Devils Throat TAKE LIGHT

[Christi]

I found out later it was so the DM and boat captain (also a DM) could administer CPR (they saved her life).

TexasScuba...I heard of your story as I am very close friends with your DO and your DM. They did in fact save her life and I am so happy for all of you that it was a happy ending! I've always had respect for your DM and the DO, but that respect has tripled after this.

Your story also gives me even more reason to make sure my crew stays very current and in practice with emergency procedures. Instead of drills and refreshers every year, I am going to bump the practice drills up to several times a year. I am confident in their abilities, but you can never have too much training or practice for these situations.

I've always been a fan of Dr. Piccolo and San Miguel Clinic as well. In fact, when I suffered DCS a few years ago, it was your DO and your DM who diagnosed me and convinced me to go see Dr. Piccolo. They saw signs in me that I couldn't recognize in myself...kind of like proofreading your own essay...sometimes you need an objective second or third set of eyes. Throughout my treatment and in the months following, they checked on me, "visited" me in the chamber, and supported me emotionally and helped me get through that rough time.

I'm glad your wife is ok, and I also hope that she gets a follow-up just to be safe!

 

[TSandM]

I'm really, really glad your wife came out of it OK. Clearly people responded quickly and appropriately to her condition.

But am I the only person that thinks this is a horror story?

Entering an overhead environment without lights, where there were navigation options and where a passage was apparently too tight for someone to pass, and where nobody involved had any overhead training?

I know discussions of this particular dive have raged in the past on SB, as to whether this is appropriate for recreational divers. But I don't remember reading before that there were actually wrong turns you could take. That, in my book, puts this out of the realm of fun swim-throughs and into true overhead.

I'm doing a bunch of preliminary work toward getting cave certified, and everything I'm doing is bringing home the tremendous danger of those environments if things go wrong. Here they did, and only because everybody responded perfectly did this diver survive.

OP, would you do this dive again?

 

[Christi]

But am I the only person that thinks this is a horror story?

Entering an overhead environment without lights, where there were navigation options and where a passage was apparently too tight for someone to pass, and where nobody involved had any overhead training?

Actually, FWIW, the DM is a fully certified and active Cave Instructor, NAUI Instructor, and PADI Instructor. Aside from the fact that he is my friend, he is one of the most highly trained, experienced, and toughest instructors/divers I know.

As far as the lights go, we always take lights, but many people like to swim through the dark tunnel without them as you can see out the end and there are no horizontal (right/left) wrong turns within the tunnel...only as you come out on the wall, there are different options.

This dive is a tunnel, with one entry and one exit, but two people can in fact pass side by side and the light zone is clear. There are a few very narrow openings at the top, which are not really passable by any diver, but which allow light to come in. If I understand correctly, she ascended within the tunnel when she became disoriented. As far as navigation options, we are not talking about caves here. There are a few different passages that come out into the same big area or actually on the wall.

I am not trying to make light of this situation or the dive at all, just hoping to shed some light (pun intended) of the dive for those who haven't done it. As someone else said, this is an advanced dive and this is a perfect example of why.

 

[Rule62]

Thanks to all for your kind words. I agree with Christy regarding the DO and DM. In fact, we are planning to return in March and my wife is planning to dive and we will dive with the same DO and hopefully same DM. We trust them completely!! Although, I don't think she'll want to go to the Devils Throat on our first dive. What happened was a chance in a billion!! Unfortunately, as y'all know, if things go south when you're diving, they can go south in a hurry. If it weren't for the DM and captain's training, my wife would be dead.

Another leason learned is that we're both planning to get rescue certified just in case. You never know when you might be with a dive op who is not as qualified as the ones we were with.

I highly reccommend this dive and plan on doing it as soon as possible when we get back to Coz.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Try not to second guess what was or wasn't done. Take the lesson that you are responsible for yourself every time you get in the water. The DO and the DM are not a safety net. What happened to her could happen to you. It happened to me.

As a side note I was offered a light for Devils Throat. I turned it down. I will never do that again. There is at least two fin kicks of complete darkness.

 

[DiverBeth]

Glad to hear your wife is ok. I dove the devils throat about 10 days ago and it is dark in there. Especially when your light stops working (bulb burned out, batteries were new) :eek5: I was behind the dive master and I stayed behind him until we got out. I wish I had my backup light with me and I should have known to take it.

We had a diver in our group who was not comfortable on the dive and went thru his all his air. Fortunatley, he was able to signal the DM in time and wound up doing his safety stop on the DM's octo but it did put a scare into him and he didn't dive for the rest of the trip.

 

[ggunn]

FWIW, I take at least one light on every dive. In addition to safety concerns and lighting up swimthroughs, a light comes in handy for peering into crevices and under overhangs for critters. My wife/buddy and I have a routine we use in swimthroughs; if I am behind her, I keep shining my light out in front of her to signal that I am OK so she doesn't have to look back to check on me. She does the same if she is behind me.

 

[PARADISE HUNTER]

Wow!

So glad you and your wife are o.k.

My wife and I are going to Coz in January. I will keep this story in the back of my mind as we go through many swim throughs.

Thanks for posting this.

Good luck and God Bless.

 

[Rick Inman]

Wow. So glad your wife is OK! Sounds like the crew did awesome.

Hundreds of people make that dive every year without issue. When I did that dive a couple years ago, I was surprised that there aren't more problems. You're dumped out at something like 130', everyone is narked (whether they admit it or not) you're in an overhead for a couple of minutes with other divers you don't know blocking your exit on both sides (unless you're in front or rear of the line).

Fun dive, though...

 

[MMM]

This post got me to thinking (and looking back at some old threads) and doing some self talk (time to do that rescue cert). I've never been on a dive that went south (oops, scratch that, I remember one in La Paz but no one was unconscious) so wondered exactly what you do in terms of an ascent? Did you ascend at safe rates and do any necessary deco/safety stops along the way, or did you just blast up, as fast as possible, and make plans for a chamber visit?