Diver lost in Cozumel today

[Ayisha]

Regarding the suitability of Cozumel for new or inexperienced divers, there are lots of fairly shallow dive sites in Coz that are very appropriate. IMHO, new or inexperienced divers or those with unfamiliar equipment shouldn't be diving in essentially bottomless dive sites or those known for having unpredictable or strong currents. Too many charters will take inexperienced divers to sites they shouldn't be on - yet - and the new diver is left to make a decision on the suitability without the experience to know what they don't know and the common misconception that the DM will save them.

When choosing a dive op, tell them that you want shallower dive sites and those with lesser currents and go from there. Often the afternoon dives tend to be at the shallower sites to accommodate the people who dove deeper in the morning. When booking an exotic holiday with a local dive shop or club, they will often have different boats for different levels of experience within the same trip, so those are good ones to look for.

 

[citycountryguy]

Probably so the DM would know where everyone was and not end up aborting the dive for everyone when he discovered part of his group was missing....which, in this case may or may not have made any difference. It is entirely possible in this circumstance that there was no "right" answer given what the instructions may have been with the conflicting mandate to stay with your buddy. And if he had--and it was the currents--the search may have been for two missing divers.

 

[kschoonover]

I don't understand this part of the story either. If your buddy wants to surface that early in a dive it means trouble. Your buddy comes first before the idea of notifying the dive guide PERIOD. Why did he feel letting the dive guide know they were going up was more important than keeping an eye on his dive buddy who happened to be his wife?

The DM was right next to him. He didn't let her surface alone. He only turned away for a second to tell the DM & when he turned back around she had already disappeared, he went on up to the surface to she if she might of went to the surface on herthe own but she wasn't there either. He didn't spend alot of time notifying the DM like most people think & he didn't just let her surface by himself. She might of felt she didn't need to wait the couple second for him to tell the DM or she might of got to far from the wall where the current pulls down some, I don't know but it didn't have anything to do with what the husband did wrong. It was just a sad tragedy

 

[DandyDon]

The DM was right next to him. He didn't let her surface alone. He only turned away for a second to tell the DM & when he turned back around she had already disappeared, he went on up to the surface to she if she might of went to the surface on herthe own but she wasn't there either. He didn't spend alot of time notifying the DM like most people think & he didn't just let her surface by himself. She might of felt she didn't need to wait the couple second for him to tell the DM or she might of got to far from the wall where the current pulls down some, I don't know but it didn't have anything to do with what the husband did wrong. It was just a sad tragedy

Thanks for clarifying, as there has been some confusion in reports - different words chosen at different times perhaps. Blamestorming is not allowed in this forum and we only strive to learn from accidents so we can try to avoid similar ones. What-if discussions and speculations come up and sometimes lead to more confusion, but we try to stay on track.

 

[kschoonover]

I just want to make sure people know it wasn't his fault because I know some of the stories try to make it appear like he just let her surface alone & never told the DM & just finished the dive with out worrying about her which isn't true. He went on the dives with the people to try to find her, he went out on the boats that searched for her, &the he's even spoken to some professionals here in the US that are suppose to have equipment to go deeper in water so we might can find her body. He is already having a hard time losing his wife, it doesn't seem fair to make it look like it's his fault. I don't know what you can learn from this except to make sure you can always take care of yourself. We'll never really know what happened so we'll never know what went wrong. I pray that all of you are able to stay safe on your future dives so this never has to happen again.

 

[scubafanatic]

NEVER! That was just one dive and something unusual happened every single day I dove with them.

WOW!!! sounds like your dive op DM's had even less experience than the average pod person! Hard to believe Darwin hasn't weeded that dive op out of the gene pool long ago!

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks Kschoonover. I guess your dad is working with the US Consular Agent in Cozumel, Ms. Anne Harris. I've never met her but heard only good about her. I hope the cruise line's local agents are being as helpful as possible. Do you know if your parents were members of Divers Alert Network - DAN? I wish I had a good idea to suggest...

I hope it may help some to know that your mom's accident will help caution others about safety procedures, which dives to seek, and when to ask for additional help from operators.

 

[kschoonover]

I don't know if they were part of DAN. The search has ended and he had to come back home yesterday. I'm not for sure the name of who he was working with but I do know everyone tried their hardest to find her. It just didn't happen.

 

[boulderjohn]

I don't understand this part of the story either. If your buddy wants to surface that early in a dive it means trouble. Your buddy comes first before the idea of notifying the dive guide PERIOD. Why did he feel letting the dive guide know they were going up was more important than keeping an eye on his dive buddy who happened to be his wife?

Because he probably thought he could do both--notify the guide and then catch up with buddy immediately.

Remember that this was a new diver with only a couple of logged dives. It is a reasonable decision.

 

[easternshore]

I just want to make sure people know it wasn't his fault because I know some of the stories try to make it appear like he just let her surface alone & never told the DM & just finished the dive with out worrying about her which isn't true.

I don't think we are trying to blame him or anyone else... I know I am certainly not. But, it is always important to look at these tragic events and try to learn what might have been done differently in a similar situation in the future.

As a fairly new diver, in very strong currents with a fairly inexperienced dive buddy, it sounds like he tried to do everything he could. In trying to learn from this experience, though, I have one thought that I didn't see expressed in the other posts so will offer it up for comments. We don't know for sure why she wanted to ascend after 30' - ear problems? Current too strong? - but due to conditions and being a fairly new diver it is at least somewhat likely she panicked due to the strong current. In my dive at the same time a few reefs away, we had to swim as hard as we could for two or three minutes to get behind the reef for protection. So, it seems likely at 30' when she decided to ascend that they were already a in very strong current. So, my thought on what might have been done differently is, in a strong current like that with a possibly panicking dive buddy, would it have been better to hang on to her until they could descend together?

My wife and I hold hands often while diving and especially in strong currents where one of can pull the other along and to keep from getting separated. Or if it was a guy who would likely be opposed to that, maybe grab him by the arm until we could locate and communicate to the DM. Then, hang on to each other during the ascent and while at the surface to keep from getting separated.

That's just a thought and in no way intended to criticize her dive buddy/husband. There seems to be widespread disagreement on whether he should have not even tried to notify the DM. Hanging on to the buddy especially in the strong current situation, might be the one small thing that could have helped satisfy the need to stay with your buddy and also notify the DM.