Scuabamau diving accident

[MauiScubaSteve]

919 no Decoder Ring for this great diving.Wall Dives in the Bahamas
Hale brought up a thread, and this lodge has been doing this since I have been diving and longer.

Most any place you go you can dive DEEP AIR, and sometimes you need to be in the secret club to attend.

Yeah, I just posted about them in comparison on http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ad...10-bahamas-diving-split-spiegel-accident.html

Not exactly what I would call a comparison...

As one of the "Peter Pan's" of diving, divebunny13's SB story is very sad to me. Her first post was very similar to my first scuba forum post; expressing the desire to "go pro", and muddiver gave Amanda a very warm welcome.

Just 5 posts after the day Amanda posted to this thread she made her last post on SB. 25 days after her post in this thread, Amanda quit sharing with us and she last logged on to SB just 25 days after that last post. It's been over 19 months now; imagine what she could have shared with us if she had felt welcome enough to stay?

What is your point exactly? She was well aware of Agency standards when she posted and knew that she was posting generally unaccepted dives. What else could she expect. She is a lovely and seemingly charming young lady, and if you want to dive with her - contact her thru her business linked on her profile. I knew a lovely and fun young lady in Cozumel who died last month after weeks of suffering from similar enough dives.

DD, Opal was going for a personal record below 300 feet from what I gather; Amanda works for an operator that has been successfully guiding divers to 185 feet for something like 50 years.

What is your point exactly?

From what I am reading in the Deep Diving on Air thread, there are divers from 3 Agencies that are certified to make deep air dives to the depths Amanda's employer offers.

ScubaBoard had the opportunity back in Early 2010 to provide a forum for discussing Deep Air Dives, but chose instead a route of Prohibition.

What if SB discussing DAD for ~ a year and a half had resulted in Opal and friends carrying 30 or 40 cft pony tanks? What if SB not discussing DAD for the next 18 months means some other diver has a similar end as Opal?

I am still saying that since "Pandora is definitely out of her box" a forum where Deep Air Diving is intelligently discussed, with a Mission Statement something like "putting at least a 40 on the vast majority" would be a logical advancement to the safety of diving.

 

[Ron Lee]

Mike, if you have not been to San Juan, Barracuda, etc and want to, maybe it is your dive shop. Aldora does that dive site. I suspect that Blue XTSea does it. Perhaps several others.

Assuming that you are adequately competent, you should be able to do it.

I recall once on San Juan that my impression was that the ocean bottom was a carpet of coral/plant life. Not sure if that was pre-Wilma.

Another great dive is the Eagle Ray dive north of the ferry pier (in season of course).

No one ever gave me a member card or secret handshake for this rumored special dive community.

 

[bayeloi]

I am really having trouble understanding your viewpoint. As a trimix diver certified to go beyond 300 feet and with full cave certification, I have done some fairly "interesting" dives. With that in mind, I find your insulting terms ("boy scout dives" and "PADI textbook") for the standard recreational dives in Cozumel mystifying. I further wonder why you find short bounce dives beyond recreational depths "interesting," implying that the other dives aren't interesting. What is there to see on shorter dives at those depths that is more interesting than at shallow depths? Why is it superior to longer dives at depths with more color and life? Is it just the thrill of doing something that is not approved, like a little boy smoking behind the woodshed?

I dive deep when there is something worth seeing there. When I do it, I am properly trained and equipped. The idea of diving deep without proper equipment or training just for the thrill of doing it is lost on me. To you it apparently gives you a sense of smug superiority. To me it just seems childish.

Well stated John. I'm not a tech diver and don't try to pose as one. There are some divers who think that it makes them a good diver to be able to go to 150 and beyond on air. I think that a good diver will recognize the limitations and dangers of a dive, then train, plan and equip appropriately. To do anything less is a senseless act of bravado and makes the person doing it a Poser. The bad thing about relying on "personal limitations" for your dives is that finding out where that limit is will likely get you killed. Call me a boy scout but I'll stick to the limits determined by all those stupid scientists that did all that arbitrary dive research.

