Bent in Belize--Blue Hole Incident

[tracydr]

Interesting. In Truk I saw people diving the San Francisco Maru (deck at 165fsw) on single AL-80's. Sure, the guides are slinging extra tanks and they stage some tanks at the tie-in, on the line, and there's a reg at 20' but holy cow... Some of these people should not have been doing ANY dive in Truk, much less 165fsw. The Odyssey's approach is "you are adults, here's the dive site... it's up to you to plan your dive - including whether to do the dive at all." They offered an earlie/shallow dive for anyone not wanting to do teh SFM, and one guy did take them up on that, but everyone else was going to dive "the money wreck" regardless.

One of the reasons my husband and I are going to get tech/trimix training is to do the Truk dives. But, I refuse to do them on air. We also won't do them on single tanks. Deep air doesn't bother him so much but I reallly feel uncomfortable past about 110 feet due to narcosis.

 

[Hawkwood]

...The day I dove the Hole, at least four of us, including myself, were OW divers with absolutely zero right to be doing that dive. One had recently been certified, and the others had limited dives (under 20).. I went down with an instructor who stayed with me, and only me, the entire dive - probably the only saving grace of the day. Yet I consider it the most idiotic thing I've done to date in my diving career - though I did not go down beyond 110'. I had absolutely no right to be diving there - period. Even with 200 dives behind me, it's not anything I'd consider diving now...

Thiad,

Give what you wrote, what compelled you to go ahead and do the dive anyway? Or were your comments in "hindsight". I'm not looking to criticize. We went out to the Blue Hole, but sat the dive out.

 

[Hank49]

I would agree that there may not be a long list of accidents occurring at that site however that does not mean it is a good idea or a smart idea. Taking new divers to 150+ feet on an AL80......I would think that most anybody that thinks there is nothing wrong with this is making money from taking those divers there.

This isn't unique to the Blue Hole. I would guess that the OP would have had a problem sooner or later, where ever he dived. I'm glad he's ok, but he screwed up. The Blue Hole had nothing to do with it.

 

[ScubaSteve]

This isn't unique to the Blue Hole. I would guess that the OP would have had a problem sooner or later, where ever he dived. I'm glad he's ok, but he screwed up. The Blue Hole had nothing to do with it.

I agree...the dive site had nothing to do with it. The dive plan, however, was flawed from the beginning putting the diver in the position where they had to solo dive at 100+ feet if they chose to not follow the DM to his depths OR to follow the DM to those depths without sufficient training and/or equipment and/or experience. Don't get me wrong, I have said that the decisions the OP made were wrong IMO......it seems that he accepts that he is to "blame". My point is that the operators that will take divers out to the Blue Hole are willingly endangering the divers by making bad decisions on their behalf or forcing them to essentially abort a dive at a cost of X dollars. Not the kind of operator I want to associate myself with......but that is just my opinion.

 

[RJP]

One of the reasons my husband and I are going to get tech/trimix training is to do the Truk dives. But, I refuse to do them on air. We also won't do them on single tanks. Deep air doesn't bother him so much but I reallly feel uncomfortable past about 110 feet due to narcosis.

FYI - if you want to do those dives on TMx, you'll be limited to one, specific land-based op. Odyssey will blend whatever EANx you want, but they don't have He.

 

[Thiad]

Thiad,

Give what you wrote, what compelled you to go ahead and do the dive anyway? Or were your comments in "hindsight". I'm not looking to criticize. We went out to the Blue Hole, but sat the dive out.

Stupidity? I am highly ashamed of my actions, actually but hope that others can learn from my mistake. There was nothing I saw that was worth it so it's hindsight. A few months later, after much more diving locally, I took my AOW and eventually the Deep Water Specialty. It was then I discovered not a single precaution discussed during those courses was taken during that dive. I was stupid - very stupid and did what is called a "trust me dive".

But as for the Scuba Cops, it's up to each individual whether to dive this or not. I can only speak of my own experience. This isn't a dive for beginners or OW divers but that's my opinion.

 

[peterbj7]

To the OP

I've only just been referred to this, as there is no cross-reference from the Belize forum.

We had a conversation about your proposed diving quite recently on the Belize forum. I and at least one other gave you specific advice, all of which you seem to have ignored. You are lucky to be alive.

That said, you've shown a lot of courage coming on here like this. I'm in San Pedro - I live here - and if you'd like to meet up for a chat then send me a PM here, or simply ask the Chamber staff to contact me. I'd like you to. Remember that I have many dives in the BH, and on some of them I've taken students all the way to the bottom. I do know what I'm doing. And I was at the Chamber only a few days ago on other business, just before you made your first involuntary visit.

 

[peterbj7]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Note: New side-topic thread moved from Belize forum to merge with this one

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[Ordie]

Themagni, I'm glad to hear that you are starting to recover. Divers generally do not write about their own mistakes, so kudos to you for having the nerve to tell us your story. A few years ago my wife and I were in Belize and did the same Blue Hole trip. The DM on our boat said the same thing to us. "the dive is to 130 ft, your computer will go into deco so ignore it, everyone was diving his computer. The vast majority of the divers had less than 10 dives. One diver we talked to had said he was at 150 ft at one point during the dive, and his 13 year old son had gotten narced. My wife and I did not do the dive. Although every diver is and should be responsible for the dives he/she does, dive operators have a moral obligation to ensure divers are diving within their limits.

IYAOYAS

 

[CCRDolphinDiver]

I am seeing a recurring theme here: "Why did the dive shop let you do this?" "Why did the DM lead you on this beyond limits dive?" "Why didnt the operator assign dive buddys?" All shifting blame or responsibility from the diver to someone, anyone, else but the one personally responsible for their own safety, the one who agreed to do the dives, without training, without proper equipment, in an unfamiliar environment.

Since when is anyone else responsible for an individual divers safety? Are we not all taught to respect our limitations? Are we not taught that every dive is our own responsibility? Are we not taught that we can call any dive for any reason at any time?

If you are not prepared to make your own choices as to your own limits you really have no business diving. I won't be jumping off of a bridge no matter who tells me it will be just fine.

And yes, this from the guy who re-plumbed a semi-closed rebreather and took it to 300 feet on trimix. I make mistakes too, just not that many in one day.

I wonder how many missing persons are at the bottom of the blue hole? Perhaps this is why we never hear of any accidents there, its too easy to hide the bodies. : )