Blue Hole Hit

[wreckchick]

ShakaZulu,

My shortest dive was with a guide that I took to 85' and managed to get 7 minutes of bottom time before he had under 1000 psi. A single AL80 is nowhere near enough air to safely conduct a dive to 130'. Not that it isn't enough for a diver with a reasonable sac rate to do the dive and get on the boat with 500 psi, but what if the dive isn't perfect?

Rachel

 

[ScubaTwo]

One reason I think AOW right after, and during OW cert, can you imagine?, is foolhardy because you have the instructor holding your hand on those deep dives. Again, I don't care what your cert is, nothing beats experience.

While I agree with you in therory, I do think a Dive Op should at least, at the very least, say to an inexperienced diver, after looking at their log, I'm not sure this dive is good for you yet.

Im not sure I understand PF. Do you want them to hold your hand or not? If your over 18 and diving you are responsible for you and should have some ability to determine what is safe and within your limits.

 

[PaulChristenson]

EEEEEKS! I get cold in 82 degrees...I'd like to try my version of "through the ice diving" in the lakes around me, but my Dad has said I would need more expierence! I think it would be neat to see the different marine life and artifacts!

Come up to Lake Champlain...Victory Sports does an excellent Ice Diver program...

Paul in VT

 

[Mo2vation]

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?

I was in Turneffe last week.

I knew the woman and her husband. Wifie and I rode over from Belize City to the resort with them. We hung out and had meals with them on Saturday and Sunday. We took pictures together.

We dived with the woman and her husband on Sunday. They were in our boat.

The incident didn't occur at the Blue Hole. It occured on the second dive of the first diving day (Sunday) right before lunch, at one of the dive sites a few minute's ride from the resort. This dive was very, very mellow. We did a check out dive in the AM, then the second Am dive was our first "real" dive.

My profile for this second dive, the one where she took the hit, showed us at about 68 feet.

Lots of conjecture and mis-statements in the first half-a-zillion replies I read here.

We all stayed in touch with her throughout the week via the Resort Manager. We recieved updates several times a day. I helped gather her things from the dive boat. The Chamber in San Pedro provided lots of information to us about possible causes, things that may have contributed, etc. Most of what the Chamber offered confirmed that the hit was not a result of the guppy check out dive and this mellow Am dive, but was most likely brought on by a string of out-of-water stuff.

It was the first time I've ever been there when someone got hit. She didn't just get hit - she got pounded. It was pretty damn scary, and it put a funk on the group for quite a while.

Again: Second dive. Mellow dive. She wasn't in the terribly overrated Blue Hole. Water temp 87 - 90 degrees. Max depth for us was about 68 feet. I did just over 65 minutes on that dive.

---
Ken

 

[ScubaTwo]

I was in Turneffe last week.

I knew the woman and her husband. Wifie and I rode over from Belize City to the resort with them. We hung out and had meals with them on Saturday and Sunday. We took pictures together.

We dived with the woman and her husband on Sunday. They were in our boat.

The incident didn't occur at the Blue Hole. It occured on the second dive of the first diving day (Sunday) right before lunch, at one of the dive sites a few minute's ride from the resort. This dive was very, very mellow. We did a check out dive in the AM, then the second Am dive was our first "real" dive.

My profile for this second dive, the one where she took the hit, showed us at about 68 feet.

Lots of conjecture and mis-statements in the first half-a-zillion replies I read here.

We all stayed in touch with her throughout the week via the Resort Manager. We recieved updates several times a day. I helped gather her things from the dive boat. The Chamber in San Pedro provided lots of information to us about possible causes, things that may have contributed, etc. Most of what the Chamber offered confirmed that the hit was not a result of the guppy check out dive and this mellow Am dive, but was most likely brought on by a string of out-of-water stuff.

It was the first time I've ever been there when someone got hit. She didn't just get hit - she got pounded. It was pretty damn scary, and it put a funk on the group for quite a while.

Again: Second dive. Mellow dive. She wasn't in the terribly overrated Blue Hole. Water temp 87 - 90 degrees. Max depth for us was about 68 feet. I did just over 65 minutes on that dive.

---
Ken

Thank you for the update and correct information. I hope she is doing well. Can you give us the out-of-water stuff that may have contributed? Im an older diver and not in the best shape and admittedly have some less then desireable habits. Even as Im trying to improve these things I worry constantly. Again I hope she is recovering and doing well.

 

[pilot fish]

I was in Turneffe last week.

I knew the woman and her husband. Wifie and I rode over from Belize City to the resort with them. We hung out and had meals with them on Saturday and Sunday. We took pictures together.

We dived with the woman and her husband on Sunday. They were in our boat.

The incident didn't occur at the Blue Hole. It occured on the second dive of the first diving day (Sunday) right before lunch, at one of the dive sites a few minute's ride from the resort. This dive was very, very mellow. We did a check out dive in the AM, then the second Am dive was our first "real" dive.

My profile for this second dive, the one where she took the hit, showed us at about 68 feet.

