Tourist dies while diving on Ambergris Caye

[yle]

Cozumel was mentioned and a great example. In Cozumel, there are 2 approaches to dealing with the first diver who runs low on gas; either the whole group goes up (e.g.: I’m told Aldora does this), or the guide can send up an SMB and the diver (alone or buddy pair) can ascend (some other op.s). Aldora preferred its approach on safety grounds. A number of divers strongly prefer the latter approach.

Good point, with diving in Cozumel as something many of us can relate to. The ops I've dived with in Coz take the latter approach, i.e. send a diver up while everyone else continues. But the diver going up stays with the line that the DM holds (attached to his SMB.) So "early ascending" divers stay within sight of the DM and the rest of the group until they are at the surface and picked up by the boat. In that respect, no one is ever left alone (i.e. out of sight) at a safety stop.

There may well be 'standards' to some extent (though regional practices vary a lot; a dive boat out of California may do less hand-holding than one in the Caribbean), but I don't think those standards are necessarily what they're often claimed to be.

Every dive boat I've been on in California has done just about zero "hand holding." The crew fills tanks, checks off your name when you leave and return to the boat, and... ah wait: they do usually offer a hand (literally) when you're climbing the ladder back onto the boat. (I don't mean to imply the crew does nothing... on the contrary, they work continuously to keep the operation running smoothly. And they keep a watchful eye on our bubbles when we're in the water.)

 

[yle]

Unfortunately that was not something passed on to me from my instructor, I picked that up on here and reading DAN accident reports. I made sure to stress that to my daughter in predive checks. Its a pretty crappy situation to get into especially if your buddy is not close on descent which happens quite a lot.

errrghhh... okay, then... you can scratch the first half of my comment, just keep the latter part. And +1 for learning stuff on Scubaboard.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Frankly strikes me as a medical event as well. The diver couldn't get his breath? Thought he was low on air? Felt safer at safety stop believing himself to be "almost home free "? And then the heart attack that he'd felt coming on but didn't recognize, hit him either at safety stop or on surface before crew saw him.

Obviously I'm purely speculating.

 

[Dan G]

Frankly strikes me as a medical event as well. The diver couldn't get his breath? Thought he was low on air? Felt safer at safety stop believing himself to be "almost home free "? And then the heart attack that he'd felt coming on but didn't recognize, hit him either at safety stop or on surface before crew saw him.

Obviously I'm purely speculating.

I agree that the best speculation is that it was a medical event. We do not know how low on air the diver was, though. Perhaps he just reached his own personal 'turn around pressure' or the turn around pressure designated by the DM pre-dive. In Cozumel, for example, it is common practice to dive until 700 PSI and then ascend to the SS. There may have been no reason for him to be "not OK" at any point during this dive. Had the diver truly been "low on air" (< 500 PSI say) I think the ideal would have been to stay with the diver until he surfaced or was on the boat. Maybe reduce or eliminate the SS in that situation, with full acknowledgment that we do not know what the situation was.

On vacation, I generally go diving by myself (wife doesn't dive).

I am often paired w/ an instabuddy and or into a generalized group w/o an assigned buddy. As I am used to California diving, I don't assume the DM is responsible for me or to find me a buddy. Ideally, I will find someone who is my full w/in sight at all times buddy.

Its hard to find the right approach, and I generally don't blame the DM here (I basically agree w drrich's discussion above), unless he was the guy's designated buddy or specifically hired. Every certified diver is responsible for themselves, correct? And what about all the other divers - I know they weren't alone, but they were at depth. The DM is also "responsible" for them too, correct? What if one of them died while the DM was at the safety stop?

On vacation, I once blew through my gas quickly for some reason. I got my buddy paired w/ someone else, waved bye-bye to him, and went up from about 80' - by myself, although there were folks here and there dispersed up the line. The DM didn't even notice me -- this was Oahu, and they let us know we were responsible for ourselves (which I believe is the standard for some boats in Oahu). Had I died before reaching the surface, Im sure there would be much targets for blame - but really it would have been just a tragic occurrence, and I assumed the risk of being by myself.

If my buddy did the same thing (indicated that I could continue the dive while he safety stopped by himself), honestly, I might do so. If he died, I'd feel terrible about it, even if he assumed the risk.

Maybe the DM could have done more here, but from the descriptions, it seems like the diver may have assumed the risk himself, and unfortunately, a tragedy occurred.

I do not blame the DM and I agree the diver is responsible for themselves. However, that also means being responsible for having a buddy. I have been in the same situation that has been described in this thread. I joined a group with no specific buddy. That does not mean it was good practice or that had things gone badly, I would have been able to get assistance should I have needed it.

