Just like him, my near death was in Indonesia on a drift dive, on my advance open water course :) So, for those that want to listen about drift diving: 1. Stay close to the reef; the current is moving faster when it's further from the corals -- the current is being slowed down by the corals. 2. Do not fight the current. When you fight, you get tired and you jeopardise your breathing and you will use up your air faster. 3. Drift away and go further from the corals. If you get dragged down, eventually you will get spit out and go further to the sea. You have your dive knowledge and you have your tank. Go up slowly and signal away (i.e. dSMB). I mean, this is usually for most of the scenarios, of course sometimes s**t happens; I haven't experienced it yet but I'm just trying to say that you won't usually drown since you are diving and you do have an air tank. 4. Sometimes you get to see bigger corals/reefs. Hide/ seek refuge in them. You will stop drifting and be able to admire the corals. 5. Observe !!! Observe your dive master at all times. This is their job. See what they wear/ use how they dive and what they do. I learned a lot from imitating them. All the best and remember, just add water :D
Hi. Another nice and useful video! Thank you, James. In addition, I would like to hear about the geography of that place in Indonesia, how did you manage to get out from that down current and which would be your general recommendations in such a situation. I would actually really enjoy a dedicated episode on this topic... I bet it would be of interest and help to many.
When I was diving in Cozumel, they told us about the down currents against the wall. We were told to pay attention to our depth and swim away from the wall. Once we were away from the draft we could safely ascend.
I was looking forward to hearing what you did when you got swept away in that current "water fall". It would be a good nice to know what you would in that situation. Inflate BC to keep from being dragged down, hit the deck and crawl along the bottom until you get out of it?
I guess I would inflate my BCD to slow down and then try to escape the stream by swimming in one direction. You should get ready to deflate your bcd when you're getting out of the stream so you don't ascend too fast. If you're out of the stream and deeper than you wanted to be you should start to ascent with your dive buddy (who should be got caught by the same stream) and do the deco stops your dive computer tells you. Pull your DSMB when you make your last deco stop at the 5m and let the boat pick you up. I never had a situation like that, but this is how I think I would try to get out of the situation. I guess the most important thing is to stay calm. If you panic you don't think clearly.
Just wanted to ask the same question. I've heard about this before and seems that dropping the weights and inflating your bcd doesn't solve the problem in many cases.
@@AndrewR74 Please don't fill your BCD to full it might just shoot you up. If you're wall diving then you carefully hold unto something and slowly climb up while slowly adding air to your BCD.
I remember him telling this story. They had to literally climb the wall they were diving quite a ways back up before they could get out of that current. James said his buddy deployed his DSMB and it shot straight downward. I remember James saying he had serious doubts about making it out of that dive alive.
YAY CORNWALL!!!! Hello, fellow Cornish person :-) - Love our palm trees, and our beautiful, beautiful reefs - sharing the love of jewel anems, pink sea fan corals and catsharks ^_^
When diving in current my buddies and I always shoot our DSMB as soon as we start our accent. Some divers wait till they're doing their deco or safety stop which can in a strong current put you a long long way from your dive boat.
Hey James, I’ve herd of these down currents. I am very concerned about them. Is there anyway to know they are there before you enter the water? Would you please do a video on down currents? Thanks for all the great content!
I second that motion. Just heard about a fatality in a down current at Santa Rosa wall in Cozumel last week at the very same resort I dove with over Christmas break. After hearing about the accident I started reading about down currents and was amazed I had never been taught anything about them. Even took the time to look back at my advanced diver book drift section - nothing ! Love your videos James.
This entire series was absolutely excellent! Thanks James! I am a certified Master Diver at this point, but have never had a dive in the Ocean. I am looking forward to my first and future Ocean diving experiences, and these videos are just awesome!
Great information, James! It is because of your channel I bought and wear my SMB. It is a very important piece of dive equipment that can save your life.
My first 30 dives were all inland quarry or lakes and just had my first trip to PCB for ocean diving. Crazy how the current can change at different depths and conditions. Great info as always.
EXTREMELY Well Done ! From someone with an Oceanography Degree, who lived in south Florida for 16 years and most of my diving was done where the Gulf Stream comes closest to the U.S. coast. Keep the great videos coming. Keep hoping to come to Miami and take some Tech courses from you. I'm not blowing smoke extremely well done !!!
