Diver lost in Cozumel today

[diverrex]

I dive with a charter locally that in their general boat briefing announces that for anyone that had to drop their weight belt in an emergency the charter will replace it for them at no cost, thus encouraging people to lose weights when needed without thinking of the relatively negligible cost compared to the possible bad outcome of not doing so.

 

[WSOPFAN]

I actually concur with the one only web site that rated the sites, the one that labeled it as intermediate. I have never dived it with currents such as were described in this incident. When I have dived it with the more normal currents, I have always felt it was a pretty easy dive site. Of all the dive sites marked "novice" on that web site, the only one that is not a typical shallower site used for second dives is Palancar Gardens. If you are looking for a relatively easy first dive site, Santa Rosa Wall under normal conditions would be a consideration, IMO.

Under normal conditions is the key phrase. For the most part that can be considered an intermediate dive except for one problem. You can't predict when exactly these dangerous down currents can happen so without the proper training, certification, and or experience no diver should be out over ANY wall in Cozumel ESPECIALLY this one around April. I find it just impossible to believe that this DM or every single dive shop on that island does not know the past history of that dive site. Here are some examples of what I am talking about. Some of these stories are directly related to down currents on that exact reef. This reef is famous for a few things in the past 20 years one story you will read about in the links about how a group of divers went down the wall and ended up in the chamber. The other 2 I bet nobody here has ever heard about. Let's just say it did not involve currents. If anyone wants to know look up Santa Rosa from 1993 and 1997.

Doc Vikingo's Surviving Vertical Currents

Cozumel Warning: Undercurrent 09/2000

Cozumel divers have no hope of finding body 01/07/1988 | Archives | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

http://archive.rubicon-foundation.o.../123456789/6422/SPUMS_V25N2_18.pdf?sequence=1

Here is a quote from the last article:

The description of the down flow in April seems to describe
a stronger current with a nearby up flow. Both
events occurred in the grouping of dive locations south of
St. Miguel (Chankanaab on the north to Santa Rosa on the
south, Tormentos, Yocab, and Punta Tunich in the middle),
but three months apart.
There is no doubt that this natural phenomenon is
extremely dangerous. It is totally unexpected, breaks apart
a diving group, separates buddies, can be powerful enough
to force divers to non-recreational depths, and induces
panic even in very experienced divers. The prevailing
wisdom is that it is associated with the changes in tide and
mixture of warm and cool water. If that is so, this is an
event that can unexpectedly occur any time of the year.
Mark A. Anderson

 

[JLOmi]

I am new to this board, tho I have been reading since last fall when Opal had her accident. I just wanted to say that I have learned a great deal from reading here. Though I know it must be very hard on the family, the opinions, debates and criticisms (different perspectives-whether I/we agree or not) are very valuable IMO and if it helps save a life, then it is all worth it. Knowing that people are more willing to pay better attention to themselves, others and even speak out (where they might not have in the past) will hopefully make it all the more safe.

My thoughts go out to the family in this very sad time.

 

[islanddream]

They were grouped. It was one group of lowest common denominator typical cruise ship diver. There was no need to separate anybody because nobody was grouped above novice no matter if they were on their first open water dives after certification or if they were an instructor with 5000 dives. This is typical of cruise ship dive operators.

Hummm...I must have missed how they were grouped. I guess I didn't realize they were all divers from the cruise ship.

 

[Ayisha]

84 feet was the depth to which I was pulled down to from the current. By inflating my bcd and finning up I returned to @60 feet for the rest of the dive.

gdbkev, how come it took until your fifth post and only after being asked why you went to 84 feet to mention that you got caught in a downcurrent? I find that curious.

 

[jd950]

Under normal conditions is the key phrase. For the most part that can be considered an intermediate dive except for one problem. You can't predict when exactly these dangerous down currents can happen so without the proper training, certification, and or experience no diver should be out over ANY wall in Cozumel ESPECIALLY this one around April. I find it just impossible to believe that this DM or every single dive shop on that island does not know the past history of that dive site. Here are some examples of what I am talking about. Some of these stories are directly related to down currents on that exact reef. This reef is famous for a few things in the past 20 years one story you will read about in the links about how a group of divers went down the wall and ended up in the chamber. The other 2 I bet nobody here has ever heard about. Let's just say it did not involve currents. If anyone wants to know look up Santa Rosa from 1993 and 1997.

Doc Vikingo's Surviving Vertical Currents

Cozumel Warning: Undercurrent 09/2000

Cozumel divers have no hope of finding body 01/07/1988 | Archives | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

http://archive.rubicon-foundation.o.../123456789/6422/SPUMS_V25N2_18.pdf?sequence=1

Here is a quote from the last article:

Thank you for taking the time to find and link to these interesting articles. They describe very well some of what was occurring in Cozumel during the time this incident occurred.

 

[gdbkev]

There wasn't a single person on this dive that didn't fight the current. I haven't read this entire thread, but I thought it was obvious. Sorry I didn't mention it earlier.

---------- Post added April 10th, 2012 at 11:58 PM ----------

At least it sounds as if there were assigned buddies rather than a simple group following the DM.

Yes, we had paired off before the dive.

 

[hammer67]

Some divers may not be in the best shape to handle a problem in fact I C allot of divers that haven't seen the inside of a YMCA sense high school  

 

[WSOPFAN]

Thank you for taking the time to find and link to these interesting articles. They describe very well some of what was occurring in Cozumel during the time this incident occurred.

Sure no problem. IMO that wall area should be either closed to diving from late March to Late April or restricted to experts only after a proper dive briefing. BTW I did not post the link to the 1993 or 1997 info. I doubt anyone knows about those but since they refer to that dive site and it is also other dive related info divers have never been told about I posted it. If you would like the info PM me. It appears there are many divers oblivious to some of the true history of diving Cozumel.

---------- Post added April 11th, 2012 at 06:14 AM ----------

I think that it is safe to say now that the woman is deceased. While it would be instructive to know exactly what happened, we may never know.

Some may want to assess blame. But that will not fix anything. What is needed in my "Cozumel dive op customer" opinion is a realization that new divers should be given extra supervision. The ways to do it may vary among shops and specific dive group circumstance.

I agree Ron.......BTW I like your new signature line. We both know why many of those dive shops are never in the news. They would never put their reputation and livelihood at risk doing something so foolish.

 

[Okie Mike]

How close is Santa Rosa to southern end of the eddy current from the north that runs through Chankanaab? I wonder if during a particularly strong occilation of eddy current, a down current develops when the clockwise current at the southern end smashes from east to west back into the predominantly southerly current. Perhaps studying the spot where the eddy current rejoins the southern current could lead to some useful data. There is something in this area that causes these currents and my guess is, with study, it can be figured out, predicted and avoided.