Absolutely Insane Dive Video - Cozumel

[boulderjohn]

Like most places, Cozumel DMs are usually fanatic about checking gas pressures of the divers in their groups. This is a tad off topic, but I hope it will be tolerated for its supposed level of amusement.

I had suffered a serious injury that kept me out of diving for a while. My trip to Cozumel would be my first real diving after my recovery. I wanted to do some serious dives, but I wanted to make sure I was up to it physically. I contacted an operator who does mixed trips of recreational and technical divers. I scheduled a couple of days of deep dives, up to 300 feet, but to be sure I was physically ready, I scheduled some workup dives before them. On the day before the first technical dive, I did a recreational dive day wearing the full set of gear I would need for the technical dives. The DM was fully briefed as to why I was geared that way. The dive featured a DM, two recreational divers, and me. During the briefing, I made sure all were aware of my situation, and I told them not to be concerned when they saw me practicing emergency skills like shutting my tank valves off, turning them on, switching gases, etc. I would let them know if I really needed help.

So we went on the dive, and I did a lot of practicing as planned. Eventually the DM turned and signaled to one of the divers to tell him how much gas he had. The diver complied. The second diver did the same. Then he turned to me with the same signal. I first responded with a look that said, "You've got to be kidding me!" He repeated the signal emphatically, though, so I pointed at each of my tanks in turn, telling him how much gas was in each. At that point in the dive I had a little more total gas than the three of them had combined when they started the dive. He gave me a puzzled look for a minute, as if he was processing all that information, and then had a sheepish "Oh, yeah" look.

He never asked me again.

 

[Allison Finch]

"I have to assume that the DM knew exactly how much air was being consumed by the both of us. " is what you said above.... Direct quote.

We have once again... A feeling of security often while unaware of or unconcerned of unpleasant realities or harmful possibilities...

Just sayin.

Sounds like your dive went okay and everyone survived in addition to extending bottom time on vacation during a paid trip. Okay.

But to come here on a public forum and to explain that this is common place is reckless. To have other inexperienced divers to somehow expect this kind of thing from a dive master is also reckless and easily foreseeable.

If a diver reads this kind of stuff here he or she may think that they can do this on their vacation in a week or month and at 60-100ft without telling the dive master of their plan to extend dive time to pull a stunt like this and jeopardize the rest of the group is also reckless.

If a Divemaster is focused on sharing air he is less focused on the rest of the team. That alone is less safe than avoiding this situation all together.

Garth





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All I can say to this rant is.....PHOOEY!!!

 

[Wingy]

+1 Allison. To deny that it happens around the world every day is burying your head in the sand. Nothing reckless about the truth.

 

[Garth]

Alright carry on with poor form. I suppose it's perfectly safe and actually should be part of dive planning. Funny how it isn't included in any dive planning I've been involved in. That must be because I'm some kind of ass for expecting that I should be planning enough gas for myself in addition to having some left over for an emergency situation that my buddy would need.

Since this isn't an emergency it seems as though any rule in scuba diving can be disregarded. I'm sure there were never any incidents that involved sharing air with someone.

I truly know this stuff goes on. I've been off boats where people don't know how to dive and try to breath off of someone else's regulator to extend dives. I always pray that they survive.

I would rather dive solo however so if I am in Coz I won't be caught in a situation where I'm sharing air with a dive master just because they do it all the time.

I'm not sure what is in this thread is taught during classes as an expected outcome like some have mentioned. Wonder why not? Seems like a literal no brainer.

Garth


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---------- Post added April 9th, 2014 at 08:37 PM ----------

Don't we already have a thread on shark feeding?

What would Peter Sotis say about promoting this practice?

Have you heard of ... "What you permit, you promote"?

I can't imagine this is something that dive leaders in the industry would support for vacation divers.

I'm not saying it's going to kill anyone by doing it, I'm simply questioning whether or not we should glorify such a practice and explain that it happens all the time so it must be safe.

Garth


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---------- Post added April 9th, 2014 at 08:40 PM ----------

I should have said that the only reason why I brought Peter Sotis into this is because if I remember correctly you took a rebreather class with him. I don't know him personally but I so know that he takes accountability for safety and is very public with his feelings.

I don't speak for him at all but would imagine that being a leader in the dive industry that he wouldn't exactly stand for such practice on his boat.

I could be completely wrong. Just a guess.

Garth


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---------- Post added April 9th, 2014 at 08:41 PM ----------

And so do we treat this practice on face value that it happens, we can't do anything about it? Or do we say ... I know it happens but it isn't ideal..

