diving in the current

[fjohnson]

Being a land-locked swimmer where the only current is in local rivers, when I was in Kauai recently signs everywhere said there were dangerous currents/undertow... my question is, how dangerous to the freediver? I guess I got into a few currents but nothing that seemed dangerous. Have any of you had bad experiences with ocean currents Or did I give up some good diving at certain spots for fear of nothing?

 

[Pekka]

currents

Well mate, I did go diving in a place where I experienced some currents...Well I can tell you that it surely isn't a place to go, if there is nothing particular you want to see like a shipwreck or something...and now I am talking about heavy current that feels like a river pushing you.. it is hard to relax, as you are drifing away from the shore and as you dive you might hit rocks or anything sticking from the bottom...I suppose there is a greather change to get stuck on ropes or stuff as you are pushed underwater by the current..
One more thing is the viz..it is usually very poor..
so I would say dive somewhere else...if you can...
slight current I guess wouldnt hurt, although it surely cuts the depth from your dives and sets you in danger as you might drift underwater right uder a boat or right on ones way..
Well I hope my experiences help.....and last..if you lose something you surely will not find it if there is a heavy current...like a fin...

 

[freediver48]

Hi,

Diving in currents is best done with their aid, rather than against them. I live on a ocean bay that is quite deep, about 15kms. One of my favorite style of dives is drift diving. Typically I'll walk up the beach in the opposite direction to the tide flow for a mile or so, this distance depends on the current and the length of time that I plan to be in the water. Then you get in and swim out to the depth that you want to dive, and let the current take you diving merrily down the stream.

I usually dive with a float, and this is very handy for diving in one location when there is tide running, but truth be told, I prefer to dive the slacks, it is much simpler. Lets say that you are wanting to collect uni on a particular reefand that you are on the reef. A real handy trick is to use a drop weight on the end of the float line
and anchor the float on the site. This way you are not fighting the current on your float and can use it for breath-ups. I have a short loop of tube on the down stream end of my float and just slide my hand through the loop and relax for both surface intervals and breath-ups. This gives you a safe haven from the current. Depending on the current you may need a pretty good anchor point. The folks in Brazil use small one pound weights that clip on to their belts for this. I use a small 5lb canoe anchor, which may seem like over-kill until you see your favorite float dirfting away.

My wife and I had a great time drift diving in Cuba this last year.
Each day we would hike up the beach a couple of miles and you guessed it hop in the water and slowly drift down stream.

Good drifting, and don't fight the current too much, try to use it,

Freediver48

 

[Simon Blampied]

A wise man once told me 'fish are a lot like us - they're lazy and prefer to sit and wait for their food to come to them'. I've found this to be quite true and do a lot of my fishing in currents - but usually only moderate ones where it doesn't require too much energy to remain stationary.

As freediver 48 says it is best to dive with the currents. I position myself into the current breathup and then invert as I duck dive to drop with the current. Ofcourse then you have to turn at the bottom to face upcurrent again and find a spot where you're partially sheltered. The other type of fishing is to try and find a docile/sleeping fish to shoot. To be fair I've had good results with both methods, and my biggest Bass was asleep - but incredibly tastey

Anyway I guess you know all this having dived in currents before. As long as I'm careful and the current isn't too strong I'll continue to dive in these conditions.

Simon