Cozumel Weight Belt Loss on Deep Dive - Scuba Diving Incident Analysis
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- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
- Cozumel Weight Belt Loss on Deep Dive - Scuba Diving Incident Analysis
On a beautiful wall dive in Cozumel, two divers and a guide enjoy high visibility with spectacular hard and soft corals. One diver apparently did not secure his weight belt properly or the buckle failed, and around the middle of the dive, at 30 meters/100 feet, the belt falls off, causing the dive to lose buoyancy dangerously fast towards the surface. While the diver does little himself to remedy the situation, an alert dive leader comes to the rescue, catching the diver and giving him some ballast for the remainder of the dive.
Kudos to this diver, Bryon, for posting this video for us to learn from.
Scuba Diving Gone Wrong: Weight Belt Accident (Bryon Lam)
• Scuba Diving Gone Wron...
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Not as catastrophic as the last incident we visited, and still lots to learn. Looking back at this one, I'm not totally happy with my input on screen. Def should have been more feedback on that lack of reactivity on the part of the diver. Get on that BC! Fin down. This whole event also might have been averted with a good buddy check, a loose weight belt could have been spotted. The question was also raised as to whether this dive was overweighted, and the placement of weight could have helped trim (use BC weight pockets). Last, as inexperienced as this diver seems to have been, it might have been a good day to leave the GoPro behind. Last, last, I totally missed that this was actually a deep dive for the diver's AOW course. In that case, the diver seems ill-prepared in that sense and the instructor holds some culpability in preparing for and managing what might have been an instructional dive.
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So what does the divers reaction to loosing his weights tell us? Apparently, he was not neutrally buoyant on his depth. Otherwise loosing his weight belt should have resulted in ascending, as stated in your analysis. 4,5 Kg in salt water with a short neoprene suit (or none?) seem a bit excessive, what also supports the fact that the diver wasn't neutrally buoyant.
If that was my student, we were going back checking his amount of weight, leaving the GoPro behind in educational dives and maybe think about pocketing this little amount of weights as it's no big hazard in emergency situations.
Aaaand, he'd get a whole dive of buoyancy and trim education 😅
@@MrBlinker96 Hi, Jost. Some wise words there. Thanks for adding your instructor perspective.
Dove years without a BCD, wetsuit or weights. Maybe a few pounds to counter the tanks buoyancy when working a shoreline shallow in the surge. Cliffs have radical surges. I see it as typically persons think they need a large BC as if they are a working diver with lots of weight. At 100' a wetsuit's buoyancy is near nill. The weights end up being primarily to allow a diver to submerge when wearing a wetsuit. So the diver ends up countering the weights by filling the BC making a dive more laborious. Not the way to go. I've got a few full length wetsuits and the funny thing was using the thick one with lots of weight. While camping on the beach with a line of gill net going out diving alone to check the net with the big weightbelt the thick wetsuit compressed going deeper offshore. So the belt got looser me happily following the net on the bottom down the slope then clear as day a nice big fish cut cleanly in half in the net. This is where the weights I had positioned to the rear on the belt rotated dragging along my waist with the buckle opening so I start rising. After seeing the cut in half fish and feeling the belt around my waste bumping me I though a shark had me dragging me to the surface to wave me and the friends on shore. Moral of the story is drink beer not dive and if possible in the tropics learn to live with a little chill. If you aren't working, tussling against weights and BC is silly. Only BC I have is a small scout BC.
Why on earth is anyone allowed to mess around with something like a camera on an educational dive unless the skills being learned specifically relate to having said camera? This seems to happen not infrequently in incidents and accidents. You are there to learn, not be a photographer. You’re *paying* to learn something. This is a specific question about instructors in particular because they should not be going along with it. Is the industry forcing the issue?
Thanks for sharing my video! I survived being an ignorant dumb slow noob and now have 75+ dives on my metal buckle belt my own BCD with pockets for weights. Cheers.
Byron, thank you so much for stopping in. How did you find this? I'm so glad that you learned a lot, helped us learn and are continuing with your underwater adventures!
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo It just popped up on my RUclips! I shared your video to all my diving friends.
Ah, this often seems the case when I include a video link in the description. That makes good sense. Many thanks for sharing and dive on!
Byron, thanks for sharing your experience.
A really good share. I had something similar happen, it's a learning experience. A failure you can live and recover from is a good thing, it certainly forced me to re-evaluate my gear and dive procedures! :) I've had free flows, a lost fin, slipped belt, masks that won't stop flooding (facial hair) and each has been a crap experience at the time, but a great opportunity to reflect and tighten up on after!
Just found you and as a scuba newbie I must say out of all the channels you are heads above. I find many scuba channels have a certain arrogance (whether intentional or not), which intimidates or puts off people like myself. Watching your analysis and videos is very refreshing and encourages me rather than discourages me to keep growing in this hobby. Thank you as we need more experts in certain hobbies to educate and make people feel welcome.
My dad taught my mom to dive off Cozumel back in 1977. They always said it was the clearest most amazing dives of their lives.
My first ever dive was in Cozumel in 1981. And, your parents are right. The reefs in Cozumel are incredible.
I am a SCUBA instructor and have dived Cozumel often and I recognize this dive spot. It's a beautiful dive.
The reality is that most dive operations on Cozumel use dive belts with plastic buckles. That's just the way it is. What makes it worse is that many divers going to this island are recreational divers that only dive on vacations so their skills are at best, rusty to non-existent. There were a lot of warning signs that could have signaled the diver that something was wrong yet - as usual - these divers are ill-equipped to handle emergencies. This diver paid more attention to their GoPro than to their own scuba gear.
As Cozumel is very warm water, he didn't have to use much weight. 10lbs for most healthy-weight divers, and that's with a 3mm wetsuit. So even in the event of losing their weights at 100ft, it's really a non-issue for the experienced diver as everything is compressed and dumping air from one's BC is generally all that is necessary. Pick up a couple rocks at shallower depth and pocket them in one's BC and continue the fun dive.
