Accident & Incident Discussion - Northernone - aka Cameron Donaldson

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!



A ScubaBoard Staff Message...



Thank you!



It's us that should be saying THANK YOU to you for the hours of cleanups!!

Thank you!! :grouphug2:
 
Of all the possibilities that I have read not one seems highly likely, but obviously something bad happened.
As a result, I can't think of one thing that would constitute a "lessons learned" that could prevent a similar
event in the future.

I will note that I do not believe the downwelling theory. It was reported that as some point that the mom
did not see any bubbles. If she was at the top of the wall, it is possible, perhaps very likely, that she could
have taken care of personal issues, secured the camera, verified her air and deco status then looked down
to see no bubbles. In the short time she was not looking, the current just moved the bubble stream
downcurrent where they ascended out of sight. Additionally, since she was drifting northish as well, she
should have encountered the downwelling or some aspect of it.

There is one aspect that could save or recover another missing diver and that was the dive community search
and rescue operation that sprang to life. While great efforts were made on the assumption that he made it
to the surface, there was nothing that I read that confirmed that he made it to the surface. The fact that he never
rejoined with mom doesn't mean that he did not surface, but it is clearly a possibility that he did not.

Thus the massive plane and searches search were important, but it may be that the recovery aspect was not given
high enough priority. Don't take anything that follows as criticism. They are my musings on how this tragic
event can turn in to something that has great outcomes in the future.

Ideally, given adequate resources, you cover the area at the wall down as far as possible and as far north as the
person could have possibly been carried by the current. You also run a linear (with the current) grid from the
wall to the shore..again going as far north as the person might have been carried by the current. This assumes that
the person is on the bottom. If the bottom is sloping like at one or more of the Palancar sites, the person might
be found. If the wall is closer to vertical with the bottom beyond reasonable search then you accept that reality.

A surface search using boats would be conducted also using a linear grid. The lead boat might be along the wall
or other suitable reference. One or two boats could be towards open water a suitable distance from the lead
boat and the majority of the boats are distributed towards shore. I am not a boat person so some things may need to
change. Personally, I would have boats arranged in a V formation so all boat captains can see and maintain lateral
spacing with the lead boat. Three or more observers on each boat look forward, left and right (port/starboard).

Knowing the currents you continue to a point perhaps two miles past where the person would be located on the
surface using worst case surface or deeper currents.

During this process you drop two buoys with a trackable Spot on them. One near the disappearance point and
one near where the person would be expected to be on the surface. These would aid in plane searches.

The boat surface search and trackable buoy can be practiced in a non-emergency manner to refine techniques
and get a large enough trained cadre of boat assets that a rapid search can be started when needed. Many things will
become apparent and resolved as you practice. One thing is how to record where you have searched. On boats,
you can have GPS units that record the path taken. Somehow that is recorded at the command center. The same
applies to the underwater searches but may just be dropoff and surface pickup locations with lines on a computer
map program or as simple as grease pencils lines on plastic over a map.

This capability will be needed again. Too many divers go missing and a Cozumel dive op SAR capability as suggested
by someone might be the difference between rescue or recovery or a forever missing diver.

As for divers, consider whether you need a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB), Surface Marker Buoy (SMB), mirror,
dye pack etc.

I am a believe in rescue diver training but if you and your normal buddy can't do that, get additional practice
bringing a non-cooperative diver up some safe distance. Talk to an instructor at home or see if you can get that
practice on an instructor supervised dive in the ocean.
 
Hi @lionfish-eater

Thanks for the information regarding the meeting area at the crack in the wall. Await your confirmation that it is out from the Coral Princess

Do you happen to also know the location of the reef damage identified by the search divers?

If its the crack that most people who go to see the eagle rays know, it would be the one almost in front of Los Brisas Condos which is next to Playa Los Rocas. It is around 75 ft deep there at the top and slopes down. There is sometimes a downwelling in the sandy area before the crack. It is more pronounced at the top as opposed to deeper down. The currents have not been fast this year compared to previous years.
 
As an aside, one of my friends was scootering on a steel wreck up here, failed to navigate an overhead beam properly and clocked herself in the forehead hard enough that it rattled her. She speculated that had she not been wearing a 9mm hood, it would have been a much harder hit and could have even knocked her out potentially.

Had this happen as well, though I wasn't driving. I was hitching a ride from my buddy when my scooter's battery died. My placement was directly behind and slightly above him, and he didn't clear a dock beam by quite enough. I can say that's the closest I've ever come to being knocked unconscious underwater. Definitely threw me for a loop.
 
I'm sorry we could not figure out where the reef damage was that was identified by the search divers. Other than that, this is it:
upload_2019-4-1_19-41-27.png
 
I guess if and when a recovery is made then that's when some facts will emerge.

I recall he was diving with a Shearwater. If he was diving with a computer that located his surfacing location, such as a Descent, then possibly even more might be known.
 
Pretty decent slope on this wall. Looking at the Navionics chart using the key and estimating the separation area based on depth features of a sharp wall as his mom reported he went over, In just 200 feet with a down current or loss of buoyancy, he'd be around 300 ft. deep from 150 ft. Moving in a 3 knot current he'd be at that depth in ~60 seconds. 6 knots, ~30 seconds. Could be more dramatic a little south.

My observation above doesn't mean much, but the chart provides a decent understanding of the estimated separation point where his mom reported his bubbles were going down or at least not visible any longer.

Capture.JPG
 
I'm sorry we could not figure out where the reef damage was that was identified by the search divers. Other than that, this is it:
View attachment 512622

Post number 7 indicates they normally only separted for 5 or 10 minutes (when he was deep) and it was assumed that this was the plan on the day of the accident.

Is the map consistent with that? I'm not sure of the scale; can the distance between the separation point and meeting points be traversed in 5-10 minutes for someone without a scooter?
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom