Cave Diving in Cozumel - July 2006

[Jason B]

Please stay out until your prepared to dive without harming the cave - leave only bubbles. Practice, work out, whatever you need to do.

I'm going to agree here. You should be able to hover and pull the fin tip back to relieve the cramp. Swim out one finned if needed (part of cave class), hitch a ride on your buddy's butt d-ring if needed, but standing on the cave floor is a big no-no from what I was taught.

As for the buddy separation going through the restriction, I was taught that once I go through a restriction, to turn and wait for my teammate to exit the restriction.

As Mike pointed out, in some caves, floor contact will wipe viz to zero. You would have been in a world of hurt if this had happened.

 

[rjack321]

I was taught to "OK" the team at navigation points and cave features - like restrictions. Similar to what Mike does.

And when you have a problem the last thing you need is digging yourself a deeper hole by going further into the cave, whether that's pulling+gliding, swimming one-finned, whatever.

On the way in its the leads responsibility to turn around. On the way out you need to signal/swim forward to a buddy in front or flat turn and signal/wait for the one behind.

 

[Jason B]

And when you have a problem the last thing you need is digging yourself a deeper hole by going further into the cave, whether that's pulling+gliding, swimming one-finned, whatever.

I never meant to insinuate for him to head further into the cave once the cramp hit. That would be idiotic no doubt. Time to whip out the thumb when that happens. Unfortunately, the OP didn't do that, he continued and suffered several more cramps before trying to act. Had he thumbed the dive when the first cramp hit, they never would have made it to the restriction to begin with so the team (was it even a team?) separation would have never occurred.

 

[rjack321]

Me neither. I agree there would have been no shame in thumbing it earlier. I have thumbed every cave dive I've ever been on, its starting to go to my head...

Mr. Kevin was suggesting all sorts of pull and glide stuff was appropriate.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Our permenant solution was that we decided to stop and pow-wow prior to entering any restriction so that, if anyone in the team didn't want to enter, they had a chance to say so BEFORE anybody was in. It works real well but it isn't something that I remember ever coming up in our cave training or reading about. It was just one of those things that we had to run into and figure out on our own.

This is exactly what I was eluding to. Even if it is just a glance to see if we are all still there (preferably in close proximity). I know I don't want to go through a restriction or narrow section without my buddy being close by. If something happens I may not be able to turn or reverse and that could lead to some serious issues.


I blieve the sequence was:

(cut from OP's post)I’ve been following German, who’s unaware of my predicament, and seconds later he slips through a tight spot and disappears into a narrow passage. Having decided to turn the dive I hover and start waving my light from side to side to get his attention, but the glow of his light moves off further into the cave.

Lead goes into narrow passage without checking buddy. Buddy waves light. Not sure if lead sees this, but if lead would have stopped and checked, he would have seen buddy falling behind...?


My cave training did cover this (I am not sure if it is official curriculum) but the instructor was clear on the fact that you check buddy before going through just so you have that safety near you and he is close enough to get your help if needed.

My concern is not with loosing (temporarily) contact, that happens, but more with not apparently paying attention to buddy.

 

[rjack321]

This is exactly what I was eluding to. Even if it is just a glance to see if we are all still there (preferably in close proximity). I know I don't want to go through a restriction or narrow section without my buddy being close by. If something happens I may not be able to turn or reverse and that could lead to some serious issues.

I was taught to check in with the team:
At the mainline tieoff
At Ts or other navigational decision points
Anyplace where the next stretch of cave may limit communication (silt, restriction, etc.)

Its the leader's job to check.

 

[Meng_Tze]

So let me ask another question. Is the OP (mrPat) cave certified?

If he is, then this can be a mere 'lesson learned and no harm done dive'. I assume he would be able to exit on his own.

 

[mrpat]

Hey boys you're getting upset about nothing.
There is no way that I think German did anything other than a superior job.
I'd given him no reason to think I wasn't in fine form.
We'd spent an uneventful dive togeather with me leading on the way out earlier that day.
I gave him no notice while inbound on our afternoon dive that I was having difficulty.
And the moment I decided to stop and turn our second dive was stupidily just as he was about to pop into a minor restriction and wouldn't be able to see my light unless I was directly behind him.
As for my ability to pull and glide my way up to contact German and let him know I was aborting the dive---- Yea I could have done that, actually thought about it, just thought it wasn't necessary to bust my way up through the cave to let him know anything. Much better to stop, rest, and wait the minitue or so I knew it might take until he realized I wasn't still behind him.

