Judging the currents (Part 2) Let’s look at how we can judge the strength of current by observing fishes around you. Fishes react to currents and by careful observation, you can judge how strong a current will be. Fish indicators can be useful for divers to assess the currents. No currents : Small fishes are swimming in all directions, and school of fishes are distributed across the reef top swimming in every direction. Light current : Small fishes are swimming close to coral reef top and facing the current. They can be spread out low and wide on top of the reef. In light current, you can normally swim against it. Moderate current : Small fishes are hiding behind corals, and most outside the reef will be finning madly. Bigger fishes will be seen facing the current, but may swim close to the reef as well. With this type of current, it is quite difficult to swim against it. Strong current : Small fishes cannot be seen anywhere. They are either swept away or hiding inside the coral reef. Big fishes are are hiding behind coral reefs (like staghorn corals). In this current, you just need to drift with it, and there is no point finning at all. Just enjoy the drift dive, and go with the flow! Super strong current : No need for fish indicator at all. Your mask is flapping like mad and slowly coming off, while your regulator is free-flowing. In this current, either you get swept super fast into the drift, or you can hide behind corals. If you are holding on to any coral, you will get tired holding to the coral reef while the current is pushing hard against you. Next : What you can do when super-strong current hits you youtube/watch?v=9mRgXcQ2NTk
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 03:46:07 +0000
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