Rip Tides in Sosua Bay – Contrary to the word rip it doesn’t happen lightening fast…

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cjewell

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Oct 11, 2004
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So, me and my girlfriend headed down to playa Sosua Saturday and hit the shore, popsicle floaties in tow.
The water looked fine to me, waves a little big but nothing that looked crazy – so in I went. We promptly mounted our floaties, I slapped my arm on hers to keep us together and we both closed our eyes at moments they may have been open by I was face down and not really looking around, just taking in the sun and relaxation. We were floating around in the shoreline – where we started the water was maybe knee to waist deep.

Not 5 minutes later, no exaggeration I looked up because my girlfriend said she was taking on water and thought her floatie had a leak (which indeed it did). To my surprise we were all the way past the boats!!!! We were both like WTF?? Omgggggggg!!! How did we get here so fast!!! I felt nothing!!!!

She says to me, no problem, lets just start swimming back. Nope – swimming with all my might we just kept getting pushed further out. It was like we got pushed out of the water with one current and into another but to get back would mean swimming against the current.

2 party catamarans passed. My girlfriend raised her arm and yelled help – and they all raised their classes to cheers LOL (well not really) I simply don’t think they could here what she way saying and thought she was waving. We were literally eff’d.

I tried propelling with my arms. I tried dismounting and using my legs to kick – the progress against the energy being expended was not even close to comparison.

Strangely we came across floating debree and one long rope that wasn’t attached to anything. We the debree and rope used it to pull, propel, pull propel. Then we finally made it to the outlaying rope that blocks the swimmers from where the boats are and used that to pull further.

Then that one ran out. Then it was another while again of swimming.

It took 5 minutes to be pulled out and over 2 hours to get back in. I was exhausted and that literally went from relaxing, to kind of funny, to terrorizing really fast.

Take care when floating in the shore line. Don’t think you will feel a fast pull to know you are caught in a rip tide. I think this post is especially important for parents because there were a lot of kids in the water that day unsupervised and the conditions may not always be as they appear. A child would have been toast in the situation we found ourselves in.

I am not sure if any others here have any advice in a situation like the one I experienced (besides the obvious which is not floating on your floatie popsicle with your eyes closed) about how to identify rip tide conditions in Sosua Bay or how to swim out of one.
 
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RockyM

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Swim perpendicular to the current (i.e. follow the coast line). The rip currents are normally narrow, extending out from shore. So if you swim perpendicular to them you will swim out of the current. Not sure how to tell if they exist, maybe someone else can chime in. Glad you are ok. They can be very scary, and dangerous.
 
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jd426

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Essentially you swam upstream for 2 hours . Next time you will surely swim sideways .. Lesson learned .
 
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cjewell

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KateP said:
Rip tides or currents are very deceptive. They often look like a calm area of water but it's totally the opposite. Check out this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuAlDTC_gIQ
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That video is SO GOOD! The beggining where it shows the shore crashing and the calm behind it was very similar to the conditions Saturday - it really didn't look bad to me at all and now I am seeing how I got pulled so far. I think the word rip makes these things so deceiving because its such a slow pull.
 
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cavok

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Great video and good to know, but on the beach where I live in Cabarete, I have never seen such clear and distinct indications of a rip current.

About a week ago a man almost drowned in front of our condo. Light wind, small waves, and the sea was fairly calm. No indication of a rip that I could see.
 
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cjewell

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cavok said:
Great video and good to know, but on the beach where I live in Cabarete, I have never seen such clear and distinct indications of a rip current.

About a week ago a man almost drowned in front of our condo. Light wind, small waves, and the sea was fairly calm. No indication of a rip that I could see.
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Honestly I saw nothing at all. The waves were crashing a bit on the shore but beyond that the water was very calm. I also did not feel/sense fast movement or any sensation that we were being carried that far. I think they are probably hard to tell visually but the key is how to swim out. I took the direct approach which sucked all my energy. I always thought a rip tide was a big ocean thing that pulls you fast. I thank god for the rope and debree that came by. Im chatting with another guy on Facebook right now who said the same thing happened to him on Playa Laguna this same weekend and he could not tell either. He said he too was terrified. Good to discuss this. Especially for people with small children. That's the other thing was the number of small children in the shore that day with floaties. God forbid.
 
Cdn_Gringo

Cdn_Gringo

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The outflow is not always immediately evident and can change from location to location on the same beach over time. If you sit and watch for about 15 minutes or so, you may be able to see it. Look for an elongated trail of foamy water, water that appears dirtier (more cloudy) than the water to either side. A trail of floating debris is a good indicator. If you know the location of sandbars or breaks in a reef that is a likely location.