The diving industry really does a disservice to these divers. Then again, if the diving industry was forced to re-certify divers every year, or prove their skills then the dive industry would collapse as most divers would give up the sport due to the regulations. So this is what happens....
Thanks for the enlightened comment, Gmon. Appreciate the local view of EQ and conditions. I totally agree on you closing point 👍
I agree with your assessment as well. I’m an AOW diver just shy of 50 total dives. There is no way I will make my next dive without doing a full refresher - wouldn’t think of it. Even if I hadn’t taken this long between diving (pandemic related lockdowns) I would still make sure my basic skills are refreshed. Kudos to the operators that require a refresher course for those that haven’t been in the water in a while. Scuba diving in NOT like riding a bike. Unfortunately, many people want to believe it is..
I think part of it should be on Divers. I did my open water cert with a good instructor prior to my honeymoon, went with a good dive shop and had a blast. I dove 3 times on that trip 5 years ago and haven't been diving since, I don't have interest in diving where I live, there's nothing to see. NO way I would dive again now without going through a refresher class with my instructor again prior to a trip. It's been too long.
Glad to see the instructor was right there to take control of the situation. It's great to see these videos and to see how quickly things can go wrong.
Been divining since 1980 and im an instructor. All our weight belts have plactice buckles and never an issue
perfectly shows that if you dont notice your belt is coming off in shorts and don't get the idea to release air from your bcd, then you have no buisness in taking a camera with you.
Well put, Andreas 👍
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo I’m learning more and more that a lot of scuba divers have no business doing some of the things that they do. I feel that many new divers feel that diving is easy and doesn’t have to be taken that seriously. Scuba diving is not to be taken lightly… as many people unfortunately do.
@@laminar0886 so true, Laminar!
@@laminar0886 I've been watching a lot of diving videos. Always loved the water, never dove. Had no idea of how easy it was for even a "simple" Dive to turn catastrophic
@@chrischurch4551 I’m sure Jim can attest to this more than I can. Don’t let this video deter you.. you have to try diving! It’s simply one of the best things I’ve ever been a part of for sure. It just needs to be taken seriously… but that does not take away the fun at all.
I’ve been diving for over 30 years, I’ve been to dozens of locations all over the world, Cozumel is my favorite. Almost always excellent visibility, second longest reef in the world, very good dive masters and leaders, I’ve been diving there probably 20 times with multiple dive shops and they are all very professional and all PADI
If you've never been to Cozumel, book a dive trip there at your earliest opportunity. I have over 50 logged dives in those waters, and I could dive there for another 20 years and not see everything there is to see. It's world-class diving. Only the Great Barrier Reef in Australia rivals the coral formations of Cozumel. Of all the locations I've dived, including Belize, Roatan, the Bahamas, and the Cayman Islands, it's my favorite.
ALL dives in Cozumel are drift dives. There's a steady 3-5 knot current at all times. The boat drifts along with you, so it's pretty close to you when you surface. The current is even stronger on the reefs at the extreme Southern part of the island. The water in Cozumel is "gin clear". I have a dive pin that shows a diver laying in a hammock. That's representative of the "lazy" diving in Cozumel. You don't bother trying to fight the current. If you need, or want to stop, you just duck behind some coral to get out of the current.
After watching this video, I believe they may be diving on Santa Rosa Wall. The bottom on the island side (East) of the reef is at about 70 feet. The water on the other side of the wall is over 3,000 feet deep. Not the best place for inexperienced divers. You can encounter some large palagic creatures on the deep side, including groupers larger than you are. Thre are also pass-through caves filled with lobsters, nurse sharks, and huge crabs!
The Mexican divemasters in Cozumel will take you anywhere you want to go. They make so many dives they tend to get lazy about depth limits and bottom time, though. I've caught them giving incorrect information about surface interval and bottom time on many occasions. Don't trust them. Do your own calculations, and watch your depth gauge. But most of all, enjoy the diving. It's fantastic!
Thunderpup, you have me sold. Love, love, love drift diving.
Yes Palencar reef in Cozumel is beautiful. Did you dive the Coast Guard cutter in Chanel off the island that’s a cool dive as well.
A few notes on Diving in Cozumel from a Divemaster who worked there.
Plastic buckles are not uncommon on the rental weightbelts people often use. Almost all diving on Coz is done through diveshops and off of boats. Quite a lot of equipment used is rental gear since traveling with gear is expensive and a pain. They are not unreliable in my experience, but they do wear out eventually. I can imagine the teeth being ground down over time, and then letting go much like this one did.
It was pretty common for DM's and instructors to carry extra weight but you usually need it because someone has miss judged how much they'll need. Some dives you might hand out some weight, some dives you might come up with more than you went down with.
You'd be surprised how often people have gear fall off of them. Snorkels are the big one but you find quite a lot of masks too.
It might shock some folk to hear this but, It's common practice for DM's and instructors to count on having to share their air by the end of the dive. Standard practice is to share air with whoever ran out, continue the dive until the next person signals they are low/out, and then end the dive. It's nuts but that's how it be in Mexico.
In general, safety standards are very lax, but maintenance and equipment is well seen to.
Thanks for the deep dive and insights on this one, DF 👍
Hmmm... so many things are happening here.
Firstly yes Cozumel is beautiful with incredible vis and potentially strong currents. 🤘🏽😬
As far as the buckle the plastic shouldn’t make a difference. If I was to hazard a guess I would suggest the belt felt “tight” while sitting on the boat then slid down from his belly once in the water becoming loose around his skinnier waist/legs then eventually falling off all together due to positioning.
Also I’m assuming he doesn’t need quite that much weight as he was negative for most of this dive (which is a good thing in the end) hence the seahorse positioning plus he didn’t rocket up after losing his belt (thank you negative buoyancy)...
