back, not actually down - can't they just go up to the surface for the time being? So it's easier to see where everybody is and probably see how far away from their boat or whatever they are?
So when going up you need stops in between to make sure you don't get decompression sickness wich could lead to death in some cases, and currents are extremely dangerous as shown in this video and going up isn't as easy as it sounds while you're in a current
@@motogriso1 The strongest currents, in my limited 500-odd dive experience, we close to the rocks. Sure, you can hold a rock (not coral) and stabilise yourself and to an extent hide from current (like hiding behind a corner), but if caught in such a current (and I've been caught in plenty), with the option to fight the current (bad idea) or to exit the current and bail the dive, I found it easiest to swim away from the reef / wall etc into bluewater. That always got me out of the up/down/washing machine current and then I was able to make a stable and controlled blue water ascent.
Time to fill up that buoyancy compensator. Current at around 5 knots? That is fast underwater. My certification dive was a drift dive which is where the boat drops you off at one spot and picks you up miles away at another. Similar to this in the video but a bit clearer. And the current in the video may have been a little faster. Maybe over 5 knots. I am just estimating. You definitely do not want to start bouncing off the bottom in a strong current. Nothing fun about that. Plus your depth changes quickly when you are underwater. And you have to be extremely controlled when it comes to your depth. You do not get many mistakes underwater. Stay safe!
I learned diving in environments that were often like this and I’ve had similar experiences in many places, including Sipadan, can’t remember the site but there was a sort of long channel where the sharks would sometimes hang out. But this is pretty decent current, no doubt. It’s times like this it’s good to have some local knowledge of the site. Looks to me like the divemaster missed slack high tide, and now the tide is coming down off the reef in all the channels and crevasses, even down the slope off the dropoff. Unless that was the idea. Just seems like an odd choice for a drift dive to me unless there was some special plan. Some of my own procedures for stuff like this include. - Don’t bring a camera on a drift dive, where the current is stronger than you. You want to be streamlined and to have your hands free and to not be distracted or tempted by ambition to achieve this or that against the best interests of you and the group. Most people I’ve seen struggle in adverse situations as a guide were carrying camera gear on a dive that was beyond or pushing their limits. Even experienced divers. - Add an extra 1/2 to 1 kg of weight. It takes a little longer for the current take hold of you when you change position or if you need to go heavier against the bottom. - Bring proper strong fins and have the muscle power to drive them efficiently. If your fins fold against the current - they’re too soft and you’ll have to work faster and harder per breath consequently pushing your pulse and breathing rate up burning air faster. Believe me. I recommend a classic Mares Avanti or similar. - Relax - worst case you can almost always make some kind of reasonably controlled ascent. YOu may drift, you may loose the group, but you can if you have to and you’ll be alive. - Control your finning don’t hammer away mindlessly, be efficient but don’t fight the sea with energy alone use your head and still try to achieve as much as possible with as little as possible. That’s how you … - COntrol your breathing rate. Keep focusing on a slow controlled uptake. Keep as calm of a breathing cadence possible, this is why you don’t want soft fins that wont allow you to recover and bring the pulse down a bit between strokes. - Swim as close the reef as you can - water running over a surface ALWAYS create some measue of backcurrent as much as 30-50 cm up. This makes a big difference to your work load. - Use the terrain to your advantage. Work from one sheltered position to the next. Plan your course one section at a time. Go behind structures as much as possible to recover and keep out of the main current. - Wear gloves so you can safely hang onto something if you have to. You may have to crawl out using your hands. - If youre moving along the side of the reef and you see a crevasse ahead, check for brown or yellow water and the direction of softcorals and how fish position themselves. That’s will show a local downcurrent. On a reef wall you can actually usually get around this simply by doing a halfcircle out in blue water. Ever so often the downcurrent is local and coming of the reef and does not reach out that far. YOu can usually simply swin around it. - By the same token stay clear of anything resembling a whirlpool - you can tell by looking to the surface if one seems to be forming and you can usually analyse the reef structure and direction of current to see if one would be likely in a given spot. - On more of a slope its more of a chance to take but sometimes the current mostly runs along the bottom and the water is calmer higher in the column. Watch your bubbles and how they move to read whats going on in the different layers. In some locations you may have multiple directions happening at different depths. DOn’t go for this unless you’re prepared to completely do a free ascent if you have to. - Worst case, hug the reef and climb out. If you are on level bottom or on a slope and certainly if you are in a channel or hollow - it is worth angling gradually sideways to see if it will take you out of the main current. Look for clearer water ahead and check the soft corals and fish to get an idea of what is going on. - Carefully approach any corner, bend or crack in the reef, things may be very different just a few metres ahead. - Keep an eye out for temperature changes. Warmer water often means surface water coming off the reef. Cold clear water may indicate an upwelling or deep current coming up. - If you’re caught in a downcurrent its almost always better to swim sideways out of it than try to swim dead against it. - Stay close as a group, its easier for the guide to manage. - Don’t do drift diving without local knowledge in the group. Arguably don’t do drift diving with inexperienced divers or people you’re not too sure about unless the setup is right for it. They get in trouble, someone else likely will too. Likely they’ll occupy the guide, in which case you need to know how to somewhat fend for yourself at least for a while. - Make sure that the guys topside on the boat understands what youre doing and how far the current may take you and in which direction and that they won’t be taking a nap while you’re at it. Bring a surface buoy and a whistle or similar signaling device so they can spot you even at a distance or if the waves pick up. - Make sure the dive plan takes the tide or ocean currents or inland rainfall causing rivers to swell into consideration and remember the tide does not stay the same throughout the lunar circle and the ocean currents do necessarily stay the same throughout the year. Knowing the tide for your dive time slot will allow you to make better calls or predictions once you’re down there. Is it going up or down? When? What does that mean in practice? - As always - as long as you control your buoyancy and has ample air and bottom time buffer for the ascent and exit - you’re good for the moment. You deal with current deliberately and one piece at a time.
