Tourist dies while diving on Ambergris Caye

[Seaweed Doc]

Also, doing a safety stop with the conditions described was probably not a good choice. I have never come up low on air, but if it ever happens to me, a safety stop is not going to be a player unless it is for a deco obligation, and then it is not a safety stop.

Most ops I've gone diving with say to signal "low on air" at 700 PSI or 50 bar. In that case, there's plenty of time for a lengthy safety stop, even with an air hog.

How many DMs were along on the dive? There's an assumption of just one, but dive ops I've worked with in southern Belize usually have a leader and trailer for most groups if 4 or more. The trailer escorts low on air divers back to the boat. If it's just one DM and I was the DM, I'd bring the group back when the first person is low on air. (At least if I'm leading a tour.)

 

[Bob DBF]

In mainstream scuba training at the OW level, buddy diving is heavily endorsed.

It is actually a requirement for OW certification for any RSTC agency, and probably others as well.

From RSTC OW standard.

A certified open water diver is qualified to apply the knowledge and skills outlined in this standard to plan, conduct, and log open-water, no-required decompression dives when properly equipped, and accompanied by another certified diver.

That OW diver is not qualified to be left at a safety stop alone, a dive proffessional should know that. Common practice is not necessarily best practice.



Bob

 

[drrich2]

I see what you're saying, but that diver was not in a class at that point if I understand correctly. He wasn't beholden to PADI, SSI, etc... They make recommendations, not laws. The 'DM' may've been in a different position related to shop policy, insurance requirements, etc... A couple of follow up points relating broadly to the discussion:

1.) Dive Masters - maybe 'true' DM's, or Instructors; it's a term loosely used for paid guides a lot of the time. In this case I presume the customer divers were certified divers not taking a class.

2.) I've seen threads on Scuba Board before where some are quite opposed to showing up for their paid-for dive holiday and anyone forces them to pair up with an 'insta-buddy.'

3.) We've also seen a number of discussions before about what the role of a so-called 'DM' is. I'm not talking individual shop policy, but broadly. Some take the position that certified divers ought to be responsible for themselves (at least the adult ones), and the DM is basically just a guide. Others may opine 'Well, you know a lot of them aren't as competent as they're supposed to be,' and think the DM is supposed to 'mother hen' more. I believe there've been negative trip reviews where someone complained about the guide not checking to see how much gas they've got left, or making sure everyone on the boat had a 'buddy' (thankfully I think that last wasn't on Scuba Board).

4.) Compare that to diving out of California from a boat - where it's cold water, more exposure protection, likely lower viz., the boat won't routinely put a guide in the water, you may be able to dive solo at your own discretion without having an 'official solo certification,' and it's up to you to find your way back to the boat, do your safety stop and get aboard - without a staff member (maybe at your discretion without a buddy) supervising you through it.

That's why I don't consider the rigid, conservative degree of 'duty of care' applied here (e.g.: in the context of Belize, often very benign conditions) to be so obvious as it may seem. What happened was a tragedy after a very low risk decision, and we can always speculate that had there been even more precautions on top of whatever was done (e.g.: diving in quartets instead of buddy pairs), it might have made the difference.

 

[Dan G]

I’ll try to articulate things a bit better. With political correctness, you’ve got at least 2 views on an issue, at least one socially acceptable (e.g.: superficially agreed with, not apt to be challenged when stated), at least one not (e.g.: likely to trigger an argument when stated publicly) - even though the latter may be what many (even most) people ‘vote for with their feet,’ so to speak.

In mainstream scuba training at the OW level, buddy diving is heavily endorsed. Okay. Not a bad thing. Out in the world post-certification, the way it is actually practiced is much different. Observation on dive op. recreational trips made clear to me group diving without a specifically assigned buddy is common and preferable to many divers. Some people prefer strict conservative buddy pair diving, many people follow a far looser interpretation, many people just ‘dive with the group’ and some dive solo.

None of these approaches are necessarily ‘wrong.’ It’s also politically correct to claim ‘safety first,’ but it’s not ‘safety only’ or we wouldn’t dive. There is some level of risk that’s acceptable. No one seems to have a hard number for that, and variance in practices shows we don’t all agree. People drive down the highway without a ‘co-pilot’ in a drivers’ ed. style vehicle that would let the ‘buddy’ take over if we had an abrupt medical event zipping down an interstate at 70 mph.

This becomes a big issue when you speak of what people should not ‘be permitted’ to do.

Cozumel was mentioned and a great example. In Cozumel, there are 2 approaches to dealing with the first diver who runs low on gas; either the whole group goes up (e.g.: I’m told Aldora does this), or the guide can send up an SMB and the diver (alone or buddy pair) can ascend (some other op.s). Aldora preferred its approach on safety grounds. A number of divers strongly prefer the latter approach.

Just how much hand-holding/supervision people need/want is not a universal standard for people who aren’t taking a class. Leaving a diver at a safety stop depth by the boat is not reasonably expected to be higher risk than a number of other things divers do. How would the odds of death compare to some of the more daring technical dives?

There may well be 'standards' to some extent (though regional practices vary a lot; a dive boat out of California may do less hand-holding than one in the Caribbean), but I don't think those standards are necessarily what they're often claimed to be.

