There was a dive death when we were staying at the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach in June. My husband, my friend and I were just beaching it while her husband and son were out diving. My friend's son is 12 and was getting his junior diver's certificate. We noticed a military boat come close to the pier. There seemed to be a flurry of activity at the shop and "suits" from inside the hotel ran down there. We talked to the lifeguard and asked why a military boat would be there. He said that there could have been an accident. A dive boat came in and it looked like people were leaning over a person, maybe doing CPR, it was hard to tell. We couldn't tell if it was the dive boat our group left in or not. We rushed down to the dive shop to make sure there wasn't an issue with the boat her husband and son were on. When we tried to ask questions several people just smiled at us and acted like they didn't speak English, when we knew they spoke English very well the day before. Finally, we insisted that one woman tell us what was going on and explained our situation. She said their boat wasn't due back for 1 1/2 hr and that they were fine. Thank God. As it turns out, a woman diver, who was going for her Master Diver certification died during a wreck dive. We watched them carry her away with a blanket over her body. It was horrible! One dive master told our husbands that she possibly could have hyperventilated and breathed her own carbon dioxide because the current was extremely strong that day. I was appalled to see a vacationer taking photos on his cell phone. That was disgusting. I have thought about this woman nearly everyday since my vacation. I wonder what actually happened to her. As the wife of a diver, it is so scary to know that such an experienced diver like she was, can still have a crisis in the water. I also wonder why the story was never posted on the internet on news sites or dive websites. This information is usually shared among divers. I wonder if the dive company had something to hide? I wonder if the Mexican media keep stories of this nature out of the news very often? Solo Buceo, the dive company at the Fiesta Americana, was not the dive operators that the woman was diving with.
Thank you for specifying that Solo Buceo is not involved. Other than that all I can say is wow, and prayers for all who are involved!
I doubt it's been kept out of the news intentionally at all. Diving is a dangerous sport and accidents, although rare, do happen. It probably wouldnt warrant many column inches in the local press. Local newspapers are for local people, and local people are not interested. Surely, it would be more newsworthy in the town/city where the woman lived ... and that's where the dive forums etc would find it, not from a couple of paragraphs written in Spanish in a local Mexican newspaper. Let me turn the question round, why would the US media not report it? After all, they never usually miss an opportunity to slag Mexico off.
I hate to say this but tourists die regularly in Cancun. I think the average number of tourists deaths in the state of Quintana Roo (including Cancun and the Riviera Maya) is more than 1 per week (around 60 per year). And they commonly die in water-activity accidents, car accidents, from heart attacks and from falling drunk from balconies... If you look at the vast number of tourists who come here each week I don't think the death rate is particularly high (although maybe the car accident rate is high...). But the local press does not report on every tourist death, there are just too many for that. Admittedly the U.S. press is bad, but the Canadian press is far worse from what I've noticed. If I had a dollar for every Canadian news article I've read about how dangerous Mexico is...well...I wouldn't be working for a living...
Reminds me of how "shocked" i was when i found out how many tourists regularly die in the Grand Canyon here in the USA - some of them from getting lost, some from falling. It's a kinda horrible way to go when you're on vacation and you think you're immune nto the realities of life...
I sat there on the beach and watched that boat dock, saw all the people rushing to it and wondered what was going on. It was not untill the boat moved to the wave runner rental location did I see that there was a body involved. from the time the boat was tied up to the time they removed the body must have been 3 to 4 hours....why in the world would that let they poor lady lie out in that hot sun all that time and then not even have respect enough to use a body bag? All the authorites did was throw a blanket over her face and carry her away. By that time she was becoming so bloated and riger was setting in so much that it was a very gross site indeed.
Did anyone find out who the dive company was? We are leaving next week and staying at the Fiesta Americana Grand Coral Beach. As we are planning on diving, I am currently researching the various dive companies. The fact that she was an experienced diver makes it all the more scary!
The boat that had the body in it was from Manteo...at least I think thats how you spell it...but I heard from some folks that that was just the recovery boat and not the boat they departed from....
People can die for many reasons while diving that have nothing to do with the Dive Outfit. My Nephew is a divemaster and they had a woman die that was an experienced diver , they think she had a stroke. It was no fault of the Divemaster, they were with her the entire time. So making assumptions without really knowing the full story is not responsible IMO.
Yes, as was said people do die everywhere, and its far too easy to blame someone (or some country) when it happens on vacation. I do seem to vaguely recall something about a tourist drowning while scuba diving in June, but I can be sure, in either event, unless its a spectacular death it would only get a paragraph buried in the paper. The whole idea of Mexican authorities routinely covering up tourist related deaths is laughable given the way the local papers here love to plaster their front pages with the most horrific photos possible and play up anything they can. (which I find discussing I might add is a complete disrespect to the families of those involved)
