Is "Cozumel" Spanish for "Amity Island"?

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pauldw

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In another thread, I ran across this sig:
PROTECT OUR NOVICE COZUMEL DIVERS
Improved oversight, guidance and training is cheaper than complacency.
GOALS: ZERO non-medical diver deaths. ZERO missing divers.


It left me wondering what motivated it. Certainly, and especially on SB, Cozumel frequently gets billed as dive Nirvana. We hear about dive accidents everywhere else in the world, but not frequently in Cozumel. But it sounds like something is amiss. And, having heard that various dive ops lost several divers in one month alone earlier this year, and using the Internet to dig deeper it seems like people go missing with some regularity, my question is how much of that sort of thing is going on while the powers that be assure everyone that the water is completely safe? Average# per month?
 
I believe there were several reports earlier this year about divers lost around Cozumel, and I believe most were not actually diving with a recreational dive op. There was:
  • Cameron Donaldon (Scubaboard name: northernone) who was diving alone when he disappeared;
  • Blake Mitchell, a diver who disappeared, but from all indications (gear found in a locker and at home, etc.) he was not necessarily even in the water at the time he disappeared.
  • A report of 2 divers missing, who I believe ended up being commercial fishermen (who may have been diving to hunt);
  • Youtube channel Simply Scuba reported about a couple of incidents (I believe both were north of the island a good bit, not near most rec diving) -- but there are some good comments from Cozumel dive ops who had not heard about these incidents, and also some question about whether the "near Cozumel" incident mentioned with 4 divers might in fact have been closer to Isla Mujeres. The Simply Scuba folks never replied to any of the questions/comments.
 
Didn't a lady disappear a few years back? She got caught in a down current I believe?
 
OK, gotta apologize. SS's SNT may have been lumping things together, and I've poked around more and it looks like four of the seven Open Water movie-type situations from February were out of Isla Mujeres. The other three were reported in Riviera Maya News. And in today's news, the eight missing divers were out of...Isla Mujeres (or as I'm going to start calling it, Isla Amity)! Sorry. But then there's still that issue...
 
And, having heard that various dive ops lost several divers in one month alone earlier this year, and using the Internet to dig deeper it seems like people go missing with some regularity,
Sounds like hogwash to me. Got links?

my question is how much of that sort of thing is going on while the powers that be assure everyone that the water is completely safe?
I don't doubt that the dive & tourism will avoid announcing incidents, but believe this: If it's in the news, and I find it, it will be reported in our Accidents & Incidents forum.

Who? What?

four of the seven Open Water movie-type situations from February were out of Isla Mujeres. The other three were reported in Riviera Maya News. And in today's news, the eight missing divers were out of...Isla Mujeres (or as I'm going to start calling it, Isla Amity)!
Did you have some bad dreams last night? I am going to ask you to post links to online reports, or stop making up stories you cannot support.
 
Sounds like hogwash to me. Got links?

I don't doubt that the dive & tourism will avoid announcing incidents, but believe this: If it's in the news, and I find it, it will be reported in our Accidents & Incidents forum.

Who? What?

Did you have some bad dreams last night? I am going to ask you to post links to online reports, or stop making up stories you cannot support.

Yes, since you didn't post it, it probably does sound like hogwash. That would be the standard I'd judge by.

I noticed the "if."

Simply Scuba. As pointed out in post #2 above. Which is the source of the Scuba News Today vlog post on Coz problems (they also did a subsequent one). Which multiple people have clearly seen.

No, Don, I wasn't thinking of you. Sadly, I can't imagine a single reason to respond to your demands, so I'll continue to do as I please. That said:


Navy rescues tourists off Isla Mujeres after they lose contact with diving boat - Riviera Maya News

Two missing divers successfully located off Cozumel - Riviera Maya News

Another Cozumel diver 'misplaced' at sea - Riviera Maya News

Eight missing divers found off Isla Mujeres - Riviera Maya News

These are the tabs I have open, and I'm not going to blow time going back and looking up more to jump through your hoops. Go patch up your ego with some Aquaseal. As old as you are, you still haven't learned not to accuse people you don't know of making stuff up?
 
PROTECT OUR NOVICE COZUMEL DIVERS
Improved oversight, guidance and training is cheaper than complacency.
GOALS: ZERO non-medical diver deaths. ZERO missing divers.
That is a "signature" that a member who frequents this forum has, which posts every time he does anywhere. I never cared for it, sounds too much crying-wolf to me, but his choice. I do not consider Cozumel diving as ideal for newbies, I do support advising first time Coz divers hire a private DM for the first couple of dives, and of course I'd be happy to help any diver in distress.

So this Simply Scuba youtube site is making bucks with clickbait videos. There are many like that.

The first three links you did produce are from last winter, so I do not remember if they were discussed on Scubaboard or not. The one for today is certainly current news, altho it has nothing to do with Cozumel. May I suggest you post it in A&I forum.
 
Didn't a lady disappear a few years back? She got caught in a down current I believe?
A couple of years ago a woman got separated from her group on Santa Rosa Wall and was later found deceased; perhaps that is the incident you are thinking of. There was speculation in here about a downcurrent but it was just that - speculation.
 
A couple of years ago a woman got separated from her group on Santa Rosa Wall and was later found deceased; perhaps that is the incident you are thinking of. There was speculation in here about a downcurrent but it was just that - speculation.
Yes, that sounds like the incident.
 
There are sometimes incidents in Cozumel, but there don’t seem to be any more than any other destination. The “Open Water” type of incident seems to be particularly rare, because there are so many boats on the water. If a diver surfaces away from the group, another boat will pick the diver up or call the diver’s boat. There are some dive sites with less traffic where a diver could get truly lost, but the operators are very careful at those sites and generally will only take divers known to them to have the requisite skills. That Simply Scuba video was short on details and seemed to be talking about people well north of the island. Those areas are not frequented by recreational dive operators, except for Aldora’s “adventure” or “special ops” dives, and they take lots of precautions, including issuing Nautilus units to everyone. I do not think they have ever had an issue up there, although we did have a diver bitten by an aggressive moray once. Those incidents up north tend to be local commercial fishers. As far as I know, dive incidents in Cozumel are reported and well-known.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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