Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[DandyDon]

Irrespective of the dive itself, Gabi deserves major props for risking his life to rescue his friend. I have to wonder if his acclimation as a divemaster allowed him to make such a daring rescue of Opal without sustaining an even more serious injury to himself than he has?

Yep. We are taught to not become a second victim, but still. I think it's good that the other diver did not also go down as no point in two chasing, and his air was needed to get the three up.

I have read most of the original incident thread and every post on this A&I thread with a mixture of heartbreak, horror, fascination, curiosity and interest but I don't think anyone has answered this question.... Why plan & make a dive 200+ feet in Cozumel? It seems evident other people besides the 3 divers have done this. What more is there to see or gain by going that deep vs 100 feet? I sincerely don't know and would be interested in responses.

There may be no explainable reason, but some do. The black coral poachers do it there too, I think.

 

[WSOPFAN]

I have read most of the original incident thread and every post on this A&I thread with a mixture of heartbreak, horror, fascination, curiosity and interest but I don't think anyone has answered this question.... Why plan & make a dive 200+ feet in Cozumel? It seems evident other people besides the 3 divers have done this. What more is there to see or gain by going that deep vs 100 feet? I sincerely don't know and would be interested in responses.

I will PM you......not gonna post it here..

 

[Mossman]

One thing I wonder is, if the plan was to 300' and Opal kept going, how fast was she descending that it took 100' for Gabi to catch up with her? I'd assume that Gabi swam as fast as he could when he decided to go after her so she must have been kicking likewise.

Another thing I wonder is how much light is down there at 400' and whether they brought lights with them. If not, how to locate someone at 400' assuming it's probably pretty dark?

 

[beertiki]

To go back in the water and attempt IWR less than an hour from a chamber is like performing surgery on your self the same distance from a hospital. Yeah, if you have knowledge and equipment it can be done, but at the same time if you have that much knowledge about deco theory, you know at that distance its better just to go to the chamber. Jumping back in on air, without any real IWR plan is no different than me stitching up a real deep cut an hour from the hospital. Sure, I stitched up my hand one time with fishing line, but when I cut myself real bad, I went to the ER.

Really, it was a bad idea to make that dive, followed up by another bad idea to attempt IWR.

 

[sealkie]

What more is there to see or gain by going that deep vs 100 feet? I sincerely don't know and would be interested in responses.

Well - you could ask the same question - what more is there to see at 100 ft that isn`t at 50 ft

To answer the general question of why go that deep ( as oppose to why these 3 divers did this specfic dive )

To plan and execute a safe deep mixed gas dive
To plan and execute a safe deep air dive ( there are people who will debate if air is safe at depth as oppose to trimix = leaving that debate to one side )
To extend one`s dive experience and training in a safe and controlled manner ( rather like a new diver venturing past 60 ft for the first time but more complex ..)

With correct planning, training, equipment and execution this dive is not unreasonable

The more relevant question to this situation is why would someone do a dive to 250 ft on air with no back up gas supply at depth and no back tanks at deco stops in case of issues. I can only guess the answer to that and none of the reasons I can think of are particularly complimentary

 

[Jax]

To go back in the water and attempt IWR less than an hour from a chamber is like performing surgery on your self the same distance from a hospital. Yeah, if you have knowledge and equipment it can be done, but at the same time if you have that much knowledge about deco theory, you know at that distance its better just to go to the chamber. Jumping back in on air, without any real IWR plan is no different than me stitching up a real deep cut an hour from the hospital. Sure, I stitched up my hand one time with fishing line, but when I cut myself real bad, I went to the ER.

Really, it was a bad idea to make that dive, followed up by another bad idea to attempt IWR.

I believe that has been made abundantly clear.

I appreciate James rounding out the story . . . In-Water Recompression is an incredibly advanced skill that should be done only by properly trained and equipped divers. . . . kind of like 300-foot dives.

 

[sealkie]

One thing I wonder is, if the plan was to 300' and Opal kept going, how fast was she descending that it took 100' for Gabi to catch up with her? I'd assume that Gabi swam as fast as he could when he decided to go after her so she must have been kicking likewise.

Remember there were 3 divers involved - all operating under the effects of narcosis to some extent. It is quite possible that the attention was not on the diver who ended up at 400 ft continuously - this does bring up the debate on the advantages or disadvantages for a 3 way buddy team v a buddy pair

 

[rigdiver]

Some interesting reading:

http://web.mac.com/cobber/Trimix/text/wahwah.txt

Enjoy. I read it every few years for a dose of sanity.

Bill

 

[WSOPFAN]

Some interesting reading:

http://web.mac.com/cobber/Trimix/text/wahwah.txt

Enjoy. I read it every few years for a dose of sanity.

Bill

That was informative to say the least thanks......WHOA....................

 

[Basscat]

Yikes. That's a good read. Thanks. I think I may be a better diver for having read it....

Some interesting reading:

http://web.mac.com/cobber/Trimix/text/wahwah.txt

Enjoy. I read it every few years for a dose of sanity.

Bill