Near Miss with Cruise Ship: Dive Paradise - Cozumel

[tracydr]

Anytime a diver shares his experiences in Near Miss forum, he runs a risk of having members here tell him how s/he screwed up. I appreciate your sharing the story with us...

Yeah, I bet the ship observed the boat and associated bubbles as they tend to watch for such there - altho pod captains and crews surely vary. Using the mooring line/chain for ascent would have been rough with no allowed gloves as it's got to be covered in barnacles, plus a danger of getting caught in the shifting chain links. The DM obviously screwed up guiding the group so close as that shop probably dives that reef frequently with their 3-dives/day packages and slow boats leaving their downtown dock after late lunches daily, so they all should know it very well.

Skipping the SS when lead to do so would have been fine on this dive as described, altho I can understand why you didn't. He wanted to get y'all up & out ASAP, but you did not want to sacrifice dive safety for DSC risk after diving every day - even tho it was only a 60 ft deep dive. The biggest screwup barnone has got to be the captain having divers hang onto the boat while he motored away instead of throwing a drift/tow line. I've never seen such a line used in all my Coz trips, but it should be immediately available...!!

Wasn't there a recall signal of some sort? Most dive ops have a recall signal for emergencies. Why didn't the captain recall the divers when he noticed them getting so close to the cruise lane? If they dive this all the time surely they have some sort of plan in place for just such a situation?
This sounds like a total cluster and I wonder if both the captain and DM get fired over the incident?

 

[finnks]

I just got back from a week of diving in Cozumel with the dive operation: Dive Paradise. We did not have a good experience with this operation, for several reasons. One of which I will report here.
...
When we jumped into the water, the current was extremely strong, but the dive proceeded as planned. About 30 minutes into the dive, we arrived at what appeared to be a mooring line - a chain extended to the surface on a buoy: we had obviously come close to the cruise ship docks, though none of the divers realized this at the time. The guide had the perfectly safe option of ascending for our planned 3 to 5 minute safety stop on the mooring line, but instead chose to direct the group of six into the current (an impossible feat... and at least one of the divers had less than 1000psi remaining in his tank at the time), then rapidly ascended from approximately 60' to 20' at a rate far too fast for safety. All six divers chose to ascend more slowly not realizing the danger because we were not briefed on procedures if we came near the cruise ship lane. The guide continued to the surface with his SMB deployed. All divers initially attempted to complete a safety stop. It wasn't until another diver realized how near we were to the cruise ship lane (by the sound of the ship) that the group understood the danger and surfaced. Upon surfacing, the group was approximately 100-150m from a cruise ship that was powering up to leave port. The current was pulling the group directly and quickly toward the ship.


So the questions are:
- When we reached the mooring line, why did he not choose to ascend along the line instead of cutting back against the current and being pulled closer to the cruise ship
...

Plus one on what Don said - I'd never let divers I'm supervising go up a mooring chain, nor would I do it myself. If there is a boat (or worse a ship) attached to the mooring, fingers can be pinched between shifting links hard enough to remove the fingers. Possibly worse - pinned leaving diver choice of cutting off finger or drowning.

---------- Post added June 27th, 2013 at 01:58 PM ----------

I still believe that this would all be a lot safer without the "dive guides"

How many of Cozumel's tourists would descend into a ripping, changable current with just a buddy and no DM, with no idea which way they're heading or what's coming up?

I'm guessing "not a lot." But it happens every day.

How many would splash if the sign on the dive shop wall said "When flying past the cruise ship dock, watch out for the props. Also be careful of the down-currents so you don't end up too deep, get narced and drown or pass out, and make sure you watch your tank pressure and know how to shoot a surface marker so you don't run out of air or get swept out to sea."

flots

Maybe not many. But the group I've gone with the last couple times might as well have that sign. Outside the park I've lost the whole group within a minute of reaching the bottom, simply by sinking to look at something - no kicking or touching anything... solo dive anyone? San Juan at 4 knots is a blast, but no one is going to kick up current to help you! Night dives where the only way to find the group is from 3 or 4 areas on the other side of the reef glowing from video lights. OTOH I like night dives because they are dark - moonlight is usually enough. If you cannot see me, you aren't my buddy. Currents strengthen off the bottom, so attach chem stick or other light to SMB - so that it's actually visible on surface. AFAIK have never been too close to the cruise ships - will certainly do my best to insure it stay's that way... Thanks for the warning.

