Canadian woman lost - Puerto Vallarta. Mexico

[Norwegian Cave Diver]

@My Sunshine . Very sorry to hear your wife has passed away. Feel sad for you and your family. Thank you for posting your detailed account of what happened. I believe this will help us all understand what happened vs the speculation we would normally read. Sometimes these articles are people passing away due to medical issues and we can help ourselves feel better by saying "He/She passed away doing something they loved" But that doesn't sound like what happened Gloria. In My Opinion - Dive shops that mix experienced and new divers together and have only one Divemaster on the dive adds some real risk. The experienced and most likely the divers with the best (least) air consumption don't want to go to the surface early because of another diver. Leaving a single dive master with a choice to make. Take the person to the surface and leave everyone else at depth - or take everyone to the surface. There is no win. My advice to the new divers would be - only dive with a company that takes two staff underwater on every dive. Then you should have someone to go to the surface with and that person would stay with you. The Cancun side - Riviera Maya - has better visibility. I have been on many dives where the dive shop has asked me to be the last diver in the lineup under water. They see my Cave Certification and they only have one staff member underwater and they ask if i will help - and I am NOT a dive master and they know that. I am always happy to help another diver. If that means we are exiting early then that's ok with me. I hope that everyone who reads this article learns something from it. Even if it is a simple as an attitude change to those new divers we dive with. Again - very sorry to hear of your loss.

 

[kelemvor]

Wow, they really do things differently on the west coast of Mexico. My Mexican diving experience is limited, I've only gone twice - to the east (Cozumel). In Coz they require every diver to have a smb (emergency buoy). The folks that didn't bring one were provided one free of charge. As @netdoc said, you inflate the thing before you even reach the surface.Sounds like whoever the operator is could stand to ensure their customers have safety equipment.

The lack of a buddy is the biggest disappointment. Again, when I went to mexico, the op I dove with insisted that everyone had a buddy. Nobody was buddies with the dive guide that I can recall. Although even if the son was buddied with her (assuming he's a young man or child) I doubt that would have solved the problem. Most kids are conditioned to do what they're told, and the DM told everyone else to continue diving. It would have taken a buddy that was willing to defy the dm.

The whole thing sounds a bit sketchy to me for a first dive after certification. Clearly the shop could use some more staff if @mr sunshine offered to pay for a private DM but they didn't take him up on it. Most ops I've dove with are thrilled to accept additional money. Although usually there's more DM's around a dive shop than there are cockroaches, so finding an extra DM is simple.

 

[DandyDon]

In Coz they require every diver to have a smb (emergency buoy).

No, that's not true. Your Op might, but not all. None of my experience. It was one of the first things I bought, before my first dive trip, but few realize the importance. Now I carry a list of signal devices.

 

[lowflyer]

@My Sunshine,

I applaud your courage in presenting this information. Know that it will go further in promoting safety than the usual speculation that often fills threads of this type.
I am very sorry for your loss!

I'm guessing that PADI is keeping quiet because they want to try to remain in the shadows of any legal proceedings that arise, possibly even against PADI.

 

[RTC'83]

@My Sunshine:
Prayers for you and your family.

 

[BlueTrin]

@My Sunshine I am sorry for your loss.

Posting this information to help others is highly commendable, especially after what happened

I hope you found the closure you were looking for

 

[Mimijonz]

As an experienced diver (45 years exp) but a new DM (1 year) I was out there the next day looking for Ms. Miller. As a mother I wanted to take her son and hold him and never let him go. There are so many what ifs. On the divers side there are a few miss information on his assessment, but like Mr. Chambers started he isn’t a diver. There could have been a few different actions we all would taken I am sure. I speak of this story often and ask “what would you have done in this situation?” All my answers have been different. Sharing this story emphasizing everything that was mentioned in these entire posts will assist in mastering our sport and prevent such tragic events.

In 45 years of diving personally I haven’t seen so many crazy things divers have done in the past two years. Maybe because I am older and little more aware. I do not know. Finding a good dive instructor to start that training correctly (I do emphasize dive instructor) and a good dive company is imperative as we all know.

 

[My Sunshine]

As an experienced diver (45 years exp) but a new DM (1 year) I was out there the next day looking for Ms. Miller. As a mother I wanted to take her son and hold him and never let him go. There are so many what ifs. On the divers side there are a few miss information on his assessment, but like Mr. Chambers started he isn’t a diver. There could have been a few different actions we all would taken I am sure. I speak of this story often and ask “what would you have done in this situation?” All my answers have been different. Sharing this story emphasizing everything that was mentioned in these entire posts will assist in mastering our sport and prevent such tragic events.

In 45 years of diving personally I haven’t seen so many crazy things divers have done in the past two years. Maybe because I am older and little more aware. I do not know. Finding a good dive instructor to start that training correctly (I do emphasize dive instructor) and a good dive company is imperative as we all know.

So divers. It had been almost seven years since we lost our Little G. Wanted you to know that after multiple attempts at contacting PADI they finally sent me an incident assessment request four years after Gloria died. My message to you is don’t rely on PADI to keep you safe. Review every incident here on this board or with fellow divers. Personally after researching the likelihood of death while diving I recommend you don’t do it. Do a Wiki search on deaths while diving and read my research on the risks you are taking on. Miss our Little G forever.

 

[Hiszpan]

My message to you is don’t rely on PADI to keep you safe. Review every incident here on this board or with fellow divers.

This ! You could put almost any diving agency’s name where PADI is in the above quote and it would still hold. Learning to dive is like buying a second hand car - the seller (the Agency) will only draw your attention to shiny things and let you discover the ugly ones yourself. Decentralized knowledge of the community will save you.