Thanks for the fantastic topic idea, as a relatively new diver who dives in pretty horrendous conditions locally (washing machine, 0 vis is common), a catalogue of tips is greatly appreciated!
I can attest to that arm wrestle with a line from a current in Florida. Happened to me on a Pompano dive with a storm coming in. I was waving on that line like a US flag, lol! It was fun at first, but then the arm to shoulder fatigue kicked in. Great video James, thanks! Headed to Vortex Springs this weekend.
@S M highly recommend Vortex Springs. There is a lot to do there from camping, snorkeling, swimming, water slides, kayaking, and of course, diving. The water is cold for me personally, so I use at least a 5 mm full wetsuit and hoodie. The spring water is crystal clear straight to the bottom. At night there is usually some entertainment for karaoke and or a local band. Fun times, and relaxing.
Great video. One additional tool you could have mentioned is the Nautilus Lifeline (or similar tools with GPS etc.). Some boats rent these out on demand or just hand them out to all the guests, especially when it's open ocean diving in very remote places.
Honestly drift dives are often the safest way to reach some of the wrecks in South Florida. I tried to do the Castor a couple of weeks ago, but the current was so ripping that I noped out after one attempt. But when I went to do release the down line with the DM, it was great. Hot drop onto the wreck and leisurely drift dive with the boat right there to pick us up.
I could not imagine trying to do the Spiegel without using the line. It's amazing how many people in Cozumel don't use an SMB. They just figure the dive Master has one and they're too cool to carry one. Even when you're drift diving and coming up where boats are racing back and forth all over the place.
Current is not so scary if you have a plan to deal with it such as a mooring line or a planned drift but when you are trying to come back to the same spot for an exit and there is no references in bad viz current can be rough. I just got back from a trip to the St Lawrence river to do some wreck dives 100 ft depth with strong current and only 20 ft viz if you didn't follow the line you missed the wreck and didn't make it back to the boat.
great video brotha james, blessing to you and your family. i wanted to mention a underwater gps system is really good. it's orange i cant think of the name at the moment.
go with the flow. i find if you can do a helicopter kick it helps to see where everyone is. if you get ahead of everyone sink to the bottom, hopefully behind a rock structure or grab a rock and wait for your group to show up. great drift dives in cozumel
Strong video - love it … but thing you forgot the most important part… use the right fins … dont drop in current with “plastic” fins.. like entering a drag race in a VW beatle from 1973.
Fin design has more to do with that than material. I also found that floppier fins actually do better in currents. Like I prefer my Dive Rite XTs over my Jet Fins if I am trying to power through a current.
So I’m curious about the carabiner on the Johnline. I know you were not a fan of them to secure equipment. Is it less of an issue here if it fails? Can’t wait for the rest of the series.
In Indonesia are you talking about nusa Penida/lembogan and the Lombok strait? Yes have dived there and lots of current to where we’ve had the DM call the dive while on the boat heading to a site due to conditions
Hi James! Thanks for the channel. First scuba one I subscribed. I’m a new diver with just a few dives under my belt. On my 7th dive ever, I got caught by a huge current. It felt as if I was running. I thought it was very fun until I got to a flat rock that looked like a ramp and started going up FAST, I purged my BCD and managed to stop the quick ascent. Are you going to tell us more about your close call in Indonesia? Going down uncontrolledly is one of the situations I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with.
That downcurrent is my biggest phobia. Are there places with no currents? Except lakes, aquariums, etc, of course? I am not going to enjoy a dive being stressed out
Hoping you can help. I’m getting conflicting information about white fins in relation to caves and sharks. I’m trying to think of a reason why white fins would be bad for cave diving and all I’ve got is maybe reflections in low light might be unwanted. For sharks dives, I’ve read that it has never been a problem for a lot of people because we already have high contrast colors on us like tanks and I’ve also read that some charters won’t allow them at all.
