Cozumel Diver Dies After 450 Foot Dive (confused initial reporting)

[John the Pom]

First let me express my sincere condolences to you, his family and friends.

However, let me say that I think diving deep for ".........the adrenaline and excitement of doing something so dangerous ............" is the wrong attitude to be doing such things.

Now, no offense meant, but back when I was instructing folks for such types of diving, if someone had come to me with that reasoning for wanting training I would have refused to train them. No ifs or buts, as I did so on occasion. Sure, they just got the training elsewhere, but at least my name wasn't on their C card when they had an accident or ended up dead, which some did.


Fully agree there. As a matter of fact I 'disliked' company - and the feeling of responsibility towards others at depth that I didn't even really know well at times - so much that I did almost all my deep / deepish dives solo on both OC and then CCR for the best part of 17 years. Had the same ocean buddie at times, but where he was in that same ocean I couldn't say.

Of course I hear some of you say that's just as bad of an attitude as what I point out further above, but I beg to differ and I sit here 25 years on with several dead close friends, and me still alive typing away. A good dose of 'luck' and self sufficiency is the name of the game at depth after all.

In my younger days I did some moderately deep dives to see some of the wrecks around Sydney, and it was exciting, and a "buzz". There were a couple of well-publicised fatalities, not amongst the people I dove with, but I found that I had only one degree of separation from some of them. Then, when we had children, I stopped doing those kinds of dives. I wouldn't criticise anyone far making different choices, but that was my conscious choice, based on my personal priorities.

 

[Kay Dee]

In my younger days I did some moderately deep dives to see some of the wrecks around Sydney, and it was exciting, and a "buzz". There were a couple of well-publicised fatalities, not amongst the people I dove with, but I found that I had only one degree of separation from some of them. Then, when we had children, I stopped doing those kinds of dives. I wouldn't criticise anyone far making different choices, but that was my conscious choice, based on my personal priorities.

If you are talking about the early days of 'tech' diving in Oz (early - mid 90's) and / or even later when CCR''s became popular, then I believe I know most, if not all, of those decesed divers you refer to, and damn good divers most, if not all of them were to.

And I dont critisize anyones choice either, however I do their attitude / reason behind making / carrying out said 'choice'.

 

[Cammy A.]

Hi everyone,
My husband and I were diving with deep exposure December 31st, the day the diver died.
When we surfaced we were looking for our boat but it was nowhere in sight. Another dive company picked us and the other divers from our boat up and brought us to that pier. That's where we saw our boat docked with the divers body lying on the deck covered in towels and a tarp. All we know is that deep exposure helped in the recovery of the body. We never found out what company he was diving with.
And we never found out who he was but It was a solemn day for everybody and a terrible way to begin a new year for his family. And to be honest with you for all of us on the boat, and involved with the accident. This is all we know we couldn't find out anymore. Hopefully this will rest everybody's curiosity.

 

[Biotech Diver]

Hi everyone,
My husband and I were diving with deep exposure December 31st, the day the diver died.
When we surfaced we were looking for our boat but it was nowhere in sight. Another dive company picked us and the other divers from our boat up and brought us to that pier. That's where we saw our boat docked with the divers body lying on the deck covered in towels and a tarp. All we know is that deep exposure helped in the recovery of the body. We never found out what company he was diving with.
And we never found out who he was but It was a solemn day for everybody and a terrible way to begin a new year for his family. And to be honest with you for all of us on the boat, and involved with the accident. This is all we know we couldn't find out anymore. Hopefully this will rest everybody's curiosity.

So your dive boat just left all of you out to sea or did your boat captain make sure another boat was there to pick all of you up instead while they rushed the deceased (?) diver to shore?

 

[flyboy08]

So your dive boat just left all of you out to sea or did your boat captain make sure another boat was there to pick all of you up instead while they rushed the deceased (?) diver to shore?

Most all dives are close to shore in COZ..."out to sea" isnt in the equation....and always plenty of other boats around to lend a hand when in need.

 

[ReefHound]

So your dive boat just left all of you out to sea or did your boat captain make sure another boat was there to pick all of you up instead while they rushed the deceased (?) diver to shore?

My bet is the captain called out to nearby boats that he had an emergency and gave them the location to pick up the divers. And one of the boats replied back that they've got it covered. Also, I don't think they would ever make the determination that the diver is deceased thus no urgency. That's someone else's call.

 

[Johnoly]

... or did your boat captain make sure another boat was there to pick all of you up ...

We've done pickups a couple of times in Jupiter. The proper term is called "Mutual Aid". What happens is we are listening on our marine radios monitoring and moving toward the incident. A request is made to retrieve divers when they surface. USCG immediately moves us as a retrieval boat down to Channel 21 instead of 78/16 to get us off that channel and not interfere with recovery chat. We are handed off to a separate dedicated CG radio operator. Most times we'll only pickup a couple out of a possible dozen(?) divers and other retrieving boats (sometimes fishing vessels) will pick up some also. We radio in the names & health condition of the divers on our boat as they come up and get on board. The CG operator makes a manifest and checks by phone call with the dive shop (not the boat) to verify we have ever single diver accounted for.

We can't head in until everyone is matched to the manifest. If the manifest is not full, then we keep searching. The CG operator then communicates with the incident commander, the hopefully "All accounted for" information and we head in. Some times we drop the divers off where the victim was dropped. Once we transferred them at sea to a LEO's boat, but that gets risky and isn't done often. Sometimes we drop them back at the shop's dock/departure spot since those locations are always different, and they are met by an officer to take statements, etc before they are released. It's a very well organized procedure. And that's why you want a good captain who knows his stuff..

 

[Biotech Diver]

We've done pickups a couple of times in Jupiter. The proper term is called "Mutual Aid". What happens is we are listening on our marine radios monitoring and moving toward the incident. A request is made to retrieve divers when they surface. USCG immediately moves us as a retrieval boat down to Channel 21 instead of 78/16 to get us off that channel and not interfere with recovery chat. We are handed off to a separate dedicated CG radio operator. Most times we'll only pickup a couple out of a possible dozen(?) divers and other retrieving boats (sometimes fishing vessels) will pick up some also. We radio in the names & health condition of the divers on our boat as they come up and get on board. The CG operator makes a manifest and checks by phone call with the dive shop (not the boat) to verify we have ever single diver accounted for.

We can't head in until everyone is matched to the manifest. If the manifest is not full, then we keep searching. The CG operator then communicates with the incident commander, the hopefully "All accounted for" information and we head in. Some times we drop the divers off where the victim was dropped. Once we transferred them at sea to a LEO's boat, but that gets risky and isn't done often. Sometimes we drop them back at the shop's dock/departure spot since those locations are always different, and they are met by an officer to take statements, etc before they are released. It's a very well organized procedure. And that's why you want a good captain who knows his stuff..

That’s reassuring to know, thanks for your reply!

 

[wedivebc]

My bet is the captain called out to nearby boats that he had an emergency and gave them the location to pick up the divers. And one of the boats replied back that they've got it covered. Also, I don't think they would ever make the determination that the diver is deceased thus no urgency. That's someone else's call.

exactly, and since Cozumel is all live drop and pickup boat Captains are very skilled at keeping track of divers.

 

[Biotech Diver]

My bet is the captain called out to nearby boats that he had an emergency and gave them the location to pick up the divers. And one of the boats replied back that they've got it covered. Also, I don't think they would ever make the determination that the diver is deceased thus no urgency. That's someone else's call.

That’s why I put the question mark after the word deceased.