From: toddc@spot.tv.tek.com (Todd Carlson)
Newsgroups: rec.scuba
Subject: Re: More on drift diving
Date: 8 Apr 92 18:06:15 GMT
Organization: Tektronix, Inc.  Beaverton, Oregon

In article <1992Apr8.043230.8415@trl.oz.au> d.giddy@trl.oz.au writes:
>
>Anthony DeBoer wrote a fascinating article on drift diving in the Niagra
>river, so I thought I might contribute to the subject by describing a
>different type of drift diving we do here in Melbourne (Australia not Florida!).
>David Giddy,			                 |    Voice: +61 3 253 6388
>Telecommunications Research Laboratories of AOTC,|      Fax: +61 3 253 6144
>P.O. Box 249, Clayton, Victoria 3168, AUSTRALIA  |      Net: d.giddy@trl.oz.au


Here in Oregon, we have done a similar dive to the one you described
(High speed drift dive in a tidal current of a bay), but when I got
my advanced cert., we combined it with a low-visibility/safety dive.
(I.E. Extremely Precise dive plan, along with a buddy line)

The dive took place in Tillamook Bay (Yeah, where they make cheese), on 
a rainy november morning, and we planned to hit the water about 1 hour 
after the tide started coming in.
                                                           
                       - Pacific Ocean -                    
                                   |   1|
               --------------------|    |----------------------
                                   |    |
                                   |    |
             ____________        /       \
           /             \_____/           \ 
        /                                   |        W
      /                               /-\   |        |
   __/                               | 2 |  /     S--+--N
                                      \_/  |         |
                       Tillamook            \        E
   <- 3 Rivers           Bay                |
                                           /
                                         /
  --------\                            /
            \                        /
             ------------------------

Tillamook Bay is about four miles across, but like the bay in
Australia, it's tide water passes through a narrow channel quite fast.
Unlike the bay in Australia, visibility is rarely more than ten feet.

When we went in (Point 1), visibility was about standard, but we 
weren't quite ready 
to handle the swift current AND the large boulders used to make the jetty.
To make matters worse, our buddy line was more dangerous than it was helpful
because we would pass on opposite sides of a small rock, and both have to 
climb the line hand-over-hand against the current to get unstuck.

After doing this three times, we decided to cut the line, and continue the 
dive in close proximity.  I started REALLY enjoying the dive after that!

Our second dive started further inside the bay, and was basically around
a large rock to get some Dungeness Crab (Point 2). It was much later in the
day, and the tide had been going out for an hour or two.  The visibility
was much worse, less than five feet, but the crabs were plentiful;  that it,
until we came around the rock near the channel.  We hit the outgoing 
current before we knew it, and were sucked down into the channel.  

I checked my depth, only thirty feet, but there was so much silt in the
water, it was like a night dive. I started swimming cross-current, until 
I was able to swim up, and then I surfaced to have my buddy no-where in sight.
(Why did we cut the buddy line?)  He showed up a few seconds later about 
100 yards downstream.   Very exciting, but not much fun.

The next Monday at work, I was speaking with a friend who said he gave up diving
after a scare in Tillamook bay;  turns out he did the same dive (#2) that we
did.

Moral:

Be careful of the currents, and know your dive before you hit the water.

                                      Todd



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Todd Carlson                      |  Nike vs. Anti-Drug Campaign:
toddc@tv.TV.TEK.COM               | 
Computer Resources Coordinator    |  "Just Say No"  or  "Just Do It!"
TV Division, Tektronix Inc.       | 
Beaverton, Oregon   U.S.A.        |  I, for one, am a little confused.
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