Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[ScubaSteve]

Sorry but I'm not seeing any hidden white text. What was your intent?

Here you go.....

Not quite sure if I believe you Christi. If a downwelling is solely responsible for taking Heath and slamming him and his well-trained buddies from a safe dive straight to Davy Jones' locker then it might just be too dangerous in Coz for the rest of us.

Yes, I am being sarcastic.

The red text was white and therefore tough to see.

 

[Cave Diver]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Attention please...

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In an attempt to keep the various threads regarding the incident in Cozumel on track, several comments have been removed and several more have been moved to a different thread.

For updates on the condition of the divers and their current healthcare situation: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/395631-urgent-update-scubamau.html

For well wishes and things of a more personal nature, please place your comments in the http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/395192-scuabamau-diving-accident.html thread.

For discussion about the accident itself, lessons learned and comments of that type, please place your comments in the http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/accidents-incidents/395698-cozumel-incident-9-4-11-a.html thread.

As always, please keep your comments within the ToS and be aware of any special rules for the forum you are posting in.

 

[SeaFlea]

Chuckitall, I didn't touch the wall. Actually I was trying to get away from the wall, as I remember. It was happening so fast all I could do was watch my depth and work my inflator.

Vladimir, I can only assume my buddy didn't get into the downcurrent as he didn't get pushed down with me. A uncontrolled descent, it sure was, totally "uncontrolled".

I've dove many times in Coz since then, and all over the marine park. I've never encountered anything like that. I've encountered some wierd currents that made swimming up or down difficult but nothing so strong as the one I've described. It was a "ride" and fortunately it let me go when it did.

 

[WSOPFAN]

deleted

OOPS........it is now #57.......some posts getting moved around.......

 

[vladimir]

I guess you missed this then --

There are no downdrafts that take you from 80 feet to 300, period.

No, I didn't miss that.

SandFlea said:

For those who say these "downcurrents" don't exist.

To which I responded:

I don't see anybody saying that.

CozumelAntonio does not claim that "downcurrents don't exist," just that downcurrents that take you from 80 to 300 feet don't exist. Those are two very different statements. I do believe that he overstated his case, as I explained in my post:

Perhaps they overstated their case.

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A couple of points - getting caught in your hypothetical down current that is easily overcome with some routine puffs...

in regard to your thoughts on a few puffs will solve the problem

Please reread my post more carefully. I did not propose a downcurrent that could be overcome with routine puffs. Quite the contrary, I was pointing out that the routine puffs that SandFlea put into his bc when he had his out-of-control descent were not an adequate response to a downcurrent:

I think everybody would agree that if you are in a down-current and do nothing, or put little puffs of air into your vest as in a normal descent, you might continue to descend quite a ways.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

The original post on this issue was by a close friend of the victims, and clearly was privy to the circumstances. He clearly stated that the dive plan was to 300 ft. And you are right, there is a lot known on the island, and none of it should be construed to intimidate recreational divers.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[vladimir]

The original post on this issue was by a close friend of the victims, and clearly was privy to the circumstances. He clearly stated that the dive plan was to 300 ft.

I think that is not correct. Here is a cut-and-paste of what I am almost certain was the original post:

Hi All- This note is hard to write. Opal, Gabi Loco and another guest diver where hurt on a dive that should not have taken place.
First of all Opal is in the hospital as you read, unconscious and paralyzed and on a respirator. Gabi now has feelings in his legs after the chamber ride. The guest diver so far is recovering well after his ride. I am sure there will be more scheduled.
There are four divers going in the chamber with Opal to help her breath while she does her first ride. It is not good.

Ok you want to know what happened. They went to three hundred feet on air. No one knows why right now. They tried to do an in water re-compression before going back to the hospital. I know, I know. Don't need to hear what should have been done here. Save it for the dive medicine forum. We all know they should have ripped to the hospital.

There are devastated people right now on the island, divers wondering whats going on I'm sure.

The hurt divers are what are the concern right now. I am writing this to try and quell rumors before they start. I will post more as I get first hand reports from the island.

They need prayerful thought right now please. Thanks, until later, Kevin. Opal is in Gods' hands right now.

He said they went to 300 feet, not that the dive plan was to 300 feet.

 

[Rescue Diver68]

The original post on this issue was by a close friend of the victims, and clearly was privy to the circumstances. He clearly stated that the dive plan was to 300 ft. And you are right, there is a lot known on the island, and none of it should be construed to intimidate recreational divers.

Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

I am assuming dave that you intended to put the word "not" between "was" and "to"?

 

[WSOPFAN]

And you are right, there is a lot known on the island
Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

Could you elaborate about what some of that "known" info is to clear things up a bit?

 

[DjDiverDan]

For those who say these "downcurrents" don't exist or that you can't get PUSHED down to 300 ft...... They are real as I've been in one. One of my early trips to Coz, maybe 96 or 98, around that time. Not sure but think we were on Santa Rosa Wall. We were diving with Dive Paradise, one of their advanced dives. We had entered the water, swam down to the wall edge and began a horizontal sweep across the wall face, maybe 60 or 70 ft. The next thing I noticed was the depth readout on my computer changing constantly, the numbers getting bigger, I wasn't sure but by the time I reacted I had changed 40 or 50 ft in depth. I began adding air to my BC while staring at my computer. My descent continued, I kept adding air. I tried to be calm and added only short bursts of air, I didn't want to overcompensate. Finally my descent slowed and stopped. I had reached 202 ft. I then began to rise and started dumping air. I managed a controlled ascent and found my buddy hovering above me somewhere around 60 or 70 ft. I didn't know what had happened at the time and didn't know anything about "downcurrents". I only realized several years later from posts on this board what it really was.

Seaflea, I too have seen downcurrents on Santa Rosa Wall, but never one that was right up against the wall surface - in my experience: (a) you can usually avoid the downcurrents entirely by staying within 3-4 feet of the wall, or escape them by coming back to the wall; and (b) the Dive Masters (at least with the Operators I've gone diving with) ALWAYS warn the divers immediately before the dive to: (1) stay close to the wall, (2) not to try to fight the down current directly, but move out of it by going back to the wall surface - even grabbing on to something if absolutely necessary to avoid being pulled down, and (3) check your guages OFTEN when you get close to the planned depth limit.

Two questions: When you hit this downcurrent, were you close to the wall, or more than 6-10 feet away from it? AND, Did your dive masters give you ANY warnings about downcurrents or advice about how to avoid or escape downcurrents?