What say you?


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---------- Post added April 9th, 2014 at 08:45 PM ----------

Could it be that you, NetDoc, are catering to your customers (scubaboard) similarly to the DMs in Coz by being lenient on proper diving practices?

Don't mean to offend anyone but would like to continue the conversation a bit on this.

Garth


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[boulderjohn]

Alright carry on with poor form. ...etc.

So I gather from what follows that you are opposed to what you saw there as a planned practice promoted by a dive operation. Fine.

Now, can you rise above the sarcasm and discuss the reasons you are opposed to a planned practice by a dive operation?

In doing so, we can get away from the myth that this was a response to an emergency or just a couple of guys who decided to extend a dive after the diver is low on air. (Remember that as this is normally done, the diver is not low on air when the sharing begins.) Let's leave all the straw man arguments behind and deal with the actual situation.

Please notice that I have not expressed a personal opinion. I am just trying to move this discussion to actual practice of what happened, and for that to happen we have to talk about that specific practice and leave out all the nonsense that has nothing to do with it.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Sometimes people get hung up on the safest way to dive and the only way to dive. Would this type of air sharing go on in a DIR class? Not a chance. Did anyone die during this dive? No. Do they dive this way every day? Probably. If safety was the only factor in life we would all be driving Volvo station wagons. Just because you believe that the way you were trained to do things is the best way, it doesn't mean that it is the only way.

I think that the other divers in the group would have grumbled quite a bit back on the boat if the DM had called the dive early because one diver is an air hog. Hopefully that diver will continue to dive and become better skilled and more comfortable so that his air consumption will go down closer to others who choose to make these types of dives.

 

[uncfnp]

Is there something particular or unique about Cozumel diving that makes the dive ops require their divers descend and ascend together? Do all Cozumel boats follow this procedure?

 

[KeithG]

This looks like a typical coz dive to me. Nothing special. Nothing abnormal. Nothing thrilling. Nothing to see here. Please move along....

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Is there something particular or unique about Cozumel diving that makes the dive ops require their divers descend and ascend together? Do all Cozumel boats follow this procedure?

There can be a dozen boats in close proximity. When divers surface, their boat moves toward them to pick them up. At times divers will surface near another boat. They tell the crew of that boat where they are staying and the Captain then calls their boat. It can be very scary if you've never dived that way. DMs try to keep their divers together to avoid having to maneuver the boat through the madness to locate all of their divers.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

This is absolutely one of the most incredible videos I have ever seen. So at 100 feet diver experiences a free flow. Free Flow is handled by DM after he extends his octo. Looks like reg just needed to be propoerly set. What follows next is incredible. The leisurly stroll continues at 100 feet with the poor soul dangling off the DM's octo for how long? Wow..

1. What is the this diver doing at 100 ? no redundant air supply? clearly inexperienced
2. Lets check buoyacy and add weights at 100 feet right at he edge of a wall!! Great idea !
3. What was this DM thinking?????
4. No immediate attempt to ascend at a safe rate following the free flow.
5. What do we take away from this?


Things Go Wrong SCUBA Diving at 100 Feet - Cozumel - YouTube

OK, to set my take on the situation: I was not there nor have I ever been to Cosumel. I am a DM to include Deep, night, Ad. Nitrox / deco, Full Cave, etc. I have DM'ed in Japan as well as several places in the US and currently going thru my Tech. DM and trimix class. I have over 700 dives in low to very limited vis as well as depth. From what was provided by the OP we were lead to believe that it was a reg. failure. From there we viewed the video and saw the DM donate his reg., adjust the other diver's reg. and continue with the dive with little or no reguard. That was all that was provided. Now Mike states otherwise and he even states that he pretty much knows for fact that it was just a manner to extend bottom time due to the diver being an air hog. The problem I have with that is 1) a very piss poor way to extend bottom time and 2) if the diver is in fact an air hog, then is it better for the same air hog to be breathing off the same tank as another diver at depth? 3) If you put the air hog on your backup reg. would you not want to have that person in front of you so that you can keep an eye on them? 4) Would you, as a DM, just swim off towing the air hog behind you? This might happen in Cosumel but not in other places I have dived in. And please do me a favor, don't bring that BS of "lost of tips," into the conversation in trying to justify the actions of the DM. What is the lost of your loveone's life worth?
At this point I will challenge any DM or Inst. to prove me wrong in saying that this is totally an unsat. performance and all training groups will back me. You will not find the diving habit shown in the video prased by any training org. I am done.