Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[Craig66]

BUGBAGGER please do not leave this discussion. Your second post is significantly more thoughtful and respectful of the pain that everyone is feeling than your initial posting and as you said it was written in the height of emotion. You bring up some very valid points and as someone that has dived over 60 tanks with SM and loved everyone of them, the news of this week has shaken me to the core. These are an amazing group of people and I feel an incredible sadness and pain from these events - I would also not be honest if I did not say that there was also an element of dissapointment and anger in the fact that this accident seems so painfully unneccessary. Cozumel is a special place and until you have been and seen it is something not easily understood. SM and Opal embodied cozumel and this hurts.

 

[BUGBAGGER]

Craig66

Thank you for reading my reposting and accepting my attempt to convey my message more clearly. I am sorry that my hasty post caused you and others angst. I am very sorry for the pain that so many are feeling. Though this is the accidents and incidents forum I hope that someone will have some good news about the divers' condition soon. Regardless of the cause, these people have obviously given of themselves to many, many people and though their actions may be disappointing their lives and wellbeing is paramount.

 

[allenwm]

What Texas Torpedo has posted regarding this incident is about as close to the truth as you will get at this point. I got the same information from one of the divers and it wasn´t the one that is doing the best. The location, the dive plan to 250', what occured at the planned depth, the ascend buddy breathing on one tank, going back down to 60-70' this was his account as to what happened.

 

[WSOPFAN]

I got the same information from one of the divers and it wasn´t the one that is doing the best.

Thanks for the info......We now have confirmation from a first hand source.....
I am not sure it is wise to refer to such a dive as planned. It was NOT professionally planned...that is an insult to those who are professionals in the industry and execute dives like this properly and safely......the only things planned were to dive deeper than before attempting to cheat death for nothing more than some ignorant bragging rights.

correction......I will change the "we" to I have confirmation and that is good enough for me and it is actually given here 2nd hand.......

 

[jimshuff]

I dove with Scuba Mau about sixty times in the last two years. Their definition of "low on air" was to surface at 600 p.s.i.! With a five minute safety stop. You were not required to surface because of a group member sucked up their air, they went up and were picked up by the boat. I do not have the "gills" that I did twenty years ago and suck my air faster than I did but I still use less then a good portion of the people that are on the boat, while being the first in and, often, the last out. Last Janurary, we had the "Geriatric" boat and all of us were in our late fifties or sixties, I'm sixty-nine. We did our shallower dives, got our pictures and bottom times that we wanted. All they were saying in that "low on air" was that you are not forced to come up with the first person that runs out of air which is really frustrating when you have planned a dive vacation for months and were looking forward to being able to enjoy your bottom time and taking memories with your camera.

 

[WSOPFAN]

My point being, if these extremely experienced Cozumel DMs were pushing the limits, and knew what they were doing,on their own personal time, then so be it. And regarding the Cozumel diving community closing ranks on this, good, at least there is still some loyalty out there.

So what you have gleaned from this incident, cause it was no accident that's for sure, is that some in the diving community are loyal to the point of covering up behavior like this and that is a good thing?

 

[WSOPFAN]

Originally Posted by Texas Torpedo View Post
Some people are more known quantities than others... Not trying to be insulting but if you were to have posted details about what was taking place in Cozumel or Bora Bora for that matter, why would anyone believe you with your 11 posts (currently) and living in Florida? Whereas many people who are discussing this (mostly behind the scenes in Private Messages and outside of SB) are key players in the Cozumel dive industry and have direct communications with people right in the middle of this.. They are not armchair quarterbacking.. But, everyone can deduce what they like..

You can almost be certain in most dive incidents / accidents there are people out there that know much more than the rest of people in these forums. Generally speaking, their priority is not to share information with you.. Be happy when it does happen and try to learn from it no matter if you believe all of what is disclosed or not..

Your account has basically contradicted that of one of the divers who was ACTUALLY on the dive himself. Your geographic location and number of posts on ScubaBoard hold no more credibility than anyone else. Is your stance that Heath is lying?
MMM posted that the dive took place on Santa Rosa and we know she posted a non-fact.

Well now we have a different diver who was involved that basically confirms Texas story. 1 says it was a "planned" dive very deep and the other claims they were pulled to some sort of deep depth due to a downcurrent. I have a good idea who is telling the truth.

BTW for the diver who had insurance, good luck with that....it might just end up being denied.

 

[BTravlin]

So what you have gleaned from this incident, cause it was no accident that's for sure, is that some in the diving community are loyal to the point of covering up behavior like this and that is a good thing?

I don't think those in the Cozumel diving community are "covering up behavior like this". As Texas Torpedo mentioned, the local dive ops who probably know what happened were reluctant to say anything because they knew it would inevitably lead to some bashing of ScubaMau and they didn't want to be seen as having a hand in bashing their competitor, especially at a time like this. Most dive ops on Coz get along well with one another and cooperate with one another in many ways. I know if I were a dive op on the island I wouldn't want to be the first one to tell the story about this accident.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Allenwm may have confirmation from a first-hand source; the rest of us have his information second-hand.

Right......My point was to show that Texas story has been confirmed by someone who knows first hand and posted here by Allen as the rule would suggest.

(6) If you are presenting information from a source other than your own eyes and ears, cite the source.

 

[avatar]

So what you have gleaned from this incident, cause it was no accident that's for sure, is that some in the diving community are loyal to the point of covering up behavior like this and that is a good thing?

Yes, because some people actually respect others' privacy. I don't know about you, but I've done things I wouldn't want the whole world to know, and I would expect my friends to keep quiet about it.