German woman dies diving Cozumel

[Nylorac]

Great Day in the Mornin'!

Y'all are hurtin' my tender little sensitivities here, sniff... (see the tears?) !

Fer cryin' out loud! People should wait until they have good control of their buoyancy before they are divers!

Cameras don't cause accidents.
E

Sorry for the tears and sniffals - y'all just need to get a little tougher.

Totally agree that cameras don't kill but task overloading for new divers is really a concern. New divers DO need to practice to get good control so maybe they do need to wait to get a camera (or anything else that can distract them) until they get buoyancy down. Most people need a little practice to get good control - you really can't get it down without diving and practicing.

 

[tight rope walker]

I am just sorry this poor woman died.

My condolences go out to her family.

Deutschland Deutschland.

 

[XcalakSteve]

Being narked will not kill you. But an emergency ascent from a deep dive might. Wonder if that was the cause?

John

Thats what caught my eye also. Taking a disoriented diver up fast is a real quick way to kill them.

 

[SailorC27]

Is it appropriate for a new diver: 4 previous post certification dives, to do drift diving in Cozumel at the depths discussed in this thread. A friend of mine did this dive, as a new diver and was not real happy with the trip, especially when they surfaced and the boat was nowhere to be seen. Supposedly, they left to do a repair on the boat and they did come back but it was disconcerning to come up and not see a recovery boat. This looks like a dive out of range of a new diver but it seems to be done all the time, or am I being overly cautious?

 

[Jax]

The drift dives in Cozumel are not at all challenging and go no deeper than 50 feet . . I've only been there for a week, so have limited experience.

None of the boats stay close. The parallel the shore, then come in straight to 'their' group. There are an awful lot of groups and boats out there, and they seem to execute safely.

The group just laid around on the surface and discussed what they saw.

 

[RubberDucky]

Hi Jax,

The drift dives in Cozumel [ ... ] go no deeper than 50 feet . .

This isn't exactly true. Here's a sample of ~20 dives I've done in Cozumel, all drift dives:

43 feet, 29 avg (Paraiso)
52 feet, 37 avg (Chankanaab)
56 feet, 37 avg (Yucab)
56 feet, 38 avg (Yucab)
61 feet, 40 avg (Yucab)
61 feet, 41 avg (Tormentos)
63 feet, 46 avg (Tormentos)
66 feet, 44 avg (Cedral, drifting into Santa Rosa wall)
66 feet, 47 avg (Las Palmas)
68 feet, 41 avg (Cedral)
68 feet, 46 avg (La Francesa)
69 feet, 43 avg (Delilah)
72 feet, 44 avg (Cedral)
74 feet, 45 avg (Tunich)
77 feet, 38 avg (San Francisco)
81 feet, 47 avg (Santa Rosa Wall)
90 feet, 40 avg (Santa Rosa wall)
92 feet, 53 avg (Palancar Horseshoe)
92 feet, 55 avg (Palancar Gardens)

On average it seems I was at or above 50 ft, but many of the dives, at least in my experience, can start out a bit deeper.

 

[SEMO Scuba]

I've been on several drift dives in Coz that had max depth of 80 to 90 feet.

Sometimes there are several different dive boat groups diving the same site so it's difficult or not possible for the dive boat to track their groups bubbles. When that happens your boat may not be close when you surface. So big deal just wait they will come back for you.

It is not appropriate for newbie divers to dive beyond their newbie capabilities. That seemed to be one of the points stressed the most in my open water class.

 

[DandyDon]

Is it appropriate for a new diver: 4 previous post certification dives, to do drift diving in Cozumel at the depths discussed in this thread. A friend of mine did this dive, as a new diver and was not real happy with the trip, especially when they surfaced and the boat was nowhere to be seen. Supposedly, they left to do a repair on the boat and they did come back but it was disconcerning to come up and not see a recovery boat. This looks like a dive out of range of a new diver but it seems to be done all the time, or am I being overly cautious?

It happens. Goes back to the basic warning: when you leave the US, you leave the US. Scuba is an adventure sport of some degrees of risk management, and outside of the waters covered by the US Coats Guard and our court system, what we are taught as rules at home sometimes are seen as suggestions in the Caribbean and Latin America. If you were to plan a trip somewhere, I'd suggest getting suggestions on the local geographic forum for there here on SB. My favorite Cozumel Operator uses mostly 8 diver boats with the more experienced leaving early for the distant sites, the less experienced a little later for the close & shallower sites, plus a big boat later yet for snorkelers and divers to go to a very shallow site.

I think it would have been more appropriate for this lady to be on a beginner boat headed for a shallower site with her own, hired DM as a buddy.

The drift dives in Cozumel are not at all challenging and go no deeper than 50 feet . . I've only been there for a week, so have limited experience.

None of the boats stay close. The parallel the shore, then come in straight to 'their' group. There are an awful lot of groups and boats out there, and they seem to execute safely.

The group just laid around on the surface and discussed what they saw.

Eh, I've done many below 50 ft there, as well as being pulled off the top of a reef down a wall by a down current to 100 ft by surprise. Boats often follow the group's bubble trails closely if no one else is close, but back off more if there are more groups on the site. Currents change at times and I know the feeling of not seeing any boats on surfacing - a bit uncomfortable. Every diver needs to carry surface signaling devices like a safety sausage or more, but I never board a boat without my Dive Alert whistle, and every diver needs to be prepared to float even in the event of gear problems, even if it takes orally inflating the BC or dropping weights, IMO. Sometimes boats do have to leave, perhaps to assist in an emergency, or whatever. Stay with the DM leading the group.

 

[scubafanatic]

The drift dives in Cozumel are not at all challenging and go no deeper than 50 feet . . I've only been there for a week, so have limited experience.

...umm, yeah, you do have VERY limited experience! ..as a new/inexperienced diver you will be carefully supervised and taken on 'kiddie' dives...which is fine, everyone has to start somewhere.....if you hire one of the advanced dive ops, with the larger steel tanks, and they evaluate your skills as being sufficient, you get to enjoy dives well beyond 100' deep......commonly in the 130' - 160' range, and sometimes in fast-to-screaming currents.....with mid-water column deco stops, with no visual frame of reference, floating in the middle of the 'big blue'.......maybe one day you'll get to 'run with the big dogs' too!

 

[SEMO Scuba]

I do not agree that a new/inexperienced diver will always be carefully supervised. I have seen new/inexperienced divers on boats that I have been on that were either paired with an instabuddy or had a dive buddy, but all were not closely supervised by the dive guide. I have seen the dive guide paired with the newbie if the newbie did not have a dive buddy. These newbies were not taken on 'kiddie' dives, but were taken to the same dive sites as the rest of the group. I have also seen dive guides hired by the newbie as a dive buddy/dive master.

I am not picking at other posts. I am just saying that newbies should not expect that they will be looked after closely. They often will be treated as any other diver with a C-card. That said they should be prepared to be responsible for themselves and not partake in a dive that is beyond their level of experience or training.