Bent in Belize--Blue Hole Incident

[Jim Lapenta]

This past weekend a student and I did 4 dives in excess of 100 feet in 42-44 degree water. All planned with tables and used our computers as back up. Neither of us had any problems.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

I am seeing a recurring theme here: "Why did the dive shop let you do this?" "Why did the DM lead you on this beyond limits dive?" "Why didnt the operator assign dive buddys?" All shifting blame or responsibility from the diver to someone, anyone, else but the one personally responsible for their own safety, the one who agreed to do the dives, without training, without proper equipment, in an unfamiliar environment.

Since when is anyone else responsible for an individual divers safety? Are we not all taught to respect our limitations? Are we not taught that every dive is our own responsibility? Are we not taught that we can call any dive for any reason at any time?

If you are not prepared to make your own choices as to your own limits you really have no business diving. I won't be jumping off of a bridge no matter who tells me it will be just fine.

And yes, this from the guy who re-plumbed a semi-closed rebreather and took it to 300 feet on trimix. I make mistakes too, just not that many in one day.

I wonder how many missing persons are at the bottom of the blue hole? Perhaps this is why we never hear of any accidents there, its too easy to hide the bodies. : )

Inexperienced divers are conditioned to trust the authority figures. This is how they made it through their training. Many folks here on SB will defend the position that AOW immediately after OW is "more dives with supervision." Thus, when the diveMASTER (talk about authority figure!) says "no problem," why should the inexperienced diver question him?

I'm not excusing bad decisions.

In the US, I believe the shop that sold a charter beyond Rec limits to Rec trained divers would be held responsible.

 

[AfterDark]

There seem to be a number of people asking about dive tables. I don't have access to them from the office, but I expect that both the Buhlmann and the US Navy tables would cater for all of the OP's dives. The OP is a strapping fit man, so the US Navy table actually might be relevant. However, conservatism is advised when using this table.

I've been using USN dive tables for air deco for years. Just need to extend the hang times by a few minutes each.

 

[themagni]

OP again.

I am not trying to shift blame for this onto anyone else. As I've said, it's what happened and a lot of the time people won't admit to making that many mistakes. In one day. All at once. When they know better. Other times the diver has gone through their Checkout Dive and won't be writing anything.

I messed up.

I'd use stronger words but they don't get posted. That's all there is to it. I messed up. Seriously, I am looking at this and thinking, "I really did this? Really? Me?"

I was checked out again by the doctor here, and I've been cleared to fly on Friday morning. It's been a busy week for the chamber here, there was a guy from Texas just going in (he couldn't walk on his own) and there was a woman in the chamber before me. Apparently if they can get you into the chamber you'll survive. They have people die on the boats, they have people die on the dock, they have people die around the corner.

I got a badge from the chamber company, I'm going to sew it onto the front of my logbook.

But whether or not I dive again is a serious question, and for those of you stating that I've got no business in the water... I've got a lot of time to think about it. Certainly no diving until November, but whether or not I'll ever be ready mentally is a totally different question.

I was, and still am, really frightened. I was crying this morning thinking about how badly I messed up and how close I was to being killed. Maybe if I'd been fine on these three dives, I would have done worse on the next two dives. I'd be like the limping Texan, or worse.

What would, I think, really help out, would be if each boat has a sign saying, "If you experience any of the following, report it to the crew immediately:
list of DCS symptoms"

I had to look them up on spotty wifi at 11:00 at night with a pounding headache, all alone in the dark in the middle of nowhere.

 

[tracydr]

FYI - if you want to do those dives on TMx, you'll be limited to one, specific land-based op. Odyssey will blend whatever EANx you want, but they don't have He.

Yes, although I think it's it's a few years away, I've already been doing research on it. Thanks!

 

[Hank49]

To the op...If you want to quit diving, don't quit because of this incident. Learn from it, (here we go again...I was in an argument about learning from failure in another thread here).
You didn't fail because you're a total lizard in the water You just didn't plan your dives well...among other things. If you keep diving and go past this, you'll look back and have a great story to tell later on.

 

[TSandM]

I don't think you need to be frightened of diving. Whether you need to be frightened of yourself, only you can know. But you have learned an extremely powerful lesson, I suspect, and I doubt you will be this careless again. Most people need to make several major mistakes or boneheaded moves to get hurt diving. Done with respect and within the limits you were taught, diving is really surprisingly safe.

 

[themagni]

OP again.

Oh, I know that diving is safe. Not the way I did it last weekend, but done the right way, it's actually got no affect on actuarial tables.

There's been some question as to whether or not this actually happened. I brought along a camera, and while I don't have the right post-processing software here to show you what I'd like, here is my computer's log:



And here's the DM a little deeper than that:



That little ledge is at 160'. At least that's what Dive Shop 2 told me when I commented about the depth of the dive.

---------- Post Merged at 03:47 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:47 PM ----------

OP again.

Oh, I know that diving is safe. Not the way I did it last weekend, but done the right way, it's actually got no affect on actuarial tables.

There's been some question as to whether or not this actually happened. I brought along a camera, and while I don't have the right post-processing software here to show you what I'd like, here is my computer's log:



And here's the DM a little deeper than that:



That little ledge is at 160'. At least that's what Dive Shop 2 told me when I commented about the depth of the dive.

 

[beaverdivers]

U.S. Gov. Travel Advisory to Belize:
Rental diving equipment may not always be properly maintained or inspected, and some local dive masters fail to consider the skill levels of individual tourists when organizing dives to some of Belize’s more challenging sites.

Deaths and serious injuries have occurred as a result of the negligence of dive tour operators, the lack of strict enforcement of tour regulations, water taxis diverging from routes when tourists are in the water, and tourists’ neglect of their physical limitations.

The Embassy strongly recommends that anyone interested in scuba diving or snorkeling while in Belize check the references, licenses, and equipment of tour operators before agreeing to or paying for a tour.

The Embassy further recommends that U.S. citizens be forthcoming in reporting pre-existing medical conditions to their dive tour operators, and comply when a dive tour operator prohibits participation in such activities due to a U.S. citizen’s health condition.

Safety precautions and emergency response capabilities may not be up to U.S. standards.

 

[John_B]

And yes, this from the guy who re-plumbed a semi-closed rebreather and took it to 300 feet on trimix. I make mistakes too, just not that many in one day.

My point was that when you said dive insurance or health insurance shouldn't cover the OP's chamber rides:

DAN insurance should not even pick up the tab for this just because you were so far out of the realm of good judgement and common sense, I'm surprised that your health insurance will. It would be well within their rights to deny the claim if someone forwarded your admission printed here.

That's an ironic position to take where there are those who would say the same thing about rebreather divers such as yourself.