Hi James it is good to see your face also excellent video On the weekend I got in a heated exchange with the guy from everything scuba an his video no mask no problem A fellow asked how to get the air bubble out from under the hood every thing scuba suggested putting the mast strap under the hood Which I find ridiculous and disaster waiting to happen He mentioned instructors teach it this way at which point I lost it (You could check the site and see the discussion) What do you tec divers recommend Mask strap over the hood or under the hood? Just wondering I use a dive right wing ! On duals also a single tank adapter Thanks
@@charlesbrooks8612 that's a good idea I also suggested to Steve to get a hood with a vent what got me was everything scuba suggested putting the mast strap under the hood
Hi I’m that idiot who thought they were a good enough swimmer. It’s been 7 years since that incident, I’d like to think I’ve learned from that mistake. My wife might disagree though.
Just like him, my near death was in Indonesia on a drift dive, on my advance open water course :)
So, for those that want to listen about drift diving:
1. Stay close to the reef; the current is moving faster when it's further from the corals -- the current is being slowed down by the corals.
2. Do not fight the current. When you fight, you get tired and you jeopardise your breathing and you will use up your air faster.
3. Drift away and go further from the corals. If you get dragged down, eventually you will get spit out and go further to the sea. You have your dive knowledge and you have your tank. Go up slowly and signal away (i.e. dSMB). I mean, this is usually for most of the scenarios, of course sometimes s**t happens; I haven't experienced it yet but I'm just trying to say that you won't usually drown since you are diving and you do have an air tank.
4. Sometimes you get to see bigger corals/reefs. Hide/ seek refuge in them. You will stop drifting and be able to admire the corals.
5. Observe !!! Observe your dive master at all times. This is their job. See what they wear/ use how they dive and what they do. I learned a lot from imitating them.
All the best and remember, just add water :D
Hi. Another nice and useful video! Thank you, James. In addition, I would like to hear about the geography of that place in Indonesia, how did you manage to get out from that down current and which would be your general recommendations in such a situation. I would actually really enjoy a dedicated episode on this topic... I bet it would be of interest and help to many.
When I was diving in Cozumel, they told us about the down currents against the wall. We were told to pay attention to our depth and swim away from the wall. Once we were away from the draft we could safely ascend.
same with beachgoers caught in rip currents at the surface, don't fight it, swim at a right angle away from it
I was looking forward to hearing what you did when you got swept away in that current "water fall". It would be a good nice to know what you would in that situation.
Inflate BC to keep from being dragged down, hit the deck and crawl along the bottom until you get out of it?
I guess I would inflate my BCD to slow down and then try to escape the stream by swimming in one direction.
You should get ready to deflate your bcd when you're getting out of the stream so you don't ascend too fast.
If you're out of the stream and deeper than you wanted to be you should start to ascent with your dive buddy (who should be got caught by the same stream) and do the deco stops your dive computer tells you. Pull your DSMB when you make your last deco stop at the 5m and let the boat pick you up.
I never had a situation like that, but this is how I think I would try to get out of the situation.
I guess the most important thing is to stay calm. If you panic you don't think clearly.
James answered to your question in his q&a
@@alle_namen_schon_vergeben708 wheres that?
@@MrGunster
The october Q&A ua-cam.com/video/Il6r8zmC0Ug/v-deo.html
At 9:19
I clicked this so fast and gave it a thumps up before I even finish watching.
Thanks James!
Even before I start listening to Jamsie, the thumbs up button gets clicked automatically. Another top clip.
Thanks for the info James, Good video. Question on the current that pushed you down. How should a diver respond to that if it does occur? Danny
Just wanted to ask the same question. I've heard about this before and seems that dropping the weights and inflating your bcd doesn't solve the problem in many cases.
This seems to be a point of interest to a few people. My guess would be to get positive ASAP.
@@AndrewR74 Please don't fill your BCD to full it might just shoot you up. If you're wall diving then you carefully hold unto something and slowly climb up while slowly adding air to your BCD.
#askdiversready
I remember him telling this story. They had to literally climb the wall they were diving quite a ways back up before they could get out of that current. James said his buddy deployed his DSMB and it shot straight downward. I remember James saying he had serious doubts about making it out of that dive alive.
YAY CORNWALL!!!! Hello, fellow Cornish person :-) - Love our palm trees, and our beautiful, beautiful reefs - sharing the love of jewel anems, pink sea fan corals and catsharks ^_^
Thanks, James!! Top notch info! Glad to see you working with Dive Rite! They couldn’t have asked for a better person to work with. Great work!
