Drift Diving 101: All You Need to Know About Drift Diving
Drift diving can be one of the most rewarding types of diving, but it does require certain precautions. What is drift diving? How do you do it safely? Read on to find out.
What is drift diving?
Drift diving is a type of diving where instead of fighting a current, we go with it. Usually, we start a dive swimming against the current, if there is one, to avoid having to fight against it on the way back — and potentially run out of air in the process.
But with drift diving, we spend the entire dive going with the current, letting it carry us along. Because we’re letting the water do our work for us, drift diving can be one of the most relaxing types of diving. A successful drift dive does, however, require you to relinquish some control. You can’t accurately plan where you want to go or when you want to stop, at least not in detail. The current decides where the dive will go.
Why drift diving?
Drift diving can be the quickest and most-efficient type of diving. Depending on the force of the current, we may not even have to use our fins for propulsion, just for buoyancy control, as the current sweeps us along over the dive site.
On some dive sites, this may be the only type of diving available, as strong currents can be impossible to fight. Even a very fit diver can typically only generate propulsion equivalent to 1 to 1.5 knots, so anything over that will be impossible to swim against. And nor should you—overexerting yourself on a dive is not only unpleasant, but can also be dangerous as you blow through your air and on-gas nitrogen as you huff and puff.
Where can you go drift diving?
First and foremost, we should only do a drift at a dive site we or know well, or with a guide who knows the site well. We don’t want to be suddenly swept into deep water, or worse, forced down by a downcurrent.
Drift dives can be done as shore dives, provided we have exit points along the way. Consider, however, that we won’t be able to exit the water in the same place we entered. So somehow we must return to our transport. This is not an issue if someone is waiting on shore to pick up divers as they emerge along the dive route.
Drifts are typically done as boat dives, though, and follow a reef, wall, wreck or a shoreline. One of the best places in the world to experience drift diving is Cozumel, Mexico.
What do you need to do on a drift dive?
You’ll need some specific gear to conduct a safe drift dive, including a surface buoy. Depending on how you elect to do your dive, this can either be a permanent surface marker buoy (SMB) or a delayed surface marker buoy (DSMB).
Choose a permanent buoy if you want the dive boat to have eyes on your position during the entire dive, as it will stay inflated at the surface and you’ll have to tow it on a reel. If you choose a DSMB, you dive as usual and send it up when you’re ready to start your safety stop.
The boat that’s following you will then place itself close to the DSMB, awaiting the moment you surface to pick you up. If you choose a permanent buoy, the boat will stay in sight of it until you surface, then come and pick you up.
If you’re drifting in an area with very strong currents, a reef hook can be a good backup. Reef hooks are controversial, but this has more to do with their misuse than with the concept of the reef hook itself. A reef hook is useful for drift dives in a situation where you need to hold yourself in a given place while either waiting for the boat to arrive or a diver trailing behind.
A Jon line can be useful if you must do a safety stop on a downline when diving with a large group of divers. The Jon line allows you to attach yourself to the downline and stay at a distance from it, allowing more divers to fit on the same line.
How to get started on drift diving
Quite a few organizations have drift diving courses, which are a great place to start if you want to get into drift diving. Doing several dives with experienced drift divers can also help build your experience and skills.
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Comments
I don’t know about drift hooks, but I simply fashioned a 10″ plastic tent stake with a small loop of rope for control in drift. Works great in sand and minimal impact/effect of reef if you absolutely have to do it.
Thomas,
I liked and agree with your comparison to “zen-like” diving. Drift diving is also about as close to flying as most of us are ever likely to get! Nearly all of the dive sites and on almost every day from Cozumel Mexico one can experience drift diving. Just look fast, because if you pass something interesting you’re probably not going to get back to it!