Cozumel Diver Dies After 450 Foot Dive (confused initial reporting)

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

If your not going to penetrate, why would one dive so deep? Bragging rights?
just the fact of going deep can be exhilarating...
For once I don't agree with Grantctobin and go with the other posters; indeed in deep sea diving, support team is nice to have as an add-on but you need to dive as a complete self sufficient diver as there are too many factors down there which can change a plan including support.
ymmv
 
Do you think all the cool stuff is just in the shallows?

I have not dove this deep, but I've heard the stories. A whole different world of cool stuff deep that doesn’t exist in skinny water.

For example?
 
just the fact of going deep can be exhilarating...
For once I don't agree with Grantctobin and go with the other posters; indeed in deep sea diving, support team is nice to have as an add-on but you need to dive as a complete self sufficient diver as there are too many factors down there which can change a plan including support.
ymmv
Eh some of us are probably more conservative than we sound.

Personally I won't do a dive that requires a bottle rotation without in water support. So max 2 bottles on OC (50% and O2). Once I have the O2 on a leash and a bottom stage to swap I want support - in case I drop the O2.

On CCR I can carry bottom BO and 2 deco gases all up front. So I'm good for up to 90-100mins of deco and/or somewhere around 275ft. Deeper with a 3rd deco gas I have to rotate or longer where I need more than a 40 of O2 I want in water support. Again, in case mostly but not exclusively, in case I drop a bottle during a rotation.

I don't know the gentleman who died or anything about his CCR or his bailout situation. Did he have a scooter? 450ft with all the required BO and no scooter does not sound like fun to me.
 
Eh some of us are probably more conservative than we sound.

Personally I won't do a dive that requires a bottle rotation without in water support. So max 2 bottles on OC (50% and O2). Once I have the O2 on a leash and a bottom stage to swap I want support - in case I drop the O2.

On CCR I can carry bottom BO and 2 deco gases all up front. So I'm good for up to 90-100mins of deco and/or somewhere around 275ft. Deeper with a 3rd deco gas I have to rotate or longer where I need more than a 40 of O2 I want in water support. Again, in case mostly but not exclusively, in case I drop a bottle during a rotation.

I don't know the gentleman who died or anything about his CCR or his bailout situation. Did he have a scooter? 450ft with all the required BO and no scooter does not sound like fun to me.
Yes I agree. There are always different factors to consider and each of us decides according to how we can assume the risks and weights if they are worth. Everything is dynamic and what is acceptable one day may be not the day after.
I have never been to Coz but according to what I am reading here, I would sit such a deep dive there...
I just hope that this news about this ccr diver is not correct...
 
You think that shallow fish and invertebrates are the same as those at significant depth?

No, but still not much to see down there in comparison to above 150 feet depth. I’ve been on a sub to 1000 feet depth.

It’s so dark down there, as soon as you turn on the light those fishes just disappeared into crevices as the groupers were hunting for them. You might see some crabs looking for scraps falling from above or nibbling on dead fish or mammals. Occasionally I saw mobula rays cruising by. That’s it.

That’s why I ask for example?

1333C13D-B263-4472-8DD0-E8C37AAF2F0B.jpeg
 
For example?
Sure, in the Gulf of Mexico there are more big grouper species that live in those depths than there are in the shallows. You get to see fully grown black grouper. I'm not talking the 10 pounders of S. Florida, I'm talking 100 pound carbos. Plus all the other species like this kitty Mitchel for example.

image1_146.jpg


Or how about seeing 400 pound Warsaws.

p1126050562360899.jpg


In Molokai Hawaii there are forests of black coral only found in deep water.

hawaii-state-gemstone-black-coral.jpg


In both the Atlantic and Pacific there are beautiful deep water reef fish very few people have laid eyes on. From anthias to basslets to angelfish.

deep-reef-fish-pyle.jpg



There's still much to be explored and discovered at these depths.
 
