Blue Hole Hit

[pilot fish]

Pilot fish if you get the chance to dive the blue hole .. Do it !!! Its a fantastic dive . A group of 6 of us were there in Feb . We dove with Amigos Del Mar and found them to be a first rate class outfit. Vey safe. The ride out was horrible , very rough, even in their big cruiser, but the dive after made it all worth while. The stalagtites a very cool , not quite as nice as in some of the Cenotes in Playa but very big and interesting to see. The reef sharks came out to play as we ascended and provided some heightened adrenalin rushes. All in all a very memorible dive.
As to the lady with the bends. I agree with the others . Each person has to set their own limits on what they feel they can handle. We are all Advanced divers with 70+ dives and felt very comfortable decending to Rec limits. We had all been deep before and were careful to follow the limits on our computers. No body had any problems. I'd like to have a little more back ground on that ladies dive history and history of that dive before condeming the dive outfit.
just my 2 cents.

I do intend to do it [ would have done it that day if it were not a 3 hour boat ride to get there] but I will do it when I stay at Turneffe or Lighthouse.

 

[pilot fish]

I did the Blue Hole on my very first dive trip. I had 4 OW training dives and about 10 or 15 dives in Belize that week under my belt, total. I now realize I had no business going to 130' that day! At the time, the dive op and my friends all encouraged me to go, and I was confident as far as I knew, so I did it. Other people on the dive were as new as me and several had serious reservations, but all did it. One ran out of air at 110 feet and panicked. We had one instructor with us, and about 15 newbies trailing behind him.
I am all for taking personal responsibility, and if I had gotten bent then, I would have blamed myself, but I gotta say, if I were a dive operator, I would probably require at least 50 dives. Yes, there are lots of boobs with hundreds of dives, but the chances of a problem would be that much less. *shrug*

That's the type of story that scares me. I really think the Dive Op that encouraged you to do the dive would bear some responsibility if you had gotten hurt. Thank God you were ok.

What happended to the diver out of air at 110ft?

 

[matt_unique]

...
None of the people from my boat were AOW, a woman and her two teenage sons were OW with 70 dives, which I think might not be enough experience for that 130 ft dive and did the dive. No one at our Dive Op asked for, or required, AOW cert. I was told that other operators also allow divers to dive the Blue Hole with only OW cert and do not ask to look at log books. I realize our safety is our responsibilty but shouldn't there be a requirement of AOW, or OW with a lot of deep experience to dive the hole?

The minimum requirements for every dive certification I have ever seen or read about beyond OW or Specialties are ridiculous (too low) in my opinion. This includes instructor, tech certifications, etc. With that being said, I get the point of your post. You would think a responsible dive operator would want to minimize the risk of customer injury and lawsuits. In the U.S. we need to provide a DNA sample, take a drug test, and swear allegiance to God to ride a ******* go-kart nowadays. South of the border baby it's a different world. In some ways I find that relaxed safety standard more fun. It of course puts the onus on individuals to be responsible for their own safety (as should be the case).

--Matt

 

[pilot fish]

The minimum requirements for every dive certification I have ever seen or read about beyond OW or Specialties are ridiculous (too low) in my opinion. This includes instructor, tech certifications, etc. With that being said, I get the point of your post. You would think a responsible dive operator would want to minimize the risk of customer injury and lawsuits. In the U.S. we need to provide a DNA sample, take a drug test, and swear allegiance to God to ride a ******* go-kart nowadays. South of the border baby it's a different world. In some ways I find that relaxed safety standard more fun. It of course puts the onus on individuals to be responsible for their own safety (as should be the case).

--Matt

Man, that was funny. Yeah, here in the US we have to give blood and supply DNA samples. At Ramone's Resort in Belize they had a few dozen local kids jumping and diving into the water from the gazebo at the end of the pier, with guests snorkeling right under them. I thought, man this is a serious accident waiting to happen, till I realized, they don't give a rat's rectal because they will not lose in court. I think the same lack of standards apply to some dive ops in some remote locales. Transfer the responsibilty TOTALLY to you without even a cautionary note.

 

[Scuba65]

I'm OW only and i've been for over 16 yrs. now...I have no intention of getting my AOW at this point..cause what does having AOW give you??? I have over 3000+ dives in my 16yrs. i haven't been deeper than 150 and probably don't intent on it. so, that doesn't matter if you're AOW and have 16 dives or you're OW and have more dives. and like Mike said...i would rather go with someone that has OW like me and more experience than someone with AOW and new.