When diving in current my buddies and I always shoot our DSMB as soon as we start our accent. Some divers wait till they're doing their deco or safety stop which can in a strong current put you a long long way from your dive boat.
Thanks James. Interesting video. Always nice to refresh some concepts that should be well known!! 🤙🏽
A good set of fins. I’m a RK3 fanboy and high current sites are what got me there.
I’m also from Cornwall, no wonder I like your videos so much. One and all!
This is very helpful, I have to decide what to do in my Advanced Open Water, drift and wreck diving are electives dives that I have to choose
thanks James.. as usual clear and straight to the point video.. full of info ..
Cozumel, "the Wall" is a drift dive with a downdraft. Believe me, I know. But it is fantastic!
Hey James, I’ve herd of these down currents. I am very concerned about them. Is there anyway to know they are there before you enter the water? Would you please do a video on down currents? Thanks for all the great content!
I second that motion. Just heard about a fatality in a down current at Santa Rosa wall in Cozumel last week at the very same resort I dove with over Christmas break. After hearing about the accident I started reading about down currents and was amazed I had never been taught anything about them. Even took the time to look back at my advanced diver book drift section - nothing ! Love your videos James.
Hi James...can you make a short video on how to handle down current? Thank you
This entire series was absolutely excellent! Thanks James! I am a certified Master Diver at this point, but have never had a dive in the Ocean. I am looking forward to my first and future Ocean diving experiences, and these videos are just awesome!
How can you be a master diver without ever diving in open water?? Lol 🤦♂️
Keep it up mate love your videos..always watching them from home Australia
Well I've been binge watching your content since I finally picked up scuba kit. It's always so helpful. Keep it up.
Same
Great information, James! It is because of your channel I bought and wear my SMB. It is a very important piece of dive equipment that can save your life.
My first 30 dives were all inland quarry or lakes and just had my first trip to PCB for ocean diving. Crazy how the current can change at different depths and conditions. Great info as always.
EXTREMELY Well Done !
From someone with an Oceanography Degree, who lived in south Florida for 16 years and most of my diving was done where the Gulf Stream comes closest to the U.S. coast.
Keep the great videos coming. Keep hoping to come to Miami and take some Tech courses from you.
I'm not blowing smoke extremely well done !!!
Thanks for the fantastic topic idea, as a relatively new diver who dives in pretty horrendous conditions locally (washing machine, 0 vis is common), a catalogue of tips is greatly appreciated!
I can attest to that arm wrestle with a line from a current in Florida. Happened to me on a Pompano dive with a storm coming in. I was waving on that line like a US flag, lol! It was fun at first, but then the arm to shoulder fatigue kicked in. Great video James, thanks! Headed to Vortex Springs this weekend.
@S M highly recommend Vortex Springs. There is a lot to do there from camping, snorkeling, swimming, water slides, kayaking, and of course, diving. The water is cold for me personally, so I use at least a 5 mm full wetsuit and hoodie. The spring water is crystal clear straight to the bottom. At night there is usually some entertainment for karaoke and or a local band. Fun times, and relaxing.
Great video James! Thanks man! Looking forward to the rest of this series.
Excellent video bro 😃 I love drift diving I’m lazy lol
Great video. One additional tool you could have mentioned is the Nautilus Lifeline (or similar tools with GPS etc.). Some boats rent these out on demand or just hand them out to all the guests, especially when it's open ocean diving in very remote places.
Hi James! I’m New to you Chanel but absolutely love the content! Will definitely dive with your center when I come to Miami
Honestly drift dives are often the safest way to reach some of the wrecks in South Florida. I tried to do the Castor a couple of weeks ago, but the current was so ripping that I noped out after one attempt. But when I went to do release the down line with the DM, it was great. Hot drop onto the wreck and leisurely drift dive with the boat right there to pick us up.
Love the handle: Team Peg Leg
please talk more about that downward current story & how you survived & what you learned from this experience. Thank You
Excited about this series
Good video 🤿👍🏽 I use Dive Rite rigging for my stage/deco bottles 👍🏽
I could not imagine trying to do the Spiegel without using the line.
It's amazing how many people in Cozumel don't use an SMB. They just figure the dive Master has one and they're too cool to carry one. Even when you're drift diving and coming up where boats are racing back and forth all over the place.