Hawaii home to largest deep-water coral reefs

Coral reefs in Hawaii’s oceanic twilight zone, where light still penetrates and photosynthesis occurs, are abundant and host a wide variety of life, a new study shows.

A paper published Tuesday in the journal PeerJ revealed that some of these ecosystems off the Hawaiian archipelago, particularly an area off Maui, are the most extensive deep-water reefs ever recorded.

The ecosystems, found in waters from 100 to 500 feet deep, host more than twice the amount of unique Hawaiian fish species as their shallow-water counterparts, and they are much more extensive than previously known.

“What is unique about this study is how vast and dense the coral cover is,” Richard Pyle, a Bishop Museum researcher and lead author of the publication, said.

Researchers surveyed much of the twilight zone, technically known as the mesophotic coral ecosystem, around the state and found a few hot spots that were particularly productive.

In a channel off Maui, the team said they found the largest uninterrupted coral ecosystem ever recorded, measuring more than 3 square miles with some areas showing 100 percent coral cover.

Previously, similar reefs in the Gulf of Mexico and off Okinawa, Japan, had been observed, but in much smaller colonies and at shallower depths.

“Although there was a bit of a hint that corals could survive … down at those depths, these reefs off Maui were far and away much more dramatic both because they were deeper and they had higher coral cover percentage,” Pyle said. They covered a “vastly larger” area.

The Maui corals were in an area that combines clear water, plentiful food and shelter from major swells.

While some coral lives in much deeper water, this discovery represents the deepest reef-building species that rely on sun-fueled algae to survive.

The difficulty of exploring depths beyond 100 feet means a large amount of knowledge about coral reefs is derived from those in more shallow water, said Randall Kosaki, deputy superintendent for the Papa- hanaumokuakea Marine National Monument at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

So the purpose of this study really was to characterize the other 80 percent of their depth range and see what’s down there,” he said.

The team also discovered an unusually high number of endemic fish species living in some areas, particularly in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. There the team found that nearly 100 percent of the fish species were unique to the region — the highest level of endemism ever recorded in any marine ecosystem.

It is “absolutely off the scale globally,” Kosaki said. “They are very significant contributions to global biodiversity.”

The team did not document any coral bleaching at those depths, but heat from spiking surface temperatures can penetrate deep into the ocean and cause harm to the fragile habitats.

“There is a time sensitivity to this exploration because due to climate change and other factors, we’re at risk of losing species before we even know they exist,” Kosaki said.

The study was conducted over the past 20 years by 16 scientists from NOAA, the University of Hawaii, Bishop Museum and state agencies.

The researchers contend that the largely unexplored ecosystem requires further understanding and protection.

One theory that they are exploring is something called the “deep reef refuge” hypothesis.

“If shallow coral reefs are more vulnerable to threats from, say, runoff or overfishing or whatever, then down deep these reefs could potentially serve as refuges for those species,” Pyle said.

But that assumes that the shallow reefs are more vulnerable, and it would only apply to the species that could survive at both depths, he added.

“We’re not really sure we can jump to that assumption,” Pyle said.

“They are incredibly unique. With the higher rates of endemism, they are incredibly rich,” Pyle said. “We should value them every bit as much as we value the shallow reefs.”

mesophotic.jpg
 
No, but still not much to see down there in comparison to above 150 feet depth. I’ve been on a sub to 1000 feet depth.

It’s so dark down there, as soon as you turn on the light those fishes just disappeared into crevices as the groupers were hunting for them. You might see some crabs looking for scraps falling from above or nibbling on dead fish or mammals. Occasionally I saw mobula rays cruising by. That’s it.

That’s why I ask for example?

View attachment 634187
You went too deep :) :) :)
 
If your not going to penetrate, why would one dive so deep? Bragging rights?

Everyone has their own motivations. Some simply like to go places where few have ever gone before. Some like peace and serenity found in the deep water. Some like the technical challenges of pushing themselves.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom