Weekful of OOA in Coz.

[boulderjohn]

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On my one trip to Cozumel, I had more than one experience of the newbie in front of me getting stuck for a few seconds.

There's your problem.

If you very carefully pick the right operator, you won't have a newbie on the boat. On my last couple of trips, I doubt if the least experienced diver on the boats I was on had fewer than a hundred dives. On my last trip, I had days were I doubt if the least experienced diver had fewer than a couple hundred dives.

It makes for an extremely different experience. The DMs take you to places you would otherwise not visit, and nobody has a problem with the swim throughs.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

If you very carefully pick the right operator, you won't have a newbie on the boat. On my last couple of trips, I doubt if the least experienced diver on the boats I was on had fewer than a hundred dives. On my last trip, I had days were I doubt if the least experienced diver had fewer than a couple hundred dives.

It makes for an extremely different experience. The DMs take you to places you would otherwise not visit, and nobody has a problem with the swim throughs.

At the time of my Cozumel trip, I only had about 50 dives. FWIW, one of the "problem" divers supposedly was more experienced than I was.

Point taken, though. Next time I'm planning a Cozumel trip I'll specifically state that I want to be on a boat with experienced divers only. Better yet, I'll plan a trip with enough dive buddies to completely fill up a small boat. Then we can do what we want. We'll still probably skip most of the swim-throughs, though.

 

[jhayes75]

At the time of my Cozumel trip, I only had about 50 dives. FWIW, one of the "problem" divers supposedly was more experienced than I was.

Point taken, though. Next time I'm planning a Cozumel trip I'll specifically state that I want to be on a boat with experienced divers only. Better yet, I'll plan a trip with enough dive buddies to completely fill up a small boat. Then we can do what we want. We'll still probably skip most of the swim-throughs, though.

Same thing I do. I skip swim throughs too.

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[flots am]

My trip to Cozumel in March shook up my confidence a little bit. In my week of diving there, I saw 3 separate OOA incidents, and a couple other things that worried me.

This is extremely common in a lot of warm water vacation areas that require DMs.

Depending on your philosophy, either these areas need to be training their DMs to be much more conservative with better judgement, or the divers need to be trained better.

I'd prefer the second option, but the first one works too.

As was mentioned, the only real defense is to put your own safety first. If you've reached your turn-pressure, it's time to notify the DM. If he turns the dive, that's great. If not, take your buddy and start heading up.

If the DM wants to come along, that's fine, but you don't want to risk your life because of poor judgement by some guy you just met.

flots.

 

[Mike]

2nd was a trip to Punta Sur. We had discussed diving the Cathedral there, but several of us were uncomfortable with devil throat. We get in and have to go down super quick, and I'm having trouble clearing that fast. Eventually we get down and through the Cathedral, and our divemaster decides to take us through the devil's throat anyways. 4/6 of us come out the other side and we're hanging out at 120 while the divemaster goes looking for the other two. Eventually found they surfaced rather than go through. Shortly after that, one of the guys goes OOA and has to buddy breathe with the divemaster on the way to the surface. Get up, and he says he had a panic attack down there at 120, and one of the people who came up early had a bad nosebleed. Just a disaster of a dive.

Sounds like 2 divers had some common sense.

They voiced concerns prior to the dive that they didn't feel comfortable doing DT.

Dive master messes up, misses the correct drop in for Cathedral, decides for the entire group to do DT even though he has at least 2 divers with him that said no on the boat. (big thumbs down on the DM from me on this a-hole move)

Two divers who said no to DT, see the DM taking everyone to DT even though the dive plan was not DT, and have the common sense to think about self-preservation rather then peer pressure and abort the dive. (big thumbs up on those two from me on this professional move)

A diver goes OOA after DT. Pretty much proving the DM is an idiot.

Is the diver responsible for monitoring his air? Sure is, but the fact the DM has a guy go OOA pretty much clarifies what a cowboy move it was for him to change the dive plan cause he blew the drop in.

 

[TSandM]

I wouldn't equate a Cozumel swim-through with Florida cave diving. After all, there's actually something to see in a cave: stalactites, stalacmites, domes, interesting rock structure, fossils, artifacts, etc.

If you have the disease, during your cave-less intervals, you will swim through or under anything you can find. If you don't have the disease, it makes no sense to you