 

[pilot fish]

I'm OW only and i've been for over 16 yrs. now...I have no intention of getting my AOW at this point..cause what does having AOW give you??? I have over 3000+ dives in my 16yrs. i haven't been deeper than 150 and probably don't intent on it. so, that doesn't matter if you're AOW and have 16 dives or you're OW and have more dives. and like Mike said...i would rather go with someone that has OW like me and more experience than someone with AOW and new.

As would I. No subsitute for experience. Just becaue you're certified doesn't mean you're quailfied, they say.

But that gets a tad away from, should dive ops pay a bit more attention to certain things before allowing you to do the dive, as they do with the USS Speigel Grove, as an example?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

While I was in Ambergris Caye last week a woman staying down on Turneffe got the bends diving the Blue Hole. They rushed her up to Ambergris, 3 hours by boat, to the only chamber in the whole country. People said she was in a lot of pain, as they saw her coming off the boat, and her husband was in great distress. The group of divers on my dive boat went to the Blue Hole the next day, none of us had heard about it then, but I decided not to go because you had to be at the boat at 5:30 am for 3 hour ride to the Hole and pay an extra $195 usd. I figured, I was on vacation and didn't feel like getting ready that early and eating a crummy breakfast on the boat plus sharing a small head with 7 other divers.

None of the people from my boat were AOW, a woman and her two teenage sons were OW with 70 dives, which I think might not be enough experience for that 130 ft dive and did the dive. No one at our Dive Op asked for, or required, AOW cert. I was told that other operators also allow divers to dive the Blue Hole with only OW cert and do not ask to look at log books. I realize our safety is our responsibilty but shouldn't there be a requirement of AOW, or OW with a lot of deep experience to dive the hole?

Back about three years ago our local diving magazine "Northwest Dive News" published an article written by a gentleman who had just returned from a visit to the Blue Hole. In the article he describes his experiences of going to 150 feet on his 30th dive since OW certification ... which was mostly accidental because the DM's had only planned to go to 120 feet, but he wasn't paying attention and went deeper. He described how the DM's had planned for "decompression" by suspending cylinders at 20 feet for divers to breathe off of after their cylinders ran out of air ... and how "thank goodness there was more than one regulator on those tanks" because so many divers ran out of air and had to be escorted to the hang tanks by a DM. He also described how "anyone can do this" and used as an example, one woman on his boat who had previously only logged her obligatory 5 OW certification dives.

He thought this was the coolest experience in the world, and gave kudos to the dive operation for a great time.

Fortunately, Darwin wasn't on duty that day ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[david.tolan]

A thought.

Be careful about insurance, some insurances only cover you as deep as you are "qualified" - the fact that the guy who would sign off on your AOW may have less than 1/10th of your dives don't mean pooh to paper pushers. No AOW, diving to 25 meters, not insured any more.

But I'd sooner dive with the guy with the 3k dives. Providing he'll dive with 60 dive AOW wonders like me.

D.

I'm OW only and i've been for over 16 yrs. now...I have no intention of getting my AOW at this point..cause what does having AOW give you??? I have over 3000+ dives in my 16yrs. i haven't been deeper than 150 and probably don't intent on it. so, that doesn't matter if you're AOW and have 16 dives or you're OW and have more dives. and like Mike said...i would rather go with someone that has OW like me and more experience than someone with AOW and new.

 

[Spratman]

I could be wrong here, but when I read PF's original post, my take was that with the AOW, you usually get the deep dive cert, so you would understand it's much more involved that diving 60'.

I've been to 70' a couple of times, and was uncomfortable only because "am I not going to do something right during ascent." I've not had any problems as long as I stay with the NDL. But a couple of guys I dove with wanted to do 100' and I begged off.

The certification is irrelevant in itself. If an OW diver on that boat had 200 dives, and never was below 70ft, IMHO, they are crazy to go to 130ft and depend on the DM's guidance. Man....if we were talking cenotes here, people would be all over you! I know from experience....

I'll take the training and make sure that I know what I'm doing, prior to making that venture. Alot of people think I'm crazy already....no sense proving them correct!

Jack

 

[lord1234]

A thought.

Be careful about insurance, some insurances only cover you as deep as you are "qualified" - the fact that the guy who would sign off on your AOW may have less than 1/10th of your dives don't mean pooh to paper pushers. No AOW, diving to 25 meters, not insured any more.

But I'd sooner dive with the guy with the 3k dives. Providing he'll dive with 60 dive AOW wonders like me.

D.

is DAN one of those insurance companies?