Diver lost in Cozumel today

[Sabanist]

Interesting stuff. I'm glad I found this thread. If it ever happens to me at least I know the ways to get out

 

[rkfatheree]

This happened to 3 people on two of our dives late last week. I would have freaked, but they handled it incredibly well. Two were together (instructors) - we picked them up about 45 minutes later. Our DM aborted the dive, so the rest of us got back on board until we found the pair. We then went elsewhere for our first dive. On another dive a woman was sucked down alone. She was really rattled afterwards, telling us "It was the scariest 10 minutes of my life."

 

[flots am]

We often tell newer divers that it's good to hire a private DM for their first Coz divers, but I doubt the cruise ships ever suggest that. I wonder if the cruise forums do? Rental gear, first dive on Santa Rosa wall, who knows what weighting, so many challenges for newbies. I guess by the time the ship sends them to the Op for their fun dives, if the Op asked them how much experience they had and then suggested hiring a private DM, then it'd look like upselling.

I don't want to encourage wild speculations, but you know what it's like for newbies coming off of cruise boats.

I've gone both ways and the only real difference is that it's more crowded and more expensive when diving from the cruise ship.

The cruise ships don't offer a "private DM", however, since "diving with a DM" offers only slightly more protection than diving while wearing your "lucky t-shirt", it's not a huge loss.

The only way to be able to have a safe dive is to have sufficient training to take care of yourself in whatever conditions you might reasonably encounter, as well as have a backup plan for getting picked up if you get lost.

A little extra training, a giant yellow surface marker and a bright light at night would go a long way towards cutting down on "lost" divers, however this generally isn't covered in class.

flots.

 

[Mike]

With all these people getting separated and getting picked up after long floats, sounds like the perfect week for some real world test reports to come in from Nautilus lifeline owners.

 

[8obatus]

I was at horseshoe yesterday. We heard radio report of 3 divers missing. We did get caught in a strong current but were at 60ft w sand bottom. We all dug into the sand while the DM went after an older gentleman who got swept a good 100 m away in a flash. I could certainly see how someone could get separated.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Typical currents for this time of year. Dive shops who fail to inform their customers of the currents or throwing inexperienced divers in the water just for $ is a recipe for disaster. BTW today's Por Esto story states the husband claims he thought they were on a Sand Dollar boat but it appears either the boat and or captain and guide were NOT Sand Dollar so it has now created another liability issue. As we learned with the Scuba Mau sinking, it does NOT matter who you pay or think you are paying to dive. Whoever the boat is registered with has the liability for any accidents or incidents.

---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:57 AM ----------

After some further reading of posts and news reports it appears that it was a Sand Dollar boat and the Port Captain is investigating from a liability standpoint as they claim the woman surfaced and the boat failed to pick her up. I am not sure if anyone ever saw her actually surface and maybe just assumed she did. Also, after reading and knowing about dangerous reefs to dive during certain times of the year I can't understand why in the world there is not some sort of warning system from the Port Captain or elsewhere. These type of down currents have happened there before and anyone who dives frequently enough in Cozumel or knows someone who lives there knows when and where it usually happens. In the past I have been told where the bad currents are what what walls we will NOT be diving due to these type of currents. It is really too bad that all the shops can't behave this way. IMO only expert divers should be allowed near the walls when currents are like this and it is very obvious why sadly.

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Update:
This is a quote from the woman's son-in-law posted on Trip Advisor:

She was with her husband. She told her husband she needed to go to the surface. Her husband let the instructor know then headed up himself but when he reached the surface he couldn't find her. No one is sure she ever reached the surface. Thank you to those that praying. She is my mother-in-law and my wife's family is having a pretty hard time with it.

 

[kellyturco]

I'm the x-wife of Cristina Cassins husband. What her daughter said was true. Christina was motioning to go up, so her husband just wanted to alert the DM, so all could and he could get her up to safety. Its obvious from others reports that were there that this was not a day for an experienced diver, let alone a novice to be diving...DM should have know that and at least kept beginners close and in eye range(or aborted altogether). Im sure with the currents and visibility, this was as frightnening as it could be for her. she was only 10 min in, so obvious she was paniced and just wanted to surface. Her husband couldnt have done anything different,, they thought the DM wouldnt take them in any danger and trusted him to give them something they could talk about and share together. Neither were prepared for the circumstance they encountered.. Christina is a very sweet and caring person. My prayers are for them both. I have faith in miricles,,, they will find her. My love to you both All keep praying and believe...
Kelly, Drew & boys

 

[Mike]

