Aruba Fatality today 2/26/07

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Sorry to hear this keep us posted.......Mark
 
Latest info I got was that it was a resort course diver on his first open water dive. Apparently he panicked on the bottom, and jetted for the surface. This was the second fatality in 2 weeks at Red Sail Sports in Aruba.

Their normal SOP is 40 divers supervised by 2 diver masters. This is just an accident waiting to happen. No wonder the locals call them Dead Sail.

In Aruba, all the beaches are public property. On the beaches there are small mom & pop operations running six packs. Marriott for one is trying to get rid of them, and steer all the business to Red Sail, which has facilities in the Marriott property. Marriott 's check in package tries to discourage guests from using the beach vendors.

Because of the large number of divers, a 2 tank dive starts at 8:00 in the morning, and returns at 3:00, burning a whole day. Diving with Romeo of Native Divers, we left at 9:00, and got back by 1:00.

Please pass the word. Avoid Red Sail sports.
 
Ken abucs:
Latest info I got was that it was a resort course diver on his first open water dive. Apparently he panicked on the bottom, and jetted for the surface. This was the second fatality in 2 weeks at Red Sail Sports in Aruba.

Their normal SOP is 40 divers supervised by 2 diver masters. This is just an accident waiting to happen. No wonder the locals call them Dead Sail.
Click to expand...


OMG. I am shocked to read that there could be 40 untrained, new divers with only 2 DMs. Maybe I am naive, but does this type of scenario happen often with these "resort courses"? What a sad, sad holiday.
 
This is really a sad story. My sympathies to all involved.

I can just imagine how many people (On that boat and others that knew the Red Sail Customer) that are now convinced how dangerous diving is and will never try it again let alone get the proper training to become divers.
 
Never tried Red Sail, but I had a good experience with Pelican Adventures. They are at the end of the pier next to the Holiday Inn and Playa Linda. The boat wasn't too crowded and the resort instruction was pretty good.

20 untrained divers per DM is a ridiculous ratio. Its always a tragedy to hear of a diver fatality, and even more so when its on an introductory dive... :-(
 
Not sure I understand, was there really a 40 person open water class happening with only 2 DMs or was there an open water class on the side with lesser number of students and the other 30 or so people out for a dive?

If the 2nd case is more accurate, then I see no problem with the dive operation other than running a typical cattle car dive boat. If you carry an OW card, you should not need supervision on a dive.

Here in CA most dive operators will not give you a guided tour and conditions are much more difficult than any dive I've done in the caribean.

On the flip side, if they are truely tryng to train 40 students with 2 DMs, then there would be room for legal action if that happened in the states.

Take care,
John
 
what dive site were they diving during the accident(s)?

The reason I ask this, is that many Aruba operators with resort students or OW checkout students dive the Pedernalis, which is in maybe 15 to 20' of water.
 
Difficult to believe....40:2 ratio. Is it really possible to get 40 tourist in an open water class or tour at one time on a remote island? Guess I have been in Asia too long if so.
 
I've been out with Red Sail Sports in both Aruba and Grand Cayman. The operation in Aruba was truly a cattle boat experience.

I'm really curious where the accident happened. Was it on the Pedernalis? If so, thats a really shallow dive.
 
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