Into The Blue:I am questioning the wisdom of posting here even as I type this. As is often the case with these boards, unless you check them religiously, you will more than likely have your posterior picked apart, shredded, bisected, dissected, or all-of-the-above for no reason other than someone got bored. Regardless of what one attempts to communicate, someone else will always know more. That said…
Well, I suppose I'll pick part of your post apart but not because I'm bored.
Unlike most who have been unrelentingly critical, pompously superior, and exemplary in the “Monday morning quarterback/divemaster” department, I was actually ON this dive that has sparked so much speculation. A few salient points:
Pompously superior?
1. Maybe I have a death wish but I have NEVER considered Devil’s Throat a technically demanding dive.
It wouldn't be a challenging dive for many...but we know it's proved more than that for some right?
Terms like “overhead environment,” “cavern training,” “accident analysis” may excite some folks but they don’t do much to enhance my diving experiences.
Those terms don't exist for the purpose of exciting anybody. The overhead training that is designed around accident analysis exists so that divers can take a sensible approach to diving in an environment that has otherwise proven to be very dangerous. More specifically the goal is to avoid incidents like this one. Historically it's been shown to be very effective.
Whether or not it has or could enhance your diving experience is one issue. Whether or not it could have enhanced the dive experience of the women who almost drowned is another.
IMO, to write off such knowledge and training in light of incidents like this seems...well...Pompously superior.
Devil’s Throat, while deep, is a few kicks in a dark tunnel. I’ve done caves, cenotes, and wrecks from Palau to the Papua New Guinea. I’ve done night dives in pitch black on the Great Barrier Reef. Devil’s Throat doesn’t come close to the thrills or challenges garnered when you drop down in a ripping current in the Galapagos and you’re fighting a moray for a bit of volcanic rock to grab onto before your mask gets ripped off. By the current and there's always a current.
Your world wide wreck and reef adventures, while very interesting, don't seem related to the fact that this and other "deep dark tunnels" have presented certain problems.
One might ask, how to avoid those problems in "deep dark tunnels"?
Note how "tunnel" seems to imply "overhead environment", one of the terms that you've found not to excite you. The very phrase "deep dark tunnel" actually identifies several of the "specific hazards" of overhead environments. The commonly accepted approach to managing those specific hazards of course being generally described by the "rules of accident analysis"...repeated again for clearity
1, Be trained for the environment.
2, have 3 lights (the sun counts as one)
3, reserve 2/3rds of your gas for exit
4, have a continuous guidline
5, keep depth or END above 130
Something DID go wrong last week in Cozumel but unless you are clairvoyant, psychic, telepathic, or have the ability to do a Vulcan mind meld, you don’t know if you would have made any other choices on this dive. Again, I was there.
One does not need to be clairvoyant to know that there is a HUGE amount of historical data showing that most accidents in underwater overhead environments have been cause by failure to follow one or more of the above listed general rules of accident analysis.
Sure – bring a light. Sure – stay with your buddy. If you can honestly say you’ve never had a buddy get away from you, you’ve never had someone panic near you, and you’ve never done a dive you thought was a tad challenging after the fact, well then you’ve been extraordinarily lucky.
Your predilection for the irrelevant continues. Whether or not I've had a buddy get away from me or had someone panic near me or have been lucky or not just doesn't seem at all related to the incident being discussed.
I dive with steel 120’s which are readily available with this DO so a discourse on aluminum 80’s is moot. I dive with 120’s AND do nitrox on the second dive as a safety buffer zone. Those are my choices. To attempt to dictate someone else’s preferences or second guess their choices with the luxury of hindsight? Try herding cats. Ultimately, you are responsible for yourself and, if you’re wise, a competent buddy.
I didn't notice anyone here dictating anything to anyone. We are all free to kill ourselves as we see fit.
That seems to be the prevailing attitude in diving. May there always be a really good DM very close by.3. I have often glibly said “you put your life in the DM’s hands,” but I didn’t realize how true that was until last week.
I’ve had masks ripped away and air turned off and fins loosened. For training and for fun. (I know. Odd sense of humor.) But, having been there, I would not second guess what happened on this particular dive. As I said to TexasScuba53 the night before they left - WE learned a cheap lesson that day. WE watched and learned at someone else’s expense. Fortunately, WE all came out okay. And for that I will be eternally grateful.
Well, he has already stated the lesson he learned. What did you learn?
4. And here’s something to ponder – how do you know what your reaction will be when it is a loved one who is in trouble? I saw someone blow an O ring at 80 feet while right next to the Rescue Diver certified spouse. The spouse panicked and literally tried to hold the first stage to keep the air from escaping. Not a good plan. Fortunately, the diver with the damaged equipment knew enough to get a hold of the spouse’s octopus and calmly turn the tank off. I am convinced that had it been someone other than the spouse, the reaction would have been different. And I will never say which diver was the husband and which was the wife. J
There’s a lot to be said for training and advanced certifications but you can’t possibly know how you will react if it’s a loved one’s life at stake. I don’t care how well qualified you think you are. Until it happens to you, you don’t know what you will do. Trust me on this one. I am all for post ops and discussions and we on this dive discussed it. Ruminated. Mulled it over. Wondered. And hugged.
I'm not really sure what you're trying to say here but the purpose of training is to make some of those unknowns a little more known.
Sorry to be so long winded. Maybe that's really why I dive with 120's. Tone and tenor carry a lot of weight with me. Sanctimonious posturing does little to enlighten us as to how to do it better. Finger pointing? I’ve got the finger for you. Be well all - sbc
Rather than offering or disputing content you focus on ad hominem attacks of those who have. You have a finger for...well there you go. It's settled then.