Scary dives in Coz last week

[coppermaus]

wow....i dive in Cozumel about 5 times a year.....with LivingUnderwater.....excellent dive op....may i ask which dive op you went with?

First, thanks to everyone for feedback so far. I appreciate all the insight you all have to offer. Already there have been a few comments that I hadn't considered in my own refections.

Secondly, before my inbox explodes from PMs and this thread becomes about the evil dive operator in Cozumel, I should say that I don't want to take it that way. Maybe that's a cop-out, but I think it's a situation any of us could find ourselves in going with ANY op. If we avoid Shop X at all costs, don't we just have a false sense of security?

Sure, the DM was unreliable, but since I did not talk to the dive op about him, is it fair for me to talk about the dive op to the world on SB? Because so many of people want to know their name, I realized it's my responsibility either to tell you or to tell the dive op about Gabriel, so they can deal with him, which is what I'm going to do. I truly do think they are a very good operation, so they do need to know about this guy's unsafe behavior.

HOWEVER, any shop could have a DM that doesn't realize his depth gauge is broken and goes down and down and down. He's not an instructor; we all have our c-cards and shouldn't be relying on him anyway, right? The important thing to know is NOT to follow the DM blindly.

The question is, what would YOU do in that situation? Would you - or your buddy - follow him? Or would you dive your plan and stick together? If your buddy went, would you follow to "save" him/her? Or would you stay where you're supposed to be and deal with whatever falls out? When you're at 130' the brain seems to work slower, so it's good to know these things before you go. And good to know your buddy's answers, too, so you know what to expect from each other.

So as not to be a total cop-out, when I talk to the dive op I'll follow up letting you all know their reaction. Fair enough?

Cheers and thanks.

 

[Cudabait]

Maus,

It's taken some guts to post your experience so that others, like all of us, might learn from it. No question, you exceeded your limitations. Enough said. You did exercise good common sense when things were not right. This is truly an amazing story. Maybe I missed somethjing. Was the DM wearing a computer in addition to the depth gauge? If he surfaced at the same time as the other divers in "deco", it stands to reason that he was in "deco" himself.

What was the reaction of the captain (and the DM) when it became apparent that there were multiple divers in "deco"? Did you and your buddy see any of the divers subsequent to the dive?

Please, who was the operator and where was this dive site? Thanks,

Regards,

 

[coppermaus]

Crispos,

Thanks for the comments - and compliments! :blush:

By the way, you didn't say how many dives you have, but whatever you have, you did pretty well in the water. Above water....hmmm..

Somewhere in the 50-60 dives range, maybe 1/3 of 'em deep dives.

A couple of things. Sounds like you were mainly communicating via ESP before the dives. It is common, on the boat, people are too proud or insecure or just not aware of how important it is, to actually sit down with their buddy and do a dive plan, review signals, check who is leading, dive turn times, air consumption planning, the list goes on and on.

Agreed. I think it was partly the first-time-in-Cozumel syndrome. Outside of my cert classes, never been anywhere where they send DMs down with everyone on every dive. They set up your gear for you, give the dive plan moments before you go in while everyone's gearing up (ie, not totally paying attention), then in you go. Easy to start relying on their expertise and not spend more time planning your own dive with your buddy.

I dove Devils' Throat twice a few years ago, and I believe it has more than 2 tunnels, I think it is more like 4, and the last one ends at 150 feet. Others will tell you exactly. You didn't have enough air to do that dive safely. How did you go back and do it again?

Guess I really made a mess describing the tunnels... :cheeky:

We didn't go back and do it again. We did the one tunnel, came out to no one else there, and decided to go up slowly. And I should have clarified there were two tunnels in our dive plan, not that only two tunnels exist down there, cuz I sho' don't know.

Next time, tell the DiveOp the truth about the dive disaster.

Planning to. Good idea.

And did I note you were sharing your bud's computer! Bad!

Well, I was still figuring my dives based on the tables, but, yes, I guess I was also relying on his computer when things out of the range of the tables happened. Tell me, why is it bad in general to rely on a buddy's computer? Just because of the getting split up factor? Or is there more? Obviously I don't know much about them.

Did I hear that you let your buddy draw down his air to zero before giving him your Octopus? No. Don't let it get there, because if you screwed up the exchange, he might bolt and do a rapid ascent! Switch as soon as he is low.

Hmm. I thought about this, but then figured we needed to save mine for the deco stops, not that I knew how to DO them, since I never studied deco diving, but I didn't want us to have to rush the ascent at all. He seemed way relaxed about it all, too, which is why I decided to do it that way, rather than maybe having to switch back to his later. Didn't know how long two of us would have on my tank with him breathing all the durn time.

