Captain Lost Our Group

[Billiken1]

To all:
As Christi said, we had a very nice conversation and appreciated her follow up with me. As everyone knows, things do happen but what matters is the follow up. It was my first time in Cozumel and found it's my favorite part of Mexico....so laid back and we met such wonderful people. Even though I've been diving for six years, it pales in comparison to most of you on this blog. We look forward to our next visit.

 

[JenLoves2Dive]

It is extremely unfortunate that this incident happened to you...no doubt about it! I have been diving in Cozumel since 1994, my very first open water dive was in Cozumel and now I live here. I sincerely hope that you won't let a very uncommon experience leave you with a bad taste in your mouth for Cozumel. I really believe Christi did the right thing and tried her best to make it right and make sure there were consequences for what took place. She promptly fired the boat captain and gave you a full refund. What else could she have done to make you happy?

I've been diving with her (as well as many other ops on the island) for 6 years. My experience with Blue XTSea has been always positive and very professional. Yes, she is also my personal friend but that certainly doesn't preclude me from responding based on my personal experience with them as a paying customer. I believe she did everything she could to correct what took place. You, as the more "seasoned" diver of the group, probably did a lot of research before coming to the island and certainly must have known that having a SMB (Surface marker buoy) is HIGHLY recommended here in Cozumel for EACH and EVERY diver.
So, Lesson for Life. That's how we all learn.


Edited to add this P.S. Just read your last post and am glad to hear that you were pleased with her response. Please do come back and enjoy another trip here in the future. I promise you won't be disappointed. Happy and SAFE diving.

 

[Brules]

To all:
As Christi said, we had a very nice conversation and appreciated her follow up with me. As everyone knows, things do happen but what matters is the follow up. It was my first time in Cozumel and found it's my favorite part of Mexico....so laid back and we met such wonderful people. Even though I've been diving for six years, it pales in comparison to most of you on this blog. We look forward to our next visit.

Glad you got it all worked out! Sorry you had a bad first experience, though I bet it will make you better divers having to deal with it.

Next time hopefully Mr Murphy will stay at home!

 

[cduffey]

As one who believes in God, I think all things happen for a reason (Romans 8:28 if you care to read for yourself). Perhaps you can look at this unfortunate incident (for you) as preventing this captain from doing real harm to others who might not have been with a DM that was so well prepared, or with a group of divers that were less experienced than some of those among your group. Thank God that Christi has removed that captain from her very capable organization. You helped her see a weakness in her operation that has now been eliminated -- perhaps preventing a very serious outcome.

Please plan to return to Cozumel. You will not find a more conscientious operator than BXTS, and you will definitely not find friendlier people. If you dive with her again, I'll bet Christi will be on your boat personally watching your bubbles.
Carole

 

[DennisW]

This is an interesting thread and although the operators response was wonderful and the right thing to do, one of the reasons, I have never gone to Cozumel is their practice of live boating. In my humble opinion, I think it is dangerous and can get people in big trouble. If I were to go, I would take my reel and my SMB and I would deploy it the entire dive. They could like it or not, not my problem, at least they could tell where my group would be.

 

[cvchief]

one of the reasons, I have never gone to Cozumel is their practice of live boating. In my humble opinion, I think it is dangerous and can get people in big trouble.

Perhaps I show my stupidity, but what is live boating? You mean drift diving with a boat?

If I were to go, I would take my reel and my SMB and I would deploy it the entire dive. They could like it or not, not my problem, at least they could tell where my group would be.

Except perhaps with a nice SMB on the surface, you would be pulled along much faster than your group. Perhaps too in the big coral formation, you would be dragging a line on coral.

As for safety, how many divers get dropped everyday in Cozumel and how many have been permanently lost by their boat?

I would hate it if the water didn't move and *I* had to do the swimming!!

 

[Brules]

This is an interesting thread and although the operators response was wonderful and the right thing to do, one of the reasons, I have never gone to Cozumel is their practice of live boating. In my humble opinion, I think it is dangerous and can get people in big trouble. If I were to go, I would take my reel and my SMB and I would deploy it the entire dive. They could like it or not, not my problem, at least they could tell where my group would be.

Right, because Florida anchor diving is so much safer and no one ever dies there......

 

[Mike]

This is an interesting thread and although the operators response was wonderful and the right thing to do, one of the reasons, I have never gone to Cozumel is their practice of live boating. In my humble opinion, I think it is dangerous and can get people in big trouble. If I were to go, I would take my reel and my SMB and I would deploy it the entire dive. They could like it or not, not my problem, at least they could tell where my group would be.

Dangerous? You're safe as a kitten there. You're not the type who wears two condoms are you?

To all:
As Christi said, we had a very nice conversation and appreciated her follow up with me. As everyone knows, things do happen but what matters is the follow up. It was my first time in Cozumel and found it's my favorite part of Mexico....so laid back and we met such wonderful people. Even though I've been diving for six years, it pales in comparison to most of you on this blog. We look forward to our next visit.

Hey, now you've got a hell of a war story to tell! That's a crazy one by the way, I've never heard of anything like that before. Take that as a good thing.

Sh*t happens and a business owner can't answer the phone, drive the boat and dive all at the same time, so they can only try to put good people in place or take actions to make changes if things go badly, which is what it sounds like Christi is doing.

A surface swim in? where the heck were you guys? So unusual for Cozumel diving to not have been close enough to have another boat see you and help you out.

 

[boulderjohn]

If I were to go, I would take my reel and my SMB and I would deploy it the entire dive. They could like it or not, not my problem, at least they could tell where my group would be.

Right, because Florida anchor diving is so much safer and no one ever dies there......

Except perhaps with a nice SMB on the surface, you would be pulled along much faster than your group. Perhaps too in the big coral formation, you would be dragging a line on coral.

There is quite a bit of drift diving (or live boat diving) in Florida, but people who have only done it there don't understand the difference in Cozumel. On the southeast Florida coast, drift divers have reels with lines attached to dive flags that float on the surface, and boats can follow them easily. They can do that because the reefs are very low and divers are either completely on top of them or along the edge, with little to no chance that the line will snag on anything. In Cozumel, where the reef may tower 60-80 feet above you on your dive, such a line would be a disaster. It would snag continually, destroying the reef and getting the diver hung up. That's why they don't do it that way there.

 

[Hank49]

Glad everyone is safe.
Just out of curiosity, since I drive my boat for divers every week, what was the boat captain's story on this? How did it happen?