Recent OOA incident in Cozumel, and questions for the experts

[spartan rugger]

Hi,

This incident happened last week while I was in Cozumel. I'll first outline the facts, and then add a question or two at the end for the experts to discuss. I have about 50 dives in so do not consider myself highly experienced, and have never had or seen anything "unusual" happen on a dive before. Here's what happened:

We dove with a very reputable dive resort in a group of about 8 people, most appeared experienced except for a young married(?) couple who were just certified back home and are now on their FIRST ocean dive. Even before we get in the water, they have a problem: one of them is leaning over the side of the boat, puking. Not sure whether it's because of seasickness or nerves, but either way, not a good start to the dive. Our first dive is Palancar Bricks, and the dive profile calls for a depth of
85'. They immediately had trouble getting down off the surface, were inefficient swimmers, not good buoyancy control, etc. My buddy and I are cautious divers and were keeping an eye on them; the DM (a young guy) was not, and had only checked their air once during the dive. After about 25 minutes into the dive, the new guy was diving deeper than everyone else, down to 90' or maybe 100'. Suddenly, he discovers he's completely out of air. I was hovering about 20' above him and saw him check his gauge, and then fin fast to the DM who immediately starts giving him air from his octopus. They start heading up together slowly. The other new diver, the woman, doesn't know what to do. My buddy signals to her to stay with us and continue the dive with the rest of the group, and I check her air and she has 1000 lb left. No problem, except she suddenly panics, decides she's going up, and starts kicking hard toward the surface. My buddy signals to me that she is bolting, and I swam up about 10 feet and caught her by the fins and stopped her ascent. Holding on to her BC the whole time so she doesn't try to swim away again, we joined up with the DM and the new guy, and go up together and do a safety stop. The DM takes they guy to the surface, and I keep my hand on the woman's BC and take her up. When we surface I took my reg out so I could calm her down and tell her what to do next. She sees me do that, and takes hers out of her mouth too. She immediately swallows a big mouthful of water and pukes it right back out. I get her reg back in her mouth and inflated her BC. By this time, she is sick and physically exhausted. My buddy and I drag her back to the boat ladder, and get her fins and weights off. She is so spent she can't even climb onto the boat, so one of the DMs on the boat drags her up the ladder. It felt like a close call that could easily have ended differently, and badly. (She was ultimately OK, although did not do any more diving the rest of the week.)

Now here are the questions for the experts:

How much blame for this do you put on the DM for not keeping the new divers close to him and checking their air frequently? (Obviously the new diver should have been checking also, so primary fault lies with him.) The DM was definitely aware that they were novices.

Is the DM at fault for putting the inexperienced divers at unnecessary risk by including them in a group of more experienced divers and taking them 90 feet down on a wall, in a current, for their first dive? Would a simple 40-50 foot reef dive have been more appropriate? My sense is that they were so new to diving that did not even realize the risks of that dive, much less know how to get out of trouble. Whose job is it to assess risk, in that situation?

What else could/should have been done by the more experienced divers in the group prior to (or during) that dive, knowing they had two novice divers in the group?

Thanks for your insight.

Sparty

 

[openmindOW]

. . . . a group of about 8 people, most appeared experienced except for a young married(?) couple who were just certified back home and are now on their FIRST ocean dive.

I don't want to judge the DM or the boat crew. I was not there.

If there is blame to go around, there are probably several entities with responsibility. Possible candidates woudl include the divers themselves, the Instructor who trained them initially, the agency they trained with, the boat crew, the dive op who put them on the dive boat. But I emphasize that I don't want to assess blame. I just don't have enough facts.

Having said that, I will try to address your questions. My opinion only.

Is the DM at fault for putting the inexperienced divers at unnecessary risk by including them in a group of more experienced divers and taking them 90 feet down on a wall, in a current, for their first dive?

It was probably not too smart to put the new divers on this dive. It's deep. It's their first boat dive.

Would a simple 40-50 foot reef dive have been more appropriate?

Probably.

What else could/should have been done by the more experienced divers in the group prior to (or during) that dive, knowing they had two novice divers in the group?

I hind sight, one can opine that it probably would have been best to abort the dive with the female diver as soon as she separated from her OOA buddy.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Now here are the questions for the experts:

How much blame for this do you put on the DM for not keeping the new divers close to him and checking their air frequently? (Obviously the new diver should have been checking also, so primary fault lies with him.) The DM was definitely aware that they were novices.

I'm not an expert, by any means, but I'm a big fan of personal responsibility. Your air, your depth, your ascent... your dive... is your responsibility.

