Emergency Ascent from 110 feet

[Bubbletrubble]

You stated that the instructor on the dive shot to the surface with the diver experiencing problems. He should have known better than to endanger himself AND the victim. One of the things taught in any rescue course is to not make yourself into a second victim.

The OP stated that the DM and problem diver ascended at 80% of the "maximum speed" without doing a safety stop. If we assume that 60 ft/min is the "maximum speed," then I see no issue with the pair ascending at that rate. It seems to me that it was a good trade-off considering that the diver was in trouble (nearly passed out during ascent).

 

[Graeme Tolton]

Regardless, that is an ascent from 110' in approx 2 min, 17 sec. I am glad that no one was hurt in the end.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Regardless, that is an ascent from 110' in approx 2 min, 17 sec. I am glad that no one was hurt in the end.

Just curious. What ascent rate would you recommend from that depth given that the problem diver was on the verge of passing out?

 

[gcbryan]

Try not to have to use rental gear especially on a deeper dive and don't do dives that you aren't comfortable with. Those are the lessons I would take from this story.

If someone inhales water looking at sharks, loses his mask, and almost passes out from the excitement this is probably someone who shouldn't be on this particular dive.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

should go to a medical facility..not too comcerned about DCS as it would not likely be as delayed for 48hrs,but a possible near drowning as this should be investigated.

I was under the impression that the buddy with issues was taken to the ER or hyperbaric facillity and monitored for 48 hrs without further incident. After a second reading of the OP's post, I think it's possible that no formal medical evaluation by a physician was done following the incident. That's surprising. Perhaps the OP can clarify this point.

OP stated there was another individual that made a emergency ascent ..So that is 2 people out of 7 that had issues on that dive..thats 2 too many..the dive operator should be questioned on why they take inexperienced people to that location.Sounds like a shady operation that should be avoided.

From what has been written on ScubaBoard about these Blue Hole excursions and my personal discussions with friends who have done this particular dive, several dive ops take inexperienced divers to the Blue Hole. Sounds like it's pretty common practice. I wish that weren't the case.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

If the victim were breathing, i would be stretching the ascent out to 3 1/2 minutes or so. Of course at this point, you are controlling their buoyancy and holding the reg in their mouth.

 

[firstdive2005]

From what has been written on ScubaBoard about these Blue Hole excursions and my personal discussions with friends who have done this particular dive, several dive ops take inexperienced divers to the Blue Hole. Sounds like it's pretty common practice. I wish that weren't the case.

There is not a dive destination opertating anywhere that would survive on just doing ow dives the proper way. New divers will always find a way to be stupid with their skill level. They will always pressure the ops to 'take them there'.(not saying these guys did that). I can only imagine the stuff that would be said about this incident if the diver did not make it. Every one has been so nice about not giving the divers proper crap for doing the dive in the first place. Trust me I'm not innocent here, I fully belong in the 'that was a really stupid thing to do as a new diver' class. I think I ran it. Not sure why I'm ranting maybe delayed anger at myself for being so foolish too.
Glad you got out, like said up top get more dives in a do the Rescue course. kev

 

[Web Monkey]

To use a computer term, this dive was "defective by design."

An 80 CuFt tank is plenty of gas to do a 130' dive if you have a good SAC rate, can drop like a stone and aren't going to panic, hyperventilate, get narced, need to look for your buddy, have an equipment failure, lose track of time or depth or have a panicking hoover fly up to you Out of Air. At that point it immediately changes from "No problem" to "We might die here"

Never go on a dive that you and your buddy aren't capable of safely planning and executing without professional assistance.

Terry

 

[TSandM]

Reading this makes me very, very sad.

The wonderful thing about this story is that it didn't end in a fatality, or a terrible injury. The awful thing about this story is that it isn't uncommon. Although open water divers are taught that they have depth limitations, and that they shouldn't dive in conditions more challenging than those in which they were certified, they don't heed that. I, myself, was guilty of going to 130 feet on my 10th lifetime dive -- of course, I was following an instructor and I was part of a class (boat diving!) so I thought it was okay. Tourists following a DM think that, too.

In my dive training, I have taken FOUR total classes which were aimed at giving me skills to dive in the deeper recreational range. Two (AOW and Deep) were virtually useless. Two (UTD Rec 2 and GUE Rec Triox) were thorough, demanding classes designed to make me think about the seriousness of issues which occur far from the surface. Even when a direct ascent is possible (as it was here), it is a long way from 130 feet to the great gas tank in the sky. I think divers going there should have some education in the possible issues, and some experience with their own ability to cope with stress and with unexpected problems. Inhaling water could happen to any of us, with a leaking mouthpiece or folded exhaust diaphragm or just going upside down to look at something, with a rental regulator that turns out to breathe wet. Coughing and choking, absent complete laryngospasm, shouldn't panic a competent diver. Getting water though a reg should immediately prompt a diver to switch to his own alternate and alert his buddy to a problem. But people just don't have the training and the education to have thought about or practiced these things.

There is SO much cool stuff to see in the shallows . . . why do new divers insist on going deep into the water, where inexperience and lack of training can make an issue dangerous, where a better trained and more experienced diver would simply shrug it off? There is plenty of time in a diving career to do the "deep dives" and live to come home and talk about them.

 

[DandyDon]

...were all inexperienced (10-60 dives) in a group of 7 going to deeper than most of the people had ever been.

Yeah, some operators will take just about anyone out there. My group of around 22 included 4 Insts & DMs plus the two from the dive op so it was like 6 to 18 ratio but still touchy. The only problem we had was the second mate turning a valve 1/4 open and the girl not getting air as she got deeper but she made a quick trip to a DM to get that fixed. No way I would do that dive without my 19 cf pony bottle and my own personal gear.

Everyone should make sure what their insurance actually covers when jumping into the water - this time nobody knew. Don't the operators have insurances?

In Belize...?

Yes, everyone should know what their insurance covers and how to activate it. DAN North America provides for emergency evacuation but in some cases it must be arranged by DAN to be covered. I have no idea what DAN Europe does as it is quite different.

Mike, sometimes all it takes to get water in your mouth as you inhale is a tear in the mouthpiece. It happened to me way back and felt like my reg was leaking. I sort of "sipped" on it lightly and then sent it in for service, not knowing what the cause was. I was told it was a torn mouthpiece and it was changed. I probably could have discovered that myself, but I then knew from that to check all gear well before splashing in.

I'm curious: did you try your alternate second stage? The "octo?"

I agree, and I would expect the if you were insured with DAN they would pay it anyway? Was the decision made by the diver himself or the rescuers?

The group was from Europe. Different DAN.

From what has been written on ScubaBoard about these Blue Hole excursions and my personal discussions with friends who have done this particular dive, several dive ops take inexperienced divers to the Blue Hole. Sounds like it's pretty common practice. I wish that weren't the case.

It is, and that's pretty dangerous but they try to not lose too many. Wish they'd at least put some more DMs on the boat, but the surcharge is already high.