Great Blue Hole

[Mike]

Buddy teams are great, but this is always a group dive. You and your buddy are not allowed to wander off by yourself.

There is no such thing a group buddy dive.

It's a guided dive with multiple sets of paired divers.

When you got certified your fundamental training was based on the concept of the buddy pair. Nobody got a solo diver certification along with their OW certification, you were certified to dive in a buddy pair. You were taught the reason for the buddy pair was to increase the individual safety of each diver in the pair by carrying each other's redundant/emergency air supply, it has nothing to do with wandering off from a group on a guided group dive.


Some operators doing the blue hole dive ignore, dis-regard and even over-ride buddy pairs because they want to manage the entire group on the dive as one big collective air tank, this goes directly against your basic fundamental training and certification.

Instead of rehashing it myself, I'll simply copy and paste an example of what I'm referring to:

I was recently hanging out at 40msw looking at stalactites that I didn't care about, waiting for the single bull shark I had spotted earlier to maybe—just maybe—make another pass. My dive buddy had managed to convince (read: relentlessly nag) me to once again dive in Belize's Great Blue Hole. I had been to the Blue Hole several times over the past few years, but I went to snorkel at the Hole and then dive in the afternoon. The thing that bothers me most about this particular dive is that it fits perfectly within my expectations for a dive at The Great Blue Hole.

We were on a medium sized dive boat (~50', two ladders at the back, a fly bridge and one head) with roughly 20 other divers on board. The overall plan was to dive in four groups.

• Group 1: My buddy and I. We were each diving sidemount with two AL80's.
• Group 2: 1 DM + honeymooning couple who were flying to Ambergris the next day, so they didn't want "to go too deep" (70fsw). All diving single AL80's.
• Group 3: 2 DMs + 6 women with a median age of about 60. All diving single AL80's. The women had been diving with each other as a group on several prior trips. (1 DM was 'their' DM, the other was just along because she felt like diving that day.)
• Group 4: 1 Instructor + 8 people with an age range of 14 to 70. All diving single AL80's.

The dive brief was typical. Go down to 130fsw, swim around a stalactite or two, hang out for five minutes, ascend to 60fsw to look for sharks for a bit (read: decompress), ascend to 15fsw for a three minute safety stop next to the hang tank, which "you can breathe off of if you run out of gas."

So there we were, hanging out at 40msw and I was really trying to appreciate a hole in the wall. We were about to start making our way back up when Group 4 arrived at our depth. The second group had already come and gone, having made a much faster initial descent than we did. (I was taking my time and looking for sharks on the way down. Why else would I dive here?)

One of the divers from group 4 was on the instructor's octo. Let me restate that for clarity. Two divers had begun sharing air at some point on their descent to 130fsw, and one of them was ostensibly a professional.

The diver who was on the instructor's octo was built like a linebacker and I had figured that he was about 20. I'll call him Tim. (No offense to any Tims.) I wasn't surprised Tim went through air quickly, but I was a little surprised he went through air that quickly. Tim was also upright, kicking to maintain his depth, clearly over-weighted and apparently not aware enough to manually inflate his BCD. I think I almost managed to make myself seasick from rolling my eyes.

My buddy and I looked at each other and had one of those moments of perfect understanding. We checked our air, did the quick math and decided we would stay nearby group 4. The following sentence needs to stand on its own.

Group 4 stuck to their original plan and stayed around 130fsw for five minutes.

After those five minutes were up, the instructor looked at his computer (integrated air and heartbeat monitor, whee, technology!), and then rather hurriedly transferred Tim to another diver's octo after checking that diver's SPG. At this point, I banged on my tank to get the instructor's attention as I couldn't be sure he was aware that we were still nearby with more air than all of his divers combined probably had left. After I made it clear that we would be happy to donate, he waved both of us off and got his group to start their ascent as a rather close knit bunch. We ascended with them, but kept a moderate distance—probably about five or six strong kicks away from the nearest member of the group.

