Feb 19 2017 Cozumel diving fatality

[Dan]

...All too often this is suggested in the Coz forum here on SB, and worse - telling solo travelers that they can just buddy with the DM. Buddying with the DM is solo diving to me. I'm fine with that, but I do travel with my own 19 cf pony.

I read your last month post about another diving accident when a diver buddying with a DM plunging to her death in the abyss, while the DM got distracted with helping another diver on equalizing.

Canadian woman presumed dead - Roatan, Honduras

 

[Ravenware]

I wanted to thank the people that found Tammy and assisted in the recovery of her body. We had just spent time in Tulum on a yoga retreat and I want you to know that personally, she was a happy and beautiful soul. She died doing what she loved, and she will be missed by so many people in our small mountain town. Tammy was a very experienced diver who had traveled the world to dive. She was a bright, shiny light, with a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh.
Peace be with each of you the affected by this horrific tragedy. May the four winds blow you safely home

I do believe her higher self called out to me. I was diving the same profile as my group and for some reason I felt compelled to ascend to the top of the reef, which took me about 25 feet above the group. Unusual for me. I would not have seen her otherwise. When we got to her, I took a moment to assure her that it was ok, she could go on, we would make sure her body was taken care of.

 

[peeweediver]

Please ponder this: What if the diver signaled she was better and a-ok when at 5 feet from the surface. Does the guide/DM stay with her until she's actually on board or take the OK signal from a certified diver as gospel and return to the group? What we don't know if whether there was a communication from the diver to the DM that caused him to believe he could return to the group. Me, I'd still stay with her until on she's board, but I also would have called the dive at the time she said she was not OK,. That's just me and my over-protectiveness.

Rob

 

[pepperbelly]

Dive masters appear to act differently depending on the Dive Operation, and possibly depending on the type of diving.
I had an incident last January. It was my first ocean dive- after over 40 years of diving lakes. It was a cruise dive excursion in Cozumel. The regulator from the dive op was breathing wet. On my second dive I had a little seawater in my mouth and I was going to blow it out, but when I took a breath the reg blasted air, and seawater, into my throat. I blew it out and was OK until my stomach clenched and I started throwing up. Every time I thought I was through my stomach clenched again. I finally decided I wasn't going to be able to stop and signaled my brother that I had to end my dive and that he should stay with his son- the three of us dove together.
I went to the DM and signaled that I had to thumb my dive. He nodded , shot an SMB and ascended with me. Once on the surface he asked if I was OK. When I said yes and explained that our boat that was close and asked if I was OK to stay on the surface until the boat arrived- they had seen us, so he could go back down to our group. I said I was fine so he rejoined the group. It was a drift dive and I knew they were drifting away. The boat arrived in minutes and I climbed onboard with no problem, but the boat crew kept making sure I was OK and helped me out of my equipment. When the dive was over and all dives back on the boat the DM immediately came to me to make sure I was OK. I explained what had happened and that I was good.
The DM went to the surface with me and didn't leave to rejoin the group until he was sure I had established positive buoyancy and would be fine. I feel that if I had not been OK he was prepared to stay with me until I was on the boat.

 

[divezonescuba]

From the other perspective.

About ten years ago, a diver in our group could not descend for some reason. The dive guide left the group on the bottom and took off. The current was strong. You could only stay in place with your fingers dug into the sand. Some people got dragged past us. We would not have been able to do that if we had been on a reef.

We had no idea what to do. At one point we were ready to just continue the dive by ourselves as we did not know if the guide was going to come back. After about 20 minutes, the guide showed back up. The dive ended shortly after that.

This was definitely not something covered in the briefing.

 

[gopbroek]

Sure, it's an LP hose, but it can still deliver a lot of air into a BCD very quickly if it fails in a full-open position.

Tracy had a very slow leak from hers that took a full day of diving before we figured out why she was having so much trouble maintaining her buoyancy. Disconnecting the hose quickly and easily fixed that.

The above quote implies that mstevens had first-hand knowledge or has been in contact with someone who has first-hand knowledge of the problems with the divers gear. I have no reason to doubt this so I make the following assumptions:

1) It sounds like this was the divers own personnel gear and not rental gear. As personal gear I have to assume she was familiar with it.
2) It sounds like a slow leak through the power inflator which could be a problem with the inflator or even possibly a 1st stage IP creep upwards which is actually a much bigger issue.
3) She felt comfortable enough with the situation to operate BC in manual inflation mode and that the inflation hose was disconnected prior to the dive. Which would mean that there was no equipment failure during the dive causing her to disconnect her inflator hose.

I truly do not think we have enough info to ever know what truely happened. Perhaps a post accident investigation will find other equipment issues or determine it a health issue.

 

[Brianh1]

When I started this thread three days ago I seem to have opened more than one large can of worms
My buddy (wife) and I certified with NAUI in 1989 and there were no divemasters on most of our subsequent dives for several years. It was clear that personal safety was our joint responsibility, as was navigation and finding the boat after the dive. Hence we always dived with a compass, line cutter etc. Now we are geriatric divers we rely on a divemaster to guide us and the boat captain to find us. We carry a small inflatable sausage and whistle which we have used a few times. If the divemaster checks our tanks etc. that' s a bonus, as is a hand on with the gear and help climbing the ladder but we still accept that safety is our job.
As for diving without a buddy ...........

 

[mdb]

This is a good thread, lessons to be learned, properly moderated.

At 70, diving since I was 23, I am still learning.

 

[Brianh1]

Also diving at 70 I keep wondering where the limit is

Off thread I know - sorry!

 

[lowflyer]

Please ponder this: What if the diver signaled she was better and a-ok when at 5 feet from the surface. Does the guide/DM stay with her until she's actually on board or take the OK signal from a certified diver as gospel and return to the group? What we don't know if whether there was a communication from the diver to the DM that caused him to believe he could return to the group. Me, I'd still stay with her until on she's board, but I also would have called the dive at the time she said she was not OK,. That's just me and my over-protectiveness.

Rob

Yeah, take her to the surface; it's only another 5 ft. If I thought someone was in enough trouble that I needed to leave a group and bring her/him up, I would want to be able to do more than just give the OK sign. I've seen people with med problems so confused they didn't know what they were saying or doing. The OK sign is flashed so often on dives, it's almost a reflex rather than a communication. Get her to the surface and verbally communicate. Maybe she is OK; maybe she needs to get to a hospital.