@@dheedou You’re welcome. Funny thing about learning diving in a complex current environment is I often find myself tending to stay close to surfaces without really thinking about it. It’s like it got drilled into me early on that things can change rapidly, even if I am way more unlikely to be surpised by it today. Force of habit i guess. There is a certain perspective you develop when seeing your bubbles going down rather than up 😂
From the topography, they're at the corner of Barracuda Point swimming from Coral Gardens... Usually that's where the waterfall down current are found. Strong enough to make make you crawl on the bottom sometimes. And glad you had fun diving with us 😂
I am certified dive master with more than thousand dives because i am a commercial diver aswell. But never in my entire life think that diving is always safe. I always bring the mind setting of eminent danger. That the water was full of mystery and unforseen danger. So before planning to become a diver. Think several time first and make sure you are focus and no panic attack.
Strong current, get close to reef or structure (wreck), use two fingers on rock or wreck to hold on if no reef hook. Don't swim into it, your best bet is to keep low and swim at 90 degrees to current and you'll find a way out. Watch the particulate in water and fish, particulate will go direction of current, fish will point in to it. Copy fish direction. Worst case abort dive and surface is safe to do so, always swim away from reef if boat diving. Swells are a bit more tricky, go with the flow, always breathe, as you can raise and lower 2 to 3m each time. If in any doubt don't dive or abort the dive and forget the camera!
I was just going to say grab to something guys. Been more that once that I got into strong currents that I had to drag myself along in order to get into a favorable position. Of course being as careful as possible to not grab live coral. I hope that there was a dive master with a good surface float and dependable chase boat.
YEP...been there scuba diving!! I watched the seaweed go from standing straight up to lying flat on the ocean floor with the ends flickering like a flag on a windy day. Never thought I'd get out and panic started to settle in. I was out of air and about a second from saying f@ck it, I'm ready to suck in the water and drown! At that moment I caught a reef, sharp as all heck and was able to get my head above the surface. I don't dive anymore!! My body looked like I went through a meat grinder!!
Thats not a real downcurrent. Just strong current that follows the reef. I experienced a downcurrent and that was totally different story then this. Was on a wall dive and from on to another moment we where pushed down from 25 m to around 55 m in a less then 30 seconds. Inflate bcd didn't help at all. Only way to get out is try to swim horizontal out the current or hope it stops on time. Lucky we where all very experienced divers and managed to swim out between 45m and 60 m. Then you have to be careful that you don't fly up because your bcd is full with air. Hope that I never have that experience again.
Been diving a few years. Lots of live aboard in red sea and places.. in a current like that abort dive while have plenty of air and your not exhausted.. start to accend go with current.. not down!!!! Lol Get SMB ready and while fingers safety stop your boat will come..... no point hanging on getting tired and using all ya air Don't fight currents Or any other dried fruit
this is the only exeption, when it's ok to touch the reef! took you way to long to realize that... this can be very dangerous! was also caught in a very strong downcurrent, and had to climb back up! needed all my strenght to make it to the surface again... i had like 20 bar left in the end
Down currents and vertical currents in general are caused by the sudden change in the floors elevation, and the difference in warm and cold ocean temperatures meeting at ocean drop offs.
My girlfriend and i had this happen too us.. i got pushed up .. she got pushed down.. she dissapeared into the darkness.. our divemaster looked at me... i was .. go get her bro.. luckily she was ok..
What causes this? I’m a whitewater kayaker and more than familiar with being pushed under against my will… but in the ocean?? I’m guessing it’s something like the tide moving through a narrow/shallow channel into a deeper area? 🤔
That happened to me in Sumatra and fortunately I was carrying my spanking new reef hook which the the President of our dive club in KL had insisted we buy. I didn't realize until I was hooking on to rocks along the way what a fantastic idea it was. Same thing with the no gloves. If your trained and qualified to achieve neutral bouyancy you won't be touching anything unless you have to hold on to something to save you life.
the fishes were like "look at these noobs..."
😬😅😆
LOL
“Fish”
LOL!
😂
Two things I learned diving in places with strongest currents such as in R4, Komodo, NL, Sipadan, etc:
1. Stay as low as possible (or closest to the reef without touching it)
2. Put away your camera and focus!
Thanks u the best
@formosepuer I agree- especially the go pro ones very reckless and not aware of their surroundings. Worst is when they chase turtles and follow them to the surface without thinking of its consequences
@@pinkychang what are the consequences?
@@leecha3444 Ascending too fast can lead to decompression sickness, as nitrogen dissolved in the blood/tissues comes out of solution as bubbles. Death is a possibility, if bubbles stop blood flow in the heart, or the brain.
And when it potentially become dangerous or life threatening, grab on and pull yourself hand over hand, while continuing kicking. Cling, stop and rest a minute and continue to safety. Try to avoid live coral (if you can), but get to safety. I have had to use this technique a time or two. Currents strengths can be less predictable than we think/plan for.
The current is going to send us to our deaths, but first, let me take a SELFIE!
Yeah. Rather than hold on with two hands the idiot wants to take stupid pictures.
Total idiot
@@clivecampbell4138 I mean if one hand is enough not using the opportunity to take a picture would be stupid
@@RrRr-or5tw if 1 hand is enough, that is when you can take the opportunity to compose yourself, look around, shake it off, and start making decisions on how to get back to a safe depth, and continue to enjoy the dive. Taking a pic is not really the first thing to do.
This reminds me of my fourth scuba dive EVER that I just came back from!! I was in a place called Coral Garden in Pulau Payar, Langkawi in malaysia too when something like this happened to me but in a much lesser scale. The visibility for the previous 3 dives was not the best, silt particles and fish crap suspended in the water EVERYWHERE, the visibility only about 2 metres. However, on my 4th dive, the visibility was about 6 metres!! So we descended on the ocean bed and peacefully floated pass the corals, enjoying the view and we reached a wall of coral we had to swim up and over to turn around (there were more variety of corals there). Keep in mind there was a very mild current when we were swimming along the sea bed. As soon as I swam up to go over the coral wall, a strong current suddenly came and pushed me away from my buddy and the visibility changed from 6m to 1m! I lost sight of my dive master and buddy, only surrounded by white flurries getting pushed farther and farther out into the sea, and this being my 4th dive ever, I panicked. I looked around frantically, breathed a lot more air than I should and hyperventilated, before deciding to swim against the current where in the direction I came from, instead of the normal procedure of slowly ascending to the surface. The current was so strong, I used lots of air and my energy, and I literally could not see a THING in front of me. Suddenly I see my dive masters face in front of mine, pulling me downwards to hide behind a coral wall with everyone else where they were hiding from the current. It was so scary!!!!
