Devils Throat TAKE LIGHT

[scubadobadoo]

Just for reference, here is the descritpion of the dive as given in "Cozumel: Dive Guide & Log book" by Underwater Editions.

"Punta Sur is a vast, deep wall on the southern end of the island that should be explored in two dives. The most popular section is the one that will take you down the "Devil's Throat," a narrow tunnel lined with red sponges, which is located inside this area's largest coral mound. Descending in the middle part of the reef, you will find a wide, sloping sandy area at 60ft with an enourmos coral mound. Diving through a huge cave will eventually bring you into a smaller cavern at a depth of 80ft. There you will find many exits in all directions and a small hole right in front of you. This tiny opening is what you are looking for: Devil's Throat! Don't be afraid to enter because the swim only lasts a few seconds and you will come out facing the deep blue at 130ft...and only a few ft further you will encounter an outstanding cave. Due to a cross shaped sponge on the wall, this cave is called "little cathedral." Enjoy the pristine coral and sponges here prior to exiting the cave toward the shallow area..."

EDIT: This thread should have been moved to the "Near Misses" section.

 

[Jarrett]

The reading comprehension of people on this board baffles me sometimes. As I stated before, when solicited the information on this board can be invaluable. On the other hand, when self-important people feel the need to browbeat others for no reason on this site, its hard to stomach.

The original poster relayed a near tragic story for our benefit and others felt it was appropriate to take that opportunity to rip him, his wife and the dive op apart without any real knowledge of the event itself.

Based on that, do you think he will post this type of information if it were to happen again so we can learn from it? I doubt it. But hey, at least we got to hear the unsolicited opinions of the internet experts again...

 

[Charlie99]

As a point of information only, have you ever been to Punta Sur?

......

One thing - I have done that dive, and I do not remember any part of it to be particularly tight or totally dark; I am somewhat claustrophobic, and I am pretty sure I would have remembered that. I hear that there are various "false throats" at Punta Sur, but the dive I went on exited at about 120 feet and I saw the white cross shaped sponge on the way back up.

Another is from me: if you are going through a swimthrough and there are people behind you (especially mildly claustrophobic me) please DON'T stop.

Yes, I have done Devil's Throat with 3 different dive ops. On one of the dives we were coming through backwards (such that you have to look behind you to see the cross-shaped sponge) and met a group ascending up the tunnel towards the cross. Some of the divers in our group were very concerned while waiting for the other group to pass, since they were a few divers back and didn't know why we stopped for a couple minutes. A couple of the divers were very low on air by the time they exited and had to share air during the ascent. I have no idea whether or not they have claustrophobia, but the decision of our guide to make everyone in our group stop and wait was the right one.

The guide for the other group hung out at the sponge, shining his light on it, and directed his divers off to the left into another passage. That group ended up with divers scattered throughout the more cavern like area of the formation. My DM was sufficiently concerned about the other DM (different diveop) hanging out at the cross and sending his divers unescorted into the other area that after the dive the DM got the Captain to bring the two boats close together and the the two DM's had a somewhat heated exchange.

-----------------

As far as it being dark, I never said anything about that. Per PADI's definition it is a cave simply by the combined distance of the entrance/exits from the surface + how far one is from the entrance/exits when inside the tube. When the sum of those distances exceed 130', per PADI it exceeds the acceptable limits for even cavern certified divers,

There are several factors that tend to mitigate the risk -- warm, clear water and a heavy coarse sand that doesn't silt-out the viz, but it is still a cave per most agencies definitions.

 

[Ron Brandt]

Just for reference, here is the descritpion of the dive as given in "Cozumel: Dive Guide & Log book" by Underwater Editions.

"Punta Sur is a vast, deep wall on the southern end of the island that should be explored in two dives. The most popular section is the one that will take you down the "Devil's Throat," a narrow tunnel lined with red sponges, which is located inside this area's largest coral mound. Descending in the middle part of the reef, you will find a wide, sloping sandy area at 60ft with an enourmos coral mound. Diving through a huge cave will eventually bring you into a smaller cavern at a depth of 80ft. There you will find many exits in all directions and a small hole right in front of you. This tiny opening is what you are looking for: Devil's Throat! Don't be afraid to enter because the swim only lasts a few seconds and you will come out facing the deep blue at 130ft...and only a few ft further you will encounter an outstanding cave. Due to a cross shaped sponge on the wall, this cave is called "little cathedral." Enjoy the pristine coral and sponges here prior to exiting the cave toward the shallow area..."

EDIT: This thread should have been moved to the "Near Misses" section.

This is one beautiful dive and the decription is pretty close. It is also an option to not go through the swim thru's ....

Ron

 

[Into The Blue]

Due to a cross shaped sponge on the wall, this cave is called "little cathedral."

BTW - the cross is gone. A victim of Wilma. sbc

 

[Dan Gibson]

What part about a board don't you understand? By posting, you solicit responses be default. Some may be favorable to the OP. Some may not be favorable to the OP.

If the OP didn't want responses, then the OP should have contacted a moderator to see if it could be posted as a story that was closed to responses.

