Bent in Belize--Blue Hole Incident

[beaverdivers]

Well, short answer: because it is there. The Blue Hole Trilogy is The Belize Dive. It's like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower; Rome and skipping out on the Colisseum; seeing Victoria Falls without a dip in The Devil's Pool. It's something that almost every diving tourist goes to see, to do, to experience.

Signature Dives - they seem to be at every destination.

They cause the same problem everywhere. Divers feel that they must do these dives.

Is it a problem with the dive industry or the diver?

 

[vladimir]

Signature Dives - they seem to be at every destination.

They cause the same problem everywhere. Divers feel that they must do these dives.

Is it a problem with the dive industry or the diver?

Those dives became signatures for a reason. They are usually more interesting for one reason or another. If you have good divemasters, though, it is worth taking a cue from them. Sometimes it's better to avoid the signature dive in favor of a site that is less crowded, has better conditions on that day, etc. And sometimes the divemasters just want to burn less petrol or get home sooner.

 

[supergaijin]

Ask the question whether people will go to Egypt once in their lifetimes without going to see the pyramids. 99% would base their whole trip around it.

Is this the same for divers? Hard to say.

People who go to Dahab, Egypt would most probably dive their Blue Hole.
Going to Sharm means diving Tiran and Ras Mohamed- particularly Sharks & Yolanda or the Thistlegorm.

For beginner divers, I doubt these names mean anything until they get there and talk to other tourists.

 

[Mike]

Signature Dives - they seem to be at every destination.

They cause the same problem everywhere. Divers feel that they must do these dives.

Is it a problem with the dive industry or the diver?

It's trophy hunting, and it's mostly a male thing. The Blue Hole is forever tied to Jacques Cousteau. Another site he made famous and gave birth to Belize's cash cow.

It should be becoming pretty obvious the best views of the blue hole are from above it, not in it.

 

[themagni]

Any worries they might sue you for the money back if they found this thread?

Who, the insurance company? No, they seem like a very nice bunch of folks there. They mailed me, they called me a couple of times to see how I was doing, if I'd been able to get to a doctor, and it felt like they actually did care. The letter even said they were sorry that my vacation went all pear-shaped. Odds are they hired a couple of psychologists to write the letter, but hey, they at least pretend to care with enough passion to make it believable.

Further, it's not as though I'm making a false or misleading claim. I did some dumbarse shiat and got farked up. I could have been killed by my own stupidity and required urgent medical care while on vacation.

So, the treatment was considered medically necessary, cost 10x less than the death benefit, and less than what they'd pay their lawyers to get it back anyway.

As for discovery, I linked to this thread from my Facebook account, but it's a one-way link. While I don't mind my meatspace friends knowing my online name, I don't want the people who only know me online to know my real name. You'd be able to find me fairly easily if you knew my real name, and some of you, quite frankly, frighten me a little. The first page of google results [for my first name + last name] are my personal web page, then my linkedin page, then my facebook profile, a couple of launchpad links, then my mailing address.

And finally, while getting reimbursed was super nice, I will argue passionately until my last breath that what I learned -- and hopefully what everyone else has learned from this thread -- was worth the 10k.

 

[Mike]

All good. Just was wondering. If there was any chance they could get out of payment due to breaking some clause in their insurance. I brought it up because I believe that in the case of DAN insurance at one of their levels of coverage I was told that they have limits on the circumstances and you can do something to void the coverage.

 

[John_B]

I'm still going to counseling for the separation, and we've also been talking about the little brush with death. I do feel better now than I have in years.

I did go back and reread your original post the other day, and one thing struck me strictly from a legal sense. IANAL, nor am I Canadian, and I do think drawing up a basic will at least showed you had your family's best interests at heart during a (let's face it) massively stressful time.

That said, it might just be best to visit a lawyer and make sure your will, life insurance beneficiaries, and possible pension/retirement accounts are properly squared away. I'm sure a lawyer would advise you not to leave anything to your separated spouse that she isn't already legally entitled to. If your intent is to make sure the kids are looked after, have your will put any relevant assets in a trust expressly for the kids, which can then be used for the kids well being as the law allows and a trustee sees fit. Assets left to an adult to look after your kids can be squandered, or they can be swindled out of it (i.e. in certain states in the US, something as innocent as temporarily depositing the funds to a joint checking account could make the assets joint property). Worst case, that way if the trust were to be abused, there would at least be legal repercussions.

Best of luck on your recovery.

 

[Ayisha]

So, the treatment was considered medically necessary, cost 10x less than the death benefit, and less than what they'd pay their lawyers to get it back anyway.

Except that you did not buy DAN insurance until the day AFTER your accident and you're very lucky that they covered you anyway. They certainly didn't have to cover you retroactively at that point, and that speaks volumes for DAN.

 

[gcarter]

Except that you did not buy DAN insurance until the day AFTER your accident and you're very lucky that they covered you anyway. They certainly didn't have to cover you retroactively at that point, and that speaks volumes for DAN.

Reading comprehension fail and a heck of an accusation.

He did not have nor was covered by DAN. He was covered by his travel insurance according to his accounts here.

 

[Ayisha]

Sorry, I apologize. That's what it seemed to me from the first post below. This thread has been running so long, I forgot/didn't realize that the reimbursement he got was from the travel insurance.

Now, I didn't pick up DAN insurance. I had meant to, but with all the issues at home, I completely forgot to do it. There was only one thing to do, since I was getting close to“too late and live with it” Out came the MasterCard, and 6 hours and 6600 USD later I watched Mean Girls, American Wedding, and half of Cinderella Man. I talked with the nurse who rode with me.