If until now your experience has been that currents are something you fight to swim against, drift diving will give you a whole new perspective. Drift diving grew out of the philosophy, “if you can’t beat “em”, join “em”, and is the prevailing practice in many areas with nearly continuous strong currents.

Drift diving can give you a real adrenaline pump. At some drift sites, the current rips you along far faster than you could swim, or even cruise with a DPV sailing you along effortlessly. Some divers compare drift diving in clear water to hang gliding or horizontal sky diving –

but no airplane needed and you don’t have to worry about your chute opening.

Going with the flow.

When you first become a diver, you learned that you need to consider currents when you plan your dives, that strong currents can wear you out and that they limit the distance you cover. Sometimes currents can prevent diving entirely. When you drift dive, the current works for you instead of against you. Divers associate four advantages with drift diving.

First, drift diving usually requires little effort. During the dive, you just go along for the ride, buzzing through scenery with current “swimming” for you. Second, Drift diving opens up dive sites that are nearly impossible to visit any other way.

In particular, rivers and some reefs are constantly in a strong current that precludes non-drift dive techniques. Third, since you’re floating along in the current, you cover more area and see more on a drift dive. Finally, many types of drift diving relieve you of having to return to or look for a specific exit point. The boat travels with you.

But you are diving in moving water; so drift diving does have some concerns that make using appropriate drift techniques important. You and other divers need to closely co-ordinate exit and entry procedure, for one, you need extra vigilance in maintaining buddy contact for another. Most forms of drift diving call for co-ordinating with surface support and supervision.

A fourth concern is that you usually need a long, extensive bottom topography, such as along a reef, wall, river or series of dive sites strung in line with the current to drift dive. Otherwise, you spend a lot of time floating along looking at nothing (although there are some spots where you can drift onto a wreck or other specific site). The techniques you’ll learn in this section, plus additional ones you can gain in the PADI Drift Diver Specialty course, help you maximize the fun and excitement drift diving offers, while addressing its unique concerns.

Drift Dive Environments.

Drift diving takes place in many environments and in different kinds of currents. Some drift diving requires a boat, and some is done from shore. You can even drift in inland rivers.

In the ocean, the earth’s rotation and the wind cause major offshore currents that flow virtually non-stop. In locations like Cozumel, Mexico, Palau or off West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, You almost always have these currents, thus making drift diving one of the most common dive techniques. Other coastal areas may experience long shore currents, which are caused by waves.

Long shore currents are temporary and run parallel to the shore, making drift diving possible from boat, or simply by entering the water at one point and getting out farther down shore. Tidal currents flowing in and out of sounds and bays as the tides change offer drift dive opportunities. A unique aspect of drift diving in tidal currents is that you can visit the same dive site drifting in different directions, depending on the tide.

Inland, fresh water divers drift dive down rivers and streams either accompanied by a boat, or with a car left downstream for the drive back. A few locations have services for driving rafters back upstream that divers can take advantage of.

Regardless of the environment, however, currents have a characteristic that you need to keep in mind while drift diving: Currents don’t flow uniformly, but tend to be faster at the surface and slower near the bottom where they encounter resistance. If you must swim against the current for any reason, the easiest place to do so would be on the bottom.

In rivers where the flow frequently rounds curves, the location of fast and slow moving water can vary (depending on river topography). Before diving in a particular river, reference experienced divers for specific information about how current flows along the area you plan to dive.

Types Of Drift Diving.

Different types of environments call for different techniques when drift diving, so several variants have sprung up, each suited to the unique needs of the local sites and the divers. Your instructor will fill you in on the exact techniques you’ll be using on your Drift Adventure Dive, but here is a basic description of the two broadest drift diving categories.

Drift Diving with a Surface Float.

In this type of drift diving, a group of divers follows a surface float towed by a line-handler, who usually leads as well. The dive boat follows the float, and all divers keep the group leader/line-handler in sigh at all times. Drift diving with a surface float makes surface supervision easy and helps warn other boats away from the divers. This technique is especially useful in limited visibility, when the bottom topography is generally flat with little depth reference for descending and when surface conditions are rougher, making it harder for a boat to follow diver bubbles.

Drift Diving without a Surface Float.

Many drift dives call for divers to say together in a group, but to ride the current without a surface float. When supervised by a dive boat, the boat follows the group the group’s bubbles, and the group stays together by following a group leader.

Floatless drift diving is common in areas with good visibility and for deeper dives where the faster surface current would drag a line-handler along quicker than the rest of the group. It’s also appropriate where reef or bottom topography would cause line snags, tangling or environmental damage. Floatless drift diving is also common when diving rivers where a float could entangle in overhanging trees and surface obstructions.

Surface Supervision.

Whether drift diving with or without a float, you usually want surface supervision whether possible, preferably from a boat. It’s important to have someone to look out for divers to keep track of where they are.