Lots of conjecture and mis-statements in the first half-a-zillion replies I read here.

We all stayed in touch with her throughout the week via the Resort Manager. We recieved updates several times a day. I helped gather her things from the dive boat. The Chamber in San Pedro provided lots of information to us about possible causes, things that may have contributed, etc. Most of what the Chamber offered confirmed that the hit was not a result of the guppy check out dive and this mellow Am dive, but was most likely brought on by a string of out-of-water stuff.

It was the first time I've ever been there when someone got hit. She didn't just get hit - she got pounded. It was pretty damn scary, and it put a funk on the group for quite a while.

Again: Second dive. Mellow dive. She wasn't in the terribly overrated Blue Hole. Water temp 87 - 90 degrees. Max depth for us was about 68 feet. I did just over 65 minutes on that dive.

---
Ken

Ken, is it possible we are talking about two different incidents? The lady that I'm referring to was brought to the chamber on Tuesday, exactly one day before my boat went to the Blue Hole. I'm sure of that time frame. It doesn't seem likely that if your friend took a hit on Sunday that they would have waited till late afternoon, early evening on Tuesday to bring her up to the chamber.

 

[pilot fish]

Im not sure I understand PF. Do you want them to hold your hand or not? If your over 18 and diving you are responsible for you and should have some ability to determine what is safe and within your limits.

Scubatwo, I think you misread my post. I said that when an OW diver goes for AOW cert during/right after OW cert, the instructor is there to hold their hand so no real, independent deep dive experience occurs. It's one thing to do a deep dive with a qualified instructor and another to do it with another diver of similar dive experience as you.

As far as Dive Ops go, I think there should be more scrutiny of log books and if a dive is clearly over your experience level, not cleared for that dive. It should not ONLY be about money but safety as well. A new diver, regardless of age, might not realize that a particular dive is beyond their experience level.

 

[m3830431]

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.

I went from OW to AOW and had a whole 9 dives than EANx with a total of 12 dives. Just because I was certified I had no intention of doing anything crazy. I thought it was good to continue the diving experience with supervision. It has been awhile now and I still know my limits.

 

[Dragon2115]

As far as Dive Ops go, I think there should be more scrutiny of log books and if a dive is clearly over your experience level, not cleared for that dive. It should not ONLY be about money but safety as well. A new diver, regardless of age, might not realize that a particular dive is beyond their experience level.

Sorry if you think this might be rude but the impression I keep getting from your posts is that you do indeed feel that dive ops should be obligated to protect people from themselves. And I have to thoroughly disagree with that. Anybody that was trained properly (and was paying attention in class) learned what the recommended limits for each certification level are and what the risks for exceeding them are. If a person decides to exceed those limits then it is their own choice (as it should be) and the consequences are their own responsibility (also as it should be). The only reason U.S. dive ops would deny a diver anything is because of the liability risk that could finacially ruin them when the next of kin decides it's time to cash in on their relatives misfortune. Thank god the rest of the world doesn't operate with this same mindset or just like here in the U.S. we'd be having to provide DNA samples and drug test results just to ride a friggin go-kart there as well.

Consider this for a moment. What do you think the responsibility should be for dive ops in Bonaire that offer unlimited shore diving packages? After all, they're providing you with the vehicle to get to the dive sites, the tanks to dive with (i.e the method and the means), and requiring absolutely no supervision what so ever. Basically they ask for your c-card when you first get there, go out for one shallow check-out dive, and then they turn you loose to do whatever you feel like doing. There is nothing to stop an OW diver with five dives from going to 140 fsw if they wanted to. The Hilma Hooker is a wreck that can be reached right from shore and there's nothing to stop an unqualified diver from attempting to penetrate the wreck. Should the dive op be held responsible should someone get bent or die there? If your answer is that it's the divers responsibility, then why shouldn't that apply elsewhere in the world?

The basic problem I see is that the mindset in the U.S. (due to safety nut nerf-worlders) has gone from one of fierce independence and personal responsibility, to one of, I'm too stupid to think for myself so someone else has to do it for me. And if I do make a mistake and get hurt, it's someone else's fault and they should have to pay for my mistake.

In my training it was stressed that we were independant divers and that we were responsible for thinking for ourselves and making our own decisions. Remember the part about anybody being able to call the dive for any reason? If a person isn't ready to do that then imo they aren't ready to be an OW diver at all and should be held at the lower level scuba diver rating (and limited to diving with an instructor) until they can show proficiency and the ability to think for themselves.

Sorry if I seem a little strong on this topic but it's one of the things that gets me very torqued up these days. This country is in serious need of major Tort Law reform.

Thought for the day:

The human race is the only species on the planet in which the stupid not only survive, but thrive and reproduce in ever greater numbers.

 

[pilot fish]

I went from OW to AOW and had a whole 9 dives than EANx with a total of 12 dives. Just because I was certified I had no intention of doing anything crazy. I thought it was good to continue the diving experience with supervision. It has been awhile now and I still know my limits.

You are an intelligent diver. You know your limits and are not going to dive over your head. Good for you.