 

[Daebado]

I used to regularly blow through my air in 25-30 minutes, especially on deep dives until I learned how to breath differently. I am perfectly healthy and have been swimming most of my life so I'm not anxious or uncomfortable in the water. I was always the first back on the boat and hated it but it was just the way it was. So, I would say it's not that unusual to be low on air after 25 min. at 80 ft. At least, not from my perspective.

 

[peeweediver]

Low on air after 25 minutes at 80 feet is not an "unusual amount." It's possible he started with 2800 psi, and maybe he was at 1000 psi after 25 minutes. If he spent those 25 minutes at 80 feet, his RMV would be 0.56 cu ft per minute. That's not unusual for a typical vacation diver.

Yle: Do you mean an RMV of .52 at 80 feet? Yikes. Just finished a solo diver class. My RMV at the surface was .52 per cf per minute..swimming normally, not resting. My RMV at 80 ft would be 1.78. Boy, either I'm out of shape much worse than I thought or....I'm a total gas hog for no reason. Anyway, 25 minutes at 80 feet would have my remaining air down where I'd be wanting to get back to 30-40 feet for the rest of the dive. Maybe that's what he was signaling. The take away for me is to be a good buddy to whomever I'm with and get the person back on the boat, whether that ends my dive or not.

Rob

 

[yle]

Yle: Do you mean an RMV of .52 at 80 feet? Yikes. Just finished a solo diver class. My RMV at the surface was .52 per cf per minute..swimming normally, not resting. My RMV at 80 ft would be 1.78. Boy, either I'm out of shape much worse than I thought or....I'm a total gas hog for no reason. Anyway, 25 minutes at 80 feet would have my remaining air down where I'd be wanting to get back to 30-40 feet for the rest of the dive. Maybe that's what he was signaling. The take away for me is to be a good buddy to whomever I'm with and get the person back on the boat, whether that ends my dive or not.

Oh no, maybe I'm mixing up RMV and SAC rates. The rate I quoted, 0.52 cu ft/ min, would be his air consumption rate at the surface. So similar to your 0.56 cu ft/min.

Which supports my point. If your rate at the surface is 0.56 then at 80 feet you would go through about 1800 psi from a standard aluminum 80, which would leave you in roughly the same situation as the diver in this incident: signaling to the DM that you should probably think about ascending. Some people in this thread were arguing there must have been something wrong with the diver to "blow through" his air that fast. I was arguing it was normal.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I used to regularly blow through my air in 25-30 minutes, especially on deep dives until I learned how to breath differently. I am perfectly healthy and have been swimming most of my life so I'm not anxious or uncomfortable in the water. I was always the first back on the boat and hated it but it was just the way it was. So, I would say it's not that unusual to be low on air after 25 min. at 80 ft. At least, not from my perspective.

I also went from blowing through a full 80 in around 27 minutes at 50ft to being able to cruise for 90 mins on one..for me it was a lot to go with mental focus and less exertion/trim control etc. ...I still can’t exhale slowly and smoothly as per the instruction though...not sure if it’s a lung capacity issue, but I simply can’t continually breath in and out slowly.. my inhales are twice the length of my exhales and I hold my inhale for a standard 10-15 secs as long as I’m not changing depth...

 

[Bob DBF]

wouldn't a barely opened tank valve show up as a rising and falling needle on the spg as the diver breathes.

Well yes and no. Barely cracked on the surface would show when you check your regs, 1/4 turn open most likely won't show. This would depend on how fast the valve opens as you turn, and new valves brag on opening in a turn and a half, my older ones are two to three and a half turns and even then it's hard to get the needle to deflect at a 1/4 turn open.

As you get deeper the SPG needle will deflect, but you have to look, which isn't high on the priority list if you just started the dive with a full tank, so the first indication is reg getting hard to breathe. What happens next depends on how well you were trained.


Bob

 

[kensuf]

Well yes and no. Barely cracked on the surface would show when you check your regs, 1/4 turn open most likely won't show. This would depend on how fast the valve opens as you turn, and new valves brag on opening in a turn and a half, my older ones are two to three and a half turns and even then it's hard to get the needle to deflect at a 1/4 turn open.

As you get deeper the SPG needle will deflect, but you have to look, which isn't high on the priority list if you just started the dive with a full tank, so the first indication is reg getting hard to breathe. What happens next depends on how well you were trained.


Bob

And consider valves on cylinders in central america are probably not rigorously maintained, and if the guy was an occasional/tourist diver he may not have done a pre-dive breathing/psig check.