Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[cicopo]

Scuba Mau's shop is where Papa Hog's runs their dive shop & restaurant & Villablanca hotel is there too. Another landmark to use is the boat repair facility / Blue Angel Resort which would be about 1/4 mile or so N of their shop, or you could consider the shop about 1 mile N of the Park Royal.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Not really . . . how many times can you learn, "make reasonable and prudent choices"? and "don't dive beyond your training"?

No I meant the part about divers making sure what to do in an emergency. If a boat needs to leave have a signal system set up and make sure they are prepared to be left and picked up later if need be. Many little details get left out of dive briefings.

 

[DandyDon]

I've dived with 5 or 6 different Coz ops over the years and I do not remember any of them having a recall signal or similar. Price competition if fierce there, the boats are sometimes rentals with rented captains - captains always go with their boats, DMs are fluent in English but captains often are not, etc. If there are other boats around, they are called by radio for help - but that will vary with situation.

Again, Paradise & Villablanca reefs are close to ferry or cruise docks so leaving divers to drift into active ferries or docked cruise boats is not an option.

 

[ligersandtions]

I admit I've dived Coz once, in the southern west areas, so I [-]may be[/-] probably am coming from a point of ignorance.

1. I remember all our dives were pretty close to shore. I understand this wall is "right out front" of their shop. In other words, you are not too far from shore.

2. Ever since I've broadened my diving horizons, I have been mentally prepared to be 'left behind', due to a possible emergency. I have faith that another boat would be along to provide support, maybe just a rope line if they couldn't take us aboard, but at least we'd be informed and understand what's happening while we wait for a pickup.

Question: Why couldn't the Cap'n abandon his other divers to get these three ashore?

ASSUMING (yes, I know what happens when you ass/u/me) the other diver's DM would pop an SMB, get the divers together, and await pickup?

Awaiting education. Asbestos britches on.

Jax, I have some additional thoughts on this:

How would you feel if you had planned your dive (with a reasonable dive plan) and took an undeserved hit....and there's no boat to administer oxygen prior to getting you to a chamber? I, for one, would be quite upset....especially if it turned out that those who were taken to the chamber were taken because they did something stupid, while I took an "undeserved" hit.

How would you feel if your buddy had some sort of medical emergency (heart attack??) and there was no way to get him/her out of the water and possibly to safety....and then quickly to a hospital?

It's not applicable in tropical waters, but worth mentioning as an incident like this could easily happen elsewhere. How would you feel if you were diving in cold water (say low 50's) and managed to tear a seal and cause a full flood in your drysuit? After long enough (and that's not particularly long...), you'll become hypothermic.

And as has been touched on, it is not a good idea to leave divers sitting in a high-traffic area. Even with an SMB, divers could very easily be overlooked.


Sure, it would be nice for divers who are showing symptoms to be rushed to the chamber....but not at the cost of other divers, imo. If it were possible to get another boat to take the divers in need to the chamber, or to pick up the divers still in the water, I see absolutely no reason why that option wouldn't be chosen (sounds like it wasn't possible in this case). But to leave other divers who may be in need doesn't sound like the right option to me.

 

[Okie Mike]

After a 6 year hiatus, I went diving in Cozumel August 26-28. My buddy (8 year hiatus) and I did a refresher course with Scubamau that included a shore dive from their pier. After that, we were waiting for the twilight boat to come pick us up for a night dive and we met Opal. She had just returned from a dive with spear gun in hand and I asked her about the lionfish I had been reading about. That is what she was hunting but she did not see any that trip. She told me they were being kept in check in the shallows but that there were a lot of them below 150 feet. That makes me wonder if there was any lionfish hunting/survey aspect to this latest deep dive (pure speculation and I doubt it, but thought I would throw that in the mix).

Not sure if it is relevant and cannot now remember why she brought it up, but she told me that she smokes a pack and a half a day and that she could tell it was negatively affecting her breathing abilities.

I just heard about this story yesterday and it has totally captivated me since I just met Opal the week before her accident.