Boat-based surface supervision can lend assistance if necessary, and picks up the group at the end of the dive, avoiding a tiring swim back to shore. Surface supervision can also be useful if an emergency arises. Boat operation for drift diving requires manoeuvring and close coordination between the boat crew and the divers, so anyone involved in operating the vessel should be completely familiar with drift dive procedures. Even when drift diving from shore, such as in river diving, surface supervision is less common, but may be possible by having a car or truck follow along the shore.

Drift diving doesn’t require much equipment beyond the gear you will wear in the same environment when not drift diving. In fact, you probably already use two pieces, which are a float and line, and a surface signalling devise. For some drift diving, you may not even need the float and line.

Float and Line.

For drift diving with a float, you generally need a float large enough to be highly visible and too buoyant to get pulled under by divers pulling, ascending, making safety stops or resting on it. The size depends partly on the number of divers; larger groups may need

something pretty big, though a smaller one may be more appropriate for two or three divers and for use in rivers. Appropriate line will be heavy-duty, at least three millimetres in diameter, and stored on a spool or reel for deployment and retrieval. Lines thicker than six millimetres may be appropriate in some conditions, but may be a hassle to reel in and out. Sometimes the leader has a hook/anchor on the reel to make it easier to stop during a drift dive.

Surface Signalling Devices.

In drift diving, if you become separated from the group you may need to attract the boat’s attention. It’s a lot easier with the right equipment. One way to handle this is to keep a whistle attached to your BCD inflator, where you can blow it without digging into your BCD pocket for it. An inflatable signal tube makes you easier to see; this compact tube unrolls and inflates into a two meter tall, bright coloured tube. Inflatable signal tubes makes you much easier to spot, and takes up so little space that many divers always carry one – drift diving or not.

You can inflate some types some types of inflatable signal tubes or divers carry buoys and let them ascend on a line from 5-6 meters. This can provide a reference for a safety stop or emergency decompression stop, and alerts the boat to your presence. Drift diving at night calls for carrying more than one, highly visible light since it’s important that the boat be able to find you in the dark. Night drift diving has more potential hazards, and is generally an activity for divers with ample experience in both drift and night diving. See the Night Diving section for more on procedures for diving after dark.

Planning Drift Dives.

Like all dives, drift dives begin with planning. In planning a drift dive, don’t forget to take these five considerations into account, in addition to other dive planning factors:

1.Surface conditions and current strengths.

In evaluating the surface conditions, assess whether it will be easy to follow bubbles (if you’re not using a float) and how much difficulty divers would have climbing into a boat or returning to shore. Be sure the current isn’t too swift to meet the dive objective.

2.Water visibility.

Moving swiftly along a reef in poor visibility poses a risk of running into something. Make sure you can see well enough for the current’s speed. Poor visibility can also make it harder for the group to stay together.

3.Number and size of dive groups.

Are there too many divers for one group? If you have poor visibility, it may be difficult to keep a group larger than three or four divers together. If small groups would be better, can several groups go in the water at once, or should groups take turns? This depends upon how many leaders are available and weather the dive boat can keep track of more than one group.

4.Experience levels.

The less experienced the divers on your dive, naturally the more conservative you plan the dive. Remember that less experienced divers are more likely to surface sooner than more experienced divers. Divers less experienced with drift diving will be better off with a relatively simple dive plan.

5.Dive objective.

Most drift dives are tours, but some may include searches or photography. If you need to stop in the current, is it weak enough for you to do so?

Preparing for the Entry.

The most important factor in preparing to enter the water on a drift dive is that the group needs to be ready at the same time. For some types of drift diving, this is the only way to keep the group together during descent and the dive (discussed shortly). Some techniques allow for more variation in readiness.

When drift diving from a boat, the crew will give you ample notice so that everyone can be ready when reaching the entry spot. Go through your pre-dive safety check carefully because forgotten or misadjusted equipment on a drift dive can cause considerable disorganization and stress. Have your mask on and regulator I place so that you and all other divers can enter quickly at the same time. This can be especially important when drift diving from a boat because it may have only one or two minutes to get everyone in the water after disengaging the propellers. After that, the boat may drift or blow off course.

Entries. In most drift dives with less experienced drift divers, the dive starts with a buoyant drift dive entry, in which all divers enter the water with BCDs partially inflated. The disadvantage to this is that you can handle a problem before the group descends.

Other instances call for a negative drift dive entry, in which all divers enter the water with empty BCDs and descend as a group immediately. The negatively buoyant entry is normally used when the dive must begin on a particularly small site. More experienced divers find this an exhilarating, team-oriented entry with everyone peeling out of the boat and dropping, one after another like paratroopers as the divemaster signals, “Dive! Dive! Dive!”