Hats off to this instructor, I imagine quite a conversation on the boat. 🤔
Great analytical feedback, F365. For sure on the instructor...though it was pointed out to me afterwards that this was part of this students AOW, the deep dive, so the instructor has some culpability in this event.
He didn't let loose of the camera though 🤣👍👍🇺🇸
Although I use integrated weights now, when I first started, I recall my rented gear having plastic buckles frequently. I also recall having to tighten my weight belt a few times after getting in the water when I felt it slipping down. I learned that when putting the belt on the boat, the weight of the belt pulling down in the back would pull the belt against my waist in the front and would often give me a false sense of it being tight. Over time, I developed a habit of making sure the belt was high enough on my back and leaning forward when tightening it to make sure it was really snug
Yea, the instructor was on top of that fast! Good on her!
Def...I was very impressed!
I know this is a freak accident but it ruined a vacation and thought I would pass it along. Certified in 1971 with multitude of dives and preferred forward exit from boat but was forced by boat operator to do back flip. On the way out my large knife caught on the side of the boat,pulled out of it’s sheath, turned around and was shot by the retainer about 4” into my calf muscle. Just something to think about.
Holy Cow, Phil. What a freak accident. I turns you healed up well and still diving 👍
I used to carry a large knife
I eventually realized I did not need one. I carry a small one strapped to my BC.
That hurts
In Cozumel I once had a weight belt with a plastic buckle and it also opened but since I dive with a horizontal position it did not fall off, it just hung and I attached it back but I had my hand on it for the rest of the dive. I told the dive operator about it but the next day I saw another diver with it. I remembered it quite well it was a purple buckle. I told him about it and they didn't change it. The diver was a vertical diver (literally walking through) and he lost the belt, his buddy caught it, and they managed to put it back on. I never dove with rentals or weight belts again
My initial reaction here is that the diver shouldn't be carrying a camera, the diver doesn't have enough experience to cope with general skills. If they weren't carrying a camera, they'd have their hands free to tighten the weight belt after the descent and during the dive. Also, after losing the weight belt, the diver waved for help, his first reaction should have been to dump his air in his BCD but we didn't see him do that. My other thought is that their buddy was too far away to react and help. In the UK we're taught and teach that your buddy should be no more that two arm lengths away - most of the time that's because of the viz'.
Thanks as always for the comment, Mark. I agree, there is def something about great viz that stretches the limits of the buddy system.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo We see it happen all the time while on holiday in warm water where the vis' is 15m+, it lulls people into poor buddy contact. On some of our tech courses we have a "stress" skills dive where instructors will turn off a divers air without the diver knowing and then rip their mask away just as they spot their buddy. This is all done with lots of safety divers and in 5-8m water. It's amazing how close your buddy sticks to you after that. We also teach using a long hose. So the out of gas diver takes the reg they can see - the one in the mouth and working.
I'm just glad I didn't have to watch another video where the dive master didn't notice or didn't understand the person needed help.
Guess this could happen to anyone getting OW and advanced in 4-5days and with their 9dives confidently start diving with their GoPro in the hand.
But reading his own description, it was the deep dive of the advanced course. And the instructor let him take the GoPro, guess clearly violating PADI regulations.
Good vid and analysis. Thanks
Doh, Thanks, Maverick...I missed that. Explains why he said "my Instructor". Pretty cruisy atmosphere for the deep dive of an AOW course 😳
Agreed,flailing and still the focus on the camera,not the dive.
I wonder how many weights belts are on the bottom of the sea 😆😆😆
True, dat!!! They say in FL, there are a few famous dives where you can just collect weight belts on the weekends...prolly the dive shops do to recover.
I panic one time & had to ditch my weight belt. It was my fault not knowing my equipment.
@@ernestlcolemanjr Thanks for sharing that experience, Earnest
Couzamel has a “resort certification” where they take non divers and make them pseudo divers, in the pool, in a day or two. Then they go in the ocean with strong current. These resort divers scatter with the current, struggle with buoyancy control, hyperventilate and generally flail around while the instructor and any help he can get, tries to keep the group together. I know, I spent my dive assisting the instructor gather his class. It’s risky business.
Yeah I've seen that but there are a lot of actual dive shops that will get you PADI certified too
Thank you for posting. Looked like he didn't know where or what his b.c. was.
Learned the very hard way...
Thanks for the view and comment, HoS 👍 Ain't that the truth!
Believe issue was as he descended didn’t re-tighten weight belt as body and any suit compresses. Saw this happen to dive buddy. Had to catch him when it was down to his butt and get him fixed. Reminded him before each dive after that before entering water. I also re-adjust my BCD velcro waist strap when I descend as it loosens. If you use weight belts you should re-tighten as depth increases.
I certainly have no idea what this diver's previous experience is, but he does not seem to have much experience, based on not immediately dumping air from his BC.
Jim, you did touch on this, but I'll try and phrase it another way: In my opinion, this incident illustrates why it's important to (at least be able to) be in a horizontal trim. Because the diver was trimmed head up, as he began to panic, his finning was making him ascend, along with the positive buoyancy. Had the diver been more horizontal, it would have been much easier to start finning downwards to counter the buoyancy. I'm not saying a diver must always be horizontal, but should at least be able to be, with little to no effort.
It's interesting that the diver seemed to be more concerned with the GoPro than his own safety and sorting himself out.....
Hey, D_Fresh...thanks for stopping in. You're so right. I must have been overmedicated on this video, I missed or understated a lot. I agree, the possible overweighting and position of weight contributed to the lack of good trim and the result is as you say. I also overlooked and was shocked to find out this was an AOW deep training dive. Puts a bit more onus on the instructor.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo Totally agreed. Don't worry buddy, my comment was not supposed to be a critique on your critique... (that sounds funny LOL). I think it's very important for us, as divers, to study other incidents, figure out what went wrong and how to avoid it, in order to be better, safer, divers. Cheers mate, keep the Incident Analyses coming!
