midwayman
Contributor
My trip to Cozumel in March shook up my confidence a little bit. In my week of diving there, I saw 3 separate OOA incidents, and a couple other things that worried me.
The first was a night dive off the international pier, the last dive of my AOW cert. After zerging around the pilings, and killing 5 lionfish, we were on the way back in shallow ~10-15ft water when I notice my fellow classmate on the surface. I figured he just had buoyancy issues in the shallow water. We get out and found out he ran OOA and that's why he was on the surface. Luckily we were shallow and probably had already done a safety stop by the time he went up.
2nd was a trip to Punta Sur. We had discussed diving the Cathedral there, but several of us were uncomfortable with devil throat. We get in and have to go down super quick, and I'm having trouble clearing that fast. Eventually we get down and through the Cathedral, and our divemaster decides to take us through the devil's throat anyways. 4/6 of us come out the other side and we're hanging out at 120 while the divemaster goes looking for the other two. Eventually found they surfaced rather than go through. Shortly after that, one of the guys goes OOA and has to buddy breathe with the divemaster on the way to the surface. Get up, and he says he had a panic attack down there at 120, and one of the people who came up early had a bad nosebleed. Just a disaster of a dive.
Last one was the next dive. It was nice and shallow, and my wife starts up early and I follow her up. She grabs my octo and starts buddy breathing at the safety stop. I find out up top she kept trying to tell the divemaster she was getting low, and eventually went up on her own. She wasn't completely out at the safety stop, but well into the red zone.
Nobody really got hurt that I know of, but all of this was a confidence shaker. I don't want to see anyone have to do this stuff, let alone so much in one week.
The first was a night dive off the international pier, the last dive of my AOW cert. After zerging around the pilings, and killing 5 lionfish, we were on the way back in shallow ~10-15ft water when I notice my fellow classmate on the surface. I figured he just had buoyancy issues in the shallow water. We get out and found out he ran OOA and that's why he was on the surface. Luckily we were shallow and probably had already done a safety stop by the time he went up.
2nd was a trip to Punta Sur. We had discussed diving the Cathedral there, but several of us were uncomfortable with devil throat. We get in and have to go down super quick, and I'm having trouble clearing that fast. Eventually we get down and through the Cathedral, and our divemaster decides to take us through the devil's throat anyways. 4/6 of us come out the other side and we're hanging out at 120 while the divemaster goes looking for the other two. Eventually found they surfaced rather than go through. Shortly after that, one of the guys goes OOA and has to buddy breathe with the divemaster on the way to the surface. Get up, and he says he had a panic attack down there at 120, and one of the people who came up early had a bad nosebleed. Just a disaster of a dive.
Last one was the next dive. It was nice and shallow, and my wife starts up early and I follow her up. She grabs my octo and starts buddy breathing at the safety stop. I find out up top she kept trying to tell the divemaster she was getting low, and eventually went up on her own. She wasn't completely out at the safety stop, but well into the red zone.
Nobody really got hurt that I know of, but all of this was a confidence shaker. I don't want to see anyone have to do this stuff, let alone so much in one week.