Non-Injury Incident in Cancun

[grassyknoll]

The following is an interesting event that happened during a dive I was on several weeks ago.

I recently returned from Cancun where I dove with a dive op that I chose as they had been recommended often by SBers in other posts. The Op itself was fine, no complaints regarding their service; the issue is what happened during the dive. This was my second day with the Op and there were completely different divers from the first day on board. The dive group consisted of: a DM, a husband and wife, two male friends and myself; additionally there was a Captain and Deck Hand aboard. All divers except myself, had brought their own gear, were OW or AOW certified and in discussion appeared to have at least a decent number of dives under their belts, no hard numbers, but some had done Ceynotes and been over to Coz a few times, they all seemed to have had some decent dive experience.

During the first dive (max of 80 fsw) the DM spent the entire dive holding the hand of the wife, helping with buoyancy and generally leading her on the dive. During the surface interval, one of the two male, friend divers was mentioning he had been having panic/breathing issues and his friend was talking him through his experiences and providing advice/reassurance. The second dive is where things went a little sideways. I should mention that the DM briefed the dive sites well including expectations for signaling remaining PSI, what the ascent PSI was to be etc...He also asked who was buddied together (husband/wife & two male friends), I indicated I would be simply staying with the group as I was taking pictures. Dive site was 40' max, slight current (you could fin hard and make some progress against it, but not much), about 50 vis and a flat bottom with recessed-circular reefs here and there. Everyone descends fine and we are moving along well as a group, taking time to drop into the recessed reefs and explore. About 15 minutes into the dive the boats engines rev several times, the DM taps his tank and motions for everyone to gather and plant themselves on the bottom in the lee of one of the recessed reefs. A quick head counts shows that one of the two male friends is missing. The DM ascends and we all sit and wait. After several minutes the DM descends back down to our group and thumbs everyone up. We surface and the boat is motoring around the dive site some distance away, The boat comes back and there is a sense of urgency to get us all back on board. As we are boarding, the other male friend diver is saying "where is XXXX?? One of the two dive op personnel that remained on the boat says "He went back down". To which the male friend shouts "What, you're saying he went back down, why would he go back down"? All the while this is going on, the boat is motoring around and the crew looking for the lost divers bubble stream. They finally spot his bubbles and the DM descends and retrieves the diver who is unharmed. Once aboard the lost diver explains to his (fairly irate) buddy that he initially surfaced because he was feeling panicky and didn't think his reg was working right (he never tried his octo). When his friend asked him why he would descend after surfacing (effectively thumbing/ending his dive) he responded that he "knew that if he didn't go back down, he might never be able to again". So he descended and was unable to find the group.

I'm really not sure what the take-aways on this should be (actually, I know what they are, there just seems to be so many from which to choose). I guess I just really have to wonder why anyone would want to be a DM. I find it hard to fathom the stress of getting to a dive site and finding out the hard way that you have two divers that really need closer supervision than was ever divulged. Sure, I have been on dives where a newer diver has asked for some additional attention from the DM, but this was a first for me, having nearly half the divers in the water with issues. Had this event occurred in other locations it could have ended with tragedy rather than embarrassment. It just seems that there are some real issues in the dive industry (having read through 70 pages of the now locked "Diver Death in Cayman" thread, I know many agree). I just don't see how the industry as a whole can allow these types of scenarios to continue.

 

[jkaterenchuk]

I just don't see how the industry as a whole can allow these types of scenarios to continue.

Opinion removed. Since I can't seem to delete the posting.

 

[DandyDon]

I just don't see how the industry as a whole can allow these types of scenarios to continue.

I don't see that the industry could have done anything to prevent bonehead choices. There's Drivers Ed and there's Scuba School, but once you graduate - how you follow the safety guidelines in the real world are your own choices.

Dive buddies descend together, swim together, ascend together. You just don't read about accidents about divers who follow that simple Scuba 101 rule taught to us all in OW.

BTW, if the wayward diver who wanted to ascend because he felt uncomfortable had been my buddy, I would have ascended with him - but from what you told of the story, it'd be the last time I'd dive with him for a while. He needed more than a buddy it seems.

 

[victor]

An interesting story, fortunatly no one was injured.
I do feel for the DM, but could he have anticipated the issues, maybe there is a clue in the surface interval.

During the surface interval, one of the two male, friend divers was mentioning he had been having panic/breathing issues

However what could he have done. The only real solution I think would have been to add a second DM to act as tail end charlie and keep an eye on the group.

Once you are qualified you are responsible for your own behaviour first, then your buddy second.
That friend did not know his buddy was missing, I would not dive with him as a buddy again.
The buddy descended solo after panicking and ascending without his partner, I would not dive with him as a buddy again.
The husband did not inform the DM of his wives inexperience, see above.

Boy do I feel for the DM, he does not get the option of not diving with these people again.

 

[Busdiver]

Any idea if people tipped out the DM?

 

[diversteve]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

moved from A/I

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Here is a forum to discuss those incidents that ended well but could easily have ended badly, and the lessons learned from them.

 

[grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by grassyknoll
I just don't see how the industry as a whole can allow these types of scenarios to continue.

Opinion removed. Since I can't seem to delete the posting.

I don't see that the industry could have done anything to prevent bonehead choices. There's Drivers Ed and there's Scuba School, but once you graduate - how you follow the safety guidelines in the real world are your own choices.

Dandydon/Jkatererchuk,

I agree that the "industry" can't prevent bonehead choices by divers. My refernce to industry and the way I phrased it may have been a poor choice of words. Would community have been a better choice? But I do fault the industry for putting c-cards in the hands of individuals with insufficient training who therefore have the impression they are good to go. Not every agency or instructor is guilty of this, but those who aren't should be screaming bloody murder to affect change within their ranks.

Any idea if people tipped out the DM?

I know I did, I always tip a good dive boat crew.

 

[DandyDon]

Dandydon/Jkatererchuk,

I agree that the "industry" can't prevent bonehead choices by divers. My refernce to industry and the way I phrased it may have been a poor choice of words. Would community have been a better choice? But I do fault the industry for putting c-cards in the hands of individuals with insufficient training who therefore have the impression they are good to go. Not every agency or instructor is guilty of this, but those who aren't should be screaming bloody murder to affect change within their ranks.

I suppose they was trained to...

Descend with your buddy;

Stay with your buddy;

Ascend with your buddy.​

Beyond that how can training prevent them from doing what he decides to do, as stupid as it is?

Diver-A chose to ascend but Diver-B did not accompany him: fault B for not ascending with buddy;

Diver-A chose to descend alone and swim alone: fault A for solo diving.​

Perhaps Diver-A was not even qualified to be there, but even that is within his own evaluation and decisions.

 

[Doc Harry]

I don't have the patience to read accounts wriiten like this.

If you broke it up into paragraphs, it would greatly improve it's readability.

 

[fdog]

I'm sure there is other stuff between the lines that's missing here. However, on the face of it, I'm not seeing a huge thermonuclear issue.

I can't blame the guy who surfaced. He obviously really wants to continue with the sport and is dealing with confidence issues. A good stern talking to, about buddy team and solo diving, would probably do the trick, and keep him in the sport.

And, about buddy team awareness, there's two that need the lecture: his buddy that was clueless, and ironically, irate.

Heck, if my wife and I were on this dive boat, I can't imagine the consternation that would ensue... OMG, they left the group and are diving on their own!!

There's getting to be an attitude that all the divers have to be tightly controlled by the DM or it's not safe and a fatality is imminent.


All the best, James