Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[Crush]

Is this information that came out in another post somewhere ? I did not read anything about them going back into the water

I believe that it appeared at http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/395192-scuabamau-diving-accident.html albeit briefly. Whoever is moderating that thread is removing posts of a certain nature with a speed and efficiency that would make most modern dictator's proud...

 

[DandyDon]

Is this information that came out in another post somewhere ? I did not read anything about them going back into the water

If they chose to do this I would wonder why - how far away was a chamber to make them think that in water recompression was a better option ? And to return to 60ft I wonder how much deco was missed - I would not expect an experienced diver to go back into the water unless they had missed significant stops and didn't feel they could reach a chamber in a reasonable amount of time

It was first mentioned in the first post of the first thread that they attempted inwater deco, and it's still there. The additional details came out later, but no - I can't chase them down at the moment.

I had hope that those with the best facts would post this thread, but that was discouraged - and all 3 of the injured are my friends too, so I am torn here.

 

[jimshuff]

Does anyone have any of the most info on Opal and Gabi?
I dove with Scuba Mau about sixty times in the last two years. Gabi Loco and the other D.M.'s were cautious to the nth degree. Opal always erred on the side of safety. I do not know Heath but this just has to be a very unfortunate accident. You could not find a more professional and capable group of people. They personalities blended so well that it was a pleasure to show up at the shop ahead of time for daily banter.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

For ten miuntes:
V-Planner 3.89 by Ross Hemingway,
VPM code by Erik C. Baker.

Decompression model: VPM - B

DIVE PLAN
Surface interval = 1 day 0 hr 0 min.
Elevation = 0ft
Conservatism = + 2

Dec to 200ft (4) Air 50ft/min descent.
Dec to 300ft (5) Air 60ft/min descent.
Level 300ft 4:20 (10) Air 2.12 ppO2, 300ft ead
Asc to 140ft (15) Air -30ft/min ascent.
Asc to 110ft (16) Air -30ft/min ascent.
Stop at 110ft 1:40 (18) Air 0.91 ppO2, 110ft ead
Stop at 100ft 1:00 (19) Air 0.85 ppO2, 100ft ead
Stop at 90ft 2:00 (21) Air 0.78 ppO2, 90ft ead
Stop at 80ft 1:00 (22) Air 0.72 ppO2, 80ft ead
Stop at 70ft 3:00 (25) Air 0.65 ppO2, 70ft ead
Stop at 60ft 2:00 (27) Air 0.59 ppO2, 60ft ead
Stop at 50ft 4:00 (31) Air 0.53 ppO2, 50ft ead
Stop at 40ft 5:00 (36) Air 0.46 ppO2, 40ft ead
Stop at 30ft 6:00 (42) Air 0.40 ppO2, 30ft ead
Stop at 20ft 9:00 (51) Air 0.34 ppO2, 20ft ead
Stop at 10ft 15:00 (66) Air 0.27 ppO2, 10ft ead
Surface (66) Air -30ft/min ascent.

Off gassing starts at 155.4ft

OTU's this dive: 36
CNS Total: 637.1%

115.4 cu ft Air
115.4 cu ft TOTAL

8 minutes:
Decompression model: VPM - B

DIVE PLAN
Surface interval = 1 day 0 hr 0 min.
Elevation = 0ft
Conservatism = + 2

Dec to 200ft (4) Air 50ft/min descent.
Dec to 300ft (5) Air 60ft/min descent.
Level 300ft 2:20 (8) Air 2.12 ppO2, 300ft ead
Asc to 140ft (13) Air -30ft/min ascent.
Asc to 90ft (14) Air -30ft/min ascent.
Stop at 90ft 1:00 (16) Air 0.78 ppO2, 90ft ead
Stop at 80ft 2:00 (18) Air 0.72 ppO2, 80ft ead
Stop at 70ft 2:00 (20) Air 0.65 ppO2, 70ft ead
Stop at 60ft 1:00 (21) Air 0.59 ppO2, 60ft ead
Stop at 50ft 3:00 (24) Air 0.53 ppO2, 50ft ead
Stop at 40ft 3:00 (27) Air 0.46 ppO2, 40ft ead
Stop at 30ft 5:00 (32) Air 0.40 ppO2, 30ft ead
Stop at 20ft 6:00 (38) Air 0.34 ppO2, 20ft ead
Stop at 10ft 10:00 (48) Air 0.27 ppO2, 10ft ead
Surface (48) Air -30ft/min ascent.

Off gassing starts at 138.3ft

OTU's this dive: 28
CNS Total: 436.1%

85.5 cu ft Air
85.5 cu ft TOTAL


and at what I'd consider free dive speed down - 6 minutes:
Dec to 200ft (4) Air 50ft/min descent.
Dec to 300ft (5) Air 60ft/min descent.
Level 300ft 0:20 (6) Air 2.12 ppO2, 300ft ead
Asc to 140ft (11) Air -30ft/min ascent.
Asc to 70ft (13) Air -30ft/min ascent.
Stop at 70ft 0:20 (14) Air 0.65 ppO2, 70ft ead
Stop at 60ft 2:00 (16) Air 0.59 ppO2, 60ft ead
Stop at 50ft 2:00 (18) Air 0.53 ppO2, 50ft ead
Stop at 40ft 1:00 (19) Air 0.46 ppO2, 40ft ead
Stop at 30ft 3:00 (22) Air 0.40 ppO2, 30ft ead
Stop at 20ft 3:00 (25) Air 0.34 ppO2, 20ft ead
Stop at 10ft 6:00 (31) Air 0.27 ppO2, 10ft ead
Surface (31) Air -30ft/min ascent.