How long did it take for the current to subside?
Thanks for sharing your experience! Glad all of you are safe.
Jeez Divemasters are like angels in this kind of situation...
In a situation like this dont panic and just ascend to be honest. On the surface everything looks much better and in one or two minutes your group would abort the dive and join you at the top..
I'll never understand why people think it is a fabulous idea to take people in outside water, especially sea water, with such little dives under their belt.
This is why I never Scuba without a Parachute !
19 dollar fortnight card
Exactly
Gotta have it just in case
Uh it’s called a scubachute
🤣🤣
Oh, I saw the whole thing, dude! First, you were like, whoa! And then we were like, WHOA! And then you were like, whoa.
🤣🤣🤣
And then I heard one of u said.. "With me and my friends" Whoa
Whoa..
Quote from Nemo,‘ I love it and gave it a like. Thanks for the laugh man, but fr though if I ever scuba dive I’m gonna watch this guy for tips on how to not die.
Hahaha ,syit made me laugh. Hahahaa!
I was on board HMCS Saskatchewan in the early 1990s when we lost 2 experienced divers to a downcurrent in Gibson's, BC.
They are incredibly dangerous.
maybe im missing something, but if you start to get carried down...as long as the surface above you is free, filling your vest with air doesnt help?
@@einarbk885 You have to swim horizontally away from the wall out toward the big blue water. Down drafts or currents are typically only right beside the wall, so instead of swimming up you swim away from the wall and out of the current.
You definitely should leave your camera on the boat for some more dives. It’s very clear that you are not experienced. This is a seriously normal situation at many dive sites in Komodo, Raja Ampat and many other places. You weren’t able to handle it and then decided to Film whilst kicking the shit out of the corals … 🤦♂️
I know all I could think about was the poor corals.
perfect answer. Poor corals, but hey .........look at me underwater.
Have the camera be attached to you by a cord so that you can let go and focus on not dying when this stuff happens
I remember being caught in a down current in the Indian Ocean with 4 other instructors. Each of us came up in a completely different location. We were scared we lost our Japanese friend and colleague Mikiko but luckily she was just admiring the reef. Glad you made it safely.
Awwwh indian Ocean is in my country . Iam glad you visited. You are always welcome. Feel at home 😊
I live in Wisconsin and since I was a kid my biggest hobby has been snorkeling. (Yet to scuba)
Only a few dozen timesI have had opportunity to snorkel in Ocean. Doing much researching about currents/ riptide prior to being in Ocean, NOTHING can prepare you like the real deal as like this there is little to no warning as a Person needs to be aware of surroundings while having fun. Nowhere like a Professional I know I'm an above stronger swimmer than the Average person, but as I was diving just barely in and outside the reef in 10ft to 30ft deep water when without warning as in video when your going sideways with nothing to grab onto being dragged so fast as I trying to grab anything but all I'm accomplishing is losing skin from corral.
It very difficult to not panic but not panicking is only reason I'm commenting here. Long story short, by time I reached surface my ears felt like ice picks were jammed in them and my whole body looked like someone sliced me up. When I reached shore I didn't recognize anything. Took me almost 7hrs to make my way back to where Resort was. And this was when this Area of 100miles either direction was first available for Vacationers. Beach where Jungle is stretching itself out into Ocean. Yes, my Family was in panic as I would raise my fins out of water so they could see me from shore so when I didn't come up they thought worse. I was just dragged down and out towards deeper water. Luckily I knew from watching Documentarys (before you tube) to not fight with current but tumble (swimming with style like Buzz Lightyear) kinda same direction of shoreline.
Panic you die. Being pulled out deeper away from Coast, you die. Be aware of your surroundings.
Great Video
Scary shit bro.
I’m barely knowing about underwater currents and they look very scary. When you say if you get pull out of the Coast you die, what do you mean? How do you die? Do you know if a current can pull you in from being 5 feet into the beach, in the ocean? I’m very curious. Thank you if you reply.
@@user-ut7vi6mr5d you sound like a beachgoer concerned about being pulled into the ocean. If youre not deep diving you will probably never encounter a vertical current. Youre probably worried about rip currents on the beach that might pull you out. Its actually very easy to beat but like everyone tells you just DONT PANIC. the moment you do you will be in actual life threatening danger from YOURSELF. you see how the water on the beach comes in straight, pulls out straight? When the water is pulling away from the beach, fighting it is stupid, the ocean is stronger than you. Relax, figure it out, swim sideways out of the current. The current is a straight line in and out, if you go left or right a few seconds youre already out. Then calmly go back to the beach.
Actually think of a treadmill. You cant beat the treadmill and if you try to, you will get tired and lose and the treadmill will pull you all the way back and down. But if you just step off sideways you beat it
@@StopFlaggingVideos Thank you so much for the reply
@@user-ut7vi6mr5d stay safe and enjoy the water
Basic stuff: always carry a SBM. If you can't swim against the current, go up and deploy it while you decompress. Someone at the surface will spot you.
Hmmmm it's a down current even inflating your bcd can make the issue worse. Huggin the wall and moving up and over was the right call
@@Gotwoh3ll how is inflating your bcd in a down current making the issue worse
@@ailigstruthers7301 hasn't happened to me but I've heard depending on the type it can make your profile larger and the current has even more area to push
@@Gotwoh3ll not an issue atall. Its a very small change in volume/surface area and doesnt have a great affect. The only potential issue on ascent - rapid runaway when shallowing up and not dumping, or when you eventually find an up current (typically on a wall) and it launches you to the surface in seconds (even less when fully inflated..)
