Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[Kymcobob]

I am following this post and I agree with what Boulderjim just stated about the difference of recreational and tech diving and planning for the "ceiling". In August 2004, my wife, myself and a friend were staying at the then Reef Club resort and did dives with the resort's dive shop (don't remember their name but they were not good). We did two morning dives, the Santa Rosa wall and I believe the Paso del Cedral wall.The first dive was a total cluster----' with the DM taking us into the current until HE got swept away. We then aborted the dive at that point. The next dive, we were riding the current after descending to a depth of 102 feet and just slowly cruising the reef wall as we slowly ascended. (The plan) At about 80 feet, we came upon what I would describe as a sand wash. An area of the reef devoid of coral, just sand. As we tried to cross this area which was maybe 30 to 40 feet in width, we got caught in a downdraft. Our friend swam into the current until he could grab hold of thoe reef on the other side, I pushed my wife across until she too could grab the reef. I was swept further down until about 120 ft where I finally made it out of the downdraft. Immediately saw above me the videographer (who was buddied to our friend) signal that he was low on air. I got to him and handed off my alternate. We then ascended and
Met up with my wife and friend and went to safety stop depth. When we first hit this downdraft, we were probably 45 to 50 minutes into our dive and the three of us had 1200 to 1600 psi at the time. At the safety stop, probably not more than five or six minutes later, the three of us were at 500 to 600 psi. The video guy was out of air.
We shared air until we were all almost out and then we surfaced. Longer than the three minute safety stop but I didn't record that time. What I remember most immediately after the dive was the feeling that at 120 feet, my 12 pounds of weight felt like I had 50 pounds on. The other memory was that at that depth adding air in my BC had no immediate effect. Although I was sharing air on the ascent and at safety stop I was still shocked at how fast my remaining 1600 psi got consumed. My point of adding this story is not to say how good or how lucky I was, I had 300 plus dives when this had occurred, it is to say no matter your experience level, when you run across a situation that is new to you, you are not "experienced". Would I dive again in Cozumel, certainly and in fact will be doing so the week of September 19. I totally agree with the above post that the dive ops on Cozumel have come a long way in the past decade. Their safety record shows that. I think of my episode as a learning experience for which I am grateful to be able to learn from without it becoming serious. Further, I was with a diver who had a serious DCS hit on a 70 foot dive with no current and spent six hours in a chamber. It was the third dive on a trip to the Turks and Caicos with calm waters and no contributing factors evident as to why he took a hit. Diving does have risk, it also has the thrill, allure and beauty that calls us. When I leave this earth I will be glad for all the joys I have known and not worry about the things I have missed. PPS. Thanks to this board I have a wealth of info on how to deal with downdrafts.

 

[Mike]

There are no downdrafts that take you from 80 feet to 300, period.

I'm curious about how somebody can be so positive about this?

Cozumel Current Deaths

The Aussies aren’t the only ones who have lost divers of late. Two Colorado women in Cozumel disappeared February 1 from the Punta Tunich dive site. Janie McKibbon, 52, and Regena Hale, 50, both novice divers, were last seen at about 40' when they gave a thumbs-up sign to their Dive Paradise instructor and began to surface. When they didn't appear, he radioed for help, and Mexican navy boats, aircraft, and 50 private vessels mounted a full-scale search but failed to turn up any sign of the women.

Though the reef at Punta Tunich is between 40 and 60 feet, it’s adjacent to a shelf that drops to over 1000. And the undertow there has earned divers’ respect; "If you get caught in that undertow," Dive Paradise’s instructor said, "it’ll drag you right out." The currents that day were described as "off and on and changing." Reader Gary Nagel, who returned from Cozumel just after the accident, reported that on the date the divers disappeared, "winds from the West drove the current to extremes." He also reported the death of another diver from air embolism the previous day.

We wrote about Cozumel currents a few years back after a spate of disappearances. Divers who’d been in their grip described a choppy sea pockmarked by 30-100' areas of placid water surrounded by whitecap rapids. At times a tornado-like funnel swirled in the middle of the calm. Since changes in tide and the mixture of warm and cool water are reportedly responsible, the problem isn’t seasonal.

It is, however, frightening, and staying calm at such a time can be as challenging as the currents themselves. If you get caught in a downwelling or upwelling, however, don’t panic. Instead of struggling against the powerful current, swim out at an angle so you don’t fight its full power. In a powerful undertow, simply inflating your BC may not precipitate an ascent. Instead, drop your weight belt, inflate your BC, and then try to ascend. Should you begin to ascend too rapidly, spread eagle to slow the rate.