You get points for extending the safety stop, but none for not knowing the tables to know you exceeded your NDL at 160 feet.

No I definitely knew I was way off the charts at 160'. Just didn't know what I was supposed to DO about it, since, well, it's not on the charts! Apropos of another thread going on on SB (would you know if your computer went into deco mode), I plan to learn about deco diving after this trip, just in case. Don't want to get caught not knowing what to do if something unplanned happens again. Yes, I know it shouldn't happen, but for me, I'd rather be a Boy Scout - always prepared - just in case something does.

You realized, that diving can go from fun to frightening in a matter of seconds, and you are going to make sure you communicate (over communicate) with buddy and dive guide.

Amen to that! (funny how near-death experiences can suddenly give you religion). Yes, communication is key, esp BEFORE the dive.

Thanks again for your very insightful feedback!

 

[Walter]

When planning on the tables, It's a good idea to have a contigency plan for the next deepest depth and the next longest time. Even if you'd done that, you exceeded your contingency plan. If you're diving tables, it's a good idea to take them on the dive with you. Since you didn't have tables with you, using your buddy's computer for the immediate ascent was a very good idea, especially since he was below you most of the dive.

The reason it's not a good idea for two people to dive one computer is you never have the exact same profile. If you want to use a computer, get your own and learn how to use it. Personally, I usually have two, one for a backup.

 

[2 Bar]

I only have 26 dives, 12 of them being in Cozumel. I dove Devil's Throat, and dove with that dive's DM a few times prior, so he personally assessed my skills. I had a wonderfull experience during that dive. Here's the difference between what you did and what I did, totally understanding you have more experience than me.

Besides totally going over hand signals, what ifs, dive planning, etc, with my buddies (there were 3 of us) we went over everything with our DM and hit him with a lot of questions. I don't like the way it seemed your DM said "130ft and 2 tunnels, see you at the bottom", over the edge. My buddies and our DM were totally in sync with each other before getting wet, mainly because of us totally bringing conversations to him and not just learning from what he had to say.

As for my buddies, they were both Rescue Diver certified and I trusted them. But our DM is the local diver, and I'm ultimatley responsible for myself, being OW. If I was in your buddy's situation, I would have been following my DM, but noticed on my own we were going too deep. I would have stopped and turned to my buddies to see what they thought and compare gauges. Then we would have notified our DM of our depth. I don't like the way your buddy (a) blindly followed the DM (b) did not know his own depth and (c) blew you off to follow the DM.

In his defense, which is no excuse, I believe there was no macho stuff in not listening to you. In his mind to protect himself, he may have assumed the DM knew better because he was the leader of the dive. He's the local DM and you are not a DM yet. So when confused, he followed a DM over his buddy. Before getting on the boat he needs to understand to think for himself and stick with and communicate with his buddy.

 

[RiverRat]

coppermaus

Hey thanks for sharing your "learning experience". I just can't believe an Op would hire a DM like that guy to lead dives! I'm sorry but I would have laid into him! As a new diver I went on a trip to Cayman in December. This was my first big trip for real diving after certs in the local quarry. As a lone diver I really got lucky and paired up with a great diver for the whole week. My biggest fear going out there was the "unknown" buddy. Luckily the DM's/captain were great too. Very detailed pre-dive planning. Told us we may have a tendancy at certain spots in the dive to go deeper and to stay around 100-105fsw so we don't tox out. Knew exactly what the currents were doing (not much in Cayman), told to signal at 1500 and then at 1000 etc. They kept looking back at us and counted heads when we came out of the swim throughs. Yep, I'm spoiled now, especially after hearing your story. I commend you though. If it was my buddy I would have probably went deep and grabbed him as well. Learn from it.

 

[Walter]

"I just can't believe an Op would hire a DM like that guy to lead dives!"

It's been a while since I was in Coz, but that type DM was the norm there 15 years ago.

 

[RiverRat]

I would have blown him off in a heart beat now that I got a little nut (ahh..experience...). But what about the poor souls that blindly follow a jerk like that? Thanks for the heads up. I'll be thinking 'bout this if I plan a trip out there.

 

[scubarick314]

Thanks for the learning experience. Just another reminder to plan your dives.

 

[goofygirl]

My husband and I are both newbies. This will only be our second dive trip. we've only got about 10 dives each under our belts. We also happen to be going to Coz in April, this is a VERY scary story for us!!!

I made my husband read this thread and we got into a very serious discussion about how we have to strive to be better buddies and communicate better underwater, and only dive to the limits of our abilities.

YIKES! I don't think I could have remained as calm as you did. I would have lambasted the DM, and gone hunting for the dive ops owner as soon as we got to shore!!! PLEASE report this to the owner of the dive op. This guy cannot be allowed to be so cavalier with others lives!!!