Divers Trying To Escape a Massive Vortex Current [Video]
A group of divers caught in a vortex current fight to free themselves from its grip.
In the following video a group of divers supposedly mistakenly swim into what is known as a vortex current. A vortex current is an underwater current that runs parallel to the surface of the water.
Diver Caught in Vortex Current
Vortex currents are known to occur at relatively few known dive sites around the world, so there is relatively little information about them.
Vortex Current’s Signature Horizontal Bubble Pattern
Vortex currents can be recognized by a pattern of horizontal bubbles that kind of snake through the water. If you are caught in a vortex current while scuba diving, the suggestion is to remain calm and attempt to swim perpendicularly out of it.
Watch these divers try to escape this vortex current.
Watch these divers try to escape a vortex current in the video below
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Thats why I don’t dive with split fins….they dont work in a strong current
Ugh I have to wear small tiny split fins because i have a shattered ankle that has plates and screws and can no longer move the large fins like I use to but what i got those gloves with webs in the fingers and they are amazing i swim faster with my hands then with my legs. Don’t know if you ever tried them but they are awesome I’m like a dam seal under the water. Miss my big fins but seriously my ankle will give out and ill be pushing with one fin it sucks. Got a pair of body glove hand fins and it has allowed me to use smaller fins on the feet and still have plenty of speed and power if not more. Only bad thing is they probably aren’t rated to go for long they always eventually tear around the fingers but for 18 bucks it’s worth it.
many dive sites do not allow gloves of any kind any more. Split fins provide plenty of thrust
Split find produce much less forces than reg fins. I’ve had too do a rescue in my splits. Haven’t and won’t use them ever again!!!
Learn to kick them properly!!!! They are the most efficient fins mafe!!
Split fins are garbage!!!!! As a dive master/ INSTR whose performed many rescues trust me on this I’ll take my mares quatros and swim circles around you with splits!!!!!
I will take that bet! 30 years twaching SCUBA over 7509 dives! You are incorrect about split fins!! Learn the correct kick!!!
Dam inflate your bc a little and your out i think he was just having fun with the vortex. Thats why you have a BC use that bad boy. If you were free diving that could be a problem lol
They were just playing in it. The cut a ways are multiple dives, the diver “struggling” would have ran out of air. The fact that he doesn’t inflate his BC or drop weight and perform emergency accent only suggest otherwise. These currents are fun, and divers are trained to dive in fast moving currents, this one was fun and didn’t sweep the diver away. Again, I stand behind the fact that they were just playing. As a DM I have had my fair share of surprises, and divers goofing off…you can spot the difference.
So you are a DM and can tell by looking that they are just playing?? Please tell me where you dive out of so that I may stay away. You are certainly not a person I would want watching my back should anything go wrong…
Adam,
I know people who were on that dive (in real life, not “Facebook Friends”) and no one was playing. As I dive professional perhaps you should refrain from making statements (based on your”expertise”) on limited data. In this case the diver caught in the vortex panicked. Surely you can recall from your DM training that when a diver is panicked they can forget even the most basic training. Regardless of what ones experience/training level is, unexpected events can challenge ones decision making and response ability.
While this vortex looks powerful, it is relatively small. It looks like the divers are in genuine panic except the one that stays in the vortex for 5 minutes. But, it is not so easy to get out of them because you become disoriented and don’t know up from down. Bubbles can go sideways or even straight down. I was trapped in a large very powerful vortex in Indonesia. I was doing my safety stop and suddenly was down at 80 ft, then 15 feet then 75 and 12 and kept bouncing. I inflated my BC and didn’t panic. I also relaxed, breathed out and didn’t swim because I didn’t know which way was up. Eventually I got out of the vortex and to a safe depth for a safety stop. The biggest danger was an embolism. I wasn’t at the extreme depth long enough to get bent. But it was very scary. I had a buddy with me and he was in the same vortex.
I was there that day. No one was goofing around. The diver dropped weights, inflated his BCD, and still had difficulty escaping. Scary indeed.
Thanks for sharing first-hand details on this dive 🙂
Expect the unexpected. Had an experience in Cozumel last time I was there. We were doing our SS and could not maintain depth. Current pushed us to 5-8ft, then pushed us to 25-30ft. Was a real struggle to maintain depth, but we worked through it. When we go on the boat, the dead calm water was broken by what loooked like an area of boiling water. Something neither I nor the DM had experienced before. We figured it was two opposing currents meeting and creating a churning effect.
Whatever you face underwater, stay calm and think, then work your way through it.
that’s common in Cozumel there are vicious down currents that can pull you right off the wall and down. It’s a weird feeling.
Crazy stuff. Glad everyone is ok. What are you supposed to so (Besides remain calm) to get out? One of the divers appeared to have a knife or something in his hand and was swimming with his hands. I saw a comment one of them dropped their weights and inflated but was still stuck. Appeared that swimming up or down it until it widened or went upwards worked for the last guy.