 

[MMM]

Well, there is some life on Villa Blanca that escaped Wilma. It's at about 140 feet or so (I'd need to check my logbook). You won't see this anywhere in Coz now. There might be other sites but that is one that I know of for sure.

II further wonder why you find short bounce dives beyond recreational depths "interesting," implying that the other dives aren't interesting. What is there to see on shorter dives at those depths that is more interesting than at shallow depths?

 

[Jackie]

Going to 140ft is not the same thing as a bounce dive. I have no doubt that there are dives of interest deeper than 120' in Cozumel.
Many of us have done deep dives in conditions that are laughable by Caribbean standards.
I cant see many of these warmwater divers who see themselves as big swinging ****** in drysuit with backplates and wings, with double steel tanks, 25 plus lbs of weight in waters with 10 ft in pitching boats in the Atlantic. Its a lot more challenging to plan a deco dive which requires more planning and intelligence. In addition to the the steel tanks, there may be argon pony for the dry suit, staging bottles with different O 2 mixes and a printed plan. Any fool can drop down to X many feet in a swimsuit with the most basic kit available to man.

 

[ggunn]

I am still saying that since "Pandora is definitely out of her box" ...

Just to keep our mythology correct, in the story of Pandora, it was not she who was in the box. The box contained all the troubles of the world and Pandora let them out, much to the consternation of her husband.

Perhaps you were thinking of the metaphorical Genie whom Aladdin released from his lamp (which is commonly referred to by many as "the bottle" for reasons I do not understand), or the ever popular toothpaste which was squeezed out of the tube by an unknown perpetrator.

We return you now to our regular catfight, which is already in progress...

 

[cvchief]

Just to keep our mythology correct, ...
Perhaps you were thinking of the metaphorical Genie whom Aladdin released from his lamp (which is commonly referred to by many as "the bottle" for reasons I do not understand),

I see you have forgotten the ACTUAL genie released from a BOTTLE: I Dream of Jeannie - Full Episodes and Clips streaming online - Hulu Man, Gordo, you don't know your mythology....

 

[fishi]

in drysuit with backplates and wings, with double steel tanks, 25 plus lbs of weight in waters with 10 ft in pitching boats in the Atlantic. Its a lot more challenging to plan a deco dive which requires more planning and intelligence. In addition to the the steel tanks, there may be argon pony for the dry suit, staging bottles with different O 2 mixes and a printed plan.

And how many of these divers get dusted every year? A lot!!! Rebreathers take out a bunch too. The divers that use them have the highest level of training and equipment available yet they seem to take out a lot of really good divers also.


I don't think you can blame it on just lack of training and equipment.

 

[Mike]

Mike, if you have not been to San Juan, Barracuda, etc and want to, maybe it is your dive shop. Aldora does that dive site. I suspect that Blue XTSea does it. Perhaps several others.

Assuming that you are adequately competent, you should be able to do it.

I recall once on San Juan that my impression was that the ocean bottom was a carpet of coral/plant life. Not sure if that was pre-Wilma.

Another great dive is the Eagle Ray dive north of the ferry pier (in season of course).

No one ever gave me a member card or secret handshake for this rumored special dive community.

Hi Ron,

We've been to all of the above several times, with Aldora. Still looking to get to the East side with them though. Almost made it a couple of trips ago, but the weather shifted and screwed it up at the last minute.

(Or maybe they just said that and it was really because we weren't cool enough? I might have screwed up the secret handshake with Memo )

We haven't dived with Christy yet, but we are planning on it in the near future.

 

[caseybird]

Hi Ron,

We've been to all of the above several times, with Aldora. Still looking to get to the East side with them though. Almost made it a couple of trips ago, but the weather shifted and screwed it up at the last minute.

(Or maybe they just said that and it was really because we weren't cool enough? I might have screwed up the secret handshake with Memo )

We haven't dived with Christy yet, but we are planning on it in the near future.

Of course, since you did those dives with Aldora, you were probably using 120cf HP steel tanks. Giving you 50% more gas than poor Opal and Gabi.
I wish more ops used the 120's.