@@d_fresh1169 LOL, thanks. I do value incident analysis. You're so right about how valuable it is. In hindsight, I've been so busy with my three jobs, I sometimes miss some finer points I wish I'd caught. Hopefully, if this channel gets to a certain point, I might be able to drop one of my part-time jobs 👍
That vis is pretty normal. I did my AOW in Cozumel. We were at 90 feet and I could see boats passing above. I've been involved in something similar on one of my trips. Dropped up current from the reef, about 30-40 feet bottom. All of the sudden I saw a weight belt just fall, and not a light one looked at least 3-4 big blocks. DM went for the belt, I went for the woman as she was doing an imitation of ballistic missile, thankfully it was the start of the dive so dumping my BC resulted in enough negative buoyancy to get us both down. We got the belt back on her, but she was too scared to continue the dive. She did join us for the second dive.
Good grief, nice catch! Must have been just amazing diving there.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo It is amazing. I really need to go back. Every trip down there to cave dive I saw "I'm going to cross over to Coz and dive the reefs," but then I remember it is salt water and I didn't bring any rec diving gear.
@@Teampegleg So many great spots out there to dive! I'd like to do Cuba...with plenty of rum and cagars during surface intervals.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo Isn't the goal to cover a world map with little dive flags?
@@Teampegleg Ain't that the truth!
YES, Cozumel is always a wonderful clear dive!! Darker blue than the Virgin Islands but the clarity is amazing. FYI, lots of inexperienced drivers & strong currents.
I lost an 80 pound belt in Cozumel Mexico due to plastic buckle provided from a dive company upon entry of the water despite my hand on my buckle. It fell off as soon as I turned over and dropped unto a very fast current (preventing recovery) Cost me $85.00. YEA plastic. There must be thousands of dollars of weight belts for dive masters to recover for extra pocket money. Even a rubber band would have saved me the money. Didn't know, but now I do. Bring a rubber band with you in case you are given a plastic buckle.
Cozumel is awesome!
Had a buckle fail at 75 feet I dumped air from BC, flared, and began exhaling as I swam hard for the bottom( not a wall dive). Divemaster was able to grab me and it took two of us kicking to get back on the bottom and get my belt back on. I am very buoyant. Not a fan of Cozumel as I am a photographer and the current is so fast it’s hard to stop and get a good pic. Great vis though.
If you go to Cozumel, dive with Barefoot Divers. Especially Nick. I got my cert with him, and I am going to be eternally grateful for the experience. What a patient and wholesome bro.
Great video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Cozumel was one of the best dive trips for me, because of the excellent viz and drift dives.
If yur advanced enough (50+ dives), then you could attempt Devils Throat or go take a cenote guided dive on the Mayan Rviviera..
Cozumel is a beautiful place to go. I've only been snorkeling there but even just from the surface, there's plenty to see. The only time it wasn't that clear was once when we'd gone after a storm a day or two before (in December). But even then, it was just a bit cloudy- I wouldn't even describe it as murky- and visibility was so that you could still see a fair ways off, but like in a light fog, rather than only being able to see things close to you. He likely hit that wall due to current. You don't have to work hard to move along your route there- just literally go with the flow- and when he lost the weight and was trying to move, I guess the current had other ideas.
Your best comment: "Good grief."
LOL...I try to keep it clean, Oren 😂
So what's the deal with a plastic weight belt buckle as opposed to a metal buckle. It appears to me the dude is more concerned with his camera than the dive itself.
That was a remarkable save, not only for the situation but for the experience as a whole.
Agreed!
I'm a greenhorn diver here with only 14 dives under my belt. 2 days after OW certification I booked a boat dive. The first dive was at the Benwood wreck. I was taking my gopro with me. That dive wasn't enjoyable because of my own fault. On the second dive I ditched my gopro and my dive was 10 times better. I've learned that day not to take my gopro with me on any dives until I get more experienced and fine tune my skills. Everyone can dive but unfortunately not everybody makes it out of water. Keep your cameras and any other devices which can distract you on the shore until you gain more experience. Just my two cents. Enjoy the blue world!
My family and I went to Cozumel in the summer of 01, we stayed at the Paradisus, think it's called something else now. My dad brother and I were already certified, and had planned to go at some point. The hotel (all inclusive) had a program, daily for about 8 hours, half instruction half using the equipment in the ocean surf right there. This all looked suspicious considering how long my certification took and how thorough I thought it was, I was asking the instructor how many people usually fail, he got this super nervous and fidgety look and more or less said they weren't allowed to fail anyone, if you signed up for this class you were going to be able to go out on the boat the next day, not tethered diving, actual scuba diving. We were horrified. We dove in this spot being shown, it's absolutely a famous spot and a beautiful and popular dive spot down there, but it is NOT for beginners, if I remember right it's near where the Caribbean sea water and the water that's between Cozumel meet, and sometimes the current there can be scarily swift if you aren't technically proficient. We saw divers there without dive computers, no dive knives, improper equipment, missing equipment, alot of these companies are just trying to get you in the water so they can get paid. If you ever go, check out Chankaanab National Park, it's amazing and also a great dive spot.
Thanks for taking the time to add this to the thread.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo your welcome. People, especially novices need to know the warning signs of a bad out fit. Diving is an AMAZING sport, but it requires not just physical strength and swimming technicality, but also a ton of instruction about decompression stops, the bends, atmospheres, diving tables or discs. I can't possibly see how someone could get in the water in 8 hours. They're not gonna have time to learn all the stuff that just might save their life.
That selfie stick seemed to be a distraction and he'd have been better off without it, especially once the emergency started. In a parallel Universe this video ends with him being carried into the recompression chamber, right hand gripped firmly on his selfie stick. His response was far too passive and he pretty much waited for his instructor to save him.