Off gassing starts at 118ft

OTU's this dive: 21
CNS Total: 235.4%

57.5 cu ft Air
57.5 cu ft TOTAL

But that is 20 seconds at depth. I;d think it would take at least 2 to sort the problem and begin a safe ascent. BTW it wil not let me plan a shorter dive than 6 minutes.

 

[MMM]

Is this information that came out in another post somewhere ? I did not read anything about them going back into the water

If they chose to do this I would wonder why - how far away was a chamber to make them think that in water recompression was a better option ? And to return to 60ft I wonder how much deco was missed - I would not expect an experienced diver to go back into the water unless they had missed significant stops and didn't feel they could reach a chamber in a reasonable amount of time

They were on Santa Rosa Wall. That's one of the southern sites but if the captain put the pedal to the metal, they'd have been back in town at the recompression chamber in about 20 minutes max. Hopefully they would have had O2 on the boat but probably not for all 3 divers.

 

[MMM]

But that is 20 seconds at depth. I;d think it would take at least 2 to sort the problem and begin a safe ascent. BTW it wil not let me plan a shorter dive than 6 minutes.

It is also assuming that the max depth was 300 feet. While 300 feet has been mentioned, it's yet to be established via any computer confirmations.

 

[driftin' by]

Is this information that came out in another post somewhere ? I did not read anything about them going back into the water

Never underestimate the power of Don's Google'ing skills and don't think for a second it's not the gospel.

With such a loyal following in Cozumel, I wouldn't be surprised that many know more than they're comfortable divulging here on the often overly-critical, finger-pointing, quick to chastise, incriminating, almighty ScubaBoard community. For those I've offended, please forgive me.

Does anyone have any of the most info on Opal and Gabi?
I dove with Scuba Mau about sixty times in the last two years. Gabi Loco and the other D.M.'s were cautious to the nth degree. Opal always erred on the side of safety. I do not know Heath but this just has to be a very unfortunate accident. You could not find a more professional and capable group of people. They personalities blended so well that it was a pleasure to show up at the shop ahead of time for daily banter.

Dude, rule #5! You can find info on the victims here: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/395631-urgent-update-scubamau.html

 

[Christi]

One week prior to this incident, a 54 year old diver died during a routine vacation Cozumel dive:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cozumel/395024-missing-divers.html

I was surprised be the lack of details regarding the fatality. I was expecting the Coz grapevine to yield details of what happened.

I'm not surprised that the folks involved in this new incident haven't made public what exactly happened to them.

Nevertheless, the combination of the two incidents does make me a bit nervous about diving in general and Coz diving in particular. (I'd recently decided that Coz was going to be my diving "home base". Was there last month and am going back next month.)

I understand that diving has some risks, but I've always thought that those risks were limited if I was careful. These two back-to-back disasters give me pause.

Ron

It is important to also understand that all dive accidents are not the result of negligence, recklessness, disobeying the rules, dangerous conditions, etc. In the case you refer to, it was actually only 2 days prior to this. The diver was found and an autopsy concluded the cause of death as a heart attack. MANY diving accidents/deaths are health related and not a direct result from anything related to the dive itself.

As a vacationing/tourist/recreational diver - no reputable dive shop is going to send you on the kind of dive that is going to put you in the position of having to deal with the issues that occurred on this dive.

I am not passing judgment, condoning, blaming, making excuses, pointing fingers, etc. - I simply want to reinforce the fact that there is a difference in the types of dives planned for our visitors and the types of dives SOME local DM's do for "fun" when they are off the clock. These dives should not be compared or used as a baseline when determining the safety risk for Cozumel diving.

 

[WSOPFAN]

I have some similar questions/concerns as Crush. These were all QUITE experienced divers. How did 3 divers end up breathing off one tank? They had to have been at quite a depth for quite a long time and not paying much attention to their air; as has been said many times on A&I threads, you can survive many things underwater but running out of air isn't one of them.

Maybe 1 or more panicked or became severely narced and the other 1 or 2 spent considerable time and effort doing a rescue to safe depth resulting in dangerously low air supply.

One diver in the linked thread reported having hit a downcurrent. I have hundreds and hundreds of dives in Coz and have experienced a downcurrent once or perhaps twice. I think I was pulled about 20-30 feet before I swam out of it and it happened in the blink of an eye. It would seem that divers as experienced as these (most if not all of whom have greater experience than I) would easily manage a downcurrent and certainly would not have resulted in 2 of the 3 divers exhausting their air for something that happens in a matter of seconds. Logic dictates that something else occurred.

From personal experience:

Been from 90 to 146 in a matter of a few seconds on that same wall.
Been from 80 to 20 in a matter of a few seconds at Barracuda....... stay close to the wall don't come in to far.
Had to abort a dive at Barracuda due to severe and persistent downcurrent.
On that same dive encountered a whirlpool at 30 ft. Seeing a bubble hovering in front of your face going nowhere followed by a whitewash of bubbles and total disorientation is one of the wildest weirdest moments ever.

Some people have done hundreds of dives there and never encountered some of these things while others have. Also depends on the time of year too......
The only thing I would conclude is possibly they were far past the rec dive limit of 130 when TSHTF sadly. There were 3 people claiming to know ALL the details of that dive but none will post the results.

 

[MMM]

Maybe 1 or more panicked or became severely narced and the other 1 or 2 spent considerable time and effort doing a rescue to safe depth resulting in dangerously low air supply.

Maybe. Until someone on the dive - or with full knowledge of the dive - posts more, we'll be left to ponder the "maybe" and "shoulda/coulda/woulda" elements of this sad situation.