Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[WSOPFAN]

Well for those interested to know what the max depth was at that dive site someone posted this link in the Coz thread. If they were out far enough it is over 700'.

Chart 28196

 

[Ron Lee]

Your comment about the buddies gas being sufficient to effect some kind of rescue is way off. See below for a plan based on an average gas consumption for a 10 min bounce including descent time.

Chris, I believe that your post was in response to one that discusses what would have happened if they ONLY went to 300'. That scenario would have no diver and rescuer going to 400'.

Post #34 had a 300' dive scenario using the same program you used.

 

[koyote1111]

From what I understand, bounce dives aren't always about setting new personal "bests". I've been told by a person (who once did bounce dives) that many do it just to get the "fix". The "fix" is simply the feeling of being "narc'ed".

 

[Mike]

Deep enough but nowhere near 300'.

I don't see any reasonable person dive bombing to 300' without knowing if they are being impacted too much by narcosis. Maybe my thought process is too conservative compared to those involved, but I would approach that depth cautiously with ascent in order if any one is becoming too narced.

To do that you need all three close together to see the other two. Hence they should have been close together at some point well above the planned depth (reported 250' to 300') and reported actual depth of 320' (prior to the rescue).

PS: I have no intent/desire to dive near 300' on air.

You should consider that Opal and Gabi have thousands of dives under their belts, I'd speculate that Opal has done lots of deep dives on air, probably easily in the 200-250 range and possibly closer to 300. This was a routine dive in their minds and when it's routine you don't necessarily be on guard and keep focused. It would explain how Opal easily was out of reach -- they were not focused on a lot of safety issues, Gabi probably is of the belief that Opal can take well care of herself diving so he was just along for the ride and letting her do her thing as he loosely stayed in the vincinity. I think the one thing you should consider is attention was lax on this dive as opposed to being focused and worried about safety issues.

At some point most likely Gabi reached his planned max depth and I'd speculate he was above Opal most of the time during the descent, as he approached his max depth he was probably watching Opal keep going, figuring she would stop and at any time now and level out, eventually it had to finally become obvious that she wasn't stopping, and at some point Gabi made the decision to go after her to probably just say "hey, what are you doing", I'd speculate he eventually caught up with her as she kept descending with him and it took a few moments to figure out that she was out of it and make the decision to physically stop her descent, by the time this all happened they were at 400 ft.

I'd just have to believe the entire dive was very casual up to the point Gabi noticed Opal was still going deeper, very little planning before hand other than a target depth and bottom time and not much more.

 

[Tortuga68]

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

From what I understand, bounce dives aren't always about setting new personal "bests". I've been told by a person (who once did bounce dives) that many do it just to get the "fix". The "fix" is simply the feeling of being "narc'ed".

Even 300' requires over 147cuft of gas before you factor in any contingency. This is simply not doable in a buddy share scenario. Especially when you consider that stressed divers often breathe circa 2cuft per minute.

To consider 200' air dives on a single tank without redundancy as 'routine' as some have suggested is completely insane!

 

[Simon-]

You should consider that Opal and Gabi have thousands of dives under their belts, I'd speculate that Opal has done lots of deep dives on air, probably easily in the 200-250 range and possibly closer to 300. This was a routine dive in their minds and when it's routine you don't necessarily be on guard and keep focused. It would explain how Opal easily was out of reach -- they were not focused on a lot of safety issues, Gabi probably is of the belief that Opal can take well care of herself diving so he was just along for the ride and letting her do her thing as he loosely stayed in the vincinity. I think the one thing you should consider is attention was lax on this dive as opposed to being focused and worried about safety issues.

At some point most likely Gabi reached his planned max depth and I'd speculate he was above Opal most of the time during the descent, as he approached his max depth he was probably watching Opal keep going, figuring she would stop and at any time now and level out, eventually it had to finally become obvious that she wasn't stopping, and at some point Gabi made the decision to go after her to probably just say "hey, what are you doing", I'd speculate he eventually caught up with her as she kept descending with him and it took a few moments to figure out that she was out of it and make the decision to physically stop her descent, by the time this all happened they were at 400 ft.

I'd just have to believe the entire dive was very casual up to the point Gabi noticed Opal was still going deeper, very little planning before hand other than a target depth and bottom time and not much more.

All speculation and no basis.


Fact - Poorly thought out dive
Fact - Poor logistics for the dive
Fact - Poor planning for the dive
Fact - Poor execution of the poor plan
Fact - 2 people will never be the same again (don't know the third's current condition)
Fact - All of the above is a result of their own actions

 

[Chris Brown Tech]

You should consider that Opal and Gabi have thousands of dives under their belts, I'd speculate that Opal has done lots of deep dives on air, probably easily in the 200-250 range and possibly closer to 300. This was a routine dive in their minds and when it's routine you don't necessarily be on guard and keep focused.

Wow, Im shocked. Please seriously consider your comments for the safety of others who may be influenced by them.

Do the math. There isnt a plan that is justifiable for 200 or 300 on air on single tanks. There is nothing routine about it. The 'plan' was flawed from the start. Being on guard and focused is not possible at sub 200 on air!

This is similar to suggesting that someone with thousands of dives and no cave training can do a few 'routine' dives in Eagles Nest and the only reason they died was because they lost focus.

 

[sealkie]

This is very important. You have a woman and two guys. One is an employee of the woman who is loved by all. The other guy is reported to be her "boyfriend." Certainly he would be watching her intently whenever they got to a point where it became risky. Actually both guys should be watching her closely.

Rather sexist don't you think saying the guys should have been looking out for the girl ?

The female diver was he shop owner
The other 2 a DM and the out of town guest / boyfriend

It is POSSIBLE that the DM was paying more attention to the out of towner as he simply the least experienced diver. The post by nauticab also mentioned the shop owner had a 100 and the other 2 had 80s which if accurate would imply to me maybe she was planning to go deeper than the other 2 and it took a little time for them to realize she wasn`t leveling off and then to go in for the rescue.

3 way buddy set ups can get complicated even if you have a clear plan and you are sticking together

 

[suprane]

I don't see any reasonable person dive bombing to 300' without knowing if they are being impacted too much by narcosis.

Here is the problem with that line of thinking.

In actuality you don't have any knowledge that you are being severely impacted! The deeper you go, and the more narcosis you develop, the more everything seems "just fine"!

It can be a very insidious event that creeps up on you without your having any awareness that things are not as they should be! Compare it to the drunk who tries to convince the cop at a DUI stop that they are not drunk and are capable of safely piloting their car home. Often despite the fact the cop has just witnessed them weaving all over the road. And they will go so far as to attempt a bunch of "stupid-human" tricks to prove it to the cop! We've all seen the dash-cam videos of how that turns out!

Thus it is with a diver at excessive depth and well narcotized. I think it was even brought out in an earlier post that when Gabi finally stopped Opal and inquired if she was OK, she gave him a big "OK" sign. And in her mind, and at that time, she was convinced she was!