3 Missing in deep dive incident - Mexico

[pakman]

I just spoke to the last ROV pilot to return from the scene and his information is unbelievable. By that, I mean hard to believe and if the information was reported by anyone else, I would say it wasn't accurate.

A representative from VideoRay went to an area where an earlier ROV pilot reported strong currents in a hole (cave like siphon) with a depth greater than 300 feet. Within 14 days, the VideoRay pilot reports no current and a sandy bottom at 200' at the SAME location. The VideoRay pilot returns to the same spot several days later and again finds no current and the bottom now at 100 feet. The oval shaped opening was approximately 6m x 13m and is apparently filling in.

woah... WT*:11:...! any seismic activity reported around there? that is just bizarre...

[La Ovejita Negra]

I checked with the seismic reports for the days proceeding the event, because a large chunk of beach collapsed at Villa del Palmar two days before while I was there. There as no notable seismic activity in or around Vallarta.

While an underwater collapse would make some sense regarding a down current or the funnel that Blades mentioned, I think it far more likely that the anchor holding the buoy slipped over the side of the canyon and the people holding on to the rope simply didn't notice. There was very poor viz and within seconds they could have descended without realizing it, esp. since according to my sources (who know all the parties involved) they were overweighted to begin with.

If there was a down current it was a freak thing. I've personally been diving in this spot many, many times in the last year (night diving, deep diving, etc...) and never felt any kind of current at depth. Los Arcos is the most popular training site for open water and all other trainings because of its LACK of currents. Why else would hundreds of snorkelers, divers and kayakers go there every day? There is a down current near Mismaloya, but it was known to local divers and avoided.

[medic13]

welcome to NC wreck divng when theres a strong current.

A 1-knot current is moving at about 100 ft per minute.

I dove recently in a current I couldn't fight, except by holding onto the rocky bottom. On the way up the anchor chain, we were completely horizontal. Once at the surface, I let go of the chain and started counting. It took about 12 seconds to go zipping the length of the 40' boat. So that was about 2 knots (or a little less), and I guarantee I couldn't have made any headway against it if I'd missed the boat. (A few divers did, and needed the drift line).

Oh, and we were in drysuits.

I wouldn't want to be swimming against anything stronger than that for more than about 30 seconds; it took all my energy to stand still if I let go of the bottom for a second. Slightly easier in a wetsuit, but still - ugh.

People who make posts saying things like "we were in a 10 knot current!" are just guessing, and not very accurately. 1 is plenty. 2 is a lot. 3 sounds pretty unnerving.

[Riger]

Hello all,

Scuub Nuub here....

Is it fair to say that most currents "operate" in a column of water, whether horizontal, vertical or diagonal and therefore any thrust parallel to the column, with or against would keep you in the current.

Thus ... perpendicular escape should be sought as a rule?

I accept that in the heat of battle, one might not think of this, but it may be prudent to make that part of any "buddy briefing".

Any thoughts ?

Regards
Riger

[DiverChix]

This is really sad. I also have been diving in the same sights that are mentioned and have never had any problems. I did have one dive that was aborted because a group of divers was not able to swim against the current.
I hope that one of the divers in the accident is not the Alejandro I know and have dived with many times over the years. Does anyone know if this is the same Alejandro that used to work with a local dive shop in PV?