Diver missing today? 03/28/12

[Jax]

That's all my step dad has told me. They still haven't been able to find her & my step dad had to get off the cruise ship & stay there till they can find her. She's retired from the army so hopefully she's able to take care of herself. Last she was seen, she was heading to the surface, no one knows if she ever made it or what happened to her.

---------- Post added at 05:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 PM ----------



I'm her daughter

Oh, Dear God. We are so very, very sorry. Thank you for your bravery in coming forth. Your family is in our thoughts and prayers.

 

[boulderjohn]

Okay... this new information from kschoovoner is very confusing for me, a regular diver in Cozumel.
If the husband started up right after her, why didn't he see her on his way up?
If current was the issue, then was it pushing out or across or down?
Why is it he didn't notice she wasn't around only when he reached the surface?
Even in the worst vis I have ever seen in Cozumel, I could always see other divers going up, and boats at the surface.

I don't mean to sound callous, as I am sure none of the other posters here want to appear, we are just trying to understand since this is the 3rd story of what happened we have now heard in 24 hours.

robin

None of this surprises me at all. If she was feeling any kind of stress, she may have surfaced ahead of him, and he may have wanted to take a little more time for a safety stop or something, assuming he would see her easily on the surface. Why didn't he see her on the surface? It could have been a bunch of things. On a recent drift dive in South Florida, where you dive in small teams with dive flags, my buddy and I surfaced and we didn't see anybody or anything. There was just enough wave action to prevent us from seeing very far at all. We were like that for 15 minutes before we saw the boat coming to get us.

A more troubling reason could be that she was not on the surface any longer. I hate to say it, but that happens.

 

[kschoonover]

She told my step dad she needed to head up then she started to go up, but told the DM they were heading up 1st before he headed up himself. He never seen her again after he told the DM they were heading up. He doesn't know if she reached the surface or not. He just told me the current had something to do with it but he didn't explain how.

 

[Jax]

Dear K, and Jamma;

We discuss accidents and incidents to try to learn from them, so that we might not make the same mistakes ourselves, or to learn how to save ourselves in a situation.

Please know that these discussions can be very hard for friends and family, as we examine each piece and part of the puzzle. We mean no disrespect.

K, I suspect your Mom would understand, as the Army lives for its After Action Reports (AARs) and Lessons-Learned generation. Thank you for understanding.

 

[boulderjohn]

She told my step dad she needed to head up then she started to go up, but told the DM they were heading up 1st before he headed up himself. He never seen her again after he told the DM they were heading up. He doesn't know if she reached the surface or not. He just told me the current had something to do with it but he didn't explain how.

From what you said it is clear that she started the ascent with a sense of urgency, and he stayed long enough to let the DM know what was happening. That separated them. The current flows at different rates at different depths, so if he were ascending in the same path she took but unable to see her, they could come up in very different places because of that.

 

[Jax]

A more troubling reason could be that she was not on the surface any longer. I hate to say it, but that happens.

Agree. If she was suffering a medical problem, for example.

I wonder if she was on blood pressure medication?

 

[pidgiepoo]

Dear K, and Jamma;

We discuss accidents and incidents to try to learn from them, so that we might not make the same mistakes ourselves, or to learn how to save ourselves in a situation.

Please know that these discussions can be very hard for friends and family, as we examine each piece and part of the puzzle. We mean no disrespect.

K, I suspect your Mom would understand, as the Army lives for its After Action Reports (AARs) and Lessons-Learned generation. Thank you for understanding.

Nicely put Jax. Thoughts and prayers to K and Jamma during these difficult hours.

 

[cvchief]

The last part of your post is what at issue here.

My reply: It depends. Why is the DM there in this particular case? Is to be a guide showing where all the cool things are, or is it ensure those without good team mates are safe? In this case I'd say it was to point out the cool stuff. If the poor woman felt she wasn't up to the task then she should have paid for a dive guide, someone to keep her safe. If the DM is acting as a dive guide he's probably not making an evaluation of every diver. No time. Not what he was hired to do. So I'm back to my point. If the DM is responsible then he HAS to evaluate his charges before they go on the sightseeing trip. How well do you think that will go over with the more experienced divers? Not well. Again, back to my point. Don't blame the DM for the loss of this poor woman. Not his fault.

Here's a dilemma for you. If he is in fact responsible for the safety of everyone on the dive, should he put the majority at risk, leaving them so he can attend to the one diver? I can't answer that.

Randy,

I disagree. My Coz DM isn't there to just point stuff out. And having seen alot of divers coming back after a few years and those with only cert dives under their weight belts, they HAVE to look out for the group. In a perfect world every buddy team would be capable of handing every event on their own. I sure wasn't until I had some dive in. Until I did, my DM was keeping an extra eye on me. I see that same treatment to those rusty or new divers. I think most of the good DMs do that. I mean they all have to deal with those kind of divers.

As to the choice: If I am convulsing and losing my reg, my DM darn well should come handle me, because I am THE MOST at risk at that moment. If a diver is surfacing, that diver is the MOST at risk until sighted by the boat. I can't imagine most Coz DMs would just let someone wander to the surface on their own. They could get lost or run over. None of that is good for their business.

Of course maybe I am spoiled? Anyone else think their Coz DM is just a tour guide?


My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.

 

[boulderjohn]

Of course maybe I am spoiled? Anyone else think their Coz DM is just a tour guide?

The Cozumel DM is there for a very important and even essential reason, no matter what the experience level of the divers. This is a drift dive, so the boat has to be around to find the divers at the end of the dive. When drift dives are done in places like South Florida, divers go in on their own carrying dive flags. The boat just has to keep track of the flags--piece of cake. The groups can drift all over the place and still be picked up. They can do that in Florida because the reef structure is very low, and divers are pretty much on top of the reef the whole time. In Cozumel, the towering reef structures make dive flags impossible. The lines would catch on the upper reef structures, snag, and cause all kinds of damage. The boat therefore has to follow the bubbles of the group. If divers went all over the place on their own, it would be extremely difficult for the boats to find them all, and there would be lost divers bobbing around all over the place.

The Cozumel DM really has to make sure the group stays together to the extent that they can be found at the end of the dive.

 

[Jax]

The Cozumel DM really has to make sure the group stays together to the extent that they can be found at the end of the dive.

And at the same time, the divers are to stay in the vicinity of the DM, and maintain awareness such that hey respond immediately to any signaled requests (like remaining air or an "ok").

-- This is from a small experience sample of ~45 dives.