A trip to Cancun, and a SCUBA diving adventure there with the locals: who would have known a happy family vacation to Mexico would turn so wrong for my mom’s friend. And even now, his family and her friends are in confusion. Some refuse to accept the truth.
It all began a few weeks ago: it was a planned family vacation to Cancun, Mexico, where the couple would live in a resort and visit places in the daytime. After visiting the malls in Cancun, seeing the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, they decided to go scuba-diving with some of the local companies.
A few friends of theirs decided to come together to go scuba-diving one day. At the last moment, the wife decided she was not comfortable with diving and stayed behind.
And so it was that the husband and his friends went scuba-diving. He did not know how to swim but assumed it would not be difficult. As the boat drove out to the spot where they would be scuba-diving, everyone put on their oxygen tanks and masks.
Yet in the process, he, whether it be accident or carelessness, tipped himself backwards as he sat around the edge of the boat. Although he was facing the inside of the boat, he fell backwards into the ocean. No one noticed.
When they arrived at the location and the boat slowed, the captain of the boat counted the heads. There was one man missing. A cold silence followed. It is hard to imagine the feelings everyone on that boat had as they returned with the same path, looking for the missing man.
He was found dead.
It is the state of the safety and security in Mexico that has me worried for the couple. The body was recovered, but the Mexican officials did not care for examining the corpse or even preserving it at all. It was only the relentless efforts of the wife with the Congress of the US that the body was brought back to the US.
A US insurance does not matter in Mexico. Who is to blame for this? No one. The US has no power over Mexico, and even in Mexico the authorities did not search for the captain of the boat. Perhaps it was an accident, perhaps it was a safety concern: either way, a man is now dead.
Safety cannot be taken for granted. I live in the United States. It is a place where we regularly regard safety, freedom, and security as something that should be given to us. Yet all those men and women sacrificed in war for our freedom, the people who work to establish calm in our world – they cannot be forgotten.
I myself have also scuba-dived in Mexico. It was a year ago and it was also in Cancun. I went with a man and my father, we took pictures and videos and I later composited them into films. I was not worried about safety.
It was after I returned to the US that I read of all the dangers of scuba-diving: the bends, decompression, and all the dangers that will come as a result of relying your life on equipment. I must learn to be safe when scuba-diving as well as doing anything.
A Man Dead and a Lesson Learned
A trip to Cancun, and a SCUBA diving adventure there with the locals: who would have known a happy family vacation to Mexico would turn so wrong for my mom’s friend. And even now, his family and her friends are in confusion. Some refuse to accept the truth.
It all began a few weeks ago: it was a planned family vacation to Cancun, Mexico, where the couple would live in a resort and visit places in the daytime. After visiting the malls in Cancun, seeing the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza, they decided to go scuba-diving with some of the local companies.
A few friends of theirs decided to come together to go scuba-diving one day. At the last moment, the wife decided she was not comfortable with diving and stayed behind.
And so it was that the husband and his friends went scuba-diving. He did not know how to swim but assumed it would not be difficult. As the boat drove out to the spot where they would be scuba-diving, everyone put on their oxygen tanks and masks.
Yet in the process, he, whether it be accident or carelessness, tipped himself backwards as he sat around the edge of the boat. Although he was facing the inside of the boat, he fell backwards into the ocean. No one noticed.
When they arrived at the location and the boat slowed, the captain of the boat counted the heads. There was one man missing. A cold silence followed. It is hard to imagine the feelings everyone on that boat had as they returned with the same path, looking for the missing man.
He was found dead.
It is the state of the safety and security in Mexico that has me worried for the couple. The body was recovered, but the Mexican officials did not care for examining the corpse or even preserving it at all. It was only the relentless efforts of the wife with the Congress of the US that the body was brought back to the US.
A US insurance does not matter in Mexico. Who is to blame for this? No one. The US has no power over Mexico, and even in Mexico the authorities did not search for the captain of the boat. Perhaps it was an accident, perhaps it was a safety concern: either way, a man is now dead.
Safety cannot be taken for granted. I live in the United States. It is a place where we regularly regard safety, freedom, and security as something that should be given to us. Yet all those men and women sacrificed in war for our freedom, the people who work to establish calm in our world – they cannot be forgotten.
I myself have also scuba-dived in Mexico. It was a year ago and it was also in Cancun. I went with a man and my father, we took pictures and videos and I later composited them into films. I was not worried about safety.
It was after I returned to the US that I read of all the dangers of scuba-diving: the bends, decompression, and all the dangers that will come as a result of relying your life on equipment. I must learn to be safe when scuba-diving as well as doing anything.