Believe me fellows I wasn't worried. I was just tired and cramping. I had no doubt that I could exit the cave on my own if necessary, so there was no panic involved just the proper cave diving etiquite to wait for my buddy to notice my absense, find a suitable place to turn around, and come back to find out what happened to me.
It's hard to say if this was one, or two minutes. Time streches out in those situations. It's my personal belief that it was less than two minutes. Perfectly acceptable considering the particular cave formation we were in.

As for Rjack321 who said I should stay out until I could perform without hurting the cave.
You know -you got a point. I'm actually working out again after over 20 years to improve my strength and conditioning -for both my own health reasons and the fragile nature of the caves. The next time I go cave diving I'll undoubtedly be in better shape than I was this summer. However my initial reaction is to tell you to kiss my a#@.

Let he who has never knocked off a soda straw -cast the first spelotherm.
If you've always been perfect in every cave you dove go ahead and respond to this thread. Otherwise recognize that we're all doing the best we can on any given day. It's the love of the total cave diving experience that brings so many of us into this dangerous place, and all I can say is I'm doing the best that I can and proud to say I'm a cave diver.
Mr. Pat

 

[Kevrumbo]

Thanks Mr. Pat for the clarification and vindication; German is a good & competent Instructor and all-around cool dude to have a cerveza or two with. Even though I've just now committed to a GUE Cave 1 Course with teammates in late Aug '07 (Xpu Ha with CLM), I still may take NAUI Cave 1 with Yucatech in the interim: http://www.yucatech.net/instructorbio.htm

I always strive to be perfect in every wreck that I enter without stirring up silt (haven't done caves yet) . . .but sometimes it just "rains rust" anyway --everywhere at the turnaround point and all along the entire egress out. And stuff can happen.

Peace Y'all --Do the Right Thing. . .

 

[GDI]

Nice post. What I say here I will say as a critique and not criticism. While we can sit back and armchair the dive we can also learm from the points addressed here in this post by all concerned. All I can say and possibly add here is this:

During our dive training we learn a series of skills and procedures. These are improved as we get out and dive in the particular environments of choice. No two dives will be the same not even in the same environment. During our learning curve both as teacher and student we must understand that no one person can learn or teach all there is to know and that in the end regardless of the amount of training or dive experience we have no one person can ever prep for what I call the "Contigency of Stupidity"
The Contingency of Stupidity is not me calling someone stupid but rather pointing out that at times we will do things of our own failure of judgement or observation or experience things of another diver's failures of judgement or observation.

What I see here is that first of all the potential for a much worst scenario to have occurred, WHY?
Because the very basic rule of calling a dive for any reason what so ever at any time the moment something was not right was not carried out. The poster had cramps coming on and attempted to correct them, the attempt failed. It is here that the dive should have been called with no further penetration and most certainly not purposely standing on the silt leaving a potential to compound the problem even more, this was a case of a lapse of judgement (IMO). We should never let our enthusiasm get us into a position of higher risk.

The second thing I see here is the failing of another rule called the "the trust me dive". Granted that during a guided dive as such you are having someone take you through a passage. This does not mean that you should let your awareness down. In this situation because of your unfamilarity of the system you are the weak link regardless of your experience.You as the weak link are responsible and should control the movement of the dive in all aspects. It is very natural and easy by human nature that when we are familar with a place/area to move with much more ease. It is here, that we use the term "Never do a Trust ME Dive". Another diver may lead the dive or provide a guide service but you should never do a trust me dive - Trust me on This.
In this case the trust was not so much that you were following German but that the diver having an issue did not take control immediately of the problem and allowed the other (lead) diver to get away from him and thus at that moment you were doing a trust me dive relying on the other diver becuase of your physical impairment, cramps

In closing let it be said that it is not my intent to make any negative statements against the divers mentioned here. I do not know them or anything of them. German is a fellow instructor and I will leave it at that. Mrpat is a fellow cave diver who has chosen to write about his experience in Cozumel and I thank you for sharing that.

and if you are into quotes:
A superior diver is a diver who will keep themselves out of a situation that would require the use of their superior skills and knowledge