Lost Diver in Cozumel, Mexico, February 2016

[simcoediver]

I think that if marine life such as crabs, nurse sharks etc got a hold of it , it would easily be possible.

 

[CuzzA]

You would be shocked how quick anything dead on a reef is consumed. Setting fish and sharks aside, the reef clean up crew consisting of snails, hermits, crabs, bristle worms, starfish and a million other organisms will converge and won't stop until there's nothing left.

Even in my 90 gallon reef tank, if a descent sized fish were to die, it would disappear within several hours.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

and triggerfish....

 

[Ron Lee]

This was not the recovery I anticipated. Of course a positive identification may not have been made yet.

 

[lionfish-eater]

It is possible that it is a poor translation of the original article.
Maybe corpse or body was translated as skull?
No other info out there.
If it is not Id'd, then are there random skulls floating about?

 

[CuzzA]

Well, I'd imagine it would not be a sight for the next of kin to make an ID and rightfully so, so they'll leave it to dental records. I'm assuming they could at least identify gear, specifically the dive ops tank to make a preliminary ID.

 

[mmmbelows]

then are there random skulls floating about?

There has been a few people who have disappeared over the years, divers and I think someone who fell of a cruise ship?

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

It appears that the skull most likely is not that of Connie Greilak:

Hallan cráneo en el fondo del mar

Unpolished translation for the gist:
Divers have located a skull on the ocean floor, in the middle of a reef zone. The scalp and part of the skin were still present, and it appeared to be female. It was about 9:05am when the divers were touring the San Clemente reef located to the south when they found the skull of a woman on the bottom. After the discovery, the Cozumel Naval Sector was notified to take custody of the skull which has female features and had a dental prosthesis. The authorities took possession of the skull and alerted the Public Safety Ministry as to the events that had occurred.

The authorities have not ruled out homicide, a propeller accident, or a satanic ritual in which a person is decapitated and the body parts are scattered into the sea. They also dismiss that the skull may belong to foreigner Connie Greilak, 65, who was lost at sea last Tuesday because the skull has partial prosthetic, whereas [Greilak] had full dentures.

 

[Ron Lee]

Fortunately the "missing diver" event appears to be infrequent in Cozumel. My view is that it can be cut greatly. The problem is that we never get reliable/factual information surrounding the event.

In this case it would help to understand several things:

1) How many dives did Connie Have?
2) When was her last dive?
3) Was this her first dive on Cozumel?
4) Was this rental equipment and new to her?
5) What experience level did her buddy have?
6) What happened prior to her going missing?

I doubt that we will ever know any of this so at best I can only suggest things that generically might prevent a recurrence.

I am a believer in buddy teams having the ability to adequately help each other and in individual divers being able to self-rescue. That will not happen with four or five dives.

Taking rescue diver training is a good objective but most people will not do that.

For novice divers new to Cozumel, having a dedicated instructor/divemaster along for the first day may be enough to prevent problems. I have made previous posts on the skills I believe are useful when learning to adapt to and enjoy Cozumel drift diving.

Whether any of these suggestions would have prevented this fatality is unknown but assuming no medical issue, I will wager that there is a high probability that it would have.

 

[pendle]

I would like to provide some information regarding this. While I hesitate to discuss family matters in a public way I hope that just providing some basic information can help lead to a better understanding of what happened and possibly help prevent someone else from being involved in a similar situation. What I know will be about as close to firsthand as will be possible in this situation.

1. I do not know the exact amount of dives that Connie had and I hesitate to even guess a number. I do know that she dove frequently however being from Wisconsin her options were of course limited to vacations. She wouldn't be classified as "a beginner" but beyond that I do not know.

2. Unsure of the last time she dove but I believe it was within the past year.

3. Unsure if she'd been to Cozumel prior to this.

4. Reasonably certain this was rental equipment.

5. Dive buddy was a beginner.

6. What happened prior to going missing is this. They were diving at the Santa Rosa Wall. I am unsure exactly how many people were in her group. Her dive buddy was her daughter. Connie was the last one in the water. As they were descending her dive buddy realized Connie was having difficulty descending. Dive buddy attempted to get the attention of the group but they were drifting down too fast and she was not able to get their attention. She continued to try to get their attention but upon not being able to she looked back up and Connie was gone. Whether she was pursuing the group to signal them or was remaining in place I don't know.

Edit: No history of major or even minor medical issues that I am aware of. Was in good health. Also would not have been any drinking or drugs involved.

I'd like to also thank the forum members for their tact and thoughtfulness in discussing this. Its obviously very hard to deal with right now and there is still a lot of processing that's going on. I think understanding what happened (as best we're ever able to) would go a long way in healing the pain.

Regards.