One final note: Cozumel is notorious for its vertical currents. While the diving there is exciting, it can often be intimidating for beginners or those who lack confidence in their skills. Reader Pat Wikstrom ( Warne, N.C.), in Cozumel last year, wrote: “On a dive at La Francesca Wall, we jumped into a ripping current that quickly broke our group into three separate pieces. Weird downcurrents caused my wife and me to abort the dive. Nevertheless, the poor DM chased the other two sections of our party all over the wall, brought up half the others after ten minutes, and went back down to find the last few folks and get them back safely. He really earned his tip that day.”

Be forewarned.

Last September we reported about six divers in Cozumel who required treatment for both Type I and Type II DCS after being tossed about by violent vertical currents on the Santa Rosa Wall. How you react is a matter of life or death.

Greetings all, I can say that these vertical currents are a reality as I've been in two of them. Years ago, diving with Dive Paradise on one of their EPD dives. Not sure what wall, maybe Santa Rosa, I was pushed down to a depth I'd rather not say in about a minute. It caught me by surprise and my reaction was measured. I was very easy about adding air to my bc and I eventually bottomed out. Venting air on the way back up, stablizing at a proper depth. For years I wasn't sure what had happened until I read about these events on this board.

The second time was last Feb, further down south, past Palancar. I and the rest of our group didn't get pushed down but rather could not swim upwards. I noticed something weird when the water was full of bubbles. bubbles that never rose. we were surrounded in a bath of bubbles. I eyed my depth, kept kicking up, no change. I guess if we hadn't been kicking up we might have been pushed down. We were in this zone for at least 5 min. the group eventually was able to rise, in a controlled ascent, to safety stop zone to end the dive. One of our group was a x-divemaster from Coz and she said she had never seen anything like it.

In any case, be cautious in some of the sites as they can be full of surprises.

Plenty of reports about down drafts, some with nefarious comments hinting at incredible depths reached, I also recall but couldn't find the thread about the people I think were on Baracudda and had to claw their way back up the reef due to a down current.

Obviously there are some down currents happening and while it seems they tend to average around 80-130 feet in depth, if that's average then that means there are a percentage that are going to be on the fringes with some more shallow and some much deeper.

It doesn't seem too much of a stretch to believe that this accident might have been a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and running into one of the non-average ones.

A few years ago we were in Puerto Villarta and 4 experienced divers doing advanced training associated with rescue divers died. The cause was never exactly determined, but it was pretty much suspected of being a massive down current, other divers that survived reported the down current hitting them and there was a report of someone on the boat seeing the bouy they were using for the excercise get pulled bellow the surface, this dive site was not known as a very dangerous one and no one had considered it a risky dive site due to down currents at all so the deaths were very shocking, yet it happened.

I'm just saying its tough to say something doesn't exist just because it isn't reported often, and let's look at it this way, maybe when it is reported such as this case of the 3 divers, it's dismissed as it doesn't exist?

 

[Crush]

Pure speculation. No where have I seen a detailed explanation of the dive and what actually happened.

I invite you to look back at my post where you quoted it - click on edit your post. You will find some hidden (white) text that indicates my intent with the post.

 

[Christi]

I seem to recall in one or two posts, specific to this accident, an implication that one diver went further down "after his boss/friend"? Would this not imply a down-welling that separated the three, and pushed them to different depths? Of course, everything in *this* thread is speculation until it's confirmed one way or the other, however, I've been in serious current, but never caught in a down-welling, so I'm not familiar with the dynamics...

Not necessarily and probably not in this case.

I am curious if maybe one of them was carrying a stage? It would seem to explain how 3 divers got to the surface from 300 on what was most likely an AL80 at 10AtsA...

No stage bottles

They were on Santa Rosa Wall. That's one of the southern sites but if the captain put the pedal to the metal, they'd have been back in town at the recompression chamber in about 20 minutes max. Hopefully they would have had O2 on the boat but probably not for all 3 divers.

It was actually Villa Blanca wall - right out in front of their shop


BTW: Thanks DandyDon for teaching me how to use the multi-quote feature!

 

[DandyDon]

It was actually Villa Blanca wall - right out in front of their shop


BTW: Thanks DandyDon for teaching me how to use the multi-quote feature!

Wow! VB wall. Now I really have to wonder why they went back in to deco rather, that close to the chambers.

