Washington doctor and son drown - Cabo, Mexico

[beaverdivers]

My dives there were about 20 years ago, I'm afraid the marine life in the Baja has dwindled. Now, you have to make the trip down to Socorro to see the big stuff. However, you can still find whale sharks up in La Paz.

I am not sure if Gordo banks is worth the risk now.

 

[Steve_C]

Interesting sentence "Karyn Dyehouse told KGW that one of her nephews tried to save his father and brother but was unable to reach them. She said the family is making arrangements to return to Vancouver." This suggests that they did not just disappear. Could be totally wrong, but the picture I get is that father is trying to help son, and they are sinking, other son has to abort his attempt because of depth/air. They would go through air very fast at that depth plus maybe being totally narced. You hear of narced diver just sinking away in a number of accounts here on SB.

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

Gordo Banks is deep. About 25 years ago it was our last dive after a week long liveaboard up into the Sea of Cortez. Took me a while to get my camera gear together so I was last down the anchor line following everyone else. At 90 feet I still couldn't see any bottom or terrain but our dive master took off from the line and swam off and down into the blue. Everyone else followed. The current was ripping and it was all I could do to hang onto the anchor line. I saw the other divers blown off into open water so decided right then to abort my dive and head back up the anchor line. Made it back on board and the crew was laughing at me for not being able to handle such an "easy dive." Long story short, it took us over three hours to locate the other divers on the surface. Most never found the Bank, the few that did got blown off it as soon as they started to ascend. Surprisingly, no one followed the anchor line all the way to the bottom, but to be fair I don't know how deep we were anchored. Bottom line, Gordo Banks can be a serious dive. My condolences to the family.

Mark

 

[scubadada]

Interesting sentence "Karyn Dyehouse told KGW that one of her nephews tried to save his father and brother but was unable to reach them. She said the family is making arrangements to return to Vancouver." This suggests that they did not just disappear. Could be totally wrong, but the picture I get is that father is trying to help son, and they are sinking, other son has to abort his attempt because of depth/air. They would go through air very fast at that depth plus maybe being totally narced. You hear of narced diver just sinking away in a number of accounts here on SB.

That was my impression also

 

[Olddiver1950]

To put the dive site in perspective, this description of Gordo Banks is from the website of a local dive op:

"Gordo Banks is located 8-10 miles off-shore from San Jose del Cabo. There are different seamounts, while the top of one is approximately 120 feet, the other is at 180 feet.

The dive conditions at Gordo Banks can be quite challenging, due to the depth, strong currents, visibility and heavy seas. Therefore we require all divers (with less than 100 logged dives) to do a local 2 tank dive in the Cabo San Lucas marine park or at the Corridor prior to diving at Gordo Banks."

The emphasis was added by me. Seems like the kind of place where adverse factors can combine quickly.

WOW, first is at 120' while the other is at 180'. Not a dive I would try as divemastser and with 250 dives. I feel so very sad for people who get in trouble diving. So sad to think folks get in such trouble doing something they probably love. A good lesson for all of us. BE CAREFUL,so very careful. RIP divers

 

[NAUI Wowie]

WOW, first is at 120' while the other is at 180'. Not a dive I would try as divemastser and with 250 dives. I feel so very sad for people who get in trouble diving. So sad to think folks get in such trouble doing something they probably love. A good lesson for all of us. BE CAREFUL,so very careful. RIP divers

I dive cabo now every time I go,ive been 3 times in last 18 months. I will dive cabo pulmo and all the local cabo corridor dives. I will not dive Gordo Banks as ive talked to locals and its open ocean often with strong current out in the middle of nowhere. I would require a personal DM , PLB, and Nautilus lifeline with minimum 100cf tank. and a pony tank which is next purchase. That dive profile scares me.

that being said the one relative in vid definitely said another brother saw and tried to reach them however they were sinking too fast and deep to reach. This could mean just being carried away by current or equipment malfunction OOA situation etc. In any event I am merely guessing but I know local operators and most divers will be on single tanks but they will insist on a nitrox blend for that dive. like another poster said , around 27 or 28. Hopefully the third family member has no survivor guilt as they couldnt have rescued two other divers at extreme depth regardless.

 

[DandyDon]

PLB...with minimum 100cf tank. and a pony tank

That's my normal kit. A personal DM with a Nautilus might help, but those walky talkies often fail.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

That's my normal kit. A personal DM with a Nautilus might help, but those walky talkies often fail.

Ive been reading alot on scubaboard. Im pretty sure scubaboard helps save lives and im much more aware of dangers because of this site.

 

[kumimonster]

I recall my Gordo Banks trip.
The dive company I was with did not require me to dive with them the day before but the DM also knew me.
Nitrox was required for this dive. We pretty much went down to 60ft and then waited to see if we could see the hammerheads. When we spotted them, we would make our descent.
Pretty simple however I've heard some pretty bad stories from other divers. Some boats don't require each diver to have their own signaling device. (I think this was the case for my boat). I do recall some divers on my boat not having their own computers so had to borrow/rent. During my dive there was a boat next to us and one of their passengers decided to skip all stops (he was in deco). We found out afterwards that he had really partied the night before and he was not sober!

There's Mexico diving, and then there's Mexico diving. I've had some great dives with safety conscious operators and some not-so-great experiences with less than stellar companies.

 

[Shasta_man]

I still think the worst thing that can happen is to die with or, worse, be the cause of your childrens death. There's no way I could stop trying to help my child and I speculate that's what happened to the doctor here.