Blue Hole - Amigos Del Mar - Very Poor

[Jayfarmlaw]

On second thought, Maybe we are looking at this the wrong way. Taking new divers to 130 feet is risky by almost any standard, especially if one were to panic and bolt up or have an emergency and attempt to CESA from depth....but....

Given the depth and distance to a chamber or other medical care, if there were problems, any medical emergency will be exacerbated due to the distance to care. I don't think there will be any "golden hour" to treatment for a BH victim. A DCS patient will get O2 care and a 2 1/2 hour boat ride to a chamber. That being said, maybe the shops are doing a great job of managing these risks. We don't see BH injuries or deaths in the Accidents and Incidents section very often. There are over 100 divers on BH every week. (Wild assed guess) That number, every week, would catch up sooner or later if the DM's were not effective at managing the risks. In this day and age where everybody has a camera, and posts any incident on YouTube and a description on Scubaboard, accident reports from Belize BH seem to be rare.

Our DM went after a guy that was dropping like a rock, and had to help him to the mooring line for the safety stop. It was just another day at work for him. The DCS risk was managed by keeping the group together and a slow ascent with a 5 minute safety stop. I finished with over 1000 psi with a total dive time around 35 minutes. No one ended up on the hose of shame. We had 2 DMs for 11 divers, 5 of which definately had the skills for the dive. 6 divers needed more hand holding between 2 DMs.

This is based on one trip with one op, so the sample is far from scientific, but but the numbers of divers on a daily basis that do not end up in a chamber or worse have to mean something. Lucky or good...it looks like the DMs are doing a great job of babysitting.

Jay

 

[mcohen1021]

only to have the DM grab her by the fin and yank her back down to 130ft. By the way, she ended up with Skin Bends after that dive..

One of the DMs @ ADM “helped” me remove my fin when I was trying to get out and I about panicked thinking I’d lost my fin. “Um, I’ve been doing this 30 years, I’ll ask for help when I need it thanks…”

one of the new divers passed me like an anchor. The DM placed the new divers on the mooring line for a 5 minutes safety stop. They did hang a tank, but no one needed it.

Wow – passed you like an anchor @ 138? And a mooring line for safety stop? We just did our safety stop on the sandy rim @ 15-20 ft – zero buoyancy skills needed..

 

[chillyinCanada]

The guides in Belize started helping your clients remove their fins whilst at the ladder, a few years back. I found it disconcerting at first but grew to quite like it, especially when the sea is rough.

 

[tridacna]

I was diving with a very experienced buddy on the ADM boat at the BH a few years ago. There was a female 20 something yr old sitting on my right. Immediately before splashing, she asked me “which button on her inflator made her go up and which made her go down”. I called the DM over and he spent a few seconds explaining to her how her gear worked. She was awful in the water - swam in a sine wave pattern. She went low on air pretty quickly and sucked down one of the 80s that BDM had staged at 20’.

Not sure why people do the BH anyway. Not much to see - the two following dives are way better.

 

[Downing]

Lol, yeah I find the whole "here let me help you with your fins" a little disconcerting. I figure if I can't take off my own fins, I probably shouldn't be diving in the first place. Thanks for reminding me to mention not doing it for me when I get there.

It's just another "added value" the staff provides. Some people like it. Others not so much.

17 days to go until I leave for Placencia. Man, it's hard to focus on work.

 

[mcohen1021]

17 days to go until I leave for Placencia. Man, it's hard to focus on work.

18 days to red sea, I feel your pain... the struggle is real...

 

[Edward3c]

Lol, yeah I find the whole "here let me help you with your fins" a little disconcerting. I figure if I can't take off my own fins, I probably shouldn't be diving in the first place. Thanks for reminding me to mention not doing it for me when I get there.

It's just another "added value" the staff provides. Some people like it. Others not so much.

17 days to go until I leave for Placencia. Man, it's hard to focus on work.

And 17 days to a weeks diving in West Wales.

 

[mcohen1021]

And 17 days to a weeks diving in West Wales.

17 days to go until I leave for Placencia. Man, it's hard to focus on work.

And I'd have you both beat if I didn't have to travel 29 hours to get there haha

 

[scubafanatic]

Lol, yeah I find the whole "here let me help you with your fins" a little disconcerting. I figure if I can't take off my own fins, I probably shouldn't be diving in the first place. Thanks for reminding me to mention not doing it for me when I get there.

It's just another "added value" the staff provides. Some people like it. Others not so much.

17 days to go until I leave for Placencia. Man, it's hard to focus on work.

With respect to the DMs/crew helping out with my fins, I usually just 'roll with it' and let them do their thing, it's helps give them purpose as their role is to provide 'service' and I don't want to take anything away from their service providing role. They may take offense at not letting them earn their pay, so to speak, so it's not a big deal for me to take the politically correct option and just let them 'help' me out with the fins. I certainly don't need the help, but what the heck, it's no big deal to me and allows the DMs/crew to feel more useful...life's too short to get into a tizzy over something that trivial.

I also think it helps out if I need to ask the DM's/crew for other little 'favors' like making sure my tank is always really topped off, that I recognize (and reward) those who take care of my special requests.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I believe one of the reasons they do it is they've found that it speeds up the process over all.