Feb 19 2017 Cozumel diving fatality

[wedivebc]

And you have all the answers, do you? Shoot the messenger often when what you read doesn't fit your business needs, do you?

The safety of those who'll visit us in the future and who put their lives in our hands (or so they are led to believe by amazing website promises...) and entrust us to supervise them as they visit our great reefs would be better served should you direct your curiosity at why practically every "local" diver fatality official investigation ends with sweeping a chain of greed, poor training and impunity under the seedy carpet of "local" tourism operators.

Or, with blaming a diver who can no longer defend him/herself, instead of valuing their lives at the next $100 USD kerching-ed for their two-tank dive (plus the $2 of hardly ever paid back marine park fee)...

Did Christi say something to you off-line, because nothing in her posts on this thread seem to warrant such a reply?
She just wanted a sense of who you are and what your role in this was. Seems to me to be a reasonable question.

 

[reddiver970]

With respect to dealing with BC inflator 'issues', going to manual bailout in very controlled training class environment is very different than doing it in the deep blue, at depth, in a drift current. I'll admit it's been quite a few years (2001) since I went through BOW class, and I don't remember the training in detail, (and perhaps current standards have been improved over the subsequent years?) but orally inflating at BC, while already on the surface, in a pool...or kneeling on the bottom of a pool, and orally inflating from there to simply go up to the surface, aren't very rigorous 'standards' relative to operating in the real world. If you are mid-water-column, fighting to not sink, trying to switch back and forth between breathing off the reg and trying to inflate, compounded by possible severe equalization issues/pain/vertigo, and remember, with ever increasing depth you have to inject an ever rapidly increasing amount of air into the BC air cell to prevent runaway decent...snowballing to disaster!

A while back I switched over to the expensive Scubapro balanced power inflators because the generic inflators struggle to keep up with increasing depth.

The first four years of my diving career I dove without a power inflator. It was how we were trained diving a horse collar BC, it is really not difficult if your weighted properly and practice it. Just like anything though if you don't polish your skills when the time comes to use them it can unravel fast. Who knows, this may turn out to be a non factor in this case .

 

[Gdog]

A ton of armchair quarterbacking in this thread right now. And anyone who thinks the DM is your lifeline or savior wasnt paying attention in their OW course. They are dive guides. Not your own personal safety insurance policy. You dive, you are responsible for your self. If that doesnt work for you, find a different sport.

 

[crabbyfiddler]

Unfortunately we were not able to get her to the surface, but we were able to flag down a boat and tell them she was there and where to look.

Bless you both for your help.

 

[gopbroek]

Where are folks on the issue for requiring divers to carry SMB's or DM's carrying a donatable extra? As I understand it launching a buoy has become part of the PADI OW course. My personal opinion is that they should be encouraged but not required and not donated unless the donor is very sure the recipient understands and is experienced in their use. From personal observation my view is that many recreational divers are not practiced at launching one.
I have watched a number of people learn in benign conditions only to become entangled in a cloud of line, its a learning experience and practice resolves the issue. In an emergency this could make a bad situation worse.
Personally I launch a buoy often, even when not necessary, just to stay in practice so that when everything goes south it is hopefully automatic.

 

[DandyDon]

A ton of armchair quarterbacking in this thread right now. And anyone who thinks the DM is your lifeline or savior wasnt paying attention in their OW course. They are dive guides. Not your own personal safety insurance policy. You dive, you are responsible for your self. If that doesnt work for you, find a different sport.

Yep, sad accident, but not the DM's or Op's fault. Fault finding is not supposed to be part of these discussions on this forum, but still - not their responsibility, not their fault.

 

[flyboy08]

So a DM whom I'm diving with along with my family will not be there in time if need except for pointing out wildlife? Then why am I tipping $60 and up depending on the situation? He/she gets paid right?


And why did I waste my money on Search and Rescue certification?



I'm being coy in case one is wondering. I never would place my life or my families in the care of someone I'm not intamitaly familiar with. I trust my family/ my buddy, they trust me.

 

[MMM]

Well, depending on the dive op, you are tipping, or not, depending on the service they offered like setting up your gear, serving you snacks on the boat, dropping you exactly where you needed to be on the reef, finding interesting things for you to look at, ensuring you maximize your bottom time, giving you towels, jackets etc. to keep you warm, and break down your gear. If you, as a single diver, are tipping $60 per trip, then you are over-tipping. But maybe you are tipping for several people...right? I don't get the comment about wasting money on search and rescue cert. Why do you feel you wasted that?

 

[dberry]

In my PADI OW course all we had to do inflate a small SMB while on the surface. Worthless. Fortunately by the time of my first trip to Coz 6 months later (when I met you, Gopbroek) I had gotten in some practice. That came in handy more than once.

 

[flyboy08]

Well, depending on the dive op, you are tipping, or not, depending on the service they offered like setting up your gear, serving you snacks on the boat, dropping you exactly where you needed to be on the reef, finding interesting things for you to look at, ensuring you maximize your bottom time, giving you towels, jackets etc. to keep you warm, and break down your gear. If you, as a single diver, are tipping $60 per trip, then you are over-tipping. But maybe you are tipping for several people...right? I don't get the comment about wasting money on search and rescue cert. Why do you feel you wasted that?

As stated, I was being coy....wasted my money because I depend on the DM to save me.....not. In fact, it's the best certification I obtained and really should be required imho.

No, I don't let anyone touch my gear on dives...that's a big Nono...