Wow, the inexperience shows! Been to Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Cancun and basically the entire Mayan Riviera, it's my favorite place in the world, but the beauty hides all sorts of dangers in diving. Good thing he had a seemingly very professional instructor/guide. He had at least 3 options to keep himself from surfacing uncontrollably, but looks like he opted for a fourth... he was too busy holding his selfie stick.
Hi again, Jamal. Lucky diver you are...looks stunning there. Thanks for adding your thoughts.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo I'm sure Japan must be quite the interesting place as well. My daughter is fascinated with Japan and wants to go over as an exchange student. Maybe I'll get to go see what the waters look like over there.
@@jamal69jackson77 Shoot me a mail if you ever do and I'd be happy to show you around (discoverydiverstokyo@gmail.com)
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo sure do appreciate it. I might take you up on that.
I had a plastic buckle on my belt once but never became lose on me like that
No-one needs a pony bottle at Cozumel. This guy is a newbie!
A+ to dive instructor/master/guide
Agreed!
I had two opportunities when my weight belt came loose and was in trouble. This happened since wearing dry suit, buckles are prone to open specially with air injected inside the dry suit.Next time I will wear an integrated weight system BCD
Ah, good point, Gina. I've also seen the opposite happen. A diver wearing a neoprene drytui with tight weght belt...the air comhow got built up below the diver's waist and the belt blocked the air from passing above the belt (in a timely fashion). That diver ended up on the surface...
Sad when people focus only on their selfie-stick -camera and NOT their diving!
I see it everyday,as a pro in Aruba.
I have went diving in Mexico ( riviera maya) a lot and it is amazing . Never went in Cozumel . But it is mostly drift dives or shelf dives . The current is very strong in Cozumel
Wrong…. Cozumel has it all including Great Wall dives
@@dandenney9414 I stand corrected, only repeated what I have heard .
Plastic buckle or no, it doesn't matter. I've had a tightly strapped metal buckle come loose on me from 18m down. Probably an issue with larger men mostly, lacking hips for belts to rest on and a little extra body fat to squash down, plus the lubrication of water against your exposure suit/clothing causes it to slip. I don't trust weight belts at all now and after my slip incident (thankfully I at least caught my belt at my knees, I wasn't able to recover from it because I had a flooded mask and eventually a free flow and lost fin all at the same time... ) I bought a BPW with integrated ditchable pockets instead. Even though that can't slip off I am still in the habit of descending and retightening my BPW belt too.
This is a "drift" dive. The current always pushes you down. Gotta maintain planned depth.
We have both plastic and S. steel buckles and both will wear out. Plastic buckles can break and metal buckles can be bent.
His tank is HUGE lol
I can't remember the last time I used a belt my BCD has built in space for wieght. Did use a plastic buckle when getting my first PADI cert years ago don't remember having any problems with it
Hi, yes, we love diving in Cozumel and the viz is that good most of the time. We dive with weight integrated BCDs, but used to use weight belts and many have plastic buckles that work fine. I think both plastic and metal buckles can seem closed but still me a millimeter or 2 from fully closed. If this Diver was so inexperienced to have never backrolled off of a boat, they should have kept hands free to work the BCD etc. rather than use the Gopro.
Good points, all around, Rob. Yeah, prolly a good call on your part about leaving the camera behind. Thanks on the plastic buckle feedback. I guess it's good to have a scapegoat...
As an Instructor for 3 agencies and taught weight belts and Integrated Systems: I would concur- the plastic buckle wasn't a major factor- unless it failed at the pivot points.. Dive Planning/Buddy Checks would have caught: 1) Was the Weight Belt Tight, completely secured- no hang out of running end in the buckle, Was it opposite opening of the BCD buckle? 2) The cylinder seemed sitting a bit high on the cylinder and the regulator was then lower than I like to see- awfully close to the curve in the neck-web straps stretch, and depending on how the Model's Band uses velcro to secure and help mitigate the stretch when wet; if cylinder sizes were different on previous dive; and no one checked cylinder security on the boat before entry; a loosened cylinder strap provides a cylinder waiting to fall out of the band & would instantly have been a bigger problem....3)What were those yellow items on the chest-right where the Weight Belt Buckle may have been? Its not the Spare Air- thats higher on the diver and away from center ...Those items bumping against the buckle could provide the cause of the loosened Weight Belt- catching the Buckle...Again a Pre Dive inspection by the Buddy , Instructor/Guide and Dive Master should have caught this, and asked about it. Inexperienced divers may not have the knowledge to look for/fix such items, Inexperience showed up real quick when the belt free feed from the diver- Instead of continuing to watch the belt free fall somewhere; there as no attempt to vent the BCD, and at 100' there should be some air in it, to have been neutral before loss of Ballast. It looked like he tried flaring the legs/fins in a Giant Stride, to slow the ascent. Why didn't the Buddy move into help when the belt was seen moving (fix a little problem),or when it finally came off and the diver as signaling for Help...Filming is always trumped by Diver Safety- But thats just me...
Thanks for the excellent commentary, JAG CH. Hope to see you around the channel in the future.
Diving Cayman in that gear, I would have 4-6lbs of weight. 10 would make me sink like a stone. Often rental weight belts (such as on boats) would have plastic buckles. Much less secure than metal ones. I always make sure I had a longer belt, so more chance of catching it if it slipped through the buckle. Also put the weights so they are on my front for better trim, comfort, and security (tank and BCD not pushing down on the weights, as they could do when weighted on the back with those heavy weight blocks). I check and adjust the belt on descent, and am ready to grab it if it feels loose. Once at depth they are usually OK, and you're are normally horizontal, so less likely to lose the belt.
Just finished my open water last sunday. The dive shop i went with all the belt buckles are plastic on the rental gear. never had an issue with them. My belt never came loose at all.
Congrats and thanks for reporting in. Safe diving 👍
Im an instructor and been diving since 1980 and all my weight belts and most bcds have plastice buckles.Never an issue
let's not even mention the tank straps sheeesh
About the buckles I've had both and didn't ever have an issue. I have also found both on the bottom. I don't know if that was because any of them just came off or were ditched.