Is the DM at fault for putting the inexperienced divers at unnecessary risk by including them in a group of more experienced divers and taking them 90 feet down on a wall, in a current, for their first dive? Would a simple 40-50 foot reef dive have been more appropriate? My sense is that they were so new to diving that did not even realize the risks of that dive, much less know how to get out of trouble. Whose job is it to assess risk, in that situation?

Did they know that it was going to be a 90 foot wall dive in a current, or did they get on the boat expecting it to be a 40 foot dive in a sheltered, current free reef? If they knew where the dive was going, then it's their responsibility.

What else could/should have been done by the more experienced divers in the group prior to (or during) that dive, knowing they had two novice divers in the group?

Other than voicing your concern ("Wow, this is your first OW dive? 90FSW is deeper than is recommended for OW divers. And there's a bit of current. Are you sure you're up to it?") nothing. They are adults. They are certified. And they are responsible for themselves. Yes, it's good to keep an eye on them, and I would certainly do that. But it's ultimately up to every diver to know their own limits and to stay within the limits of their training and experience.

I see the role of the DM as that of a guide. Know the area, know where the cool critters are likely to hide, etc. They're not a baby sitter. If a diver needs a sitter, they should hire a sitter, not a guide. And maybe they should re-evaluate their training.

 

[BTravlin]

I believe the new diver was mostly at fault. Personal responsibility is a must when diving.

That said, I would think the dive op, not the DM, made a poor decision putting brand new divers out on that dive. Should have been something easier for them to get some more experience.

 

[Straegen]

The divers are responsible. The instructor for certifying divers unfit to ow dive should be evaluated and if it were my dive op the dm would probably be fired. That doesn't mean the dm or instructor is responsible for this event but it does mean that the instructor did not perform his job properly and I would not want an employee on staff that would put my business and customers at risk.

 

[DandyDon]

If they had posted on the Coz forum here about their trip plans, I would have suggested they hire a private DM for the first day - but that's generally good advice for any new OW. My home bud and I should have for our first dives and they were in New Mexico.

Rules are mostly for agencies and lawyers. If they're going to travel and dive, they need to learn how.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

@spartan rugger: This isn't a very unusual situation -- novices on their first warm water dive vacation who are enthralled by the great vis and colorful fish. They're a little nervous and possibly seasick. We've all been there. Still, the novelty of the experience alone isn't what caused the OOA and panicky buddy incident.

My comments are as follows:

1. The primary cause of the incident was that the OOA diver was not being vigilant about monitoring his gas supply. Moreover, if he was trained to "surface with 500 psi in the tank," it's obvious he violated that simple gas management rule. A separate, yet no less important, issue is that he probably had no idea how much gas would be required to ascend safely from that depth (approx. 100 fsw).
2. There was a fundamental break-down of the buddy system. If he and his buddy had been communicating to each other their remaining gas supplies at periodic intervals, this probably wouldn't have happened. On a related note, I would venture a guess that the separation distance between the OOA diver and his buddy was too far. Otherwise, the OOA diver would have initiated air-sharing procedures with his buddy as his training dictated, instead of finning toward the DM. Another possibility is that the OOA diver was paying more attention to the DM than his designated buddy. I wasn't there so I can't be sure of any of this, though.
3. The OOA diver and his buddy did not plan their dive in a conservative manner. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been going to a depth of 90-100 fsw on their first ocean dive.
4. The DM appeared to react appropriately to the OOA diver. He shared air and conducted a controlled ascent. That part of it went well.
5. I'm not so sure that I would fault the DM for not monitoring the newbie divers more closely. After all, he was in charge of leading the dive for the entire group of 8. If the newbies wanted more hands-on supervision, they should have hired a private DM to watch over them. That being said, it was the DM's responsibility to give a comprehensive pre-dive briefing. In addition to max depth, UW topography, current, total run time, and any potential hazards at the site, such a briefing should have addressed the conditions (1500psi?) under which buddy pairs should communicate to him how much gas they have left, whether he would send up those with faster gas consumption on their own to the surface, and when he would shoot a DSMB (during safety stop?).
6. Typically, the decision to place certain divers on specific boats is made by the dive op. Putting novices and experienced divers on the same boat shouldn't affect the safety of the dive outing. The worst case scenario should be that the experienced divers get upset for being forced to do a shallow, reef dive. That being said, it's the shared responsibility of the DM, boat crew, and captain to select a dive site that is appropriate for all of the divers on the boat. It falls upon the divers themselves to speak up if they aren't comfortable doing a particular dive site (based on the DM's pre-dive briefing). From what I've seen, experienced divers are savvy enough to ask the dive op ahead of time how the dive site is selected and whether there might be any inexperienced divers on the boat that could restrict the choice of dive site.
7. The OOA diver's buddy should have accompanied him to the surface. I'm not sure why your buddy suggested that she continue the dive with you guys. That course of action implies that, from her perspective, finishing the dive is more important than the well-being of her dive buddy. Curious choice if you ask me.
8. I realize that you had good intentions in trying to prevent the panicky diver from bolting to the surface, but your choice of actions placed you (and possibly her) in a certain amount of danger. When a panicked diver gets it into her head that she needs to surface, you really should not stand in her way. At the very most, you can try to help slow her ascent a little. It's probably not advisable to halt her ascent completely because she could be experiencing a true medical crisis at that particular moment -- something that necessitates surfacing ASAP. If this is the case, you could actually be making the situation worse for her by impeding her progress. In addition, getting in the way of a panicked diver is a great way to get punched/kicked in the face, or worse. Yet another consideration in the decision-making process to intervene is whether you (the potential rescuer) have the requisite experience and training to actually help. If you haven't taken a rescue class yet and are still relatively inexperienced, you might be taking on more risk than you realize.
9. On a recreational boat dive, particularly one that I'm paying for, I don't feel it's my duty to keep other divers on the boat safe. My primary safety obligation is to my buddy. That being said, if I see an opportunity to help someone else underwater and my personal risk is at an acceptable level, I will lend a hand. If I see someone doing something unsafe, I will discreetly mention it to the DM and let him deal with it. After all, that's part of his job.