Shortly after we all started our ascent, the youngest member of Group 4 (14yo.) and his buddy, who happened to be his sister (16yo.) swam over to us. I thought they might be running low on air, but when I asked them, they both said they had over 2000psi remaining. The girl stuck her thumb out over her shoulder at the rest of Group 4 and then made the crazy sign next to the side of her head. They stayed with us for the remainder of the dive. My misgivings about teenagers on the dive sort of evaporated since they seemed to be the only two exhibiting sane behavior.

Tim breathed off of everyone's octo that was left in the group as the instructor kept checking SPG's and moving Tim from diver to diver. They skipped the deep (sorry, I meant shark watching) stop. My buddy's computer had been set for deep stops and it wanted one minute at 20msw so our foursome waited that out before resuming our ascent.

When we got back under the boat where everyone was doing their safety stop, Tim and a diver that turned out to be his father were breathing off of the hang tank. The rest of the divers seemed to be hitting the surface earlier than I expected they would if they hadn't donated so much of their own air. They certainly hadn't had time to complete a three minute stop since we got to their depth about only a little more than a minute after they did. I could barely carry a tune in my head over the beeping of grumpy dive computers.

Our group was the last out of the water—my buddy and I decided to do an extended safety stop as we had gone well beyond our plan and we still had two dives in the afternoon. I also needed time to find a happy place before seeing the instructor on the surface. The kids stayed down with us and our patience was mildly rewarded as we saw a few black tip sharks swim by, long after everyone else had hit the surface.

Back on the boat, I eventually ended up sitting down near Tim and his parents. We talked for a little while. I was being pleasant. I was mostly interested in seeing if Tim or anyone else in the group was freaked out. Tim's attitude suggested that nothing had gone wrong—or at the very least, that nothing had occurred that merited worry. I found out during our conversation that despite his size, he was 15 years old and to add to the awesome, that this was dive number 6 since he completed his open water cert. Tim's father turned out to be a paramedic with thirty years experience in a metropolitan fire department.

I walked around and talked to pretty much everyone and the only other people who seemed to be irritated about what had occurred were the fourteen year old and his sister. They also happened to be the only other two on the boat that had brought extra thermal protection for the GBH dive.

I went to talk to the instructor at some point as we were in transit from TGBH to Half Moon Caye and I said (still trying to be pleasant) something like: "Wow, that kid sure can suck down a lot of air, huh?"

The instructor laughed and said something like: "Yeah. On every dive he's always going up when everyone else is at their turnaround pressure."

What else is there to say?

Dive operators like the one in the above example believe through frankenstein re-engineering of scuba diving procedures, they have mitigated the dangers to the point that they can keep pushing the bar lower and lower on who is qualified to dive the blue hole, creating a larger and larger pool of potential customers, they are doing this by breaking the most basic rules of scuba certification.

It's not me just saying this. PADI has said it.

 

[The Chairman]

Hey Pete, I rarely see your around these parts, I usually have to find you in the Florida section, but it was a pleasure to get to see 'your perspective' on the subject at hand.

I was actually invited in to take a peek. Who am I to refuse?

There is no such thing a group buddy dive.

I've seen way too many of these and all over the world. It happens more often than most think. If you or your assigned partner is an SOB (Same Ocean Buddy) and you are simply following the group, then it's a group buddy dive. Good buddy skills are hard to find in an insta-buddy.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Mike, why are you pulling out that one again? Says right in there that the one honeymoon couple were flying TO Ambergris Caye the next day. Ergo, the dive boat was from somewhere other than Ambergris Caye. Would be nice to know which op it was so at least you could spend your time villifying them instead of all the boats that go. Again, as far as I know you dont have any first hand knowledge. If thst is incorrect please do fill us in on the details of how your dive went.

 

[KeithG]

There is no such thing a group buddy dive.

It's a guided dive with multiple sets of paired divers.

When you got certified your fundamental training was based on the concept of the buddy pair. Nobody got a solo diver certification along with their OW certification, you were certified to dive in a buddy pair. You were taught the reason for the buddy pair was to increase the individual safety of each diver in the pair by carrying each other's redundant/emergency air supply, it has nothing to do with wandering off from a group on a guided group dive.