@stuart Munnery Very unlikely scenario unless you find yourself in a wirl pool or huge thermocline.
This is why i watch youtube on my bed.
It’s ok and sometimes even advisable to hold on the coral in a last ditch attempt to keep yourself in place in a sudden strong current. Thankfully, the dive master knew this and did it. It’s good to have gloves so you can do this without hurting yourself. In the meantime, for the sake of the coral, try to maintain the rest of your body away from the reef so you don’t scrape or knock against it
👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻
Man if you have to scrape your entire body against that coral for the sake of your life and well being, go for it, nobody will fault you.
@@jftravelvlogs9718 I would,because it would be pointless,just surface and abort the dive.
@@ppo2424 how do you surface when it's a down current ?? Lateral currents, sure, go up and abort - but how in the heck do you get out of a down draft without being pushed down further ??
@@philipnicholson3216 You inflate your BCD, with control,if you overinflate you'll go up too fast
I experienced a down current, more like a pull down current, on a military dive. We were conducting a dive survey of a man made lake in preparation for a “ water jump “ ; suddenly we went from 20 feet down to 80 feet in seconds, in addition to visibility going from murky to zero. We had to kick with everything we had and pump air into our buoyancy compensators just to break free from the rapid decent. A very unexpected experience.
Shit!!
A current in a lake? How is that possible, lakes are not oceans or seas, there is no water movement of that scale
@@intrepidsouls must have been a man made lake the size of one of the Great Lakes 😂
How bent were you after that stunt?
@@intrepidsouls You can can get down currents in quarries. One end of the lake is shallow and the water heats up and flows out over to the other end and sinks to the bottom like an elevator going down. They are invisible from the surface but can drown swimmers really easily.
one of the addition things to check in the maldives is looking at where your bubble go - it gives advance warning of current. At the start you can see the bubbles being pushed away and down.
This was the first thing I noticed also. Good call 👌🏼
Thanks for sharing.
At which time mark exactly, cant really see it until it was already late
Oh! Let me share this Sipadan madness with you..
Me, my daughter and 7 year old grandson went out with a dive boat to snorkel on Sipadan... we were staying on Mabul island.
The dive boat just dropped us off in the water about 100-150 yards from the island and then took off, leaving us out there alone. At first it was cool, amazing sea life and fish, but all of a sudden, boom, the current caught us. The boat was completely out of sight and we were drifting in very fast current around to the north west of the island. We are all excellent swimmers, we just held hands so we wouldn’t be separated from each other. There was no way to swim to the island because of the shallow coral, on the other side was a deep AF drop off into the abbess. We were flying super fast along the drop off and the coral, like a speeding car. I was almost in a panic, my grandson enjoyed the entire nightmare, too young to understand how dangerous it was. We were out there alone for over an hour, then the boat reappeared. I was pissed, they never told us they were gonna just leave us out there like that. Crazy shit for sure.
Which company ?
@@circusmonkeyrunaway
I wish I could remember...
your 7 year old grandson dives?
@@mikeholchendler
Snorkels
Be very careful folks. Even free diving you could get stuck in a current. My friend Hoku RIP 🙏🏽 was pulled out to sea in Guam Spearfishing, they never found him. He left his wife and young kids that day. 💔. I had a similar experience on Oahu in Makaha Spearfishing of the coast. There is a sudden drop off near the point where some larger pelagics tend to travel. I was in that area during a tide change and the current picked up quick. It was so strong I had to hook my spear to a piece of reef and just hold onto my gun and take a break because I was so out of breath trying to swim against the current. I was out alone and I knew this current was going to pull me out to deep water fast if I didn’t grab something. I was in about 15’ of water at that moment but the drop off was about 50’ away and about 100’+ deep. I’m so thankful I was able to catch my breath and use that same tactic to slowly move out of the rip zone. It was a few months later my friend was lost in Guam. He was Spearfishing with a group at night which is pretty common in Hawaii. Sleeping fish are easy to sneak up on. In Guam two ocean currents collide off the peninsula. It is a very dangerous place to swim and many have been taken by the sea there. RIP brother Hoku 😪 miss you my friend.
You have my sincere condolences for your loss of a friend..
@@linaabubakr 🙏🏽 thank you
15 to 100m deep?😲😲😲😲
Be safe ALWAYS bro..never do that mistake again..never..
@@vato7oco viva los vatos locos carnal
How did you all get out of it? It's so scary! I was almost dragged out to deep waters by ocean currents once and it was a feeling of coming very close to being in a life or death situation. This is what I hate about ocean adventures, the ocean waters can be so deceitful and treacherous.
Why not inflate the bcd a little to maintain your buoyancy if it's pulling you down? Was the current not mentioned in the dive briefing? Just from watching this, it doesn't seem like a down current to me. It looks like a washing machine type current while the reef is deepening. Glad you're safe and well.
In a properly bad downcurrent, that BCD may not be enough, Ive tried it at a reef that drops off to a few hundred meters deep. I had to swim away from the reef into the blue to get around the current, which left me about 75-100 meters to swim back to the reef. Oh well, interesting dive I guess..
I am a new diver, so I am curious that is it a downcurrent? I don’t see air bubble going down, are they holding on a wall at a drop off?
@@luyongci Normally a current will go horizontally through the water. A downcurrent is a current that for some reason goes towards the bottom, kinda like an underwater waterfall. As with all currents the downcurrents can be anything from barely noticeable to very dangerous if you dont know how to get out of them
@@tigerman1978 yeah I am trying to see if the air bubble is going down, but I can’t really tell due to camera angles, also they are already at sand beach bottom, if it is only down current, while not horizontal current why would her drift apart from the DM?
It is unfair to let you learn dive in a dive site that still have strong current.But hey, that's the skill you need to learn further down the line anyway. Just remember to stay as low as possible, and as close as the reef. Keep calm, and having fun (diving) !
Thank you for the tips. Ill be sure to keep them in mind. 👍🏻 Btw, just to clarify, this was a fun dive just so happened my instructor and I joined the same dive group when we went to Sipadan hence us diving together. Hehehe 🐟🐠🐡
You can tell how strong the current is by looking at the bubbles. The bubble is heading down rather than upwards. And there no small fishes around.
