Roatan Suggestions

[beachinmom01]

Was your husband her dive buddy? Why didn't she get air from him? Sounds like she panicked and forgot her training. Surfacing from that depth isn't going to cause DCS, unless she was holding her breath, which she probably wasn't if the valve was closed. She probably was scolded for not going to her dive buddy for air, although I'm curious why the dm was on the surface and not down with the divers, especially new ones. Not good.

 

I've never dived with Anthony's Key, and probably never will. If I were to go back to Roatan, I'd go back to Subway. However, since I've been there six times already, it's not high on my list right now.

 

 

Yes, he was her buddy, yes, she panicked, and she had no breath to hold , she was out and blacking out as she surfaced. And yes I've read that surfacing from 40' could cause DCS.

 

I wouldn't focus on criticizing my daughter, it would have still been terrible had she got buddy air just not catastrophic as it could have been.

 

Best wishes for a wonderful trip. Your preparation and research will serve you well, I am sure.

 

 

 

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[Laurie S.]

I'm not trying to criticize your daughter, but the incident was her fault. She clearly did not do an air check before entering the water. All the operators I have ever dived with that set up the equipment leave the air shut off for safety. It is the diver's responsibility to check the equipment, especially the air flow. Turn the flow on, take several breaths from both the regulator and safe second and watch your gauge. I recheck when I'm in the water before starting my descent. The onboard check should have been done with her buddy watching.

 

Yes, you can get DCS surfacing quickly from 40 feet, but she wasn't down long enough to get nitrogen loading. Her only danger was if she had held her breath.

 

Hopefully, she will continue diving and become more experienced. It is a wonderful sport!

[beachinmom01]

I'm not trying to criticize your daughter, but the incident was her fault. She clearly did not do an air check before entering the water. All the operators I have ever dived with that set up the equipment leave the air shut off for safety. It is the diver's responsibility to check the equipment, especially the air flow. Turn the flow on, take several breaths from both the regulator and safe second and watch your gauge. I recheck when I'm in the water before starting my descent. The onboard check should have been done with her buddy watching.

 

 

 

Yes, you can get DCS surfacing quickly from 40 feet, but she wasn't down long enough to get nitrogen loading. Her only danger was if she had held her breath.

 

 

 

Hopefully, she will continue diving and become more experienced. It is a wonderful sport!

 

 

Thanks but my understanding is a tank half way turned on would react the way hers did. She did her tests and all was normal. They turned all the tanks on themselves,-- AKR , and yes that wasn't the way she was trained. But my belief is that AKR Circumvented protocol.

 

 

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[omeinv]

If one is looking for "blame" there's enough here for everyone, your daughter, her dive buddy, and the dive operator. Alas, in that order, since each of us - as open water divers - have primary responsibility for our equipment. As your daughter is new diver. I have another person about whom I'm concerned; her instructor.

 

Now, instead of assigning blame, I'd rather make sure this doesn't happen again. The problem is pretty clearly that your daughter's air was only turned on part of the way. There is a measure that's part of the pre-dive check process. That is to turn the air all the way on, then back 1/4 turn of the valve. The reason for turning it back 1/4 turn is so that then - during the buddy check - the diver's buddy physically checks that it is on by turning it again to the stop (all the way on) and 1/4 turn back. That way they feel it hit the stop, so they know it's on, rather than just sticking somewhere. Please allow me to stress we're talking 1/4 turn back towards off, not 1/4 of the way to off. That would be a few turns of the valve. Another important step of the buddy checks is to have the diver breath on both their primary and secondary regulator while the diver and their buddy watch their submersible pressure gauge. The needle should not move visibly if the air supply is on correctly. However, that' won't usually catch a valve that's open at all on a full tank, that will only get to be a problem later in the dive, when the tank's pressure comes down somewhat.

 

I realize you're not the diver, your daughter is. I'm hoping you'll be able to share this with her. It's scary when something like this happens at any point, and for a new diver that's doubly true. I'm hoping by her understanding what happened, and how to prevent a recurrence, she will be comfortable returning to diving.

 

I hope this helps. You're more than welcome to email me, using the link below, if I can clarify anything, or help in any way.

 

Harris

Denver, CO

[sross6019]

Try Bananrama. They have been good for us. They will pick up and deliver back at peir.

[Justbecoz]

We highly recommend Quality Time Divers in Roatan. Safety is utmost concern and extremely professional.

[scuabacruiser]

Just dove in Roatan again in June. We used Mayan Divers this time. A very good outfit with small boats. We were able to use the resort after the dives and it was kick butt nice. Carnival uses them as a beach excursion with transportation, drinks and food included. If you have non divers, they would enjoy themselves while you dove. Just book the dive separate. As for your gear, you can get a cab at the port for $2 pp to carry you over the hill to the vendors.

[vplsh]

My husband is looking at Scuba Roatan for our December cruise. They have been very responsive to emails and we've read good things about them on TripAdvisor.

[El Pistoffo]

DW and I used Barefoot divers on our last cruise a couple years ago. Great OP and 10 min boat ride to Marys Place (awesome dive spot).

Edited August 22, 2015 by El Pistoffo

[Georgia Peach 4]

West End Divers did a fantastic dive for our guys last time in Roatan. Here are some thoughts/tips.

 

Make sure you have arranged for SHIP TIME, they are on Island time and we ended up doing a one tank instead of a 2 tank dive because of the time confusion.

 

Their transportation can't pick you up right at the terminal, it is down the hill from the gate, which luckily is DOWN HILL, but it is about 1/2 mile, if you are carrying scuba gear it can seem a bit longer. We rented tanks and weights but brought our own BC and regulators and flippers/mask etc. You might want a rolling bag to transport your personal gear.

 

The West End Divers were very nice, they loaded the gear and we had snorkelers in our group that went out on the same boat. After the dive, they washed the gear and re-packed our bags and called for our taxi back to the port. On the way back, the taxi driver was very nice to stop us off to shop a little before returning us to port. At this point he was able to drive us all the way to the gate area.

 

Hope this information helps!