Washington doctor and son drown - Cabo, Mexico

[Dan]

I dive cabo now every time I go,ive been 3 times in last 18 months. I will dive cabo pulmo and all the local cabo corridor dives. I will not dive Gordo Banks as ive talked to locals and its open ocean often with strong current out in the middle of nowhere. I would require a personal DM , PLB, and Nautilus lifeline with minimum 100cf tank. and a pony tank which is next purchase. That dive profile scares me.

that being said the one relative in vid definitely said another brother saw and tried to reach them however they were sinking too fast and deep to reach. This could mean just being carried away by current or equipment malfunction OOA situation etc. In any event I am merely guessing but I know local operators and most divers will be on single tanks but they will insist on a nitrox blend for that dive. like another poster said , around 27 or 28. Hopefully the third family member has no survivor guilt as they couldnt have rescued two other divers at extreme depth regardless.

Thanks for the info. I’ve been in Cabo Pulmo 3 times (2011, 2013, & 2015). Thinking that I may visit Gordo Bank in one of the return visit to Cabo. I may scratch that idea after reading these posts, especially after going to Revillagigedo Archipelago last week.

If you want to see schooling hammerheads around there, you might as well take a week-long liveaboard to Revillagigedo Archipelago. You would, not only diving in much saver underwater environment, but also seeing other big animals such as Pacific Oceanic Mantas (1-3 of them at almost every dives of the 19 dives we made for that week), Dolphins, many kinds of sharks (White-tip, Silver-tip, Galápagos, Silky). We dove El Cañon of San Benedicto during Christmas day and saw the schooling hammerheads at 80 feet depth (see picture below). I was wearing 5mm wetsuit for the 75 deg.F water temperature with very little to no current.

I did carry DSMB, Dive Alert, PLB1, Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS for this kind of diving all the time I was there. We used 28-32% Nitrox.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Thanks for the info. I’ve been in Cabo Pulmo 3 times (2011, 2013, & 2015). Thinking that I may visit Gordo Bank in one of the return visit to Cabo. I may scratch that idea after reading these posts, especially after going to Revillagigedo Archipelago last week.

If you want to see schooling hammerheads around there, you might as well take a week-long liveaboard to Revillagigedo Archipelago. You would, not only diving in much saver underwater environment, but also seeing other big animals such as Pacific Oceanic Mantas (1-3 of them at almost every dives of the 19 dives we made for that week), Dolphins, many kinds of sharks (White-tip, Silver-tip, Galápagos, Silky). We dove El Cañon of San Benedicto during Christmas day and saw the schooling hammerheads at 80 feet depth (see picture below). I was wearing 5mm wetsuit for the 75 deg.F water temperature with very little to no current.

View attachment 497086

I did carry DSMB, Dive Alert, PLB1, Nautilus Marine Rescue GPS for this kind of diving all the time I was there. We used 28-32% Nitrox.

Yes that looks amazing. Love your safety measures. Gordo Banks for me is risky. For most with huge amounts of experience it may not be. The question is- do dive operators let customers know fully the dangers vs other Cabo area dives? I dont know the answer to that fully. Taking people to other dive spots to test you as they do I believe would usually mean 60 ft or so with a hard bottom. I think they can get a feel then if a diver is experienced but thats a relative thing. diving 60 to 80 in tropical and having great control is one thing and diving to 110 to 130 in open ocean is another thing which many recreational vacation divers are not familiar with. Scubaboard is to me a different set of divers than who you will find diving in Cabo normally. With that in mind I hope they have about a 1 DM or at least dive guide to every 3 divers ratio in deep open vacation waters.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Interesting sentence "Karyn Dyehouse told KGW that one of her nephews tried to save his father and brother but was unable to reach them. She said the family is making arrangements to return to Vancouver." This suggests that they did not just disappear. Could be totally wrong, but the picture I get is that father is trying to help son, and they are sinking, other son has to abort his attempt because of depth/air. They would go through air very fast at that depth plus maybe being totally narced. You hear of narced diver just sinking away in a number of accounts here on SB.