That would have been really scary. Upwelling can be just as bad because of surfacing too quickly, but truly the thought of getting dragged down into waters way below your depth is very terrifying! Fascinating to read about, but scary . . .
It's why even when not on a deco dive, i still dive doubles, and may even sling an O2 al40. Even turning the dive at 1200, I still have almost 30 minutes to get to a safety stop, and even deco gas at 20 for almost an hour... Heavy as heck though.. at this point it's either CCR or back surgery
I got caught in a down current whilst snorkeling around the tropical island of Samoa’s version of the blue hole. I had to cling to the sharpe edges of coral and hand walk my way along the top of the coral to where I could stand up on sand. Ripped my hands apart but beats getting fatigued trying to swim against it and drowning. Ocean currents can creep up quickly in deep water if you don’t pay attention.
Didn't they brief you on the hazard? The down-current on that drop-off is very well known (I used to work at Sipidan).
The dive mastered rescued you all by holding on to a rock. What a genius! True legend. That’s some quick thinking!!!
isnt that the first thing someone would do if ragged somewhere they dont want to go?
@@drne6244 yeah I was being sarcastic
@@nieder-olm i feel stupid now, thanks
I always carry little extras with me underwater - a storm whistle, a signal mini strobe, a reef hook etc.Always observe the angle of the bubbles before the camera lens.Dive safely.👍👍👍
This is wise and smart 👍🏻 extra always save lives..
Did you not hear the change in the sound of your breathe (the bubbles) or feel the extra squeeze that indicates a depth change? Those would have been warning signs that something wasn’t quite right, then you may have been able to get out of the current while you are at the edge of it.
Some other people here said it best though, always carry a delayed smb. At least that gives you something to hold on to, stops you going deeper and hopefully provides something that you can move up along.
You know your in trouble when your bubbles go down rather that float up
Excellent point. I tend to watch fish or my senses, but your point is very clear watching this video.
Looks like a normal day in Komodo or Raja Ampat, Indonesia. 😊
Absolutely 😂
Why did one of you have free diving fins on?
Also spent 4 days diving in Sipadan last year, absolutely amazing. But the very first dive we also had a really mean current, luckily it just carried us along the ledge nicely. I was pretty nervous though I didn't have much experience (like 30 dives) and it was definitely the strongest current i had ever experienced. Really glad that it wasn't a downcurrent now, your video looked like it was quite sketchy.
That must have been a fun & thrilling first dive 😅 did you see a lot of schools during your dive?
Glad to know you also had an amazing time exploring the waters of Sipadan. I myself enjoyed every bit of it. But this downcurrent is by far the scariest I’ve experienced in my 3 years of diving 😂
That's called a drift dive. You just let the current take you along. The dive boat picks you up at the end.
Was it a DRIFT DIVE? did you guys have surface support? this is great, but could have been deadly, also if you ever encounter a down current (not downstream) then air your BCD to avoid descent.
Great video and greater yet that you were still filming and did not panic.
Way to go, bow you have LOTS OF MORE EXPERIENCE, believe me, the hard way to learn...we learn ALOT.
congrats and thanks for the video.
best thing to do in this case is to use ur compass to see what direction you are going, and get INTO the reef so you dont get blown off the site. Most important stay calm, and if you REALLY start getting washed away send up your DSMB. Safe diving friends!
Other divers have called me a wuss but this is why I prefer reef diving over finger coral in calm seas at a max depth at around 40 feet. Love those sunny days with flat conditions where visibility is AMAZING. Strong currents can still happen in those areas but they're not as common due to the shallower depth. On one dive off of Key Largo a storm came up which produced a really bad current I had to swim against to get back to the boat. Ohhhhhhhh did I regret those cheap fins. It was MISERABLE. That swim wore me the heck out - I was practically hyperventalating. I went out the next day and bought a better pair of fins.
Had a similar experience in the Red Sea, 700mtr drop off. I'm still here :-)
Where was that??
@@scso Probably Egypt
I've heard about them dragging people into the depths. I've never seen one. Must have been scary.
OK so how do you get out of this situation ? Video ends with everyone clinging to the wall. Are you waiting for the current to die down or shift direction? What do you do to get out of this?
You all let go and drift. The current may drop off as you cross into deep water. You can swim through this if you go low and use a steady frog kick, but you need excellent technique and buoyancy. In this case that’s probably the end of the dive.
that means start ascending to leave the current below you or just interrupt the dive
@@RD-wg2nt it was a down current - so you let go and get pushed down to 150 feet ?
"Doing my thing... LOL!" As she creates a dangerous situation for her entire class, and not paying attention to where she should be swimming. Wreckless!
Amazing when I see those bubbles going DOWN!!!! Lucky that it just lasted for a few minutes...
When fish are swimming sideways it's probably not a good idea to follow them.
👍🏻👍🏻
This is Gold! ✌👏
Can I know why please ?
@@blackfin9102 bruh
@@blackfin9102 because the current is pulling them as showed in the videk
*Strong current*
99.9998% of people: grab onto reef
this guy: fiddle with camera and float away
it's all about the "likes". nothing even comes close
I’m buying a coast guard tracker for my BCD just in case the current takes me miles from the boat.
That is a very smart thing to do. Anything to give yourself a better chance. It's scary as hell being dragged out to the deep open sea, it almost happened to me once and I wish I had a tracker on me at that moment, but fortunately I didn't need it. Still though, the risk is there.
Even with over 300 dives at this point I prefer to mount the main camera on my head… and keep a small go pro hanging off D-loop in case I need to take a quick shot. It can be distracting when you are focusing on the shot rather than what’s happening around you.
I've had my share of frightening encounters in and on the Ocean.
Training and having good equipment and a competent buddy are your lifelines.
Yet, in the end the Seas always have the last word.
It’s all fun and games until you’re being pushed to skull crushing depths. Scuba diving is a risk like any sport.
It is just like any other sport you literally are taking a risk with your life!!!
