# Do ocean whirlpools really exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2002, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702 "2002-11-14T09:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/1 "2002-11-14T09:16:21Z")
Hi! Normally I just like to read the BBQ pit, but today I feel like asking a question. I’d like to know if ocean whirlpools (the kind sucking in ocean liners in old cartoons) really exist. I can’t think of a reason why they would… Google just wants to tell me about dishwashers, cheap novels, and Magic the Gibbering cards. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/2 "2002-11-14T10:50:38Z")
Yes, but I don’t think they just randomly pop up in the middle of the ocean. They’re caused by the tides going past certain geological formations (a rock wall, for example) AFAIK. There’s even some famous ones and I think one that’s considered to be the largest in the world (is it in Canada?) Keep trying google, or search the archives here, this has been done before. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/3 "2002-11-14T10:56:30Z")
[Found it.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=85883&highlight=whirlpool) Lots of good whirlpool information in there. World’s largest seems to be near Norway (possibly unconfirmed) and World’s second largest (confirmed, permanent), called Old Sow, is near Maine/Canada. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/4 "2002-11-14T10:59:37Z")
[Here’s one](http://pathfinder.com/photo/gallery/places/cap14.htm). Amazing picture. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/5 "2002-11-14T11:05:40Z")
Yes, ocean whirlpools exist, though gigantic ones that would pull down an aircraft carrier aren’t too common:). Many are caused by tidal changes near subsurface formations like rocks or constricted channels. This means you get a huge amount of water flowing and swirling over/around irregular surfaces that can cause whirlpools. Many tidal rapids happen like clockwork and are very predictable. In addition to **Cisco’s** east coast Canadian whirlpool, there is the Skookumchuck rapids in BC. There are random whirlpools that form here, and the current can get up to 20 knots. Here’s a [link](http://www.rdrop.com/users/zog/kayaking/Skookumchuck.htm). Read the warning to boaters near the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/6 "2002-11-14T11:57:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mmmiiikkkeee \* > \*\*Read the warning to boaters near the bottom. \*\* 😕 …but surely if the boaters are near the bottom, the warning was too late… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/7 "2002-11-14T14:57:46Z")
Smithsonian mag had a neat article on these a coupla years back. The photos - and descriptions - looked nothing like the “draining bathtub” photo jjimm linked. IIRC, they were relatively safe for boaters who knew of them and how to deal with them. Such folk would take tourists out regularly. But they would cause problems to unsuspecting and unprepared mariners. ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/8 "2002-11-14T15:16:44Z")
[Smithsonian article](http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/journeys/01/aug01/feature_full_page_1.html) link from last year’s whirlpool thread. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/9 "2002-11-14T16:41:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*[Here’s one](http://pathfinder.com/photo/gallery/places/cap14.htm). Amazing picture. \*\* Nice. Could anyone put a rough scale to that picture? What size are we talking about for that whirlpool? Are we seeing something miles across, or what? (one text site I read earlier lists some ocean whirlpools as up to 100 miles across). ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/10 "2002-11-14T16:50:51Z")
Well, the Smithsonian article says of the Corryvreckan > [@](#): > > “Watch the sea!” he shouted, and pointed to the right, to where the surface of the water seemed suddenly oily, as though there were a puddle of grease on top of it, a hundred feet across. I gazed at the flatness until, without warning, a plume of contorted and confused water belched upward, then fell back upon itself and began in a matter of seconds to swirl into a vortex?a real, perfectly formed whirlpool, **30 feet across,** with us perched delicately on its edge. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/11 "2002-11-14T17:08:01Z")
Jjimm’s really cool-looking whirlpool, however, is from a 1969 Life magazine photo of the Gulf of St.-Malo, off the French coast, and there’s no scale available. ---
**Author:** ![bobk2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bobk2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobk2)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/12 "2002-11-14T17:19:27Z")
Slightly OT, but there is an impressive, permanent, whirlpool in the Niagra River about 3 miles east of Niagra Falls on the US/CA border. It due to the river making a sharp right turn. I’ve seen pictures on the web, though I don’t easily have a link right now. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2002, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ocean-whirlpools-really-exist/136702/13 "2002-11-14T20:36:59Z")
I have seen Scylla & Charybdis, a whirlpool and rock formation of legend. Straits of Messina in Sicily. Yes, the whirlpool is really there, and it’s cool. It is formed by some really hellacious tides.