I know of only two whirlpools occuring naturally. And, the one with many recorded incidents don’t claim the whirlpool pulls you in or down…just around and around. But, swimming against or across the eddy can be very dangerous/impossible. So, do whirlpools do more than keep turning its victims around? - Jinx
They actually pull you under. Sorry I can’t cite this - it’s just one of the things I “know”…
Not what you were looking for ? Sorry…
they pull you down. otherwise you would see a bunch of floating junk in the center.
There are TONS of natural whirlpools.
Whirlpools pull down. Junk pops up downstream of a whirlpool, after being pulled under at the center.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by UncleBill *
**There are TONS of natural whirlpools…
Thanks, all…and esp. Uncle Bill: Yeah, it is the Niagara Whirlpool of which I have heard of many detailed incidents…from various stunts on the river. Perhaps the bodies found downstream were pulled under by the whirlpool.
Near Campobello Island, NB (just N, NE of Coastal Maine) there is “Old Sow”, supposedly the largest whirlpool in North America. I believe it is only accessible by the ferry boats which service various islands up there. Also, as one might expect, its definition is best during periods of high tides. Would this give the ultimate “swirly”, or what? 
- Jinx
Check out kayaking guides of whitewater areas for descriptions of many natural eddies that can be very dangerous. They definitely pull you down. I’ve seen accounts of kayakers unable to shuttle past them who got sucked in, submerged, and had all their gear, including bathing suits, stripped from their bodies by the turbulence before managing to break free and surface far downstream.
Funny you should post this. Just last night I watched a documentary on the Discovery Channel about natural whirlpools.
In addition to the places listed by UncleBill, there are large whirlpools off the Vancouver Island coast. Perhaps the most notorious whirlpools occur in and around Norway. These so-called “Maelstroms” have been written about by Jules Verne and Edgar Allan Poe.
I’ve seen whirlpools in shallow ocean waters above coral structures, and above blue holes in the Bahamas, which are basically underwater caves and caverns. I remember one in particular near Georgetown in the Exumas that we were going to go dive, but the tide was going out and it was sucking in (whirlpool). We put the dinghy above it and just spun, but no way we were jumping in the water till the tide reversed and it spit water instead - the cave was connected to the ocean underneath the island, thus the pull and suck with the tides.