Major Freak Out - What should I have done differently?

[Doc Harry]

Had my buddy been there, I still would not have entered that dark enclosed tunnel and if he were in front of me, I probably wouldn't have been able to signal him like the DM either. This tunnel was small enough that even if I had, he wouldn't have room to turn around and swim out at that point. So, I wonder if the situation would have been any different? What do you think?

Maybe, maybe not.

In hindsight, it is easy for me to say that you and your buddy should make eye contact and get a thumbs up with each other at the entrance before going in.

At the very least, the leader in a buddy pair should always be looking back to check on his buddy, not pressing on ahead blindly. Hypothetically, your buddy should have turned around to check on you, and, noticing that you weren't there, turned back to find you waiting at the entrance.

 

[Adobo]

As the OP alluded to, the issue really does seem to boil down to communication between the diver and the DM or dive op. Although I mentioned earlier that I do ask questions and do make the call as to whether I want to do the proposed dive, I also do not want it to seem like I'm grilling the person. They are only capable of describing the dive in so much detail. The luxury of a whiteboard, language skills, and time are often lacking in these resort environments. I can totally visualize a DM in Cozumel describing Devil's Throat in a way that someone with 100 dives who has liked every swim-through she has ever done might not understand that it's in a different league from other Cozumel swim-throughs. It's tough out there in Cozumel!

If I were to put myself into this situation, I would walk into the dive shop...

Me: What kind of dives do you do in your charter?
Shop: We do our first dive to Devil's Throat. We do our second dive at site xyz.
Me: What are the profiles like?
Shop: Devil's throat is 130ft deep. It has a swim through at the bottom. it's our signature dive in Coz.
Me: Anything beyond 100ft is too deep for me. What else do you have?

No white boards. No advanced language skills. There are other characteristics of a dive profile that are more nuanced which could disqualify a dive for me. But depth is one of the very first things I ask about when I am vacation diving on a boat.

You can speak fluent spanish or they fluent english but by the time you are on the boat, you have paid your money. You have committed your day. Everyone else in the boat is now serving to give implicit peer pressure. Asking these questions on the boat as opposed to the dive shop was the failure, IMHO.

 

[Dhboner]

Everyone is a Monday morning quarterback...the bottom line for most of us when you go to Cozumel is that you a excited to be diving one of the best reefs in the world, you aren't sure how your training and experience stacks up against the other divers on the charter, you don't want to be "the guy" who vetos the dive site so you splash in and hope everything works out...not a great scenario but a typical one in Cozumel. Let's cut the OP some slack, he/she realized early this dive was a mistake, then takes steps to calm down and rejoin the group and more importantly has learned a great deal in the aftermath from the good folks at ScubaBoard.

 

[Seymour Fisch]

I can totally visualize a DM in Cozumel describing Devil's Throat in a way that someone with 100 dives who has liked every swim-through she has ever done might not understand that it's in a different league from other Cozumel swim-throughs.

An important challenge in learning theory is that a novice doesn't know what he doesn't know, so it's hard to even formulate the right questions.

I think it's a bit harsh to criticize Scoobajay for not communicating before the dive that, for example, she wasn't comfortable in confined, dark, overhead environments, with no buddy, no redundancy, and no lights -- in her experience, a "swim-through" was a short... well, swim-through..., not a cavern dive. To make a ridiculously extreme example, if the DM had given a dive briefing that they would do a "deep dive" and then led the group on a bounce dive to 1200', and Scoobajay aborted the dive at 130' and hung around until the rest of the group came back up, should we criticize Scoobajay for not communicating in advance that she's not technically certified, does not like to do air dives below 130', doesn't have the correct gas mixes for such a dive, doesn't have enough gas for the dive, and isn't suicidal? For all of you who already know what the Devil's Throat is, you already know how dark and confined it is; but for someone without that knowledge, it's not obvious the need to ask. (I am not questioning the great advice from all the all the experienced divers in this thread; I just think the tone of some of the posts is a bit harsh.)

BTW, one of the benefits of a thread like this -- not for Scoobajay, but for all the lurkers now and in the future -- is that anyone who reads it will have a better idea what they're getting themselves into, and will have a better idea of what to ask. Shortly after certification, I had a chance to dive in Cozumel, so I started reading old Scubaboard threads. I couldn't keep all the dive sites straight in my mind... "Devil's Shallow Punta" "Cave of the Sleeping Columbian Barracudas" etc. But thanks to a thread like this, I memorized two names "Devil's Throat" and 'Barracuda", and knew that if either was the dive site, I'd sit the dive out.

(I'm somewhat surprised not to see more responses opining that Devil's Throat is not appropriate for non-overhead-trained divers with a single AL80, as that seems to be a very common Scubaboard opinion whenever this dive gets mentioned. I'm guessing that a lot of Scuababoard regulars are grieving the loss of TSandM -- it pains me every time I think of this, and I never even met her -- and aren't as active on other discussions.)

 

[scoobajay]

An important challenge in learning theory is that a novice doesn't know what he doesn't know, so it's hard to even formulate the right questions.

