Cozumel Incident 9/4/11

[boulderjohn]

I am assuming dave that you intended to put the word "not" between "was" and "to"?

Or maybe he didn't intend that at all.

As his post suggests, there are people who almost certainly know what happened, and Dave would be one of them.

 

[DandyDon]

Or maybe he didn't intend that at all.

As his post suggests, there are people who almost certainly know what happened, and Dave would be one of them.

Speculating is one thing; mind reading is a bit much. I have no seen any claims as to what the dive plan was.

I carry a pony bottle on many dives, in part because of my fumbling diving at times, in part because of my experiences with buddies - it's a hassle but worth it to me.

Once on a second dive in Coz, I left the pony on the boat since the plan was shallow (sorry, don't remember the reef), but found myself pulled from 40 ft to 100. I swam out of it ok, but didn't like being at 100 alone without my pony so now carry it on dives planned as shallow explorations of reefs that happen to be tops of walls too.

 

[SeaFlea]

DJ, Its hard to remember exactly. I always stay a good 5-10 away from the bottom or the wall in this case. So I'd say that would be a good estimate. It seemed to me that the current was strong very close to the wall but its been some time.

No the Dive Master didn't have anything to say in fact I don't remember much input from him at all.

 

[Dave Dillehay]

Could you elaborate about what some of that "known" info is to clear things up a bit?

Sorry but I won't post anything that I don't have firsthand knowledge or documentation of. That will have to come later and not by me.

Perhaps Christi soft shoe'd around it better than I. But it is more than silly to scare divers about the safety of diving Cozumel from this incident.


Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers

 

[Texas Torpedo]

I'll answer this first and then I will be back with a more detailed response.

The questions that I have are:

1. What was the dive plan for the divers involved? (max depth, bottom time, gas management, gas mix, etc.)

1. 
   Bounce dive to 300 fsw. Max depth 350+/- for Gabi & Opal. 21% back gas. Single tank each. No deco bottles or support divers. No technical training. I'm guessing that the tanks are either AL80 or AL100 as ScubaMau did not have steel tanks, or that is the answer I got when I inquired when I last dove with them.
   

   [*]Did a downwelling/down-current occur during the dive?

   No, there was no so-called down-current. It played no role in this incident.

 

[DjDiverDan]

SeaFlea, it seems to me then that your downcurrent event at Santa Rosa Wall could have been prevented by better preparation by the Dive Master. I've been on Santa Rosa Wall at least a dozen times, always with either Aldora or Dive with Martin (OK, Once, very early in the 90's with Fantasia Divers - I quit using them when they contracted with the Cruise Ship Operators, and I usually got stuck with a casual diver off the Cruise Ship as a Dive Buddy - when I had to chase a Dive Buddy down to 140 feet & pull her back up because she was just not paying attention), and we ALWAYS got prep from the Dive Masters that included the advice on Santa Rosa Wall "Stay Close to the Wall; if you get in a downcurrent, don't fight it directly, move as close to the wall as possible, and, if necessary, use the wall to get back up to a proper depth." By trying to move away from the wall, you were simply exacerbating the problem.

 

[DjDiverDan]

Texas Torpedo - Can you confirm Dive Location? Was it Villa Blanco Wall?

 

[DandyDon]

I'll answer this first and then I will be back with a much more detailed response.

Bounce dive to 300 fsw. Max depth 350 +/- for Gabi & Opal. 21% back gas. Single tank each. No deco bottles or support divers. No technical training. I'm guessing that the tanks are either AL80 or AL100 as ScubaMau did not have steel tanks, or that is the answer I got when I inquired when I last dove with them.

No, there was no so-called down-current. It played no role in this incident.

Okaaaaay, that is the first actual claim as to their planned and end depth. Everyone else has talked around it. Uh, got to say: Wow - dumb plan.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Hey Texas before you post your long story this is from post 24 here:

(1) You may not release any names here, until after the names have appeared in the public domain (articles, news reports, sheriff's report etc.) The releasing report must be cited. Until such public release, the only name you may use in this forum is your own.
(2) Off topic posts will be removed and off topic comments will be edited.
(3) No flaming, name calling or otherwise attacking other posters. You may attack ideas; you may not attack people.
(4) No trolling; no blamestorming. Mishap analysis does not lay blame, it finds causes.
(5) No "condolences to the family" here. Please use our Passings Forum for these kinds of messages.
(6) If you are presenting information from a source other than your own eyes and ears, cite the source.
(7) If your post is your hypothesis, theory, or a "possible scenario," identify it as such.
(8) If your post is about legal action that concerns a mishap, use the Scuba Related Court Cases forum.

Not to be a stickler for rules I just want to see what you have to say without you getting banned or posts getting deleted.........

BTW Dandy.......never mind it looks as though your original comment I was referring to was deleted by moderators so skip it..

 

[ianr33]

Bounce dive to 300 fsw. Max depth 350+ for Gabi & Opal. 21% back gas. Single tank each. No deco bottles or support divers. No technical training. I'm guessing that the tanks are either AL80 or AL100 as ScubaMau did not have steel tanks, or that is the answer I got when I inquired when I last dove with them.

No, there was no so-called down-current. It played no role in this incident.

Thanks for posting that.

Nothing more to be said really.