Diver missing today? 03/28/12

[cvchief]

Maybe.

We have had conflicting reports on this, and I have no idea which is to be believed. Each report has a good reason to be the more accurate; each report has a good reason to be the less accurate.

Which is more to the point of this being a theoretical discussion of personal and DM responsibilities, not an assignment of blame in this incident.

 

[Ron Lee]

I'm an experienced diver who will be paying good money for 12 dives on my next trip to Cozumel. If required to babysit any diver, I should be reimbursed for my time and trouble. Otherwise, why should the paying customer sacrifice his or her dive to do something that the paid professional is supposed to do? If I'm diving with you and you follow up a newbie buddy team, I'll wave to you from depth, then continue the rest of my expensive dive with the DM.

That is your choice. I am not worried about one dive being impacted. I do not think that my dive op would have done the same (allowing a novice buddy team to go up after around ten minutes). But let us assume that they did. Based upon this thread and two others, I have adopted a new philosophy on how I will act to a similar scenario. It only has a potential negative impact to me. The "negative" element is one that is acceptable.

There is a possibility that once the diver(s) is on a boat that I might be able to continue the dive. If not, then I get on that boat too and deal with the logistics of getting to the right boat when the time is right.

My view is that novice divers can often use an extra set of eyes on them, suggestions on improving their skills, etc.

Mike, do you maintain 100% visual contact with your buddy? How long between glances? Could your buddy bolt to the surface between glances? Dive down to 300'?

What about in tunnels? Swim throughs?

Maybe the husband motioned for his wife to follow him and between glances she leaves him. I sure do not know. I stand by my view that he was a novice and you can't expect him to handle an in-water problem like someone with years of diving and advanced training. I am not playing the blame game here.

 

[gypsyjim]

Thought the 2 sided mirror with red on one side sounded good. Found it:

Trident Safety Signal Mirror - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

Also at Scuba Toys.

"Unbreakable" sounds good, and @$12 sounds good too, now if they can just make it nu-loseable for us divers w/o pockets on our warm water skins and BP/W's

 

[TomZ]

A mirror and Storm whistle are clipped to the top of my SMB, then rolled up inside. 20' of 1" nylon strap (with a clip on the end, another clip is fastened 5' up the strap) is then secured to the roll with some thin bungee cord, tightened with a barrel slide. The clip at 15' marks safety stop depth, and doubles as a way to clip on to my buddy if ever needed. It stays nicely rolled up and in a pocket of a BC.

 

[rkfatheree]

Thought the 2 sided mirror with red on one side sounded good. Found it:

Trident Safety Signal Mirror - Dive Right In Scuba - Plainfield, IL

Also at Scuba Toys.

Thank you!

 

[Mike]

I stand by my view that he was a novice and you can't expect him to handle an in-water problem like someone with years of diving and advanced training.

He could be, we all were at one time. It took me probably 50 dives to finally figure out what it meant to be a good dive buddy, and it took a talking to by a dive op owner/dive master in Roatan to really open my eyes to what a buddy is supposed to be. I got some stern looks one time when my dive buddy got in the water without her weight belt. She (dive master/owner) let me know it was my fault, not my buddies due to a pre-dive buddy check that I obviously was lax on or I would have caught the missing weight belt. I was also a terrible buddy from dives 1-10 because I didn't know better and a pretty bad one from dives 10-40 because I was too concerned with photography and was ignorant to the dangers of my lax attention.

 

[Mayor]

Very strange currents testing many of my skills throughout the week. We finished the trip Friday on Santa Rosa wall thinking of the lost diver. My heart goes out to the missing divers family and friends.

 

[Dan G]

I'm an experienced diver who will be paying good money for 12 dives on my next trip to Cozumel. If required to babysit any diver, I should be reimbursed for my time and trouble. Otherwise, why should the paying customer sacrifice his or her dive to do something that the paid professional is supposed to do? If I'm diving with you and you follow up a newbie buddy team, I'll wave to you from depth, then continue the rest of my expensive dive with the DM.

I think that anytime we decide to engage in an activity that may require rescue, such as climbing, mountaineering, back country skiing, or SCUBA, we are accepting that we may have to ruin our day to help another person whether we know them or not.

 

[ggunn]

I think that anytime we decide to engage in an activity that may require rescue, such as climbing, mountaineering, back country skiing, or SCUBA, we are accepting that we may have to ruin our day to help another person whether we know them or not.

I agree, although it may suck at the time and it may be completely a result of someone else's stupidity/ignorance/carelessness. If I see someone in trouble, I'll do what I can to help them get out of it. Afterwards, I may read them the Riot Act for ruining my dive, but I can't sit by and watch a situation spiral out of control. Thankfully, it doesn't happen that often.

I've never been present in a diver loss situation and I hope I never will. I have been handed the group by the DM for a bit while he dealt with a situation, though, and I was happy to do it.

 

[Mossman]

I think that anytime we decide to engage in an activity that may require rescue, such as climbing, mountaineering, back country skiing, or SCUBA, we are accepting that we may have to ruin our day to help another person whether we know them or not.

How many cruise ship passengers are mountaineering and back country skiing on their excursions, even somewhere more appropriate like Alaska? You're comparing apples to string beans.

Sure, I take the risk that my day of diving might be cut short by an accident. That's one thing. But that's a far cry from volunteering to accompany to the surface every newbie that aborts a dive.