What irritates me is not the OP story but other people ignoring good advice by sticking their head in the sand.

You have completely missed the points being made. As I said before, you posts have added zero value to the thread. Maybe it's time for a moderator to just close it down since we all know your response to this will be more of the same.

The reading comprehension of people on this board baffles me sometimes. As I stated before, when solicited the information on this board can be invaluable. On the other hand, when self-important people feel the need to browbeat others for no reason on this site, its hard to stomach.

The original poster relayed a near tragic story for our benefit and others felt it was appropriate to take that opportunity to rip him, his wife and the dive op apart without any real knowledge of the event itself.

Based on that, do you think he will post this type of information if it were to happen again so we can learn from it? I doubt it. But hey, at least we got to hear the unsolicited opinions of the internet experts again...

 

[BubblesAplenty]

Hello all. I was there, too.
I credit the Dive Master and boat Captain for their deft response. I watched them in action and I was very proud. It is useful to analyze things to help one learn from life's events... not just diving.
I've thought long and hard about how I might have been a more useful group member, or might have helped avert this frightening event.
Here is what I've decided:
1. It takes a lot of courage to admit that you're "a little" anxious. In the future I will treat such admissions, how ever casual, with fewer glib assurances.
2. I don't know how dive operators generally treat last-minute cancellations, but it would be a good thing to know. Worst case, it's better to eat the charge for a dive you don't make than have a bad experience.
3. I will seek additional training, both for cavern certification, and to refresh my Rescue training, concentrating especially on oxygen delivery and airway management.
4. I'll take lights, even if I choose not to use them... and a spare, just in case a buddy needs one.
take care~~

 

[Rule62]

This is freekin amazing!!! Now I know what posting a story on the web can do. I’ll be sure and add that to the long list of lessons learned from this experience.

It took me a while to figure out who/what the OP was but, for the record, my name is David and I’m the husband and dive buddy of the person (Helene) who experienced a near drowning incident. My humble intent in posting this story was to pass along an account of an extremely emotional and life changing experience my wife and I shared in Cozumel. Additionally, I was hoping to relay a few (certainly not ALL inclusive list of take-aways I/we had from the experience).

I did not expect (at last count 151 replies and 25 PMs)!! Be that as it may, I thank the majority of individual respondents for “getting it”. It appears there are a handful of individuals (especially MikeF and DanG) who for some reason don’t think I/we learned anything from the experience. In order to alleviate their concerns, let me see if I can list some (certainly not ALL) of the salient points:

#1 My wife and I need more training and specifically cave diver training (as previously stated we are going for our rescue certs provided my wife is willing to get back in the water. I think I’ll avoid the cave cert since I have no desire to dive caves).

#2 I caused the accident by not being a good buddy or being well trained

#3 My wife caused the accident by not being well trained

#4 The DM caused the accident since he shouldn’t have let us go down there due to 1, 2, & 3 above.

#5 The DO caused the accident by allowing the DM to take us to the dive

#6 Choice of DO doesn’t matter as long as one is cave trained

#7 No need to know of a good Doctor in Coz if one has been cave trained

#8 No need to know of a good hospital in Coz if one has been cave trained

#9 No need for DAN insurance if one has been cave trained

I think that covers most of what has been posted by the folks who didn’t understand my original posting. As info, we are not idiots, we realize if we could do it all over we would do a lot of things differently. We also feel extremely blessed that God allowed my wife to survive this accident and provided a tragic glimpse of what can happen.

We also now know what rape victims feel like when they go to trial and the defense attorney makes them feel the rape was their fault. We wish we had the power to go back in time and do it all over with this invaluable advice, but we can’t. All we can do is learn from the experience and look forward to being better divers in the future.
Lastly and most importantly, we truly have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and all the Thanksgivings to come. The life lessons we gained from this experience far outweigh any of the diving lessons we learned!!!

 

[Mawg]

This is freekin amazing!!! Now I know what posting a story on the web can do. I’ll be sure and add that to the long list of lessons learned from this experience.



I think that covers most of what has been posted by the folks who didn’t understand my original posting. As info, we are not idiots, we realize if we could do it all over we would do a lot of things differently. We also feel extremely blessed that God allowed my wife to survive this accident and provided a tragic glimpse of what can happen.

We also now know what rape victims feel like when they go to trial and the defense attorney makes them feel the rape was their fault. We wish we had the power to go back in time and do it all over with this invaluable advice, but we can’t. All we can do is learn from the experience and look forward to being better divers in the future.
Lastly and most importantly, we truly have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and all the Thanksgivings to come. The life lessons we gained from this experience far outweigh any of the diving lessons we learned!!!

Nicely put. And thanks for coming back to the thread. Happy Thanksgiving.

 

[Charlie99]

As info, we are not idiots, we realize if we could do it all over we would do a lot of things differently.

Anything different than the "Take a light" of the thread subject line?

While you may feel that we are taking potshots at you, the intended audience is really all of the other divers that may in the future consider doing this dive.