This is just my personal take on what went down based on the details you related. Please note that I'm not a dive pro...just an average OW diver with some rescue training.

 

[Maladryne]

@spartan rugger: This isn't a very unusual situation -- novices on their first warm water dive vacation who are enthralled by the great vis and colorful fish. They're a little nervous and possibly seasick. We've all been there. Still, the novelty of the experience alone isn't what caused the OOA and panicky buddy incident.

My comments are as follows:

<SNIP>

This, times 10!! An excellent analysis of what went wrong, and I completely agree on all points.

One other comment I'd make is that there is often a tendency to blame the trainer or agency; that is valid in many cases, but it's important to remember that the individual diver has to maintain accountability for their own actions. As an instructor, I prep my students to the best of my ability. I follow standards of my agency, don't cut corners, and try to pass along as many tips and tricks as I can from 30+ years of diving. My goal is to make sure that students are comfortable, confident, and competent when I certify them. Every time they strap on a tank, I want them to be building more skill on the (hopefully) solid foundation we laid together during their class. But, people can surprise you - and themselves - sometimes; in controlled or semi-controlled surroundings, they operate at one level; change that environment, and some may start having a come-apart.
Every single dive you'll ever make is an opportunity to learn; that's a truism, not a cliche. I've done literally thousands of dives, and I still feel like I'm refining techniques and learning new things. As Bubbletrubble articulated so well, learned lessons from the dive you describe should be "Stick to the Basics" (buddy system, monitor gauges, plan your dive), "Know your Limits" (understand what kind of diving you're used to, and what it means when you move into a new environment), and "YOU are responsible for yourself".

 

[TexasKaren68]

I'm going to say the divers were the main ones at fault here.

I'm a new diver. I just completed my OW course and there is no freakin' way I would do a 90 foot drift dive

Sure, the dive op shouldn't have put them with an experienced group on a difficult dive but good grief, the new divers should have known better.

 

[Mike]

I'm curious about the comments here.

So lets back up to the divers meeting the dive op at their shop. I'm guessing at some point there had to be a moment where the new divers met somebody at the dive operation, showed some C-cards, maybe filled out a disclaimer.

Now at this point does a dive op ask, are the obligated to? But at this point do they ask some questions of their new guests such as "How many dives do you have?"

If the ansewsr to this is yes, then at what point does the dive op have a responsibility to put new divers on a dive going out in line with their abilities? They just find out they have 2 newbies with zero open water dives and they stick them on a boat with advanced divers going out to a dive site that is for advanced divers and say... "It's up to the divers to figure out once they get their that they can't do the dive and to sit on the boat and not dive, I'm just sending them out on a boat trip to screw them out of diving".

Even if the dive op doesn't question their guest about dive experience, how likely is it that brand spank'n new divers don't let it be known at the dive shop that this is their first dives, that they just got certified? Not likely.

I don't see how a dive op puts vigin divers on a dive boat going to a dive site they CANNOT DIVE.

When I say "Cannot dive" I don't mean can't physically do it, I mean that they aren't supposed to be diving below 60 feet on just a OW certification right? The dive op puts them on a boat on a dive they know the divers aren't supposed to do with just an OW certification. No responsibility here? No responsibility if the dive op knows they are virgin divers?