Tourist lost - Cozumel

[Rob9876]

Might have been him. The same week, and it's not all that common.

Yes, most likely -- there was only 1 missing/deceased diver reported during that week in Cozumel (I paid extra attention, since I was there that week also).

 

[DangerousDan64]

I just returned from Cozumel. I had a nagging anxiety about down currents ever since I read this- particularly as I was using nitrox on my deep dives. The currents we encountered this trip were pretty mild but on the last day at ‘eagle ray’ (they assured me that this is what they call this site) on the north side, the current changed direction as we dropped in and instead of drifting with it, we were fighting it and it was trying to slowly pull us down over the wall. 29 exhausting minutes into it, we threw the dive as we were all low on air. Grateful that I didn’t encounter a vertical current the whole time- they make me nervous!

this man was frequently in my thoughts…

(PS- contrary to my handle name, I am not a seeker of danger- my father called me this because he didn’t like it when I started diving again after a long break (but he grilled me for every last detail each time I returned safely!))

 

[Hatul]

I just returned from Cozumel. I had a nagging anxiety about down currents ever since I read this- particularly as I was using nitrox on my deep dives. The currents we encountered this trip were pretty mild but on the last day at ‘eagle ray’ (they assured me that this is what they call this site) on the north side, the current changed direction as we dropped in and instead of drifting with it, we were fighting it and it was trying to slowly pull us down over the wall. 29 exhausting minutes into it, we threw the dive as we were all low on air. Grateful that I didn’t encounter a vertical current the whole time- they make me nervous!

this man was frequently in my thoughts…

(PS- contrary to my handle name, I am not a seeker of danger- my father called me this because he didn’t like it when I started diving again after a long break (but he grilled me for every last detail each time I returned safely!))

For this reason, in Cozumel, I use air on the first dive and Nitrox 36 on the second.

 

[Guille G]

(…) last day at ‘eagle ray’ (they assured me that this is what they call this site) on the north side (…)

The spot is also called Cantarel, though most dive ops (and DMs) do call it Eagle Ray point or Eagle Ray wall.

 

[NeilA.]

I suspect the victim didn’t have sufficient gas reserve to endure an emergency at that point in their dive.

For whatever reason, I’ve noticed that some think they are a lesser capable diver if they aren't one of the last to surface. I was with a guy last trip that misled the DM as to remaining gas, I didn’t like it.

I know I am speculating, but it makes sense to me.

 

[BLee88]

on the last day at ‘eagle ray’ (they assured me that this is what they call this site) on the north side, the current changed direction as we dropped in

We dove Eagle Ray Wall on the afternoon of 3/21/23, which was a day after a port closure due to a Norte.

Agree that the current was ripping here but most of the dive wasnt too sketchy given the profile of "drop to the top of the wall, deflate, and hold onto a barrel sponge."

However, there was a ~30 second period of what seemed like a strong upcurrent that tried to lift me up off the stomach-down prone position and flip me on my back. Just as suddenly as it arrived, the current dissipated as like nothing happened. The current seemed quite localized as other folks on the dive, who were a few feet away, didn't appear affected.

After the dive, noone spoke about an upcurrent, perhaps because we were marveling at the group of 18 rays that we watched hover around. Looking at my dive log and gas consumption though, that upcurrent and the stressful situation got my SAC to break out over 1.2 for the period (normal between 0.45~0.55). Perhaps I contributed to the situation by not controlling my breathing better, but the feeling of the current trying to flip you when you're holding onto something for dear life was a bit alarming.

I was with a guy last trip that misled the DM as to remaining gas, I didn’t like it.

Same here... I just pay the extra $$$ for my 100CF

 

[EdC]

Just spoke with a friend who is a DM at a popular dive op who told me he had a similar experience to the one that took this diver.

It was at Cedral today, the current shifted quickly from south to north and then started spinning and pulling them down to, and over the wall. He has been diving Coz for 25 years and said he has never had a scare close to what happened. He mentioned the divers tried to grab rocks and coral and still couldn’t hang on. They got out by inflating and swimming hard to the surface, and it was exhausting.

 

[Mattguy]

For this reason, in Cozumel, I use air on the first dive and Nitrox 36 on the second.

Why is that?

 

[Snoweman]

Why is that?

There's a chance you can go deep, past the EAN limits on the first dive. The second dive is shallow, and the EAN will allow you to off gas faster.

 

[Rob9876]

There's a chance you can go deep, past the EAN limits on the first dive. The second dive is shallow, and the EAN will allow you to off gas faster.

I used to do this. Then after reading various posts on here I decided that, for me, if you look at a PPO2 of 1.6, then the likelihood of exceeding the MOD when diving 32% EANx was fairly small -- if we ended up diving Devil's Throat that might happen by 2 feet for a very small amount of time before I would start ascending.

Weighing that against the nitrogen loading/possible deco (with perhaps not much air left for deco stops diving single tank) I decided that for me just diving all 32% tanks may be the way to go. I'm not advocating anyone else do this, and I don't recall all that I read that lead me to this (definitely included discussions of 1.4 versus 1.6 PPO2, and also the amount of time at depth as a factor), but for me that's been somewhat simpler than different mixture tanks. Plus those dives to the 1.6 MOD limit are very rare (at least with dive ops I usually use). YMMV