And YVW

 

[boulderjohn]

OK, I think it is time to get frank about this.

We have not been told what really happened. We don't know what the dive plan was. We don't know what went wrong. I don't think it takes Sherlock Holmes to figure out that some of the people who have been posting know exactly what the dive plan was and know exactly what went wrong but are afraid to speak their minds for some reason or another.

Let's look at what we know.

We are told over and over again by people who seem to know what they are talking about that there are no downcurrents in Cozumel that will take one from 80-300 feet. I believe that.

We are told over and over again by people who seem to know what they are talking about that there are no significant down currents once you get reasonably deep. I believe that.

We are told over and over again by people who seem to know what they are talking about that people doing normal recreational dives in Cozumel have nothing to fear. I believe that.

It seems to me they are trying to tell us something in their own subtle way--something perhaps about the planned depth of the dive and the presence or lack of presence of downcurrents.

But then, I don't know--I am just drawing in inference from the thinly veiled hints I see all over the place.

If the professionals in Cozumel are so concerned about the impact this will have on tourists who are afraid of getting caught in killer downcurrents, then perhaps they should stop dropping veiled hints and tell us what they know about this incident. If this group was diving well beyond recreational depths, as all the hints suggest, then that would be a lesson about diving beyond recreational depths and not about diving in Cozumel. Just say it and it will all be done.

But we won't know for sure until someone comes out and says it.

On the other hand, if this supposition is wrong, then say that, too. As long as people who know remain silent, speculation will continue.

 

[Crush]

boulderjohn, thanks for cutting through the crap.

I recently sent this PM to someone. I believe that we are on the same page...

I personally believe that the three injured divers should fess up to having been reckless. By defending themselves and blaming Mother Nature they are making divers like me think that Coz may not be the place for my daughter when she turns 10 and gets certified.

 

[vladimir]

Pure speculation. No where have I seen a detailed explanation of the dive and what actually happened.

And you probably won't. Speculation is what you get in the absence of facts. One of the three divers has already seen fit to post on ScubaBoard, but only to tell the original poster of this incident to shut up, not to offer any information. That is his right, and I respect it--I would probably do the same, even if I didn't have all that he has to deal with right now. Nevertheless, the incident is of interest to a lot of us, and it might have some instructive value. In my opinion, it is totally appropriate to speculate on the possible causes and circumstances of this incident as long as the speculation is clearly labeled as such (and the If in Crush's sarcastic post qualifies). And the rules that govern this forum agree with me.

 

[cenotist]

boulderjohn, thanks for cutting through the crap.

I recently sent this PM to someone. I believe that we are on the same page...

Dear Crush, please tell to this “someone” not to get her daughter certified at 10 years in ANY island/lake/continent. There are 2 simple reasons.

1. Her organism is not developed enough to face pressure changes at depth
2. Though our children tend to be more smarter in many things than us, she still cannot be mature enough to plan the dive and later execute this plan in a safe way (including changing conditions, gear malfunctions, you name it…)

I do not want to bring names into this forum, but very respectful chamber doctor in Cozumel has to treat more and more young girls and boys who are ending up in his chamber, because parents want to push limits. There is good reason for age limits in diving organisations.

The best option for this girl is mask and snorkel for next 3-4 years. I know, that it is tempting to share this wonderful underwater experience with your child, but I would not put her life on a risk for that. I have 17 years old son who is certified Dive Master and Full Cave diver, and he started diving at the age 14. The ocean has been there for long time and it will be there after us.

Safe diving!

 

[Sat Diver]

A question I have (w/r to this incident) to help me better understand diving in Cozumel is whether any of the divers were diving Nitrox when caught in the down current. And if so, did the divers using Nitrox actually experience 02 toxicity problems? I still believe in using EAN on dives but if I knew for certain that a quick depth excursion brought on an immediate O2 hit/problem I might think otherwise in Cozumel. I know two people who have been caught in down currents, both were able to keep above 150' and were fine afterwards but were freaked at the time (they were diving on air). I hear from time to time that diving nitrox in Cozumel is dangerous for this very reason yet I have never read any report where diving nitrox complicated a down current situation.

At 300 ft air can give you a CNS hit, so whatever your mix (EAN or air) you will have a problem if you get dragged below your planned depth. The only way to be safe in the manner you refer to is to have a rebreather that holds your PPO2. Even then, there are limits. Diving has inherent risks. It is upto the individual to apply commonsense to their dive and to understand that no one is exempt from the freak accidents.