Beginning Descents with Floats.

When drift diving with a float, you’ll probably use a variant of two common procedures that help ensure that the group stays with the float. One is based on buoyant entries and the other on negative entries.

The first procedure calls for trailing the float line behind the boat, like a current line. When the crew signals you to enter the water (Important note: NEVER enter the water before signalled by the crew to do so!), swim to the line and hold on about three-quarters of the way to the buoy. When everyone is ready to go, the line handeler disconnects the line and descends with the end. The rest of the group follows down along the line (but not hanging onto it).

The second procedure normally calls for a negative entry. At the crew’s signal, the line-handler enters with the float and with the line on a reel or in a coil. The remainder of the group follows immediately behind; after checking that there are no problems, the line-handler, unreeling the line. The group descends along the line, not hanging onto it.

Both procedures may be modified, depending upon the local environment, so your instructor will detail the procedures you’ll follow on your Drift Adventure Dive. If you’re diving without a float, your descent begins immediately.

Descents.

It’s important to keep the group together on many drift dives, especially when diving from boats, so you use special techniques that maintain both buddy contact and the group leader contact. If you’re using a surface float, after the line-handler starts down, follow the line down. Use it as a visual guide only and follow it. If necessary, you can make a loose OK sign around the line to maintain contact, but don’t pull on it. Pulling won’t pull you down, but it will pull the line-handler up. Another reason is that since you’re in faster upper current, you may act like a sail and drag the line-handler across the bottom.

As you descend, maintain buddy contact and stay with the line – don’t drop straight to the bottom. Doing so could separate you from the group. If you have trouble equalising or another descent problem, ascend along the line, clear the problem, then follow it back down. Swim around any divers having descent difficulties and continue your descent b following the line.

At the bottom, the line-handler will normally watch to make sure everyone has made it down. Depending upon the local conditions, the handler may stop on the bottom, or simply wait drifting in the current.

If you’re diving without a float, everyone descends at the same time to stay together. Descending along a reef slope or wall for reference helps the group have a more controlled descent to the planned dive depth. If you have equalization or similar problems during a float-less drift dive and you can’t descend, the proper action depends upon the group, the environment and the conditions. You and the group plan for this in advance, and may include returning to the surface with your buddy for pickup by the boat, or following the group from above until you can descend.

During the Dive.

After descent, the line-handler accounts for all divers and makes sure no one has problems. If this is done while stopped on the bottom, the handler checks the current direction and indicates the travel direction. As you go, keep close contact with your buddy and the leader. Stay neutral and avoid bottom contact so you don’t damage aquatic life – or yourself. Keep gauges and alternate air sources secure so they don’t dangle; snagging one while drifting can be rather awkward.

You can stay with the group more easily if you try to stay up current from the group leader. Watch for signals, and if the leader stops, maintain position by swimming into the current or by holding on to a nonliving part of the reef. If a course change is part of the plan, the change will begin well in advance and allow for the current speed.

Ascents.

Drift dive ascents either call for the entire group to ascend together, or for individual buddy teams to ascend as necessary, allowing those with sufficient air and no-decompression time to continue the dive. For group ascents, the ascent begins when the first diver signals “low on air” to the group leader, or when the group reaches the planned maximum dive time. The group ascends normally, preceding the group leader. If using a large float, you may use the line to assist your ascent, but with small floats, pulling on the line may sink the float. At 5 meters, the group makes a safety stop together before surfacing. At the surface, stay in a group and listen for the group leader’s directions.

When you use individual buddy team ascents, you and your buddy ascend on your own when you reach low air or your dive limit. Generally, operations use this technique under good dive conditions and with experienced divers. When a buddy team reaches a limit, it signals the group leader and ascends normally.

When ascending along a float line, again, don’t hold the line and become a “sail” that drags the line-handler on the bottom. Safety stops may be more difficult to perform than when you don’t have a float, but you can usually manage by staying neutral, watching your gauges and using the line as a visual reference. If conditions make performing a safety stop in buddy teams difficult or impossible, it may be best to plan the dive for a group ascent.

Exiting.

Once at the surface on a group dive, everyone stays together. If using a surface float, the leader will gather the line to prevent tangling, but if the line gets in the way before it’s retrieved, remember to swim over, rather than under it. On the surface as a buddy team, stay with your buddy and signal the boat, which will manoeuvre to pick you up.

When drift diving from a boat, remember that for safety, the boat must disengage the propellers before you approach, so you don’t swim towards the boat until directed to do so by the crew. Keep clear of the boarding ladder until it’s your turn to board, but stay with the boat and the group/your buddy. In some instances, the boat may extend a trail line for you to hang on to while waiting to exit, or the line-handler may attach the float line for the same purpose. Generally, during the group leader exits last to be available to help someone if necessary.