The scariest thing about this video is how he did pretty much everything wrong and his only takeaway was "plastic buckles bad"
30 plus years of 'plastic buckles' no problems. I would suggest a number of factors caused him to lose the belt.
A) The weight (singlar) was not distributed evenly on the belt, causing it to slip over his hip.
B) The belt was waaaay too long - you can't see the end of the belt flowing off picture.
C) Boyle's Law came into play - they were swimming with 4 ATA, therefore ALL airfilled spaces were 1/3 volume of MSL, we forget the lungs are not the only compartment which contain gas, we also have our GI system. Then we have a wetsuit which at 4ATA has pretty much given up all it's gas volume.
D) Inattention to regular equipment checks during the dive - including readjusting all webbing and straps as volumes change.
This is a very avoidable problem - understand the bouyancy / displacement of you and your gear for where you are diving and weight yourself accordingly with both droppable and fixed weights. You should only carry what you need at the end of the dive to maintain neutral bouyancy at 5 meters (15 ft) with 50 BAR in your tank not what will get you to Davey Jone's Locker as quickly as you can. Finally weight distribution is key to a pleasant dive, more smaller weight distributed across your body will result in far better in water trim.
My experience with divers you’re right you’re always carry extra weight but I’ve seen people at 100 feet compress and I always tell him when she reached at depth tighten a weight belt in his case he did not tighten a weight belt and this is why I came off plastic buckle that has nothing to do with it it just came off unless he broke the plastic buckle and not known it who knows but I always recommend when she reached depth Tightening the white buckle is the smart thing to do. Or just go out by BCD we’ve integrated never have to worry about her weight buckle again
This looks to be Santa Rosa wall. The floor is 50’ then drops to 3000’. There is a current that runs through and keep visibility great all the time. I’ve been twice. 😁
That’s some potential max depth!!
I've been 150 on the wall in Cozumel. I told the boat dive master I was going to do it and he was cool with it. He led the dive, I dropped to the back and went down. This guy looks like he needs more training and needs to put that camera down, strap it to his head or something. During a deep drift dive I would find it important to have both hands free at all times.
I live in Cozumel, yes, visibility is always like that.
Fantastic! Hope to see it someday, Rudy.
In the description it says the diver lost buoyancy, what am I missing?
I feel like he didn't need any weight. Without a suit I use 0 pounds. You can also see how he was pretty much neutral about that weight, and even more so once his butler came over and dumped his air.
I've never been to Cozumel but I heard a lot of good things about it.
Edit: All I use is plastic buckles, never had an issue. However I don't often dive with a belt.
Scuba Steve! Yeah, seems he's wearing a shorty, maybe, which board shorts over that? Hard to tell how much/fast he was ascending with no reference once the belt came off...I'd not need 3kg in that exposure protection...Anyway, as always, all good food for thought. Thanks again for stopping in!
😂😂😂 Butler. 🤣
I am, or was, very floaty. Usually 10 lbs w/o thermal was good. Full body suit and it was almost 30 lbs. Back then I was barrel chested and lean. Haven't done much diving since I bought my spare tire, but looking forward to it some day. Anyway, I have some experiences with plastic buckles. From what I observed, plastic buckles can wear out faster than the metal. All buckles work on friction. They have small ridges cut into them to increase surface area and pressure those groves into the belt webbing. Over many uses, think rental equipment, the plastic ridges will flatten and spread into the grooves smoothing that surface. This will cause some slippage, worse depending on how much weight is on the belt. This doesn't cause the buckle to fail but allows the belt to more easily shift and turn about the waist. Once that starts it is just a matter of time before something hits the buckle and causes it to begin to unlatch. I always taught my students to do a gear check when they do any hard kinetic entries to the water and also once they reach their target depth. If your in any kind of wet suit you almost always have to tighten due to compression.
@@westondavis1682 Great comment, Weston. Very useful info for readers. Hope to see you on the channel in the future.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo it's a good channel. Just have to check my jealousy. After my wife entered med school and I left my dive shop I was never able to get back to instructing. I do so miss it, but it's hard to do it in Texas unless you own the shop or know the owners. Might get back into it again someday, still have the dream of opening a shop in the keys and just running people to sites on a small 6pack. 🤔
No not the plastic buckle
Didn’t properly have his weight belt on
Very cool off him to walk on the reef and destroying living things that might not grow back.
Nothing to do with this great share, but down at 10 m and nearly got clobbered by a lost weight belt which came off a later diver giant striding in. My buddy saw it pass by. Move away from entry points!
Youch...good tip, Dougy D 👍
I have Been in charters boats when a diver doesn’t even remember how to set up their own gear 🤦🏻♂️
Sad, but true...
And he is consumed with that ridiculous selfie stick while diving. That itself tells you alot about the maturity of the guy.
I always used to use 2 buckles because the buckles are made for quick release incase of emergency
Jim my first weight belt had a plastic buckle, it uses a stainless steel pin just like a metal one and just as good. I’m betting any money he didn’t have it closed correctly and it came off, nothing to do with the fact it was plastic. When people make rookie mistakes they like to cover it up by blaming the equipment as faulty.
I'm with you on this one. Must not have been closed properly.
I saw more people losing their integrated weight pockets, than belts.
No difference between plastic and metal. As a matter of fact, specially in South east asia, the plastic ones from a proper dive shop are better than the Chinese steel buckles a lot of people here order on Lazada and shopee.
Funny enough, I almost lost my steel buckled belt with 1.5 kg. The reason was not the buckle but the webbing of the belt. It got so thin, that one could pull it through the closed buckle.
Respect to the divers for posting that. while he surely made some mistakes after he lost his belt, he was not panicking and handled the situation pretty cool. Shit happens, and it is good to learn from the mistakes. Respect to the aware dive-leader!