Excellent point!

I was more focused on the guided group dive cluster f**k concept which I hate and refuse to actively participate in anymore. Especially on this dive site. Or the deep pinnacle site at Saba (I can not remember it's name...). These are not dives were you want the DM trying to "average out" the divers capabilities by sharing air or doing "shark stops".

Slightly Off topic, but an illustration of the perils of group trust me dives: we got sucked into a "group dive" a few trips ago when the DM decided to convert the boat dive into a drift dive AFTER everyone was under water. The DM wrote "drift dive" on their slate and clearly showed it to me (and I made sure my buddy knew as well) but it seems like not all divers were with the plan. About 35 minutes into the dive I saw 2 divers swimming like hell back towards where we splashed. I assume they were almost out of air, panicked and wanted to see the boat anchor line. That time it all ended "okay" as they were on the boat and fully dry by the time we ended the dive 25 minutes later...

 

[The Chairman]

Again, as far as I know you dont have any first hand knowledge.

Rumors, innuendo and misrepresentations are an unfortunate part of the interwebs. People buy into these fraudulent accounts for any number of reasons and believe them as being inherently true. Hey, you believe it so it must be true, n'est pas? When I read a long time SB user report their actual experiences, I put all the other crap in the round file. You've got my vote on this Ms Chilly! Thanks for the eye witness account.

 

[The Chairman]

Or the deep pinnacle site at Saba (I can not remember it's name...).

Ah, the Needle or Eye of the Needle. I love that dive. Truly unique and spectacular geologic formation.

 

[Mike]

Mike, why are you pulling out that one again? Says right in there that the one honeymoon couple were flying TO Ambergris Caye the next day. Ergo, the dive boat was from somewhere other than Ambergris Caye. Would be nice to know which op it was so at least you could spend your time villifying them instead of all the boats that go. Again, as far as I know you dont have any first hand knowledge. If thst is incorrect please do fill us in on the details of how your dive went.

There is no reason to vilify all of the dive operators. It's not all of them it's some of them. I've been very clear in saying (some) you've been very clear in saying (none).

Censoring discussion that you feel isn't positive to the blue hole simply isn't going to happen. You're better off trying to get the US state department to retract the warnings they've issued to American citizens about the Belize dive industry and getting PADI to retract the warnings they've issued specifically to the dive operators offering diving at the blue hole.

I am curious though why you focus on where a dive boat came from, when all that matters is where they ended up diving at? Do you think the dive boat in question was African or something and foreign dive operators from other countries are the problem at the blue hole?

 

[Downing]

If it's only some of them, which ones are we talking about? No one ever wants to name names around here. It seems to me that calling out the ones that engage in unsafe practices would help the rest of us know which ones to avoid.

A few years ago there was a thread entitled something like "Belize Dive Operators Are Unsafe." After much discussion, it turned out the OP was talking about a few AC operators, which were also never named. But the title was just so misleading, much the same as if someone had a bad experience with a dive op or two in the Keys and started a thread that read "Florida Keys Dive Operators Are Unsafe." What's a dive op with a sterling reputation like Hamanasi, Turneffe Island Resort or Splash Dive Center supposed to do? You don't even know if you're being accused, much less whether to defend yourself.

I don't think Chilly was trying to censor anyone, but I'm going to make an educated guess based on her experience that she's dived with most if not all AC dive ops. If she knew which ops we are talking about, I bet her insight would be pretty valuable.

I'm still wondering about the BTB's promulgation of Belize Diving Practices supposed to be due out this month. If you were writing the rules for the Blue Hole, what would you require? Just off the top of my head, I can think of a few:

For the divers:
1. A minimum number of dives under the dive belt, say 25.
2. Either an Advanced OW Card (requires one deep dive) or a Deep Diving card or equivalent experience

For the dive ops:
1. One guide per four divers
2. Groups no bigger than 8 divers (plus 2 guides)
3. A detailed dive brief
4. Hang one tank per four divers at 15 feet
5. Steel 100s for everyone
6. Redundant air supply at the lip
7. 130 feet depth max

Enforcement? Like Gladden Spit, post a boat at the BH so that everyone checks in and out. Paid for by user fees.

