First-hand account of down current, with video footage

[scurbyduck]

Two days later we did a shore dive and it was clear he had learned alot from that. sometimes
what we learn needs a value attached to it from experience.

---------- Post added April 20th, 2012 at 12:41 PM ----------

We were not all ready, i thought the dm was jumping in to check the current. there wasnt room for everyone to be geared up at once.

 

[scurbyduck]

Did i mention the other two divers had to be rescued,clining to the wall.suppposedly a aow and his instructor.

 

[DandyDon]

there wasnt room for everyone to be geared up at once.

I cannot imagine that. I haven't been on the boat, but it sounds more like diver problems.

Did i mention the other two divers had to be rescued,clining to the wall.suppposedly a aow and his instructor.

Again, I wasn't there - but the key to getting out of these is to swim across it. If they had turned lose and swam away from the wall, they'd got out like you did.

 

[Mike]

Is it common to start a wall dive 200-300ft out in the blue?

If you mean 200-300ft of water below you, I can't think of any dives on Cozumel where you would drift into the reef or wall, moving from 200-300 ft of water below you to say 80-60 over the reef. If you mean 200-300ft laterally away from the reef, sure, depends on which way the current is going, they might drop you up current so that by the time everyone drops down you're about at the reef.

scurbyduck has about 30 dives in coz. first time i was droped out in the blue. thought it was wrong for the dm to tell us to go down when there was two still on the boat.

Usually that's a sign the dive master has dived with you already and is comfortable with your diving and he doesn't mind you dropping in first, usually a dive master will do this if you have equalization problems, he wants you going down first because it's going to take longer for you and by the time you deal with your equalization everybody will hit the starting depth together. Obviously if he knew the current was fast at the dive site, that wouldn't be a good way to go, he should be more concerned in that case of getting everybody in the water and keeping them together instead of allowing anybody to be spread out.

Who was the dive operation?

 

[WSOPFAN]

It looks to me like another story of inexperienced divers being where they should not have been and or NOT being properly briefed. I did not see too much out of the ordinary on that dive unless I am mistaken. Going down the wall to 80-90 feet with a small down current will catch you totally off guard for how much air you need to inflate in your BC. Then the kicking starts and the panicking and soon you have an uncontrolled ascent like is on that video. I would also not pay attention to some of the posters here who have no idea what these situations can be like and simply say oh you should have stayed by your buddy. This video did not look that bad as the divers on the wall did not have their bubbles being pulled down, they looked to be going up. If you saw a wall of bubbles while you were ascending you were probably in the wall of a whirlpool. If you want to know what Barracuda is like you just got a small sample. The current is ripping so bad up there sometimes the dive briefing consists of do your best to stay together, that is all you can do and except the risks if TSHTF. What do you mean the other 2 divers needed to be rescued? Define rescued? BTW no you do not always get dropped off the boat inside of the wall. If you do that up north you might be caught in a current moving fast towards the shore and up to the surface so you need to drop exactly on the wall or over it.

 

[Mike]

I've got to go outside and see if there are any pigs flying around. I'm almost in total agreement with the poker guru.

 

[Sorrows]

VERY scary video, so glad it all worked out and that everybody is safe.

I think this was a case of trio diving, right? I know that can be challenging, as that's how we go--mom, dad, and (now college-aged) son. We've had some difficult times sticking together, followed by some harrowing moments, so I am totally sympathetic.

But I'm going to ask a (perhaps) stupid question. Why doesn't anyone have/use a tank banger or quacker? It seems like the diver in distress was trying to get attention by screaming through his reg, and that doesn't work so well, as we all know. Or have I misread the situation? I may have, as it was very hard for me to watch this video, expecially when he started screaming. Ouch.

I did notice in Cozumel that very few people had or used noisemakers; I know they can be bothersome, but as long as they are different from the one used by the DM, I believe they should be considered a safety essential--just like a computer, sausage, light or whistle. Set up a system ahead of time--this many honks means "hey, look at this!" and this many honks means "Where the hell are you?" and this many means "HELP!"

I'm not going to MMQ this, because, as I've said, "been there, done that." As for not inflating his BC, I'm guessing he didn't want to waste time and just wanted to get his son down. I would have done the same, but then it takes me a while to get down, especially once I've been up and my tank is closer to empty than when I started. Anyway, dad needs to do what he needs to do. #1 job is protecting his son.

Okay, technically not doing the MMQ thing, but hope you will consider the suggestion for a noisemaker, if you haven't already.

 

[scurbyduck]

It looks to me like another story of inexperienced divers being where they should not have been and or NOT being properly briefed. I did not see too much out of the ordinary on that dive unless I am mistaken. Going down the wall to 80-90 feet with a small down current will catch you totally off guard for how much air you need to inflate in your BC. Then the kicking starts and the panicking and soon you have an uncontrolled ascent like is on that video. I would also not pay attention to some of the posters here who have no idea what these situations can be like and simply say oh you should have stayed by your buddy. This video did not look that bad as the divers on the wall did not have their bubbles being pulled down, they looked to be going up. If you saw a wall of bubbles while you were ascending you were probably in the wall of a whirlpool. If you want to know what Barracuda is like you just got a small sample. The current is ripping so bad up there sometimes the dive briefing consists of do your best to stay together, that is all you can do and except the risks if TSHTF. What do you mean the other 2 divers needed to be rescued? Define rescued? BTW no you do not always get dropped off the boat inside of the wall. If you do that up north you might be caught in a current moving fast towards the shore and up to the surface so you need to drop exactly on the wall or over it.

The 2 divers were clinging to the wall until the dive master came down and individually swam them to the surface.

 

[Craig66]

As for not inflating his BC, I'm guessing he didn't want to waste time and just wanted to get his son down. I would have done the same, but then it takes me a while to get down, especially once I've been up and my tank is closer to empty than when I started. Anyway, dad needs to do what he needs to do. #1 job is protecting his son. .

As a father who dives with his child I agree 100% that his #1 Job is to protect his son and for that reason it was in a way essential that he did inflate his BC. His son was panicked and in a heart beat could have "jumped" onto or grabbed dad and with no positive bouyancy both could have gone under. Dad also without a reg in his mouth could have resulted in a really troubling outcome. Remember this whole thread started with a newbie who might have made it to the surface but then dissappeared perhaps because she had an issue at the surface.

You do bring up a really important issue though and that is children and parents diving together and a fathers #1 job. Although my daughter is a lot younger the possibility that I might let panic overcome rational learned responses (responses learned in a rescue class) makes me believe that I will likely use an accompanying DM for a long time to come.

Finally, I agree with WSOPFAN that this is a dive that perhaps should never have happened. Should a DM have taken a newbie DM to Santa Rosa and then proceeded with the dive once their seemed to be an issue such that currents are wacky and all the divers in the group were spread out both vertically and horizontally.

I clearly remember diving with Pedro Pablo and BlueXTsea and onboard we had a newbie. Pedro jumped in and looked around and then climbed back on the boat and told us that the currents were too difficult for our newbies and we motored off a mile down the road to another reef.

To the poster of the video - As a diver who dives with my daughter I watched your video with terror as it really hit home. I hope you understand that it was very brave of you to post your video and that as an accident forum we are not MMQ but rather hoping to learn from mistakes that we all make so that we wont make them ourselves.

Craig

 

[t4e]

can someone please point me to the video you guys are talking about?
i must be blind, i went back 10 pages and don't see it lol

thank you