I shoot myself up with my sausage during dive-master training from 24 meters, back in 2003 in Puerto Galera and it was caught on video . Different times, from the boatmen to the instructor to the other divers, all were in tears from laughing. It went in a loop on the TV in the bar this evening. Certainly one of the most embarrassing moments in my dive-career.
Hey, DM! Oh no...was that the Point Bar? Glad you were OK. I've been to PG a few times...fantastic place...
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo Yeah, I did my DM and Instructor with Asia Divers and worked for them for a while, before moving on to Dumaguete
@@DiveMonster Love the crew there! I also dove a fair bit with Dave over at Tech Asia.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo
No doubt, some of the best, Ali and Pete took me by the hand, when I started there.
Dave taught me a lot of the academics, that I actually not only pass exams, but made me understand them. I spent hours in the Tech Shop... of course resulting in buying a halcyon and getting into weird gas-mixes
@@DiveMonster Lots of great memories in PG and great diving. I have to get back there.
I was shocked at the water clarity. It was like diving in a tropical fish tank. The visibility was 100 ft+. The only issue is the current that runs through Palancar National Park. Easily one of my favorite places to dive.
This reef normally has a 5 to 6 knot current parallel to the reef. The reef comes up to about 40 feet from the surface.
He's trying to blame his equipment for his own errors.
In my opinion the route cause was he didn't put his equipment on properly and he was over weighted. His camera distracted him which stopped him from realising his weights were becoming free. His poor trim increased the chance of the weights coming loose and didn't allow him to react correctly (swim down to the dropped weights or to slow ascent, while dumping air from kidney dump).
Hey, Clarkey. I think you have it right. Actually, I didn't notice that this diver was on his AOW course for this deep dive. That makes me take a bit of a less empathetic view of both diver and instructor.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo I didn't realise they were on a course either. I didn't think cameras were allowed on AOW, but I'm not an instructor.
Amazing instructor! I’d marry her for that lol
I am no professional Diver, I don't even have a license but due to my previous work, I received regular submerged vessel escape training with various equipment. Part of this training was always to be in control of yourself and your fear in dark, submerged situations. I watched a bunch of your Videos now and I am puzzled how many accidents are caused by inexperience and resulting panic. Even some of my coworkers had to quit because they could not complete the training. Diving is a beautiful sport, but it is a exceptionally dangerous one. And some people should stay far away from it, if they can't even retrieve a ring from the bottom of a 10m deep pool with no equipment. Because then, the equipment is just a false perception of safety.
Like this guy. Holding onto his cam like his life depends on it. Instead of swimming down, holding onto the wall or deflating his BCD. No reasonable decision was made due to panic.
Attempting divers should do panic training and if they fail, receive an eternal ban on diving.
You bring up a very perceptive point, te0nani. Improper/inadequate instruction resultling in inadequate skills and thus comfort are the leading cause of people leaving the sport soon after certification, and incidents such as these. Here is a vid toucihng on that point: ruclips.net/video/98TevdsoKc4/видео.html
I don’t think the plastic buckle was really an issue. Theoretically, yeah it’s exposed to sun and used frequently and by its nature will fail quicker.....but you should have noticed “hey, this feels a little wonky” when strapping on the belt.
Agreed...maybe the bliss of Cozumel dazed this diver a bit. I'm guessing he takes more proactive responsibility since then.
I wondered if you were going to mention the fact he was filming as a possible factor in the accident? If he hadn't had the camera on a stick distracting him, would he have spotted that his weight belt was slipping before it came loose? (I don't get why people do this anyway. Dude, you're underwater in a stunningly beautiful location very few humans on earth will ever get to see! Enjoy the experience!)
Agreed, Louise. I found out later this was an AOW cert dive (deep), so carrying a camera would have been a no-go.
Its clear he was distracted by the task overload of the GoPro. Weight wise I have 2kg in my BCD pockets and the rest on a belt. At depth I always need to cinch it a bit more as the pressure compresses your body and neoprene. First thing I do as I approach depth. The buckle does not need to come loose to lose your belt. It doesn't take much reduction in your waist diameter to make it loose and in the absence of hips and ass easily comes off. Even with a 5mm suit I can feel my belt moving. At that depth I would probably have 4kg with a 2.5mm shorty and an empty BC. Instagram obsession can kill...
Agreed, DataP. Thanks for adding your comments and experience. That will be handy for future readers.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo enjoying your content. Thank you!
nice place
It really is!
What song is at the end of the clip?
Hi Bubba...you know, I'm not sure...something free I picked up years ago when I made some animations. Would not even know where to look for that again 😅Sorry!
Was that Santa Rosa Wall?
Having done most of my diving in Cozumel, I never realized how clear the water was comparatively.
In Coz, ALL dives are drift dives, and the current around a wall can be tricky. The captain and dive masters, who are usually good, can easily detect odd currents.
Dives from the typical small, fast boats always begin with a backward roll entry. So if he stayed with the same company, this was his first/second dive in Cozumel. Because a wall/deep dive would be done first, this is his first dive in Cozumel.
He should have been discouraged from taking a camera on this dive. Waaay too much task loading. In fact, he should not be using a camera on anything but a gentle, shallow dive.
I've used plastic buckles. The issue was that he did not tighten and secure the belt properly. Then, he was thinking of everything but the basics when he entered.
Great info to add to this comment, thread, Skzion. Many thanks.
As a not-very-experienced diver myself, I don't want to have an opinion on the qualities of the diver or dive itself. There are two things that irk me, though. You already mentioned the 'holding on to the camera' in your first comment. Of course, the cam is a pricey piece of kit and I wouldn't like losing mine either. But when the feces comes in contact with the cooling device, it shouldn't be that high up on the priority list. The second thing is that the captions on the video (to me) come across as 'sensationalist tough guy' talk. Where I think a slightly more humble approach might have been fitting.
