Captain Lost Our Group

[TomZ]

Haven't met Christi or Billiken1. Won't comment on the situation, other than to say it's good all parties are smiling. I will say a thanks to Scubaboard, especially the Cozumel forum participants, for educating me prior to our first post-OW certification dives in Cozumel: My wife and I had a private DM for the first three days. We arrived with SMBs, Storm whistles, signal mirrors, straps to join up with each other, and I have the Diver Alert on my BC. Oh yeah, thanks to DD I have an Analox CO analyzer. This board serves many purposes, but foremost in my mind is the information available, to those who look.

 

[cicopo]

The empty tank may be buoyant but if I've got to swim any distance I'd dump it. I'd likely dump the BCD too depending on distance & conditions. I'm old but a very competent distance swimmer and I'm pretty calm in just about any situation from fire to being in the water thanks to training, and I've been left behind by a boat. 2 Trips ago the boat picked up 2 divers just as I surfaced (Colombia Shallows) and then drove off a fair distance. I don't know how long it was gone but it seemed like 20 minutes but it did come back. Another boat (there were several about 500 yards away in another section of the reef) had called my boat to pick up a diver that said he was from it. Diver wasn't from our boat so once that was established it came to get me. It wasn't anything that worried me but I'm sure some others might have started to worry, but that's understandable but unfortunately worry doesn't help so it's best (in my opinion) to start thinking what your next move is.

Edited to add that the DM knew I had logged a lot of my dives in Cozumel & that I was very familiar with Colombia Shallows & area.

 

[The Chairman]

Correct, I told you that I did not receive an e-mail from you Thursday night, only the message from you and the message a few minutes later from the B & B owner. I know you were not asking for a refund, but I could not possibly expect for you to pay for such a horrible experience! I will call you in the next 30 minutes.

I owe you a drink when I am in Coz next week. That was one of the best replies I have ever read. Wet Wendy's???

 

[jayjoans]

Having dived with both Miguel and Pedro a number of times, I concur that if I were in the same situation and given a choice as to which DMs on the island I'd want with me and my family, they would be my first choice. I have used a number of ops on the island, and Christi and her crew have been by far the most safety conscious without being babysitters and taking all the fun out of diving. The fact that this captain was fired on the spot means something, it's not the typical "stupid tourist" attitude that you find from management at many vacation destination operations.

Christi's response is refreshing, but not surprising coming from her.

 

[shortdivemedic]

Well having read Christi's response on here and the fact she stepped up and made changes and took responsibility for all. I know for sure who I am diving with when I go there ,plus from her pictures she's cute to.
Seriously though we floated for about an hour off an island in Thailand and all it cost the DM was a cold beer later. Come to think of it we didn't even have to complain to the manager ,since she was floating right along side of us . If I remember that captain lost his job also .

Cheers
Michael

 

[cbm32]

Just my opinion here, but I have no problem with the OP putting this out there when he did. I also applaud the response by Christi and the fact that the OP accepted the explanation and appears to not hold a grudge. Well done by all (except the Captain of course).

In my short dive history I have never had an experience quite like this one but........Wellllll, once in Fiji I was the only diver wanting to do an afternoon dive and so ended up with just me and the DM in the water. We dove a relatively new dive site and apparently the boat just went on ahead to the point where we were supposed to surface. Unfortunately, the DM got a little lost .:shocked2::shocked2::shocked2: I figured out what was going on after the second time he stopped and looked around before heading off in a new direction. After being lost for about 25 minutes he took us up to the surface. Well, since we were not where we were supposed to be, no boat. The DM was sooooooo apologetic it was kind of funny. Then he asks me if I have an smb or a whistle.....I dont . But, I can do a referee's whistle all on my own. So, he got his bearings and we did a little surface swim and saw the boat off in the distance. We bobbed around for a bit until the Captain figured out there had to be a problem and started looking around. When he got close enough I whistled and he came and got us. I had good equipment (other than not having the necessary smb or whistle or mirror or anything like that), shore and a small island as well were within site but a LONG way to surface swim, and we still had a LOT of air inour tanks, so I was never worried and actually kind of had fun with it. Made a great story to tell over dinner that night. Sometimes crap happens, if you are lucky you don't step in it

On another subject...during another dive on this trip one of the other divers forgot his fins, event though the DM (same DM) asked three times for people to check their equipment. So the DM gives the guy his fins and leads the entire dive without fins. It was a dive over a sandy bottom along a relatively shallow reef. Watching the DM running along the ocean floor while doing a funky breast stroke is something I will never forget .

 

[Sideways]

Glad that everyone is OK and the situation has been resolved. I think anyone who drift dives should be ready to face this scenario. I had it happen to me in Roatan last year. We were diving a new site (to all the staff and DM's) on the south side of the island. It was a special trip where we had 3-4 DM's and shop personel. We came up and the boat was nowhere in sight. We sat in the very choppy water for about 20 mins or so before we saw the boat heading our way. It was after that dive that I made sure we had SMB's, whistles, and mirrors.

Cicopo..... why would you dump your BC??? I ask only because Now I'm thinking I'm missing something that I should know.

 

[RickyF]

I spent two weeks in May diving with Blue XTSea for the first time and had a great time. Pedro and Miguel are two of the best DM's I ever had the pleasure of diving with. Christi runs around like a "CRAZY" woman delivering spark plugs at the surface interval when the engine wasn't running just right, to giving a diver a free dive on his birthday and delivering a cake at the surface interval. On top of this she is trying to keep track of numerous emails, phone calls and new divers arriving and leaving all the time. I personally don't know how she keeps up and has any kind of social life. Being a small business owner is a pain in the tail.
On a nother note, I can only imagine how difficult it must be to try to track a group of divers bubbles late in the afternoon when the sun is getting lower especially if the seas are a little rough! It is a huge responsibility and requires constant attention. Nivo was the boat captain on most of my dives and he was always within sight when we surfaced. I had a great time and will be returning!!

 

[fishi]

I can only imagine how difficult it must be to try to track a group of divers bubbles late in the afternoon when the sun is getting lower especially if the seas are a little rough! It is a huge responsibility and requires constant attention.

I had a out of air problem and surfaced halfway through a dive. At the surface the DM and I found the boat captain with his feet up on the dash reading a newspaper! The DM returned to the group below and left me to try to get the captains attention. It wasn't easy. A whistle would have help alot.

I'm not sure how many captains actually watch bubbles. If they watched the bubbles they would be right on top of you and they never are. A lot of the time their so far away they couldn't possibly see your bubbles.

 

[cicopo]

IF I had to do a major swim & I thought that by wearing a BCD I was using extra energy due to drag or not being able to work my arms in the normal way that I swim I'd dump it. I'd rather dump the BCD than use twice the energy trying to drag it back to shore. The situation would dictate whether that may mean the difference in getting to shore.