Feb 19 2017 Cozumel diving fatality

[mediumone]

If you're going to be diving in a loose gaggle like this then you really need someone sheep-dogging in addition to the DM. They can be given the job of escorting the waifs and strays who abort.

Unfortunately, every extra employee is an additional cost that is passed on the consumer and in a competitive world like diving - price is king. Divers don't want to pay the extra to have another DM underwater, a fast chase boat with a driver/lookout, an O2 kit, and perhaps a defibrillator.

When I read your post, I wondered if you were giving the notion of personal responsibility enough weight.
Dunno.

 

[KenGordon]

When I read your post, I wondered if you were giving the notion of personal responsibility enough weight.
Dunno.

But given groups of divers that are flattered through courses that leave them unable to deal with the conditions and probably unaware of their real limitations how do you expect them to be responsible?

Even if the group on this dive were ok, the experience of the DM led him to assume they needed their hands holding more than the diver going to the surface.

 

[boulderjohn]

But given groups of divers that are flattered through courses that leave them unable to deal with the conditions and probably unaware of their real limitations how do you expect them to be responsible?

Even if the group on this dive were ok, the experience of the DM led him to assume they needed their hands holding more than the diver going to the surface.

And what evidence do you have that this was the DM's motivation?

Another explanation was that the DM decided that she, an experienced diver, was OK to surface on her own while he went back to continue leading the dive for which the rest of the customers had paid.

 

[yle]

NEVER — not in my PADI training courses to the rescue level and not on ANY dive boat — has the precise role of a DM been explained to me. Nor have I ever seen a scuba operator post this information on the company website.

So, the industry expects divers to know what they've never been told.

I'm going to beg to differ. Or rather, I'm going to claim the "role of the DM" is not relevant to the decisions an individual diver has to make to keep themselves within the standards of safe diving practices.

The PADI OW course explicitly says two things that all students of the course have to acknowledge, with their signature, before being certified:

1. Every diver is responsible for their own safety (and this is an explicit question on the OW exam.)

2. Every diver is responsible for understanding, and staying within, their limitations.

The role of a DM in Cozumel is

(a) point out pretty fishes
(b) hold a buoy at the end of the dive to signal the boat where the DM ended up.

Note that point (b) does not include "the rest of the group". Many times the rest of the group is with the DM, but I've personally had plenty of times that my buddy and I have separated from the group (hanging back to take video and pics, and currents being what they are) and I've had to use my own SMB. If you expect any more than (a) or (b) from your DM, you're violating points 1 and 2 that you promised you would follow when you were certified.

Diving in Coz without carrying your own SMB and reel has a lot in common with Russian Roulette.

 

[KenGordon]

And what evidence do you have that this was the DM's motivation?

Another explanation was that the DM decided that she, an experienced diver, was OK to surface on her own while he went back to continue leading the dive for which the rest of the customers had paid.

Nobody has any evidence. This thread is mostly speculative.

If he prioritised the leading of the dive over assisting the diver, as you suggest, without there being a buddy to accompany the diver then he made a serious mistake. On the other hand he may have judged the group at risk too.

My point is that given groups of non expert divers then guides/DMs may be faced with difficult dilemmas. I am agreeing with Hickdive that given such groups a dive op should take steps avoid putting their staff in that position.

It would be better if the op could be sure they were dealing with competent divers, with actual buddies that behave like buddies and so likely to survive without supervision. Then the dilemma does not arise. Sadly divers are not all entirely competent. Personal responsibility is the least of their problems.

 

[kensuf]

I switched over to RED Miflex LP inflator hoses to make it easy to 'visual' that the inflator hose is actually connected. Not that I'm actually that absent minded, but it seemed yet another way to increase safety and prevent an oversight.

Why not press hammer the inflator button before you hop off the boat?

 

[Altamira]

Agree that one should be able to orally inflate. That said, I would not let anyone I knew, loved or was teaching...or me... to dive if the inflator hose was not connectable. If any equipment if off, call the dive. I have an Air2, but bring a spare standard inflator hose in case my BCD gets lost, spontaneously combusts, something like that.

Rob

You obviously have a lot more stringent requirements to dive than I do with respect to bcd malfunctions. Perhaps that is the result of your training and lack of experience diving without a bcd. Since I learned to dive before the era of bcds and horse collars, and did so safely, I would not hesitate to dive with a disconnected LP inflator hose. Even without the hose connected, you can still inflate and deflate the bcd. A bcd is a tool, a very nice tool, but certainly not a piece of equipment required to dive safely. But, I will also admit that diving without a bcd/disconnected inflation hose does require training and periodic practice, which I suspect does not happen for most divers, and that is a shame.

 

[Ron Lee]

I am curious if this was her first dive on this trip. The BCD/inflator incompatibility...if true...suggests the first dive. It also suggests that she was using some rental equipment...either the BCD or more likely the regulator system.

The one positive is that she was found quickly. There have been other missing diver events where that was not the case.

 

[Dhboner]

The problem (as I see it) with manual inflation of the wing/BCD is that new(er) divers will do anything to avoid taking the regulator from their mouth....it is the worst possible scenario. So, if the LP hose is not working or has blown off, the thought of manually inflating the wing is far from instinctive. The solution is to practice, practice, practice....remove your second stage and swim for a bit...at the end of a dive in shallow water let your regulator fall from your mouth an then retrieve it (like you used to do in a pool). Anything you can think of that might happen on a dive should be rehearsed over and over again until it is ingrained by muscle memory.

 

[divezonescuba]

There was another experienced diver who died a few years ago who chose to dive with a non-functioning inflator. In his case it was supposedly not a connection issue, but some other problem.

On surfacing, he struggled and subsequently drowned. Since the inflator was non-functional, he was not able to inflate his bcd in the normal manner. It was not known if he could have orally inflated his bcd, but he did not. It was later determined that he would not have been able to discard his weight even if he had attempted to do so.

In an emergency situation, it is quite possible that someone might not have the presence of mind or sufficient training to remember to orally inflate their bcd properly. I have seen many students in the pool for the first time to attempt to orally inflate their bcds without either holding down the button hard enough or at all despite the fact that it was explained and demonstrated it to them minutes before. Fortunately, the Padi standards require students in ow classes to do this several times throughout the course. But, I suspect that few divers practice this on their own after they get certified.