As for the ditchable weight: I'm picking up a set of double steel 12L later this week, and I'm 99% sure I won't have any ditchable weight on them. As far as I've been able to find, statistics show that far more people get in trouble due to accidental weight ditching than due to not being able to ditch. So if I ever get into a situation where all buoyancy control is lost and I can't fin my way out of it, I hope I'll have the clarity of mind to grab my line cutter and ditch the entire set. Wondering what your view on that is, though!
HI Ron! I suspect the selfie stick had a wrist lanyard...if so, let it go.
On your double 12s, nice call. I have a set of those here (seldom used these days). My experience and research concurs with your observation about ditchable weight. GUE used to have a "balanced rig" philosophy wherein every rig had either redundant buoyancy (like a dry suit or SMB/lift bag) or could be swum up (including deco stops) in the event of a failed wing. So, if you're nit in a drysuit, might be interesting to deflate your wing one day and make sure you can swim up your rig. I've not followed the literature on that aspect of GUE, so you might search that out for more detailed info.
That's a good one, actually! If all goes well, I'll be testing and weighting the new set next weekend, so I'll be sure to see if I can swim it up and to shore in case I lose all buoyancy. I booked my GUE Fundamentals course for July, so I've also sent a mail to the instructor asking what the current GUE-view on that is :)
@@ronsnijders3636 GUE Fundies...you’re in great hands! Awesome training 👍
Commenting this after watching until 1:20:
First thing I notice is how high the cylinder is strapped to the vest. There is not even half a hand of space between the strap and the straight edge top of the tank. I was taught to have at least a full hand width. If not strapped properly, the tank in this video could easily slide down and slip out of the vest. Not something you want to happen if you want to keep your regulator in your mouth.
I have dive that wall couple times before, the operators get people with minimum diving experience, also I have used the plastic belts, that does happens a lot with those belts but if you are worried about you go pro video and not worried about your life... that's kind of on you. It is a beautiful drift dive with perfect visibility but you need to have some experience diving under those conditions it not a dive for an open water diver or someone without that many dives under their belt.
Hi Cesar. Thanks for adding your comment. Always great to hear for someone familiar with the local operators and conditions. Looks like an amazing dive. Thanks for your perspective.
Plastic buckles are for leisure snorkeling, easier to drop in case of issue. Better to have your weight in pockets for scuba diving!!
question. Is it a good idea for beginners to be diving with a selfie stick, or anything else, in their hand? If you run into an issue then you only have one hand free.
I was there with my ex. She was chatting with a mother and daughter on the boat out to the Santa Rosa wall. but the dive went really bad. couple of people took off without waiting for the dive master. soon everyone was spread out as the mother struggling with her weight belt and buoyancy. my ex was panicking, sounds like everyone was. and sadly the mother never made it back.
Come on tell it like it is my boyfriend had the same issue with the belts coming loose because of to much padding if you know what I mean, went for releasable pockets in the BCD
YES VISABILITY IS AT LEAST 90 FEET IVE BEEN TO PANANCAR REEF YEARS AGO AND ITS AMAZING!!!
Looks amazing!
I have used the same black plastic buckle weight belt for 15 years. It has never once came loose, and I’ve stacked 30lbs on it many, many times. If a belt comes loose, it’s nearly always operator error. Additionally, this guy losing his belt has nothing to do with him slamming into the wall, and everything to do with poorly developed diving skills. We see this with his bad form, poor finning techniques, inexperience in staying trim while in a current, and unrecognized need to take immediate actions (emergency procedures). This was a combination of inexperience and poor training. My criticism isn’t an attack on the guy, or his buddies, but rather instead, merely pointing out what’s observed. Perhaps with better quality training and more experience in the water, this could have easily been avoided, or can in the future. Further, slowing down and paying attention to detail prior to the dive-while jocking up-could also have prevented this. Another good example to support my argument for checklists becoming mainstream.
Side note, my plastic buckle belt was given to me while in the military. We use them because they’re non-magnetic, can take a severe beating, and don’t rust. I still use the same one to this day. If the services use them and trust them, there shouldn’t be any reason for recreational divers to distrust them. 99% of the time, it’s the diver who doesn’t close them properly, position them properly, or check them before the dive, that results in a belts loss, plastic or metal.
@@ArmyVeteranAJ Thanks for taking the time to post up all the valuable experience, AJ!
They were horizontal he was just holding his camera at a odd angle.
The wall deep reach 400 meters.
😍
If I go with newbs, I always take extra 6-8 lbs. Even if I'm just a guest.
Good call, JB. Me 2!!!
I probably have over 200 dives in Cozumel and I have never seen anyone using Spare Air. The visibility is like this most of the time unless there are weird currents blowing sand around. April -November shorts and T-shirt. The majority of guides there are instructors. I almost always have a camera with me, no selfie stick though and it is pointed away from me, but this guy should have his hands free to just check himself every so often. Was he in a class without a snorkle?
Hi S Dog. Thanks for adding experience and context to this thread 👍
i know a guy who was like that when he was still new to diving.overconfident and dumb enough to listen properly in his dive class.the first time i dived with him, a shore entry dive,he knew he dropped his weights but still attempted to dive. we ended up coming back up and we ask why is he having trouble going down and when we checked him he did not have weights.So he started acting dumb again telling us he didn't notice he dropped it.He looked more dumb when he start looking at the very spot he knew where he dropped it.
Hey, KC! Now that is some overconfidence...no weights and continue on!
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo the funny thing is that he is now certified as a dive master. he paid his way up to the ranks with little to no experience.he even transferred agency just to get into that position.
@@DiscoveryDiversTokyo the funny thing is that he is now certified as a dive master. he paid his way up to the ranks with little to no experience.he even transferred agency just to get into that position.
@@khencris3102 Doh..mate, I have some stories like that, for sure!
@@khencris3102 Doh..mate, I have some stories like that, for sure!