I have a couple of perspectives to offer to this discussion. First, my wife and I were certified in 1997 in Cozumel on Christmas Eve at Fiesta Americana Dive House. We spent that week doing the first dives of our lives. Cozumel is one of favorite dive destinations, having just returned from our third trip from there last night.
Second, we were diving Columbia Reef at the time the diver was lost north of us on Santa Rosa reef. We were again using Dive House out of Fiesta Americana. One of our boats assisted with the search operation on the return trip to Dive House.
We all have opinions on responsibilities of divers, dive buddies, and dive masters. My opinion is that ALL diving is inherently dangerous. When you are certified you are trained to handle most emergency situations if you remember what you were taught and practice it. If you don't want to participate in a potentially life-ending sport, don't take up SCUBA or flying. Take up snorkeling and bicycling, although I am not sure a snorkler or cyclist is any safer than a diver or pilot.
One of the things we were all taught was that you cannot assume that every DM will be watching you at all times, will be there to save you in an emergency, or will surface with anyone in the group who chooses or needs to surface in the middle of a dive. They taught us to stay with your dive buddy no matter what, and if you lose them, to look for them for a couple minutes and then surface to see if they are on top. They also taught us about all the optional safety equipment... safety sausage, compass, air horn, etc. Many divers do not use any of those items. It is not the responsibility of a dive master to assure that they do, nor to surface with a single diver while leaving the group unattended, unless they are aware of a true emergency. This of course all changes if you have a dive instructor, who has more responsibility to watch out for learning students.
I dove the first ten dives of my life in Coz and felt safe every dive. I am personally of the opinion that, oustide of serious weather/current issues, drift diving is as safe or safer than trying to get everyone back to a moored dive boat. I have been on live-aboard dives, including night dives, out in open water with such strong currents that you never left the mooring line, barely able to hang on with one hand and hold your mask on your head with the other. On the dives with strong current on all three trips to Cozumel, we had a DM in front and another at the rear of our group trying to keep us more or less together. On other dives with a smaller group we only had one DM along. I felt safe in all cases. The DMs and the OP on shore alerted us to strong currents this week and we chose to dive anyway. However after 250 dives (not a lot) I do know what a strong current is, have a safety sausage, an air horn, and a dive buddy who never leaves my sight.
On the day the diver was lost this past week, we were told that the currents were unpredictable and had been stronger than normal. We chose to dive anyway. A couple of us wanted to dive Columbia, the DM explained again the currents and all divers agreed to chance it. As soon as we descended and headed for the reef, a water columnr came down the sand flat towards us raising columns of sand along the way and causing a white out. Rather than abort the dive, our two DMs signalled to get behind the reef ASAP, which we all did. At one point I felt a down current and did inflate my BC and kicked some to stay above our agreed upon floor of 80 ft. T
They took us through swim-throughs and into some caves to avoid the current as much as possible. Towards the end of the dive, we had to cross the sand flat again and all of us followed the lead of our DM and essentially swam just above the sand, pulling ourselves along with our hands for extra stability when needed. We stayed together as a group and made it to a calmer spot on the shore side of the reef where we could surface. Not the most advanced dive I have been on by a long shot, but was pretty high up on that list. I thought it was a great learning experience. I also thought our DMs did a great job leading us. Our second dive, an hour later, was almost calm on a shallower reef closer to Santa Rosa.
On the way back we saw the chopper and one of our boats joined the search effort.
I did not feel the down pull until at about 80 ft. Certainly did not feel it at 30' or even at 60'. We did have strong currents from the time we started our descent, however. I don't see much evidence that a downpull kept the missing diver from surfacing. While we may never know, the circumstantial evidence in my opinion points more to a panic attack than anything else, probably due to the strong current. I know what panic can do to a diver and it certainly greatly magnifies the problems getting to and even staying on the surface, espcially for a new diver. We were all taught this before we were allowed to dive.
This was a terrible loss for the family, and my prayers go out to them. But we should all use these situations as a learning opportunity. Here is what I took away from it:
1. Plan your dive and DIVE YOUR PLAN. Aborting a dive in open water in strong currents unless there is a true emergency, exponentially adds to the danger for you, your buddy, and the entire dive team. Follow the plan and follow your DM.
2. Stay with your buddy. I have read conflicting accounts of whether the husband told the DM his wife ascended alone or not. Maybe he did and the DM didn't understand his signals, or felt that he needed to stay with they group. But either way, he let her ascend alone. From what we heard he felt the obligation to let the group know she was ascending. We don't know why she did, but it easily could have been panic due to strong currents. No way would I let my wife go up alone, ever, unless we were within 50 ft of the boat on a calm day. Certainly not if she was possibly panicking, and certainly not in a strong current. I am not ctiricizing him and he will be second guessing himself the rest of his life. But it is an critical learning opportunity for all of us. If my buddy wanted to go up and I wanted to tell the DM (which I would try to do), I would take her with me. If she wasn't able, I would go up with her. Stay with your buddy!
3. If you are ever uncomfortable with a dive plan or conditions, having issues with your ears (like I do) or think you may have a hard time if you get separated from the group, talk to the DM before the dive. Tell him you want to stay close to him/her and ask them to keep an eye out for you and your buddy if you think you need that. I have been on al least 50 dives when I told my buddy, stay close to me and let's both stay close to the DM, and told the DM we would be doing that. His responsibility is to the group as a whole, but if you let them know they will try to watch out for you.
4. Always keep emergency signaling equipment with you for an emergency. Tank banger, sausage, horn, knife, compass, etc.
I would recommend Cozumel as one of the most beautiful dive destinations in the Carribbean and will definitely be going back. I was happy getting my OW cert there with my wife and would recommend that as well, but stay close to your DM and let them know you are a newbie. Then, dive your plan, stay with your buddy, and be prepared for any situation.
