Cozumel-Diver lost

[rmann9]

I am down here now. I was diving Punta Sur Sur on Sunday as well. There were a lot of boats on it at the same time. After we came out of a swim through on the wall side, the current had switched to the south. The current on the island side was going north. It was Studio Blue who she was diving with. I am told she was found 20 miles south of the point where she was lost.

 

[pilot fish]

It's just a miracle that the tens of thousands of divers who have done this on Al80s with air in the past are still walking this earth. Are you planning on finding doubles and trimix for your next try?

80s are fine,[ I've done it twice before with 80s], if everything goes as planned and there are no problems, but if something should go wrong, as you well know it can, and does, 80s on NOT so fine.

 

[jasondcrawford]

For that matter, it is especially true with "snorkeled" divers, and "split fin" divers.

Hey man, some of us got suckered into buying those fins by our dive shop dude who works on commission when we first took our classes! Some of those same people (me -- sadly enough) can't justify spending the money on "cool" fins when we have perfectly "good" split fins.

Maybe next year for Christmas!

 

[cinder4320]

I am told she was found 20 miles south of the point where she was lost.

Did you hear she was recovered or found alive?

Miranda

 

[diver 85]

80s are fine,[ I've done it twice before with 80s], if everything goes as planned and there are no problems, but if something should go wrong, as you well know it can, and does, 80s on NOT so fine.

I have dove it on hp 120's only(3 times I believe), on all those dives we've made an hour+ dive each time ending up down Columbia a long ways.......The very 1st time(no camera with me on that dive, shucks!!) right before we surfaced on an 80+ minute dive, 6 eagle rays came by us heading out to the wall, made for a great little dive, one that I will honestly never forget......That's one of the reasons I use that dive shop there......You have to be careful & use your head on that dive---& everything should be OK.....

 

[pilot fish]

I am down here now. I was diving Punta Sur Sur on Sunday as well. There were a lot of boats on it at the same time. After we came out of a swim through on the wall side, the current had switched to the south. The current on the island side was going north. It was Studio Blue who she was diving with. I am told she was found 20 miles south of the point where she was lost.

Do you have further details? We would appreciate anything you can find out. Thanks

It sounds like it was very crowded at that site? Sounds like more accidents waiting to happen.

 

[wedivebc]

I thank you those who posted videos of the dive at Devils Throat. I was told about the site, and how dangerous it could be in Cozumel. It bothered me big time to see divers with unsecured regs/SPG going through dive throughs.... Scarry to see that young man struggling through with tubes hanging all over, just asking to get snagged.
.

Are you kidding. The floor of that tube is polished smooth from the thousands of consoles and octos (mostly rentals) that get dragged though it. I doubt you could get snagged if you tried.

 

[cicopo]

This has nothing to do with the missing diver (but I am trying to learn more about that) but I have done Devil's Throat twice, and depending on the dive op & skill level of the divers there can be a 3 cavern dive all done as part of the dive. You can do the main tunnel, which exits at about 120 feet (the roof of the opening) to 128 feet (the floor). You may then be led into the cavern called Cathedral which goes upward maybe taking you back to about 100 feet (didn't really check my computer when we did it), and then back down through a much smaller cavern that I didn't do (dive bare & wasn't willing to risk getting a coral cut / infection). All the others that dive did all 3, and we were using 80's and still had a lengthy dive after the 3 way swim through, working our way shallower as dictated by our computer deco warning time, using whichever divers gave a 3 minute warning first.
I have however dove with one of the dive ops that does cater to the cruise ship divers and although it was many years ago and at the time I was diving with resort guests only but they did put a new diver at great risk without explaining the risk to them, nor to me and I was appointed as his buddy. That particular dive will always keep my alert regarding where my buddy is because when we got back on the boat his remark was "what a great first dive" to which I commented "do you mean for today or this trip" His reply, "no, it's my first dive since getting certified back in Chicago". We had just done a dive that started the drift at a planned depth of 120 feet. I dove with that op for a 2 week period and in that time saw 3 potentially dangerous situations because as long as a diver had the money they would let them dive to any depth with only the resort course training. Hopefully they have improved but I will never recommend them.

I will add that to me Devil's Throat isn't worth the waste of bottom time for what it is, I only did it because the group wanted to. Too much time wasted getting organized at the entrance & exit if there are many divers.

 

[diver 85]

cicopo...pretty much my feelings about diving it any more, the 1st time was(sort of) my asking, the next 2 were cuz others wanted to......that's one I can say been there done that-- got any other ones??.....lol...................GEAUX TIGERS..............

 

[RonFrank]

Have you ever dove Devil's Throat, Ron?

I would be happy to let it go, Ron. Let's do that?

Any more info on this accident?

If you have read my posts you would know that the photo I provided was mine, and that I have done Devil's throat only once. We did two swim throughs, both enjoyable, and both without incident.

We dove it with BlueXT, and she made DAMN sure that everyone on the boat was experienced. We had a nice group that had been diving together doing 4 tanks a day for several days before we were allowed to do this dive. We were trying to get approved to do Barracuda, so they were putting us through the paces on more advanced sites every day.

On the morning we did the Throat (first dive of the day) Christy provided everyone with AL100's to make sure we had adequate gas, and we all had lights. Our group had been doing over 1 hour dives to 100fsw on AL80's, multi-level all week so the OP was aware of our SAC rates, but even with a group of good breathers, using AL100's is prudent. AL80's with a bad breather would be real trouble. One newbie we dove with on one PM trip that week (our less aggressive dives) went through an AL80 in about 20 minutes at less than 80 feet. IOW's death on Devils Throat with an AL80 for that diver unless he could share air.

Another factor was the DM, and Captain. Mago got into position, and Pedo dropped down, surfaced, and they repositioned the boat. We were all ready to go, Pedo dropped in again, surfaced, and said dive. We got in the water quick, did a fast decent, and hit the entrance perfectly. There was little room for error, or screwing around which also makes this an advanced site.

BlueXT did a VERY good job of ensuring the folks doing this dive had the skills, the SAC rate, and the equipment to do it safely even if only a couple folks had redundant air supplies.

The Devils Throat is an advanced deep dive in an overhead environment. However the vis is excellent, and no possibility of silt out which makes it less dangerous than most overhead sites. The reported depth is less that the 135' I've often seen posted. My log shows 124'. We could have gone deeper, but there is no reason to do so.

I have provided as much information as I could find on this tragedy. I could likely PM some folks in Coz, and maybe gain more info, but anything they would tell me would likely remain in confidence, so that is pointless for the purpose of public discussion.

As none of us know the woman's background, I would suggest we end the speculation and discussion on Cruise ship divers. If folks want to discuss that aspect of diving, my suggestion is a new thread in a more appropriate forum.