Brazilian diver dies in Playa del Carmen - March 3rd

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Just because you hold a higher rating, it does not mean anything if you are not diving at that level. I am full cave but if I don't dive a cave in 3 or more years I might wound need a refresher course. No MSD or DM i know of would ever have to have, "Her mask was lent by a relative and victim refused advice of buying a new mask the fit her face, given by friends". Heck I own about 3 or 4 masks.
 
The article states that she had been diving in a class prior to this extra dive. She was using a loaner mask for all those dives, she should have been used to it.
 
Sad to hear of any diver losing their life, much less somebody who should never have been on that particular dive in the first place [high anxiety level, poorly fitting equipment, over weighted, potentially dangerous marine life].

Been certified for 40 years, and it took me some 32 of them to go from Basic Scuba Diver to DM [I had hundreds of dives logged over those years BTW], one skill I religiously practice on every single dive is a mask flooding / clearing. I do this primarily to let my body know and experience things like salinity, water temperature, etc. In the unlikely event of a mask strap breaking [had it happen once in all my years of diving, or having someone kick my mask off - happened twice] I will already have experienced the sting of salt water in my eyes and nose, and the shock of having cold water on my sinuses. So far it has worked for me, YMMV.

I also agree with other posters, in the age of OW to DM in two months [zero to hero programs], a specific C-card level means little, it's the diver's total number of dives and the variety of environments they have been diving in that I consider more telling of their skill level than a specialist this or master that. I quick rule of thumb for me has been to look over the diver's kit and see if it is brand new, well used, properly maintained or a mixture of new and old. This can signal much to an observant DM / buddy, prior to getting wet.
 
This accident reminds me of:

I add the mask removal & replacement on the to do list during a check-out dive in the shallow at the beginning of my dive trip because of this.
 
I dived with Phantom at Christmas, did the shark dive twice. The descend is slightly tricky; you're very overweighted, you have to get early sight of the line and assess the quite strong current to land on or near it accurately. I'm a fairly confident diver, I'm a DM with about 500 dives and we did this as our second dive. I will say, I was nervous even before I entered the water, at the end of the day you're diving with sharks. Combined with the entry and descent, I can see how someone would feel overwhelmed.

As for the DMs and instructors at Phantom, I had no concerns with any of them and if it was same instructor we had (who is considered the lead shark diver), couldn't have been better. Incredibly safety conscious and very knowledgable.
 
Why would someone be carrying double their normal weight as the article says and Emma Duffy stated? Two extra pounds maybe.
 
I normally dive by myself with 8kg and on the first dive I descended with 14. On the second dive I went to 12. Don't flame me, but if diving with DSDs I'd carry an extra 2kg anyway but found 14kg too much that I didn't feel in control, hence the reduction. For someone with equalising problems, this is a recipe for disaster...the holes in the Swiss cheese line up.

But, as a pro, you should feel comfortable with saying no. As a rec diver, I'm more than happy to call time on a dive and have decided on the day just not dive as I just didn't feel right.
 
I normally dive by myself with 8kg and on the first dive I descended with 14. On the second dive I went to 12. Don't flame me, but if diving with DSDs I'd carry an extra 2kg anyway but found 14kg too much that I didn't feel in control, hence the reduction. For someone with equalising problems, this is a recipe for disaster...the holes in the Swiss cheese line up.

But, as a pro, you should feel comfortable with saying no. As a rec diver, I'm more than happy to call time on a dive and have decided on the day just not dive as I just didn't feel right.

That's not a typo, you mean "lb" instead of "kg"? 1kg = 2.2lbs.
 
Plenty of people normally wear 14-16 lbs: lighter bone structure, more subcutaneous fat, and a fluffy jacket will do that to you.
 

Back
Top Bottom