Diving in warm tropical waters presents its own set of problems, these are mostly stingers that wetsuits normally offer sufficient protection. Titan Triggerfish and to a certain degree currents are problems encountered too.

The waters are mostly warm and clear in the Philippines, dives are generally from banca boats but as currents and islands in close proximity to each other tend to produce strong currents and at times cloudy water. Getting caught in a down current, that\’s excitement I can do without, a wall of water dragging you down to the depths? Getting behind the wall can help but you cannot stay there forever, deco loads and gas management are then tricky.

Surprisingly, up currents can also present problems caused by deep walls, difficult to perform decompression stops when you are swimming down as hard as you can. I have gone from a massive down current on a deep wall to struggling to hold depth near the surface to complete my stops. Even though the water is around 28C, I always wear a full length 3 mm wetsuit, I should be wearing a hood, even if it is just a rashie hood to protect my head from the sun on the surface and stingers when below the waves – I just never learn.