Distressing dive in Cancun

[clsugar]

My husband and I both have done approx 100 dives in the last year mostly in Mexico and Belize. We have our own gear and have always entrusted it to the dive shops we were diving with. We were recently in Cancun and chose a dive company online. From what I can tell they subcontract to someone else. Our first day of diving was fine, not impressed with the company but continued to the cenotes the next day. That was fine as well, the following day we arrive at the shop to find my husbands new regulator that was stored at the shop missing. Upset but hoping it would be found we used one of theirs so we could still dive. There were 3 groups of six on a large boat, the current was strong and instead of going in the water as one group everyone was jumping in at the same time. I was 2nd last and my husband last. By the time he was in I was carried away at least 20 feet. As soon as he dropped in the dm was signalling to go down. I got his attention to make sure he knew we were going down as he was so far away. It was a wreck dive and a total cluster, we went down 20 ft then were signalled to go up where there was a line below the surface to arm over arm to get to the the bouy going down. We got to bottom and I couldn't find my husband. I told the dm he wasnt there, he could tell I was upset and trying to look at the other groups to see if he was in the wrong group. The dm was holding up his hand saying calm down then turned and went into the wreck like everything was fine. I was horrified and so scared, all I could do was hope he was in another group or back at the boat. I felt so helpless I didn't have a bouy to surface on my own and really didn't know what to do, when we finished the dive thank God he was on the boat. It turned out upon descent his tank wasn't strapped and was slipping so he surfaced. The thing is no one was close enough to see him so no one knew. The 2nd dive went as the first should have. The group together on the surface and dm counting heads. I know he felt bad and he has reason to.I contacted the company and asked for our money back for the rest of the dives we had paid for. He was very good and said he would look into what happened. As I stated to him I know issues happen when diving but not looking for a missing diver should ever be one of them.
We never did get our reg back either.
Anyway what should I have done in a case like that, I felt totally at the mercy of the Dm and knowing my husband didn't have an smb either if he was carried away by the current. We will definetly both be carrying smbs now.

 

[Osric]

In my opinion if the shop stores your gear they should be responsible for it and pay for it. Whether that's possible or not I don't know.

As for the dive in the current, I am not too clear. It sounds like you went down a line so you could have surfaced? I think it would have been best to thumb your dive and look for your husband on the surface; if he was in another group he'd be back OK but given the DM's willingness to lose a diver I'd want the boat crew trying to help me find the missing diver from the surface. Or alternately in the apparent chaos of entry you could have chosen to thumb the dive or wait longer so that you could enter only simultaneously with your buddy.

I'm sure many others with more experience than me will have better suggestions...

Osric

 

[TSandM]

When you are doing a dive on a specific target like a wreck, in a current-swept area, it may be necessary to do a "hot drop" -- jumping off the boat with your BC empty and descending immediately. You can't afford to spend the time on the surface to group all the divers, because you may drift completely past the target. But I don't understand how you guys had a line -- if the boat was anchored, it should have been possible to regroup on the line, and if you missed your buddy, it should have been possible for you to go back up the line to the surface to look for him, no?

Descents are one of the most dynamic times in a dive. That's where things happen -- you discover something is disconnected or not working (or a tank is loose) or someone's ears can't clear. So it's particularly important to stay together during this time. It can be hard with current -- on the trip we just made, where all the dives were drifts, the operator would group a set of divers at the back of the boat, and we had to move smartly onto the swim tip, into the water and DOWN to stay together. It worked in the fairly good viz we had; this would not work very well in Puget Sound's green murk, but then, we rarely do that kind of diving here, probably for that reason.

 

[Charlie99]

I'll ignore the missing reg. Including that in the story just confuses things.

What was your agreement with your buddy?

Did you agree to dive with the group even with a lost buddy, as long as you had somebody nearby that you could use as a source of air in an emergency (aka "loose buddy group")?

Did you intend to be normal buddies and abort the dive if separated?

Diving in fast currents can easily lead to buddy separation, and when diving in a group like this you need to be clear as to what type of buddy you will be.

If you had intended to be traditional buddies, then you needed to be finning like mad to minimize the separation distance between you and your buddy, while he should be hopping in the water right behind you. And if you lose your buddy, you do your agreed upon lost buddy procedure ...... which in most cases like this would be to abort the dive, putting up a sausage and waiting for the boat to come get you.

I felt so helpless I didn't have a bouy to surface on my own and really didn't know what to do

As you correctly noted, both you and your husband need SMBs. Apparently he managed to fin back to the boat somehow without you noticing, but in a high current situation you each need an SMB so you can abort the dive with confidence that you will be seen by the boat and picked up.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You both should have splashed at the same time. It also was not your responsibility to signal the DM you were going down. You locate your buddy(husband) and both descend together or abort the dive. What was you and your husbands contingency plan for the dive or did you allow the DM to plan it and just follow his instructions. If the latter this is known as a "trust me" dive and those are In My Opinion one of the most dangerous things a diver can undertake. You saw just how much you could trust the DM when he essentially brushed you off and went into the wreck.

On a hot drop dive as Lynne said you hit the water with empty BC's and head for the bottom AS A BUDDY TEAM. Your buddy is not descending guess what, neither do you. You have a good deal of experience with the number of dives you each have recently. How many of those were planned by you? How many by a DM? I ask this because even if the DM planned them you both should have had your own plan to follow if the dive conditions were not as expected or did not like the DM's plan.

You both need to begin making these plans, get SMBs, practice with them, and decide when to call a dive and what conditions warrant doing that.

 

[Airleron]

You won't get any better advice than Jim L's. I almost always dive in current and occasionally do negative entry dives, so this procedure is commonplace for me, but if you're not used to those conditions, a dive plan is mandatory. It's actually mandatory for ANY and ALL dives, IMO.

 

[openmindOW]

CLSUGAR, thank you for your post. By posting here, you are helping other divers.

We never did get our reg back either.

The dive op should reimburse you for the loss of the reg.

Anyway what should I have done in a case like that, I felt totally at the mercy of the Dm and knowing my husband didn't have an smb either if he was carried away by the current.

That's a problem with "trust me dives." Unfortunately, the dive industry likes trust me dives.

I don't blame you. You did what the dive op wanted all the divers to do. You were probably trying to be nice and accommodating.

But it gets back to basics. You and your buddy really have to plan your dive and dive your plan while getting back to the boat on time. Plan on a big group dive to get messy - especially in a current. Jim LaPenta is right: have a contingency plan.

Besides, you who the heck wants to dive with 18 other people on the same wreck? How big was the wreck?

Yes, you may have to do a hot descent. Lesson learned.

We will definetly both be carrying smbs now.

That's a wise move.

Keep diving.

 

[fire_diver]

It's always good to see good advice being given. I can't really add to what the others have already said, but what the heck... it's scubaboard.

1- get with your dive buddy and PLAN your dive ahead of time.
2- descend together, or have a meetup place such as at the anchor, or at the bowline at 10ft.
3- If your buddy doesn't show up, surface or whatever option you agree on ahead of time. (contingency plan)
4- when things go wrong, use it learn from and be a better diver.

Good luck with your future dives. Sucks about losing the reg, I don't have any comments for that.

 

[clsugar]

Thank you everyone for the advice, I have been really upset about it since it happened. I guess after doing so many dives we just got too comfortable. I didn't signal the dm to go down, he signalled to go down which the group immediately did and I signalled to my husband to make sure he could see where our group was and that we were descending. Everything happened so fast and if I could go back and do things differently I definetly would. I will definetly plan better in the future.