I think it's a bit harsh to criticize Scoobajay for not communicating before the dive that, for example, she wasn't comfortable in confined, dark, overhead environments, with no buddy, no redundancy, and no lights -- in her experience, a "swim-through" was a short... well, swim-through..., not a cavern dive. To make a ridiculously extreme example, if the DM had given a dive briefing that they would do a "deep dive" and then led the group on a bounce dive to 1200', and Scoobajay aborted the dive at 130' and hung around until the rest of the group came back up, should we criticize Scoobajay for not communicating in advance that she's not technically certified, does not like to do air dives below 130', doesn't have the correct gas mixes for such a dive, doesn't have enough gas for the dive, and isn't suicidal? For all of you who already know what the Devil's Throat is, you already know how dark and confined it is; but for someone without that knowledge, it's not obvious the need to ask. (I am not questioning the great advice from all the all the experienced divers in this thread; I just think the tone of some of the posts is a bit harsh.)

Thanks Seymour Fisch. You and many others took the time to fully read and understand what happened rather than firing off unhelpful criticisms You describe my situation perfectly, so thanks for being better with words than I!

 

[Adobo]

Everyone is a Monday morning quarterback...the bottom line for most of us when you go to Cozumel is that you a excited to be diving one of the best reefs in the world, you aren't sure how your training and experience stacks up against the other divers on the charter, you don't want to be "the guy" who vetos the dive site so you splash in and hope everything works out...not a great scenario but a typical one in Cozumel. Let's cut the OP some slack, he/she realized early this dive was a mistake, then takes steps to calm down and rejoin the group and more importantly has learned a great deal in the aftermath from the good folks at ScubaBoard.

Nobody is criticizing the OP. At least, I am not. I am giving very specific examples of how one could avoid finding themselves in this situation, be it the OP or someone else who has the same question.

As you say, nobody wants to be the guy/gal who vetos the dive. That's implied peer pressure. That puts a diver in a position that they wouldn't want to be in otherwise.

Know your limits before you get on the boat. Ask the questions at the shop. No vetos involved.

 

[scoobajay]

(I'm somewhat surprised not to see more responses opining that Devil's Throat is not appropriate for non-overhead-trained divers with a single AL80, as that seems to be a very common Scubaboard opinion whenever this dive gets mentioned. I'm guessing that a lot of Scuababoard regulars are grieving the loss of TSandM -- it pains me every time I think of this, and I never even met her -- and aren't as active on other discussions.)

I had actually just read some of TSandM's responses about this particular dive and was wondering if she would weigh in here...I had no idea anything had happened.

 

[kafkaland]

(I'm somewhat surprised not to see more responses opining that Devil's Throat is not appropriate for non-overhead-trained divers with a single AL80, as that seems to be a very common Scubaboard opinion whenever this dive gets mentioned. I'm guessing that a lot of Scuababoard regulars are grieving the loss of TSandM -- it pains me every time I think of this, and I never even met her -- and aren't as active on other discussions.)

Does anyone know of a dive op on Cozumel that can provide the proper equipment for such a dive, maybe a pair of sidemount tanks with EAN 28? It's a dive I'd like to do, but not on a single Al 80. I was recently on Cozumel for a day (coming over from Playa del Carmen) but couldn't find a shop to support that, so I ended up just doing a typical day of recreational single-tank boat dives instead. Or is the way to do this to get the tanks in Playa and haul them over on the ferry?

 

[Dhboner]

Does anyone know of a dive op on Cozumel that can provide the proper equipment for such a dive, maybe a pair of sidemount tanks with EAN 28? It's a dive I'd like to do, but not on a single Al 80. I was recently on Cozumel for a day (coming over from Playa del Carmen) but couldn't find a shop to support that, so I ended up just doing a typical day of recreational single-tank boat dives instead. Or is the way to do this to get the tanks in Playa and haul them over on the ferry?

It really is an over-rated dive if you ask me...there are SO many better spots on Cozumel.

 

[Adobo]

Thanks Seymour Fisch. You and many others took the time to fully read and understand what happened rather than firing off unhelpful criticisms You describe my situation perfectly, so thanks for being better with words than I!

I feel like some of this "unduly harsh" and "unhelpful criticisms" is directed at me so let me try one last time.

I read your entire original post. You want to know what the DM could do different. The issue with that approach is that there is no way to enforce proper/good behavior from dive ops. Read scubaboard long enough and you will see. Story after story after story of dive ops taking divers to places where they shouldn't. What could the DM do different? My answer is, what's the difference? The next time a diver finds themselves in a similar situation, the DM will do what the DM will do.

The message I was trying (seemingly unsuccessfully) to convey is, each diver needs to take matters in their own hands. The further upstream, the better. It's not a judgement on you, it's not a judgment on your actions. Just an illustration of what I would do.

If you are not interested in any discussion or suggestions outside of what the DM could have done different, that's fair. Threads on scubaboard tend to wander. My bad.

One last point, usually, incidents are an opportunity for all of us to learn. It's only natural for others to come by and suggest things that could help. If it is of interest, re-read some of the replies. Maybe some of the ones you thought were critical were actually not. You might find some nuggets that are useful.