Diver lost 15 Jan 2013 Cozumel

[dumpsterDiver]

Not that I owe you any explanations - but I didn't say it MUST cease. It was a polite request out of respect on behalf of the family and those involved because none of these theories that have been posed are accurate and they will not be sharing the details with us - nor are they obligated to!

I'll also correct your incorrect information - I DID NOT REPORT OR WRITE THE STORY that her body was found. I was only sharing/relaying information from an article and from the radio which at that point we believed to be true. Furthermore, I was not the first person to "report" that information. Another well respected Instructor and Dive School Coordinator on the island was the first to post the link to the false newspaper article - and others also posted the info - yes, I did come back in and confirm that the article was erroneous and that there was no truth to it.

First you say that you did NOT report.. then you say your were not the first to report??? Which is it?

I think one point might be that you seem to indicate that EVERYTHING discussed in this thread is wrong or incorrect. In order to make such a statement, would require you to actually KNOW exactly what happened. Since you have already provided incorrect information concerning the location of the body on the beach, I tend to be a little skeptical that everything discussed (all the various scenarios and explanantions etc.) were wrong and that you know everything. The only way possible for everyone to be completely wrong is for this to be an alien abduction .. and I doubt that.

However, I do understand why neither the family nor the dive operator are going to make any comments about this terrible accident.

 

[Ron Lee]

Christi, I never stated that one or both of the brothers made any statements. Frankly, whether one or both were on the dive and her buddy(ies) is still an unverified possibility.

 

[citycountryguy]

I've been reading this thread actively since it started, as I was diving on Cozumel daily from December 21 to Jan 7, and do still currently, albeit as of Jan 7 infrequently as I am in school studying Spanish at Playa del Carmen. Crossing the channel is only practical on some weekends...

I do think there is one thing that is clearly factual, as Ron notes. She did become separated from her group. Otherwise, she would not now be lost. We don't know the circumstances of that separation, but without doubt, she ended up not with her group. That has implications that have been discussed in this thread--issues of buddy performance, issues of training and diving within one's skill set (being able to do swim throughs or successfully stay with a group while swimming around or over them), issues of a medical nature that may never be known, or issues of potential currents (generally common to Cozumel but in this case possibly debilitating to a diver because of panic, experience, etc.). Other possibilities might include dive guide or dive op negligence--as was also inferred, and in fact stated in some of the early posts before the thread was closed, moderated and cleaned up (I haven't looked back at all the posts since then).

It seems there are a very limited number of possibilities of what might have occurred that would be the primary causes or triggering of events that lead to this tragedy. If there is any value in the thread, it is in trying to play those through and look for solutions--for the ones reading this thread. I very much appreciate Ron's desire to develop some larger principles or processes that might even be of benefit to those who don't know SB exists, but I am not sure it is realistic to think that such broad solutions or interventions might occur at this point, based on what we know or can reasonably postulate. The advantage will be for the readers to determine what they might do when in a group in similar circumstances--as a diver, as a buddy, as a group member, or potentially even as the guide...and from that perspective, this thread has had some marginal value for me--although I'm not sure the light has been worth the heat so far.

 

[ScoobaCat]

New to SB - registered today after following this thread while we were in Coz for the first time on a dive vaca Jan 12-19. We are both AOW but consider ourselves noobs as <50 dives all in Caribbean thus far. Our hearts went out to the family, friends and dive op. As well as all the ops and divers who searched.

The value of this thread for us is in hindsight we had no idea what diving in Coz might entail. We read up on the dive sites, conditions, reviews, etc. as much as possible - we knew it was drift diving but prior to Coz had only done drift diving where it was possible to swim against the current and stay in one spot if you finned hard. Our dives were sometimes challenging, but very very rewarding and we will be coming back for sure. Our 2nd dive we hit what was to us a whizzing fast drift dive on Delilah which was very fun, at no time seemed dangerous to us (what do we know, we're noobs), but was also the day that necessitated this thread.

For everyone that has speculated on the causes of this terrible tragedy, then posted potential mitigations, ways out of a downcurrent (actually all the great posts about currents of various sorts that might either sneak up on you or whump you upside the head), better buddy skills, how to be safer underwater, etc., thank-you. I do believe the next time we dive somewhere new we will likely be hiring a private DM for at least the first dive until we actually experience what's its like underwater at that locale.

My buddy and I learned a heck of lot about diving when we were there, and then a heck of a lot more from SB, this thread in particular...

Be safe, be well, be diving ...

 

[peterbj7]

I suspect you're underestimating the speed of your drifts. A 2kt drift is quite significant, and very few drifts get up to 4kt. At that speed it can get very dangerous down there. I've never been in a drift down here in Belize (just south of Cozumel) that exceeded 1kt.

 

[ScoobaCat]

It is entirely likely I am. I have no way of measuring except to take someone's word on the boat. Which was yet another noob error. More accurately, I guess I should say it way twice the speed we had ever drifted in... thanks for the catch.

 

[rsldonk]

Is there any new news about this incident? Has the body been recovered yet, anything?

 

[boulderjohn]

Is there any new news about this incident? Has the body been recovered yet, anything?

From what Christi wrote earlier, I gather that we are not going to get any authoritative information for quite some time. That is often the case. This particular incident is especially frustrating because not only did we not learn much, we were given extremely different accounts from different supposedly knowledgeable sources.

 

[Darol]

rsldonk asked:

Is there any new news about this incident? Has the body been recovered yet, anything?​

The chances of a recovery, sorry to say, are slim. The current runs south to north, around 3 knots, and the channel is 3280 ft deep. The last person lost, several months ago, has not been recovered.

 

[Darol]

Is it just me? It seems things happen when the winds are out of the North...
Currents out of the South, when they meet, down currents? Could this have any merit?
Curious????