Feb 19 2017 Cozumel diving fatality

[archer1960]

I have never met Christi though based on her well-thought out and eloquently worded posts here, I respect her and would be completely confident diving with her company. However my experience in Cozumel has not exactly dove tailed with her post. My experience on the island is limited (I have only manged to get down to Cozumel twice) but on both occasions there were serious issues. I will not name the dive shops involved because I may have witnessed the conduct of a DM who was not representative of the company policy, but on one trip we were discussing the destination for the first dive of the day and all but one diver wanted to try the Devil's Throat. The one dissenting diver expressed concern that he had never been that deep and felt he might get claustrophobic in any kind of overhead, no matter how brief. The DM tried to convince him it was an easy dive and when he still said he was uncomfortable the DM said he wasn't going to let him ruin everyone else's day so he was welcome to sit out the dive but that it WOULD be Devil's Throat.
...

Wow! The operation I dove with in Cozumel (two years apart, and ended up with the same op and same DMs) was very different. They would not do Devil's Throat until at least the 3rd day of diving, so they could evaluate the divers and see who they felt would be safe to take down there. If someone wasn't up to par, they would recommend that the person not do the dive. I was one that did not do it the first time around, but did the 2nd trip. I don't know if they would have stopped someone who really wanted to go, but whom they felt wasn't ready for it or not, but they certainly didn't hesitate to make their opinions known.

 

[dmaziuk]

I'm serious.
...
I think it has to do with where the center of gravity of me with my gears is. It needs to be slight below the waist towards my rear end, not higher, which can make me to be top heavy & ending up with face down when I'm unconscious.

I think strictly speaking you're trying to use your equipment for the purpose it was not designed for (what I hinted at with "not a life saving device") and should not expect it to work.

 

[rongoodman]

If I strap the tank lower to where the 1st stage regulator about the same level as the base of my neck, I'll end up bobbing face up on the surface without finning

Can you reach your valve with the tank this low?

 

[boulderjohn]

I prefer to rig my gear so that I can dive most efficiently, not so that it will be easier to find my body if I die on the surface.

 

[Dan]

Can you reach your valve with the tank this low?

Yes.

 

[flyboy08]

Has a cause been posted yet?

I'm tired of reading speculation......

 

[Dan]

I prefer to rig my gear so that I can dive most efficiently, not so that it will be easier to find my body if I die on the surface.

When I'm underwater in neutral buoyant with almost no air in BCD, it's easy to be in any position I want it to be. I'm going to just hang in mid water to where I'm comfortable, so diving in most efficiently is not my goal. Relaxing & enjoying the underwater scenery are. After all I usually run out of my bottom time before I run out of air in the tank anyway. I'm not trying to fin like mad underwater trying to go from place to place while keeping the body in perfect horizontal, etc., which ends up straining my neck anyway. This kind of perfectly horizontal diving & finning is like walking while looking at the sky for the whole dive, very tiring. Just relax & float are my way of diving like the picture, below.

 

[halocline]

Looks like you're either doing a sistine chapel parody or reaching for the winning TD...

 

[mediumone]

soccer goalie

 

[Dan]

Looks like you're either doing a sistine chapel parody or reaching for the winning TD...

No pain in the neck for sure.