Rips are stronger when the tide is coming in. If there are waves to either side of a calmer looking patch of water, there she be. Waves breaking further out than the rest in localized locations could indicate incoming swells hitting an outflow. Watch other swimmers - those who are moving away from shore without trying specifically to do so are a good indicator. Boats steadily pulling at their ropes in a seaward direction when the tide is coming in should be of interest.

These outflows don't always look the same or behave the same. Lots of variables from day to day, hour to hour. Really strong rips can be easy to see, weak ones can be overlooked completely.

All these outflows are is the excess water brought ashore by the waves having to make its way back out. Big waves, or lots of waves, means more water that has to get off the beach and back out to open water.
 
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cavok

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cjewell said:
Honestly I saw nothing at all. The waves were crashing a bit on the shore but beyond that the water was very calm. I also did not feel/sense fast movement or any sensation that we were being carried that far. I think they are probably hard to tell visually but the key is how to swim out. I took the direct approach which sucked all my energy. I always thought a rip tide was a big ocean thing that pulls you fast. I thank god for the rope and debree that came by. Im chatting with another guy on Facebook right now who said the same thing happened to him on Playa Laguna this same weekend and he could not tell either. He said he too was terrified. Good to discuss this. Especially for people with small children. That's the other thing was the number of small children in the shore that day with floaties. God forbid.
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We've had 5-6 near drownings due to rip currents in front of my condo. In most cases, the swimmers went out beyond the breaking waves, which is usually only about 50 yards, and then get caught up in a rip. Good advice to swim parallel to the shore, but these rips fan out the further out they are and, if you're in a feeder rip, you could swim into the main rip and get carried out further. People tend to panic and if you're not a good swimmer, it's a long way back to shore. Not everyone can swim 200-300 yards under those conditions.
 
Auryn

Auryn

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Glad you are okay!

If you click the link to the second old thread dv8 posted, PeterinBrat posted a video on Rip Tides when there were a couple of tragedies on the north coast at Cabarete. I was living there in 2015 when that happened and remember that video. It explains why they happen and has great graphics showing what to do. I can only hope that if I'm ever caught in one that I continue to remember, not panic, and to swim parallel.
 
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cjewell

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Auryn said:
Glad you are okay!

If you click the link to the second old thread dv8 posted, PeterinBrat posted a video on Rip Tides when there were a couple of tragedies on the north coast at Cabarete. I was living there in 2015 when that happened and remember that video. It explains why they happen and has great graphics showing what to do. I can only hope that if I'm ever caught in one that I continue to remember, not panic, and to swim parallel.
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Just looked at it - its so crazy how when on the beach you literally cant tell or even feel it for that matter.
 
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Expat-in-Cabarete

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Where in Cabarete? Just wondering. In my 13 years here, I've always heard of rip tides but only on Bozo beach.

cavok said:
Great video and good to know, but on the beach where I live in Cabarete, I have never seen such clear and distinct indications of a rip current.

About a week ago a man almost drowned in front of our condo. Light wind, small waves, and the sea was fairly calm. No indication of a rip that I could see.
Click to expand...
 
Cdn_Gringo

Cdn_Gringo

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Rip currents are present at all beaches from time to time. Some beaches due to the topography of the bottom or the presence of a reef have them more often. As I mentioned earlier, such outflows are more prevalent when the tide is coming in and/or during times when there is sufficient wave action pushing water towards the shore - before the arrival of a storm for example (what can be considered great surfing conditions).

There can be numerous rip currents at different locations on the same beach at the same time.
 
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cavok

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Expat-in-Cabarete said:
Where in Cabarete? Just wondering. In my 13 years here, I've always heard of rip tides but only on Bozo beach.
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I'm in the Cabarete East Condo area(Martini Bar), but rips are reported almost down to La Boca to the east and to the police station to the west. A friend of mine that's a kite surfer and lives in the Kite Beach area tells me there are some strong rips there, too.
 
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Expat-in-Cabarete

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Thanks, cavok. Yes, I'm familiar with the area. I don't know if the signs are still up, but years back, with the drowning of several people, No Swimming Signs had been put in several places in Cabarete East (that is east of Velero).
 
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windeguy

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cavok said:
I'm in the Cabarete East Condo area(Martini Bar), but rips are reported almost down to La Boca to the east and to the police station to the west. A friend of mine that's a kite surfer and lives in the Kite Beach area tells me there are some strong rips there, too.
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Anything east of Cabarete Beach all the way to La Boca has always been an area prone to rip tides. Don't swim there.
 
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