I'm the x-wife of Cristina Cassins husband. What her daughter said was true. Christina was motioning to go up, so her husband just wanted to alert the DM, so all could and he could get her up to safety. Its obvious from others reports that were there that this was not a day for an experienced diver, let alone a novice to be diving...DM should have know that and at least kept beginners close and in eye range(or aborted altogether). Im sure with the currents and visibility, this was as frightnening as it could be for her. she was only 10 min in, so obvious she was paniced and just wanted to surface. Her husband couldnt have done anything different,, they thought the DM wouldnt take them in any danger and trusted him to give them something they could talk about and share together. Neither were prepared for the circumstance they encountered.. Christina is a very sweet and caring person. My prayers are for them both. I have faith in miricles,,, they will find her. My love to you both All keep praying and believe...
Kelly, Drew & boys

Dive masters are guides. Certified scuba divers have taken training, passed tests and have received certification to scuba dive without a dive master present.

If you dive in the marine park in Cozumel you are required to have a dive master who is registered to take you diving in the marine park. This is the marine parks choice to protect the reefs, not a safety requirement.

Please don't look to place blame on others. Everything first starts with personal responsibility with the diver and their dive buddy. Keep in perspective that in just the last 7 days there have been well over 3500 successful dives completed there without incident.

 

[Craig66]

Dive masters are guides. Certified scuba divers have taken training, passed tests and have received certification to scuba dive without a dive master present.

If you dive in the marine park in Cozumel you are required to have a dive master who is registered to take you diving in the marine park. This is the marine parks choice to protect the reefs, not a safety requirement.

Please don't look to place blame on others. Everything first starts with personal responsibility with the diver and their dive buddy. Keep in perspective that in just the last 7 days there have been well over 3500 successful dives completed there without incident.

Mike most of the time I would agree with you and one of the biggest issues scuba diving is facing is this concept of "trust me diving" HOWEVER in this case I am not sure I agree. One of the lessons of PADI diving is to seek local experts when arriving in a new location to advise you on dive sites and conditions that are appropriate for your level. What could possibly be more of a local expert than your dive op. The dive op that knows that it has on board two divers with <10 dives under their belts and is going onto a set of reefs that over the last few weeks have been known to be temperamental should at the very least warn those divers that this might not be a dive for them. More experienced divers learn - often the hard way - that a dive op although it should be a beacon to the correct way of doing things, is not always the case. It is not unreasonable for a newbie to look at a diveop whose job it is to provide safe diving and assume that they are being taken to a reef that is in line with their skills.

My prayers to the family

Craig

 

[AggieDiver]

Kelly,

As you can see from Mike's post above and will undoubtedly see in others, there is a VERY wide range of opinions about what divers expect the DM to be responsible for. That list of responsibilities varies by country, by location, by dive operation, and by the nature of the contractual relationship with the DM themself. In the case of Cozumel, as Mike pointed out, the DM is required to be there by the Marine Park rules. His responsibility is to the group, as much as it is to any one diver. He often has no control over which divers are assigned to him, and depending on the dive op, may not even know anything about their dive experience. When you throw in a language barrier, the problem of explaining fears and limitations may become even more pronounced. So when one diver signals they need to surface, he may have no idea if it means they are in full panic, or if it just means they need to adjust gear and will be right back. His responsibility, especially when in challenging conditions is to the group, not one diver. The individual divers each have a buddy, and that buddy has the primary responsibility for aiding their buddy.

None of that is meant to relieve any blame from the DM or dive op or to place it on the buddy. I don't have anything like the amount of knowledge needed to make that decision. I am just trying to explain that especially in places like Coz, sometimes the attitude towards people expressing fears is "It will be fine...relax", and in the diving industry, we are taught that the responsibility for calling a dive off comes usually from the individual, not from the DM. The DM may say the dive is too dangerous for the group and call it, but he would almost never approach an individual and say "this dive is too challenging for you, you shouldn't dive". It is always up to the individual to assess their skills and comfort level against the conditions and decide for themselves. Now it may be that Cristina did exactly that and decided to call the dive early. And in the process, became lost. We simply don't know right now. But I would just caution you from placing the blame so squarely on the DM at this particular point in time without knowing all the details about what he did or didn't know about their experience and whether he was even aware that she had called the dive and ascended before she had already disappeared. The urge very early in cases like this is often to jump to blame the DM on the dive, and it often turns out that the DM either had no ability to help, or did exactly the right thing, but it failed to prevent the incident.

All my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family and I dearly hope that Cristina is found safe and sound very soon.