We Got Caught in a Downcurrent - PANIC (Sipadan, Island) | Diving Malaysia | MayenTV

the fishes were like "look at these noobs..."

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!

The current is going to send us to our deaths, but first, let me take a SELFIE!

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!!!!

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.

Oh, I saw the whole thing, dude! First, you were like, whoa! And then we were like, WHOA! And then you were like, whoa.

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.

This is why I never Scuba without a Parachute !

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

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 … 🤦‍♂️

This is why i watch youtube on my bed.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.👍👍👍

You know your in trouble when your bubbles go down rather that float up

Strong current 99.9998% of people: grab onto reef this guy: fiddle with camera and float away

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.