Feb 19 2017 Cozumel diving fatality

[mediumone]

I thought f was final check.

you are correct on that...but the intent is to make sure you have all the rest of the stuff you need, like fins, film, etc...so I figured I'd let that one slide

Yes! You guys are absolutely right --- that one was a matter of too much time passing, I'm afraid. Memory seems to be less than what it once was, but pleased to report that other important functions are fully operational.

 

[crabbyfiddler]

Yes! You guys are absolutely right --- that one was a matter of too much time passing, I'm afraid. Memory seems to be less than what it once was, but pleased to report that other important functions are fully operational.

Priorities..

 

[KevinNM]

It's an easy thing to forget if you have been using your own regulator and your own BCD together for a long time. If you were to purchase an inline air source early in your career and dive with your own setup for many dives over a long period of time, you may not have ever had the occasion to use one system with the other, and so you may not even recall (or possibly never even have known) that they are not compatible.

That happened to me, but in reverse. I got a new bcd and couldn't get the bcd hose to connect. Old one had an air2.

 

[gopbroek]

I was responding to a post by my friend Jen and used the names of my wife and son, whom she knows.

Also, if you read what I wrote, it should be clear that we figured out the issue with Tracy's power inflator. What sort of person do you think I am given that I said that disconnecting the hose "quickly and easily fixed" a problem if you thought that lead to a death?

Who, by the way, did you presume Michael was if you presumed Tracy was the dead diver?

My apologies, I was mistaken.

 

[boulderjohn]

That sounds like it wasn't her BC? A rental? I have been tempted to not pack my own BC as it is huge, but I do - in part because connections like that vary.

See posts 158 and 164.

 

[Dan]

That happened to me, but in reverse. I got a new bcd and couldn't get the bcd hose to connect. Old one had an air2.

Same here. My first BCD (Zeagle Ranger) came with air2, which has bigger quick connection to allow both power inflator & alternate air source during emergency. Basically, when your buddy goes OOA, you'll give your primary 2nd stage regulator to him/her (or he/she may yank it out of your mouth with bulging eye balls of expression that he/she is about to die of drowning & let share the air), then you just calmly stick that air2 in your mouth & watch the sight of relief in his or her face / eyes when he/she can breathe again.

When I bought a new BCD with conventional setup, that's when I learnt that the new quick connect is smaller. It's a good thing that I check it months before my dive trip, so I have a chance to buy & add the octo (back up 2nd stage regulator with yellow hose) onto my old regulator setup before the trip.

This accident shows that it is important to:
1. Check your gear set up, understand & be intimately familiar with their function before you go for a dive trip.
2. Do a check out dive in the shallow to make sure the gears are fully functional, not at the last minute.
3. Don't be afraid to cancel the dive at any time you feel that the gear are not to your liking.

 

[halocline]

So your saying she knowingly dove with faulty equipment?

Lets be a little careful here about implying blame. Someone died....

I wouldn't call it 'faulty', it appears as if she had an octo/inflator on her BC, and the rental regulator had a standard LP inflator hose. (Or vice-versa) So she would have had to orally inflate her BC. If I were in her position, I absolutely would have done the dive, and I believe most divers would do the same. If I were guiding, I would not demand that the affected diver sit out the dive. It's no big deal for an experienced diver (which she was) to orally inflate the BC, and it's taught in all OW classes. I've had leaking LP inflators that I've disconnected during a dive; it's not that uncommon.

That said, this is an example of one reason that I do not like the octo/inflators. One of many.....

 

[peeweediver]

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

 

[Dan]

Having 2 functional device in one, may be convenient to have (1 LP inflators hose, instead of 1 LP inflator hose + octopus), but it comes with a price, like such incompatiblility issue with regular devices.

If this happens to be my first experience, I may prefer to compensate the slightly negative buoyancy by finning during a safety stop, rather than blowing air manually into BCD & finding that I put too much air into it & have to bleed it & repeate the manual adjustment.

 

[Hickdive]

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.