Crush death is at 1,000 meters aka 3,282 ft. You would be probably dead before even getting that deep. Water pressure at 1,000 meters is around 5,000 PSI. equivalent to you getting crushed by a small truck. It’s also pitch black at 1,000 meters so good luck being in that situation. Because without a submersible, you’re dead as fuck.
@@beazrich2.017 No, you won't be dead even if you reached that depth. I said it before replying to another one of your comments but since humans are mostly made of water we are incompressible and immune to the pressure exerted on us by the ocean. The only problems pressure poses to us is when it comes to equalizing the pressure in the parts of our body that are filled with air which is compressible. Like having to equalize the pressure in your inner ear, and the higher pressure requiring you to breathe special gas mixes to avoid dying from oxygen toxicity or nitrogen narcosis. Human bone would not be crushed until we reach 35,000 meters of depth, nowhere in the ocean is that deep. We can stand at the bottom of the marianas trench and be unharmed, humans are more durable than you'd think. Water pressure only affects things that are filled with air, which is why submarines can be crushed like a tin can at depths that humans would be unharmed at, the water in our body pushes back against the ocean with the same pressure that the ocean presses against us with, you don't really "feel" pressure at all because of this.
U guys dont have the current stream table before diving? Then good luck..
Cameraman never dies! He did the right thing.
I think I remembered this spot. Is it really in sipadan island? Or mabul?
if my memory serves me right this was in Sipadan :)
Thanks for sharing this video. Really useful for new diver to be aware of the similar situation
You're welcome! Thanks for watching.
General rule of thumb: Always look for something to grab or hold on to when you sense the current is stronger by the second. Sipadan 1998.
Hmmm, what made the down current stop going down??
-figured you would all have to inflate BCD's and surface... before your air ran out.
That's why always stay close to your dive master and/or instructor. I've got fun divers who likes to move around, I don't mind as long as they listen when i tell them to stay close when the current is strong, but when they don't listen and still proceed going far even when called (not saying that you didn't listen here), it's pretty stressful.
That turned into a drift dive pretty fast , similar thing happened to me in the Maldives when a pistol shrimp decided to flick my fingers I was anchored to the rocks with , luckily enough my dive buddy managed to grab a fin and pull me back, literally 1mtr away from the reef the current was twice as fast.
Hey I'm curious if you think it got you full force how strong was that little guy
@@ryanmccue8180 I don’t know but it hurt like hell.
Newly certified diver here, I saw the title and thought Damn! Glad your safe!
Went from scuba to rock climbing, what a weekend warrior!
Doesn't a drift dive usually END at this point? Why in the he'll was everyone battling the curent? time to deploy the SMB and get the hell outta there.
Yep
And how do you think you are going to make a safety stop, with that downcurrent?
@@Octpuz lol?
we had to wait it out 😅😬
@@Octpuz the downcurrent will be strongest close to the wall/ bottom. as soon as you remove yourself a little from there you can conduct a normal safety stop
There are literally waterfalls underwater with currents, etc. Anytime you approach a dropoff you have to be aware of these phenomena, you would think they would teach this to new students.
Yup, the ocean drop offs are also 1 to 2 miles deep. So imagine looking down at the Grand Canyon from a cliff side which is 6,000 ft deep, now just picture that but potentially twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and not being able to see the bottom because even at 660 ft deep, the water around you is already dim. Have you’ve ever scuba dive at reefs at dusk hour? yeah? well, that’s the light visibility at 660ft deep and once you are at 3,282 ft its hello pitch black water for you along with being crushed.
@@beazrich2.017 You won't be crushed. Humans are mostly made up of water which is incompressible which is why we can easily withstand walking under 1,000fsw on the seafloor, which saturation divers do pretty regularly. But since our lungs are not filled with water they are susceptible to being compressed at those depths and the partial pressure of oxygen increases as well so to safely go that deep you need to breathe a gas mixture that contains very little oxygen or you will go into convulsions from oxygen toxicity. You will run out of oxygen much more quickly at greater depths since you consume more gas with every breath the deeper you go. It's pretty cool how resistant we are to hydrostatic pressure because we are basically filled with water. You could take a water balloon to the bottom of the Marianas Trench and it'd be just fine.
@@JohnDoeWasntTaken I get it, but once you’re at 1,000 meters aka 3,282 ft you’re at such enormous pressure that if you’re not in a submersible then you would simply be crushed in seconds.
@@beazrich2.017 Your lungs would be, but that's about it my friend. It is quite amazing that we would be largely unharmed at that depth. The deepest saturation dive was 2 hours at 2,300 feet, keep in mind that's without one of those sci-fi "armored diving suits". We also have suits that we can pressurize with gas equal to the hydrostatic pressure of water. Amazing that he could stay that deep for that long. That's why we want to invent liquid breathing so badly, once we eliminate the factor of our lungs being crushed, by filling them with an incompressible liquid, we can push the limits even further. We do face some physiological problems past 2,000 feet but to be outright crushed would take a deeper depth than our oceans can provide. At 3,282fsw (saltwater and freshwater have different densities so divers make a distinction in their measurements) you just wouldn't be able to breathe very effectively if at all. You would need to breathe gases at incredible pressure to counteract the force applied to your lungs.
I didnt learn a thing about down currents.
Why no explanation how the situation was resolved?
Quite a bit stormy there. Never go out without a SMB, might need it…
How did you guys make it to the surface again?
We had to wait for a few minutes and then slowly ascended to the surface..
Can somebody explain this for someone that doesn't know the first thing about diving?
The current was pushing them back, not actually down - can't they just go up to the surface for the time being?
So it's easier to see where everybody is and probably see how far away from their boat or whatever they are?
So when going up you need stops in between to make sure you don't get decompression sickness wich could lead to death in some cases, and currents are extremely dangerous as shown in this video and going up isn't as easy as it sounds while you're in a current
@@toomanydonut1876 were they deep enough where stops were necessary.
In a down or up current, always swim away from the rocks into blue water
What? The current tends to be less strong near the rocks.