If divers cannot handle the issues you mention, either I consider them a student who should be under the care of someone else (an instructor?) - or they are my child and we'll be making relatively benign dives with me watching like a hawk! Which reminds me - it's time to take my daughter somewhere local for a refresher, maybe even pool before pond since it's been too long.

 

[dmoore19]

I think this is probably one of the funniest things I have seen for a while. Having read a lot about Blue Hole diving, though have never been there.

yahoo! cowboy diving in Cozumel! Who'da thunk? 175' in Maracaibo, dragging divers off the side of dive boats, losing divers altogether and who know what else!?!

Think I'll just take my chances in the Blue Hole . . . next week!!

 

[DandyDon]

Wasn't there a recall signal of some sort? Most dive ops have a recall signal for emergencies. Why didn't the captain recall the divers when he noticed them getting so close to the cruise lane? If they dive this all the time surely they have some sort of plan in place for just such a situation?
This sounds like a total cluster and I wonder if both the captain and DM get fired over the incident?

I've never heard of any Coz Op using a recall signal? Maybe some do, but I've not heard of it. The general approach is to follow the DM, and if the boat has to leave for some reason - they radio for backup and others around assist with pickup. Paradise Reef is close to the pod piers but the DM is expected to keep the divers short of that - with a few noted failures.

 

[Shasta_man]

The liveaboard looks big and ominous enough from below, I can't imagine a cruise ship above me.

 

[Mike]

Wasn't there a recall signal of some sort? Most dive ops have a recall signal for emergencies. Why didn't the captain recall the divers when he noticed them getting so close to the cruise lane? If they dive this all the time surely they have some sort of plan in place for just such a situation?
This sounds like a total cluster and I wonder if both the captain and DM get fired over the incident?

In 15 years of diving in a lot of different places I've yet to hear a single briefing that includes talking about a recall signal. I know about them, you know about them, but I've yet to hear a single dive operator ever talk about it anywhere.

I doubt there will be anything to come of it. And it might sound like a cluster as described, but I'm sure the dive master has a very different take on the whole thing, which isn't looking at this as much of anything other than another day of diving on a site that has a reputation for this stuff happening sometimes due to the nature of the site. Remember that in the end, they never entered the danger zone around the cruise ships, so how much of an emergency was it really?

I think the one thing missing from many peoples minds about this incident is how far away they were when this all started. The distance was much greater than you're being led to believe. You cover a lot of ground very fast in a fast moving current. With a 3 knot current you're covering about a quarter of a mile during a safety stop.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

The liveaboard looks big and ominous enough from below, I can't imagine a cruise ship above me.

It's pretty awesome! Did a solo from Divi in Bonaire towards the pier and was around 60 feet when I heard it. Looked up and watched it go over my head about 100 yds to the left of me. The feeling was incredible.

One note. The OP stated that he/she is a DM. Why didn't they just ascend when they realized it was not going as planned (or what was passing for a plan) and act like a professional if the Cozumel DM was not? DM's are not supposed to be sheep and follow someone into a situation they feel is dangerous.

 

[WheelsUSN]

I think the one thing missing from many peoples minds about this incident is how far away they were when this all started. The distance was much greater than you're being led to believe. You cover a lot of ground very fast in a fast moving current. With a 3 knot current you're covering about a quarter of a mile during a safety stop.

Actually closer to a sixth of a mile. If you are moving at 3 knots then you will move 300 yards during a 3 minute safety stop. A common calculation in nautical navigation is to take your speed in knots and you move that many hundred yards in 3 minutes or that many hundred feet in 1 minute.

 

[chillyinCanada]

On my Blue Hole day trip in March, "recall" was explained in the briefing. diving

Can't remember whether or not my day boat did the same. Will tell you in a couple of weeks, if I remember to do so.

 

[openmindOW]

Any time the dive plan is "follow that guy", you're not planning or executing your own dive, and whatever happens is out of your control. . . .
It's a great reason to not do "trust me" dives.

This is true. However, some operators effectively push Trust Me dives. They expect divers to follow the DM. I've seen it.

New divers may not know any better. They may feel pressure to be accommodating to the crew.

It takes some experience and some attitude to say, "No; i'm doing my own dive, thank you."