With 28% Nitrox you might not tox out going after them if lucky but with insane amounts of multiple task loading and maybe hitting 150 or deeper that couldnt have ended well for third diver if continued.

 

[Centrals]

With 28% Nitrox you might not tox out going after them if lucky but with insane amounts of multiple task loading and maybe hitting 150 or deeper that couldnt have ended well for third diver if continued.

If I have to chase after someone deep I would rather have air than nitrox.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Do they normally just allow regular recreational divers with standard recreational gear to dive this place?
What tanks do they normally use? Just rental aluminum 80’s?

 

[NAUI Wowie]

If I have to chase after someone deep I would rather have air than nitrox.

Definitely for sure.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

Do they normally just allow regular recreational divers with standard recreational gear to dive this place?
What tanks do they normally use? Just rental aluminum 80’s?

there are many dive operators in cabo. I use Manta now. If not the best they seem one of the best. I get 100cf tanks for my dives from them. Not sure if all operators do but most likely even at gordo banks dive operators give aluminum 80s. And several operators state OW cert is all that is required. fyi Manta did check divers certs when checking in. most operators also let you dive air or nitrox depending on your budget at gordo banks.

quick link to a different dive operator that lost 3 divers and 2 guides and the group had to swim 15 hours back to shore. Ill never use that dive operator

oh and as I mentioned before ...caveat I have not dove gordo banks and may probably never. Id rather do Cabo Pulmo even though its farther away. Cousteau I believe called Cabo Pulmo the oceans aquarium.

Divers missing off Gordo Banks

Wow the guide who got those folks back is Rene. He certified me for OW in cabo in 2016. He was with a tiny shop right on the beach, a 1 man operation. Small world. fyi did my AOW in Monterey CA.

second edit. just checked mantas site. they seem to be the only operator that will only allow advanced open water divers with nitrox cert to do gordo banks and only if you dove with them the day before, obviously to see how comfortable you are. They also only do it on Nitrox which is free. And all DMs in the water have dive computers and that is not normal in cabo san lucas. Everything about their gordo banks section states many times safety first. Very different than other operators.

 

[Dan]

there are many dive operators in cabo. I use Manta now. If not the best they seem one of the best. I get 100cf tanks for my dives from them. Not sure if all operators do but most likely even at gordo banks dive operators give aluminum 80s. And several operators state OW cert is all that is required. fyi Manta did check divers certs when checking in. most operators also let you dive air or nitrox depending on your budget at gordo banks.

quick link to a different dive operator that lost 3 divers and 2 guides and the group had to swim 15 hours back to shore. Ill never use that dive operator

oh and as I mentioned before ...caveat I have not dove gordo banks and may probably never. Id rather do Cabo Pulmo even though its farther away. Cousteau I believe called Cabo Pulmo the oceans aquarium.

Divers missing off Gordo Banks

Wow the guide who got those folks back is Rene. He certified me for OW in cabo in 2016. He was with a tiny shop right on the beach, a 1 man operation. Small world. fyi did my AOW in Monterey CA.

second edit. just checked mantas site. they seem to be the only operator that will only allow advanced open water divers with nitrox cert to do gordo banks and only if you dove with them the day before, obviously to see how comfortable you are. They also only do it on Nitrox which is free. And all DMs in the water have dive computers and that is not normal in cabo san lucas. Everything about their gordo banks section states many times safety first. Very different than other operators.

What a small world! Rene was my dive guide diving in Cabo Pulmo back in 2011 when he worked with Vista SeaSport. Then in 2015 I dove with him again in Cabo San Lucas area.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Wow!
It just seems like a site scratching into technical depths and conditions to me. To take eager tourists out to a place like that seems kind of risky.
I know everyone needs to pay the bills, but damn! Aren’t there any tamer places in that area to go?
130’ - 180’ on a single 80?, currents, poor vis, probably very minimal safety equipment around, No thanks.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

What a small world! Rene was my dive guide diving in Cabo Pulmo back in 2011 when he worked with Vista SeaSport. Then in 2015 I dove with him again in Cabo San Lucas area.

That is a heck of a coincidence yes sir