I'm diving in Tulamben right now and have heard rumors about this. Apparently the group was from Tulamben, went on a trip to Crystal Bay for Mola-mola. I was diving in CB the morning before this accident but since the currents were strong we stayed close to the reef and didn't go deeper than 21m. Here I heard that she was a diveguide herself, so apparently not inexperienced, but that's just unconfirmed rumor.
Such a tragedy
The op is based in Tulamben, it was a special trip leaving from Padang Bai.
I was on site yesterday and actually met the group of divers underwater before one gone missing ...
Crystal Bay was not so busy (about 20 boats @ 12PM ... already too much for such a small area but busy means > 30 boats here) but honestly from the surface you could imagine it would not be a quite dive : lot of surge outside the bay & a number of eddies in the channel between Penida & Ceningan.
We jumped, get to the drop-off and looked for any Mola a few seconds. Lots of banner fish but no mola in sight. Already a group of approximately 10 people was staying here.
As I'm not a big fan of waiting for the molas in the drop-off (memories are much better when you meet the Mola by chance instead of just waiting for it like in a zoo ...) specialy with strong currents when you have to touch & damage the coral to stay in place however carefull you try to be) we quickly get back to the plateau & drifted back to the more protected areas near the bay.
Current was not so strong when I left the drop-off. Some guides met after the dive told me it got very strong. That's on my way to the bay that I met a big group of divers (15+) getting the other way, to the drop-off.
After surfacing I heard about the missing diver and search began quickly.
From my experience, what I can say is :
* 14 guests for 3 guides is not a conservative ratio in Crystal Bay ;
* Staying in the corner to wait for the Mola to come up is not only stupid (spoiling the encounter) but environmentaly unfriendly.
In addition, It can get quickly dangerous here : this is precisely where accidents happen every single year. The danger get even bigger when you have 20+ divers trying to stay in place in such a small area. There is just not enought space for more than 10 people to stay here. Period.
* Accidents will happen again here untill CB is regulated and enforced.