@@motogriso1 The strongest currents, in my limited 500-odd dive experience, we close to the rocks. Sure, you can hold a rock (not coral) and stabilise yourself and to an extent hide from current (like hiding behind a corner), but if caught in such a current (and I've been caught in plenty), with the option to fight the current (bad idea) or to exit the current and bail the dive, I found it easiest to swim away from the reef / wall etc into bluewater. That always got me out of the up/down/washing machine current and then I was able to make a stable and controlled blue water ascent.
Is the current pushing just away or deep into the water? Very scary.
Time to fill up that buoyancy compensator. Current at around 5 knots? That is fast underwater. My certification dive was a drift dive which is where the boat drops you off at one spot and picks you up miles away at another. Similar to this in the video but a bit clearer. And the current in the video may have been a little faster. Maybe over 5 knots. I am just estimating. You definitely do not want to start bouncing off the bottom in a strong current. Nothing fun about that. Plus your depth changes quickly when you are underwater. And you have to be extremely controlled when it comes to your depth. You do not get many mistakes underwater. Stay safe!
Thought scuba gear had something that inflates to surface quickly....? Is that not true?
Where is the downcurrent? I see the bubbles go up or horizontally-up direction… 🤔
I learned diving in environments that were often like this and I’ve had similar experiences in many places, including Sipadan, can’t remember the site but there was a sort of long channel where the sharks would sometimes hang out. But this is pretty decent current, no doubt. It’s times like this it’s good to have some local knowledge of the site. Looks to me like the divemaster missed slack high tide, and now the tide is coming down off the reef in all the channels and crevasses, even down the slope off the dropoff. Unless that was the idea. Just seems like an odd choice for a drift dive to me unless there was some special plan.
Some of my own procedures for stuff like this include.
- Don’t bring a camera on a drift dive, where the current is stronger than you. You want to be streamlined and to have your hands free and to not be distracted or tempted by ambition to achieve this or that against the best interests of you and the group. Most people I’ve seen struggle in adverse situations as a guide were carrying camera gear on a dive that was beyond or pushing their limits. Even experienced divers.
- Add an extra 1/2 to 1 kg of weight. It takes a little longer for the current take hold of you when you change position or if you need to go heavier against the bottom.
- Bring proper strong fins and have the muscle power to drive them efficiently. If your fins fold against the current - they’re too soft and you’ll have to work faster and harder per breath consequently pushing your pulse and breathing rate up burning air faster. Believe me. I recommend a classic Mares Avanti or similar.
- Relax - worst case you can almost always make some kind of reasonably controlled ascent. YOu may drift, you may loose the group, but you can if you have to and you’ll be alive.
- Control your finning don’t hammer away mindlessly, be efficient but don’t fight the sea with energy alone use your head and still try to achieve as much as possible with as little as possible. That’s how you …
- COntrol your breathing rate. Keep focusing on a slow controlled uptake. Keep as calm of a breathing cadence possible, this is why you don’t want soft fins that wont allow you to recover and bring the pulse down a bit between strokes.
- Swim as close the reef as you can - water running over a surface ALWAYS create some measue of backcurrent as much as 30-50 cm up. This makes a big difference to your work load.
- Use the terrain to your advantage. Work from one sheltered position to the next. Plan your course one section at a time. Go behind structures as much as possible to recover and keep out of the main current.
- Wear gloves so you can safely hang onto something if you have to. You may have to crawl out using your hands.
- If youre moving along the side of the reef and you see a crevasse ahead, check for brown or yellow water and the direction of softcorals and how fish position themselves. That’s will show a local downcurrent. On a reef wall you can actually usually get around this simply by doing a halfcircle out in blue water. Ever so often the downcurrent is local and coming of the reef and does not reach out that far. YOu can usually simply swin around it.
- By the same token stay clear of anything resembling a whirlpool - you can tell by looking to the surface if one seems to be forming and you can usually analyse the reef structure and direction of current to see if one would be likely in a given spot.
- On more of a slope its more of a chance to take but sometimes the current mostly runs along the bottom and the water is calmer higher in the column. Watch your bubbles and how they move to read whats going on in the different layers. In some locations you may have multiple directions happening at different depths. DOn’t go for this unless you’re prepared to completely do a free ascent if you have to.
- Worst case, hug the reef and climb out. If you are on level bottom or on a slope and certainly if you are in a channel or hollow - it is worth angling gradually sideways to see if it will take you out of the main current. Look for clearer water ahead and check the soft corals and fish to get an idea of what is going on.
- Carefully approach any corner, bend or crack in the reef, things may be very different just a few metres ahead.
- Keep an eye out for temperature changes. Warmer water often means surface water coming off the reef. Cold clear water may indicate an upwelling or deep current coming up.
- If you’re caught in a downcurrent its almost always better to swim sideways out of it than try to swim dead against it.
- Stay close as a group, its easier for the guide to manage.
- Don’t do drift diving without local knowledge in the group. Arguably don’t do drift diving with inexperienced divers or people you’re not too sure about unless the setup is right for it. They get in trouble, someone else likely will too. Likely they’ll occupy the guide, in which case you need to know how to somewhat fend for yourself at least for a while.
- Make sure that the guys topside on the boat understands what youre doing and how far the current may take you and in which direction and that they won’t be taking a nap while you’re at it. Bring a surface buoy and a whistle or similar signaling device so they can spot you even at a distance or if the waves pick up.
- Make sure the dive plan takes the tide or ocean currents or inland rainfall causing rivers to swell into consideration and remember the tide does not stay the same throughout the lunar circle and the ocean currents do necessarily stay the same throughout the year. Knowing the tide for your dive time slot will allow you to make better calls or predictions once you’re down there. Is it going up or down? When? What does that mean in practice?
- As always - as long as you control your buoyancy and has ample air and bottom time buffer for the ascent and exit - you’re good for the moment. You deal with current deliberately and one piece at a time.
thanks for this valuable information - 👍
@@dheedou You’re welcome. Funny thing about learning diving in a complex current environment is I often find myself tending to stay close to surfaces without really thinking about it. It’s like it got drilled into me early on that things can change rapidly, even if I am way more unlikely to be surpised by it today. Force of habit i guess. There is a certain perspective you develop when seeing your bubbles going down rather than up 😂
Hi, just wondering which dive site was this? went for 4 dives in Sipadan with scuba Junkie thank God the dive was fun and so calm.