 

[Okie Mike]

One more thing, our night dive was planned to be on Villablanca Reef, but the dive master moved it to Paradise because he noticed that the ferry boat was headed our way and did not want to be diving under it. I could barely see the boat as it had just left the mainland. I was happy that the DM was paying good attention.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

After a 6 year hiatus, I went diving in Cozumel August 26-28. My buddy (8 year hiatus) and I did a refresher course with Scubamau that included a shore dive from their pier. After that, we were waiting for the twilight boat to come pick us up for a night dive and we met Opal. She had just returned from a dive with spear gun in hand and I asked her about the lionfish I had been reading about. That is what she was hunting but she did not see any that trip. She told me they were being kept in check in the shallows but that there were a lot of them below 150 feet. That makes me wonder if there was any lionfish hunting/survey aspect to this latest deep dive (pure speculation and I doubt it, but thought I would throw that in the mix).

Seems exceptionally unlikely, since with single AL80's there couldn't possibly be enough time for any sort of survey or hunting. And at that depth, on air, you'd be too narced to reliably count them. Of course, maybe you'd encounter a suicidal Lionfish that would willingly impale itself on the spear.

 

[IJS]

He chose the latter, it seems, but if it had been the former, I am sure there would also now be a SB thread about the horrid lack of safety concerns, in his abandoning divers at sea.

You forget the third choice of not letting the sillines of two different dives carrying on. Makes me wonder if the captain had knowledge of the plan beforehand.

 

[scubawife]

I've dived with 5 or 6 different Coz ops over the years and I do not remember any of them having a recall signal or similar. Price competition if fierce there, the boats are sometimes rentals with rented captains - captains always go with their boats, DMs are fluent in English but captains often are not, etc. If there are other boats around, they are called by radio for help - but that will vary with situation.

Again, Paradise & Villablanca reefs are close to ferry or cruise docks so leaving divers to drift into active ferries or docked cruise boats is not an option.

The majority of dive masters in Cozumel are Mexican and fluent in Spanish and English. The one's that aren't Mexican are, if not fluent, then at least very capable of a basic conversation in Spanish. Even with all the boats I see at the beach clubs during an SI, and knowing people who dive with different ships, I've never seen or heard of a situation where a captain and dm couldn't communicate. I believe there's actually a test foreigners have to take in Cozumel to be employed in any position in tourism, which dive shops fall under. They're required to meet a basic level of Spanish. This could be just for owners, but I'm pretty sure I recall hearing it's for employees too.

 

[Ron Lee]

Let's put forth a scenario. Two groups of divers on one boat.

Group A is the one we know about. Planned depth: 320'. Time at 320' one to two minutes. Using the 8 minute listing on post #34, total planned dive time is around 48 minutes.

Group B is not well known but will I assume 2-4 divers. Planned depth 250'. Time at 250' one to two minutes. Total planned dive time probably less than Group A but will assume 50 minutes for extra outgassing.

Both enter at the same time. Group A takes about five minutes to get to 320'. Recognizing the still descending diver, getting to her and getting back to 320' takes five minutes. Gabi evaluates the situation when all three are together and within a minute they are ascending. They reach the surface about 16 minutes after entering the water.

Group B is unaware of the events of Group A. By the time Group A surfaces, Group B is around 80' as part of the outgassing (decompression) process. Three minutes later they hear a signal to ascend. They have around 30 minutes left to properly decompress/outgas. What do they do?

My opinion (which may get me banned from my normal dive shop) is that I am going to continue my profile. Why risk 5-7 people with DCS as opposed to three? I have no problem being left behind in normal Cozumel dive sites. Particularly if I am in the Palancar area (better site selection), I will be picked up by someone. The boat captain can radio to other boats my approximate location.

We hear of dive ops that send people up when they run low on air (normal time to ascend air levels). That may be risky for newer divers. I am confident that I have enough experience to watch for boats and take evasive action if need be.

So with benefit of hindsight, my view is still that it is far more important to get the three critically injured people to a chamber and that the risk to me is extremely low and manageable.

Would I sue the dive shop? No. This is my formal statement that I want them to tend to the critically injured first and take action to get me back to shore as a secondary priority.

However, I would not be offended if they bought me breakfast at Rock n Java the next day.