Current is not so scary if you have a plan to deal with it such as a mooring line or a planned drift but when you are trying to come back to the same spot for an exit and there is no references in bad viz current can be rough. I just got back from a trip to the St Lawrence river to do some wreck dives 100 ft depth with strong current and only 20 ft viz if you didn't follow the line you missed the wreck and didn't make it back to the boat.
Nice Video - very informative... Hi from Munich
Hey, thanks!
Great video like always sir!!
great video brotha james, blessing to you and your family. i wanted to mention a underwater gps system is really good. it's orange i cant think of the name at the moment.
Thanks for sharing! Dive safe.
Great educational video!
Thanks James!
Great video! Ty.
Great video as always, thanks!
Great video!
go with the flow.
i find if you can do a helicopter kick it helps to see where everyone is.
if you get ahead of everyone sink to the bottom, hopefully behind a rock structure or grab a rock and wait for your group to show up. great drift dives in cozumel
Good info. Thank you.
Great series
Nice. Thanks.
Strong video - love it … but thing you forgot the most important part… use the right fins … dont drop in current with “plastic” fins.. like entering a drag race in a VW beatle from 1973.
Fin design has more to do with that than material. I also found that floppier fins actually do better in currents. Like I prefer my Dive Rite XTs over my Jet Fins if I am trying to power through a current.
Having dove in strong currents, he mentioned exactly the right things. Note, there is a part 2 on the subject coming.
So I’m curious about the carabiner on the Johnline. I know you were not a fan of them to secure equipment. Is it less of an issue here if it fails? Can’t wait for the rest of the series.
In Indonesia are you talking about nusa Penida/lembogan and the Lombok strait? Yes have dived there and lots of current to where we’ve had the DM call the dive while on the boat heading to a site due to conditions
Hi James! Thanks for the channel. First scuba one I subscribed. I’m a new diver with just a few dives under my belt. On my 7th dive ever, I got caught by a huge current. It felt as if I was running. I thought it was very fun until I got to a flat rock that looked like a ramp and started going up FAST, I purged my BCD and managed to stop the quick ascent. Are you going to tell us more about your close call in Indonesia? Going down uncontrolledly is one of the situations I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with.
That downcurrent is my biggest phobia. Are there places with no currents? Except lakes, aquariums, etc, of course? I am not going to enjoy a dive being stressed out
Don't let go of the line going down to wreck in strong currents until you reach bottom. If you do you will be blown away.
Thx for the video! What could I do when I‘m getting into down currents?
Surprised you didn't mention best gin type for current.
Hoping you can help. I’m getting conflicting information about white fins in relation to caves and sharks. I’m trying to think of a reason why white fins would be bad for cave diving and all I’ve got is maybe reflections in low light might be unwanted. For sharks dives, I’ve read that it has never been a problem for a lot of people because we already have high contrast colors on us like tanks and I’ve also read that some charters won’t allow them at all.
Hi James it is good to see your face also excellent video
On the weekend I got in a heated exchange with the guy from everything scuba an his video no mask no problem A fellow asked how to get the air bubble out from under the hood every thing scuba suggested putting the mast strap under the hood
Which I find ridiculous and disaster waiting to happen
He mentioned instructors teach it this way at which point I lost it
(You could check the site and see the discussion)
What do you tec divers recommend
Mask strap over the hood or under the hood? Just wondering
I use a dive right wing ! On duals also a single tank adapter
Thanks
Take a heated nail and pierce the top of the hood. The air bubble(s) will work themselves out from under the hood.
@@charlesbrooks8612 that's a good idea I also suggested to Steve to get a hood with a vent what got me was everything scuba suggested putting the mast strap under the hood
Thx for great info. What about fins? I had really hard time in my last dive with current and felt like my fins wasnt strong enough. Any suggestions?
Don’t buy split fins , scuba pro do sea wings
Give it the old thumb down twice. I like that, smart move... ;)
How would you coping with a fear of sharks. Love diving and really want to dive salt. The only thing is I'm scared of sharks.
Hi I’m that idiot who thought they were a good enough swimmer. It’s been 7 years since that incident, I’d like to think I’ve learned from that mistake. My wife might disagree though.
Thumbs down….. twice! Hahahahaha. 🤣🤣🤣
Talk way too much and too little useful information