Informal Poll- Boat nowhere near after dive

[ScubaPaul]

We were the only 2 divers on the boat, and thus the only group the boat had to follow. It was 5 minutes, as I timed it.

The captain had a fishing pole afixed to the rear of the boat. I can't say whether he was in or outside of the marine park.

There isn't really more to this story, and as I stated in my first post, it appears the Dive Operator has handled the incident, so we are looking forward to diving with them over the next several days.

There are a couple of issues here. First the wait:

If you surfaced with the DM then you were among the last to surface. Good operators in Cozumel do not make all of the divers surface together, but instead send them up as their air allows. If you are among the last to surface and the boat has had to pick up one or two other groups, and get them on the boat, then, no a 5 minute wait for the the boat to get to you is not at all inappropriate.

And to be honest, what seems like five minutes bobing in the water is probably more like 2 .

As for the fishing, we'll that's been covered. You can't fish in the marine park, period. I find it difficult to believe that your captain left the marine park while you were diving instead of following the bubbles, that would be a huge safety violation. I also find it difficult to believe that a captain would risk his licence by fishing in the park. The whole thing sounds very fishy to me (no pun intended).

I'm guessing there is more to this story, and no, I'm not making any accusations! Sometimes things get a little lost in translation and I'm hoping that's where the inconsitancies lie.

 

[ggunn]

FWIW, Villablanca is not in the marine park.

 

[scubawife]

FWIW, Villablanca is not in the marine park.

Have never dived that site so I wasn't sure if it was just in the boundary or outside. Since it's outside then there would be no fishing restrictions. But, you'd hope that a licensed dive boat captain would have better sense then to fish while his divers are in the water.

 

[ggunn]

Have never dived that site so I wasn't sure if it was just in the boundary or outside. Since it's outside then there would be no fishing restrictions. But, you'd hope that a licensed dive boat captain would have better sense then to fish while his divers are in the water.

No quarrel with that.

 

[Charlie99]

We were the only 2 divers on the boat, and thus the only group the boat had to follow. It was 5 minutes, as I timed it.

and had earlier posted

Before surfacing. I noticed that we spent a good 7 minutes or so on our safety stop, and I figured that the divemaster was simply offgassing (sp), but now, am not so sure.

Now on the previous dive, upon getting on the boat, the captain pointed to the back of the boat where he had a 4 to 5 foot barracude which he had captured while fishing (while we were diving).

Although the incident was a bit irritating to you, it doesn't appear to have put anyone in any signfiicant danger. It Sounds to me like the DM and Captain had seen the 2 customers diving, figured out how long you'd be down, and decided to get in some fishing. Maybe the DM spent so long at safety stop because he knew the Capt was still off elsewhere.

Not the greatest customer service, but neither was it an outrageous safety violation.

I probably would have just discussed it with the DM and/or Captain, and only gone to the owner if it happened again.

-------------

I was also left adrift on a Villablanca Wall (actually more of a "slope" than wall) dive for several minutes on one dive. It simply turned out that all but my two buddies and I had been back on the boat for a while, and based on previous dives, the captain knew that we tended to stay down fairly long. He also know we had SMBs. So he ran everyone else back to the nearby dock. When we surfaced, there wasn't any boat and it wasn't until a couple minutes later we realized that the boat just leaving the dock was ours. We were beginning to wonder about headcount problems and whether we'd need to flag down another boat. Chatting with other divers later though, it turned out that the DM continued to watch our dive area during the trip in and spotted the SMB I sent up from safety stop while they were still offloading the other customers. If it were not for that later comment by another diver, I would have assumed that they pretty much abandoned us and only came back as an afterthought.

There's a good possibility that in your case also,that the Captain wasn't as clueless as it first appears.

I definitely chose not to make an issue of it with management, since by mutual agreement the DM had been violating the dive ops rules all week by getting out of the water while three of us continued our dive. So it wasn't all that strange for the Captain to figure that we'd be OK on our own for 10 or 15 minutes.

 

[marcus8]

Couple things...5 minutes is a bit long but not totally unreasonable in Coz in 80 plus logged dives there. I've been in the water that long, and perhaps longer, waiting for others to get picked up elsewhere.

The thing that would bother me is if we requested to dive the wreck, and were denied so the captain could go somewhere to fish. If that is the case, as it appears from what I'm reading, then I would say request another captain or dive with someone else. I'm glad you complained. You had every right.

Mark

 

[ReefHound]

Although the incident was a bit irritating to you, it doesn't appear to have put anyone in any signfiicant danger.

"Nothing happened" does not equate to "Not in danger". What ifthere had been a diving accident at some point requiring CPR, O2, or other first aid? What if the captain returned to the expected spot but the group had drifted somewhere else?

 

[Divedoggie]

I would not be happy:

1.) boat wasn't there.
2.) couldn't dive the requested dive.
3.) Villa Blanca is something that I consider a shore dive. (Maybe not out on the wall)
It used to be pretty good, esp. at night, but it has been hammered by Wilma.

4.) It was unprofessional and unsafe.

 

[Cacia]

uh...the captains here fish while we drift. And not just one of them...several of the most popular.

I am not going to judge it. I see what I am dealing with and that is why I have my SMB. If they are not fishing...they could be dozing or on the phone.

I did not notice fishing in Coz, but in the South Pacific it happens a lot.

I understand both sides, please do not flame me. Some of these places, well...it ain't Disneyland and people need to face that. I have waited for 45 minutes more than ten times, in various locations, countries. It bugs me, but...5 minutes is nothing. he could be relieving himself, finishing his lunch, putting something away, having some boat issues. If you do not accept waiting up to fifteen minutes, you should probably not drift, IMO, because you are going to get upset on a regular basis.

Christy goes into this long explanation about rental car tourists having accidents and put in jail until they can pony up chunks of cash, even when it is not their fault. If this is so, then I think your infuriation about waiting a little bit on a safety stop, while somewhat justified, may not be realistic. Please don't scream at me...my goal is usually just to get people to realize how it IS, may not be how it SHOULD be...that is your best shot at surviving safely, coming to grips with that. Ultimately, Americans are not going to come in as tourists and change much about how a given culture does things by getting some captain in trouble for a few days. You would be better off, switching boats, or tipping early and telling the capatain "I get nervous if I have to float for long...so could you please watch closely for me?". As silly as it sounds, if I am worried, I go the direct request (plea) route.

Thailand, Indonesia, Mexico, ...."professionalism" might be different than what we expect in the burbs, if you know what I mean.

 

[Christi]

Paul, I know who you are diving with and I had no doubt that she would handle this appropriately.

FWIW, you aren't missing anything on the wreck and as others have already pointed out...VillaBlanca is not in the park boundaries so fishing is not prohibited. However, the captain's job is to be watching the the divers. I do have to say I'm very surprised. I know all of the boat captains there and wouldn't have expected this from any of them.

Have fun and dive safe!