I agree with a lot of what you say and understand that plenty of people adopt different practices. There's no SCUBA police and individual divers are free to do as they wish. Dive OPs are also free to do as they wish and make certain demands of customers or not. Divers can select the op with whom they feel most comfortable. I have switched ops because they didn't match how I prefer to dive.

A problem is, inexperienced divers often have bad role models and don't even know it.

 

[JackD342]

Adherence to standards and generally accepted safe practices such as buddy teams is certainly the ideal, and I fully agree with making that a priority. Unfortunately, in the real world sometimes a choice must be made between two conflicting immediate needs.

Yes, that diver should have had a buddy to ascend with and not the DM. We don't know why that didn't happen, but if the buddy just blew it off there is no way to force the issue at that moment in time. Also, the DM may have had other concerns with the divers left below that no longer had their guide with them - so a choice was made. We heard "low on air" but we don't know what that actually meant. 300psi? 700psi? 1000 psi? Half a tank? Actions taken are informed by the specifics known at the time, and we here have only heard the generality. The diver could even be told to skip the safety stop if air is low enough for concern, but that doesn't mean they will accept that direction - hard to discuss at length underwater. And the ultimate problem may have had no relation to an OOA event. Someone says "low on air" and down that path we go!

So what the DM (instructor?) should have done is pure speculation if based on only partial information. But I guess that is the norm on forums like this.

Now, personally my initial reaction is to wonder what prevented waiting until the diver was back on the boat. But I can't and won't assume there wasn't a valid reason for the choices that were made based on what I have read here.

On fun dives, I have definitely on a couple of occasions hung out at about 20 feet while a buddy finished a stop, and watched until I saw them climbing up the boat ladder before I rejoined the group and attached myself to another buddy. Or sometimes when the first diver needs to start up, we have "shuffled" some buddy pairings so another similarly close to low on air diver joins that ascent.

 

[Scuba-74]

So what the DM (instructor?) should have done is pure speculation if based on only partial information. But I guess that is the norm on forums like this.

Now, personally my initial reaction is to wonder what prevented waiting until the diver was back on the boat. But I can't and won't assume there wasn't a valid reason for the choices that were made based on what I have read here.

Exactly. We don’t know who was left at 80fsw to assume the DM’s priority must have been a diver with enough air at 15fsw.

 

[pepperbelly]

Totally agree with you, but in the current incident the diver wasn't having a problem. It seems he decided, from his remaining air, that it was time to end his dive. Unfortunately, the procedure followed in this incident occurs very frequently with no negative consequences. Which is why everyone is now left asking "what happened??"

But... in this incident the DM definitely could have had the diver skip the safety stop. The diver had only been underwater for 25 minutes to a max depth of 80 feet. While a safety stop is always a good habit, it definitely was not necessary for this dive. The ability to make this kind of decision needs to be part of a DMs arsenal.

I was just describing how the DM on my dive handled me needing to surface early.

 

[Chavodel8en]

On vacation, I generally go diving by myself (wife doesn't dive).

I am often paired w/ an instabuddy and or into a generalized group w/o an assigned buddy. As I am used to California diving, I don't assume the DM is responsible for me or to find me a buddy. Ideally, I will find someone who is my full w/in sight at all times buddy.

Its hard to find the right approach, and I generally don't blame the DM here (I basically agree w drrich's discussion above), unless he was the guy's designated buddy or specifically hired. Every certified diver is responsible for themselves, correct? And what about all the other divers - I know they weren't alone, but they were at depth. The DM is also "responsible" for them too, correct? What if one of them died while the DM was at the safety stop?

On vacation, I once blew through my gas quickly for some reason. I got my buddy paired w/ someone else, waved bye-bye to him, and went up from about 80' - by myself, although there were folks here and there dispersed up the line. The DM didn't even notice me -- this was Oahu, and they let us know we were responsible for ourselves (which I believe is the standard for some boats in Oahu). Had I died before reaching the surface, Im sure there would be much targets for blame - but really it would have been just a tragic occurrence, and I assumed the risk of being by myself.

If my buddy did the same thing (indicated that I could continue the dive while he safety stopped by himself), honestly, I might do so. If he died, I'd feel terrible about it, even if he assumed the risk.

Maybe the DM could have done more here, but from the descriptions, it seems like the diver may have assumed the risk himself, and unfortunately, a tragedy occurred.

 

[kensuf]

I hate speculating on fatalities, but this scenario sounds like it's possible the valve was only partially cracked open and this could have been the precipitating event that led to the whole thing. My thoughts on this are based on reading that the deceased thought he was out of gas at depth, then signaled that he was fine once they got back to the safety stop.

A cylinder that's empty doesn't magically refill itself on your way up to a safety stop, but a valve cracked partially open can make you believe you're out of gas at depth while working fine when you're shallow.

My sincerest condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.

 

[DandyDon]

I hate speculating on fatalities, but this scenario sounds like it's possible the valve was only partially cracked open and this could have been the precipitating event that led to the whole thing. My thoughts on this are based on reading that the deceased thought he was out of gas at depth, then signaled that he was fine once they got back to the safety stop.

A cylinder that's empty doesn't magically refill itself on your way up to a safety stop, but a valve cracked partially open can make you believe you're out of gas at depth while working fine when you're shallow.

My sincerest condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.

That happens, but that would not explain why he died after making it to SS depth. In that scenario, he should have been fine in the shallows and on surface.