From the topography, they're at the corner of Barracuda Point swimming from Coral Gardens... Usually that's where the waterfall down current are found. Strong enough to make make you crawl on the bottom sometimes. And glad you had fun diving with us 😂
Aemriely Sora ohh yes! the barracuda point..the potential down current. I miss scuba Junkie tho my fav DC! Took my dsd, ow & aow with SJ
This is why I never scuba without a anchor!
What camera u used?
How's the guy with the free diving fins?
I am certified dive master with more than thousand dives because i am a commercial diver aswell. But never in my entire life think that diving is always safe. I always bring the mind setting of eminent danger. That the water was full of mystery and unforseen danger. So before planning to become a diver. Think several time first and make sure you are focus and no panic attack.
You are correct. It is fun to dive but one must not forget that it is still an extreme sport. 👍🏻
I don't believe that you're a dive master or a commercial diver. If you are I wouldn't trust your work.
Strong current, get close to reef or structure (wreck), use two fingers on rock or wreck to hold on if no reef hook.
Don't swim into it, your best bet is to keep low and swim at 90 degrees to current and you'll find a way out.
Watch the particulate in water and fish, particulate will go direction of current, fish will point in to it. Copy fish direction.
Worst case abort dive and surface is safe to do so, always swim away from reef if boat diving.
Swells are a bit more tricky, go with the flow, always breathe, as you can raise and lower 2 to 3m each time.
If in any doubt don't dive or abort the dive and forget the camera!
does know one that day care for gloves? they help grip the bottom and sharp shit.
How do all of you get out of it, and make it to the surface?
I was just going to say grab to something guys. Been more that once that I got into strong currents that I had to drag myself along in order to get into a favorable position. Of course being as careful as possible to not grab live coral. I hope that there was a dive master with a good surface float and dependable chase boat.
Fred you actually seem like you have some dive experience.
Ps. Great comment
@@owenaraujo thanks. Yes , have done a few thousand dives, mostly as a dive master or instructor. But lots with just my wife and I too. Age 15 to 75+
Getting sucked into the abyss. Must've been terrifying
it was 😅
i just got DCS..2 chamber sessions
YEP...been there scuba diving!!
I watched the seaweed go from standing straight up to lying flat on the ocean floor with the ends flickering like a flag on a windy day. Never thought I'd get out and panic started to settle in. I was out of air and about a second from saying f@ck it, I'm ready to suck in the water and drown! At that moment I caught a reef, sharp as all heck and was able to get my head above the surface. I don't dive anymore!!
My body looked like I went through a meat grinder!!
Thats not a real downcurrent. Just strong current that follows the reef. I experienced a downcurrent and that was totally different story then this. Was on a wall dive and from on to another moment we where pushed down from 25 m to around 55 m in a less then 30 seconds. Inflate bcd didn't help at all. Only way to get out is try to swim horizontal out the current or hope it stops on time. Lucky we where all very experienced divers and managed to swim out between 45m and 60 m. Then you have to be careful that you don't fly up because your bcd is full with air. Hope that I never have that experience again.
Been diving a few years.
Lots of live aboard in red sea and places.. in a current like that abort dive while have plenty of air and your not exhausted.. start to accend go with current.. not down!!!! Lol
Get SMB ready and while fingers safety stop your boat will come..... no point hanging on getting tired and using all ya air
Don't fight currents
Or any other dried fruit
Dude you guys are all entrenched on that ridge like it’s a warzone
Terrifying. What about inflate jacket to reach higher and secure deep and deflate it when problem is solved?
How deep were you when caught by the current?
did you make it out?
That's some scary stuff is there anything you can do to prevent this from happening again.
If this was a life threatening situation, why continue to film it? You need to think about your priorities.
Dive safe, not stupid. 👌
this is the only exeption, when it's ok to touch the reef! took you way to long to realize that... this can be very dangerous! was also caught in a very strong downcurrent, and had to climb back up! needed all my strenght to make it to the surface again... i had like 20 bar left in the end
Down currents and vertical currents in general are caused by the sudden change in the floors elevation, and the difference in warm and cold ocean temperatures meeting at ocean drop offs.
What camera setup you used? I have a Nikon w300.
Amazing material. Thank you for sharing.
How much depth was this at
Are there video requirements for scuba? Like x amount of hours before you take a gopro?
No. It's up to you.
There should be, but no. Any clown can take as much photographic equipment with them as they want, never mind how useless they are.
up to you. As long as you are confident underwater then I think it's ok to bring a camera.
please take some time to learn diving properly before taking the camera with you. Yor pictures will be bad anyways in the beginning.
My girlfriend and i had this happen too us.. i got pushed up .. she got pushed down.. she dissapeared into the darkness.. our divemaster looked at me... i was .. go get her bro.. luckily she was ok..
Jesus man, put the camera away until you know what you’re doing. Luckily you were with people that did know what they were doing…
Should always plan to be with the current on the way to the boat...
If you are checking your camera you were defiantly not in trouble. Just one of the typical diving clips feeling important! :)))
Terrific footage, dude, thanks so much.
What causes this?
I’m a whitewater kayaker and more than familiar with being pushed under against my will… but in the ocean??
I’m guessing it’s something like the tide moving through a narrow/shallow channel into a deeper area? 🤔
As crush says “grab on to some shell and go for distance dude.”
Monastery south of Carmel has a drop off that’s known to drag divers to their death... stayed way clear when spear fishing there...
That happened to me in Sumatra and fortunately I was carrying my spanking new reef hook which the the President of our dive club in KL had insisted we buy. I didn't realize until I was hooking on to rocks along the way what a fantastic idea it was. Same thing with the no gloves. If your trained and qualified to achieve neutral bouyancy you won't be touching anything unless you have to hold on to something to save you life.
excellent. good job. a reef hook is a vital part of your equipment. much more important than a camera or gloves