Penalties: fines/suspend/revoke BH privileges depending on the infraction.

I'm sure there should be more but the above seems like a decent start.

Keep in mind I've never promulgated a dive rule in my life but it doesn't seem that hard.

 

[Pedro Burrito]

I've posted about my only Blue Hole dive in previous threads but I'll post again.

My wife and I stayed at Hamanasi for her 40th birthday. Hamanasi is in the southern part of Belize, in Hopkins. We did three days of diving prior to the trip to the Blue Hole. The trip to the Blue Hole was long, made longer by rough seas and rain. It took 3 1/2 hours to get back to Hamanasi because the seas were rougher and the rain heavier. That is the only negative I can give about the Blue Hole.

The operator was Hopkins Divers (owned by Hamanasi). They had two groups dive the Blue Hole at the same time. The first group, with one DM, stopped at 60 feet because all the divers were just OW certified. The second group, with one DM, descended to around 130 feet where we weaved in and out of some stalactites. The DM led the group of six in the same buddy teams that we had used the previous days. My wife and I, with the most experience, were in the back. I banged the back of my head on a stalactite and was very angry, thinking that someone had run into me. I realized that I was narced but we were headed out of the overhang and up so the narcosis cleared quickly. That was the first time that I knew that I was narced. My maximum depth was 132 feet and my wife's maximum depth was 133 feet. No one in our group descended any deeper than us.

We slowly ascended, met up with the first group and then hung around 15 - 20 feet for a safety stop. The boat did have an 80 cubic foot aluminum cylinder with regulator hanging at 20 feet but no one was in deco and no one was low on air. I chose to stop for five minutes just because I had plenty of air, there were schools of fish to watch, the sun was shining and the water was warm. My total run time was 32 minutes on air including the safety stop.

We had a 54 minute surface interval and then were back in the water at Half Moon Caye on Lighthouse Reef Atoll. I did a 50 minute dive, max depth of 66 feet on 32% where we saw a log book page worth of fish. We then went to the Lighthouse Atoll for lunch and then out to Long Caye Wall (aka The Aquarium) after a surface interval of 1 hour and 49 minutes. My dive time was 50 minutes and max depth was 60 feet on 32%. It really was like diving in an aquarium, I have never been around so many fish and turtles.

As an aside, Hopkins Divers reviewed every diver's qualifications and experiences on shore the night before they would book the trip. I saw them refuse to take two divers to Gladden Spit for the whaleshark watching trip because one of the divers had only an OW certification and not much experience.

I've never been to AC so I cannot comment on the dive operators there. I can say that I've never seen a more professionally run operation than Hopkins Divers.

Was the Blue Hole trip worth the time and cost? Yes, particularly when I factor in the other two dives. And it's much better than the quarry that I dive in regularly.

Would I dive the Blue Hole again? No. It's just an average dive at recreational diving depths. Still, it's better than the quarry.

Would I recommend diving the Blue Hole? I would not try to dissuade you from diving it but I would urge you to find a responsible, professional dive operation to take you.

What would I do differently if I dove the Blue Hole again? I would sidemount two aluminum 80's or sling a large pony tank. There's little margin for error diving at that depth with one 80 cubic foot cylinder.

 

[BDSC]

I am one of those divers who really enjoyed the Blue Hole and would dive it again if I were to go back to Belize. I just find it interesting to dive that site realizing that at one time it was a cave on dry land. We were staying at Turneffe Island Resort and I thought they had a great dive operation. When we arrived at the Blue Hole we had a dive brief and folks were told about the depths you could reach if you decided to follow the DM down to the stalactites. However, folks were told if they didn't want to dive to those depths, they could stay at a more shallow depth and check out the edges of the hole. No one was even remotely pressured to dive deep. I don't remember my exact depth but I think I went to about 140 ft or so.

I would be curious to know how many divers have died at that site. If was truly as dangerous as folks make out, you would think there would be at a minimum several deaths each year.