Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[ItsBruce]

... I don't believe I have seen anything that would contradict a hypothesis that Mrs Woods committed suicide and that the DM was a last minute addition to provide credibility to finding of accidental death.

Maybe so; maybe not so. I suppose that suicide cannot be ruled out. But that does not support the hypothesis either.

The one thing that might be evidence against suicide is that had the DM been right on top of the situation, she could likely have prevented Mrs. Woods' death. A number of people around here are positive that they could have brought Mrs. Woods safely to the surface.

 

[ItsBruce]

Have I mentioned how really impressed I am with the quality of the discussion and analysis here? Or with the apparent caliber of so many of the divers who are posting here?

If not, then let me say: I am quite impressed.

 

[ScooterSouthFlorida]

As an instructor, during my rescue courses I teach students not to make decisions that could cause the rescuer to become a victim as well. Ms. Woods was a certified diver and as such she was ultimately responsible for her decisions. If the DM was hired as a buddy, then she had buddy responsibilities but those did not include risking her life for Ms. Woods.

:shocked2:
Wow...... I mean no disrespect and am trying to position myself as politely as possible as a 'devil's advocate,' but for an Instructor to say that when a DM is hired as a buddy they ONLY have 'buddy' responsibilities is pretty appalling....

Once you are 'certified' as a DM, you have responsibilities that are now higher/above the normal 'buddy' responsibilities whether you are for hire or not. If you can't accept that, don't get your ticket punched with DM on it.

 

[Only halcyon]

I'm inclined to side with Ann Marie on this. We all know that to get a DM cert you only need to log the required dives and pay the money to PADI its not very difficult if you take a a resort job with a dive company at a holiday destination. Holding a DM cert in no way makes that person instantly a better diver than every one else on the dive, if you think that then you really need a reality check. I think DM's that own their own biz and dive, or belong to a club and frequently dive because they choose to are far better than young resort DM's who are there more than likely to enjoy a tropical lifestlye, free diving while earning a minimal amount of cash to get by.
It is foolish to expect these young DM's to be to one to save the day when it hits the fan. Its not to say that this is the case with all resort DM's but I would say more than 50% of the ones I have met.

My 2 Cents

 

[stadevene]

What I believe Ann Marie is saying (or how I interpret the comment) is there comes a point where the DM has to look out for her own well being. It's akin to a fireman who looks at a burning building and has to decide if they are going in to rescue someone trapped on the 5th floor.

Regardless of where the mistakes were made surrounding this dive, the reality is there was a diver very deep and steadily dropping. It's at this point which I think Ann Marie is eluding to. At that second the DM has to decide if she is going to risk her life further and go after this diver or not (is she going into the burning building that's on the verge of collapse).

The DM chose not to and I don't think any of us have a right to pass judgment on this decision. She's the one who is going to have to live with this nightmare for the rest of her life and play the perpetual what if game.

All we can do is learn from this so we can avoid a similar situation. I know I've got a number of takeaways from this thread and I thank everyone involved for that. I've thought back to dives I've been on where things like buddy distance and pre-dive planning could be improved. I'll be a better diver and buddy when I'm back in the water in September.

 

[Thalassamania]

What I believe Ann Marie is saying (or how I interpret the comment) is there comes a point where the DM has to look out for her own well being. It's akin to a fireman who looks at a burning building and has to decide if they are going in to rescue someone trapped on the 5th floor.

I do not think that you're simile holds up. My perception is that she barely peeked in the door.

Regardless of where the mistakes were made surrounding this dive, the reality is there was a diver very deep and steadily dropping. It's at this point which I think Ann Marie is eluding to. At that second the DM has to decide if she is going to risk her life further and go after this diver or not (is she going into the burning building that's on the verge of collapse).

Hardly "very deep." Hardly much risk to life or limb, nothing was about to collapse.

The DM chose not to and I don't think any of us have a right to pass judgment on this decision. She's the one who is going to have to live with this nightmare for the rest of her life and play the perpetual what if game.

Sorry, I claim that right. At least she gets to live, the victim does not.

All we can do is learn from this so we can avoid a similar situation. I know I've got a number of takeaways from this thread and I thank everyone involved for that. I've thought back to dives I've been on where things like buddy distance and pre-dive planning could be improved. I'll be a better diver and buddy when I'm back in the water in September.

In terms of buddy distance, and dive planning ... I'm exactly the same diver that I was last week, last month, last year, last decade, I see no need to change.

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm inclined to side with Ann Marie on this. We all know that to get a DM cert you only need to log the required dives and pay the money to PADI its not very difficult if you take a a resort job with a dive company at a holiday destination.

A couple of points:

1. It takes a heck of a lot more than that to get a DM cert. You may be thinking of the master diver cert, which is very different.

2. It is not easy to get a DM job holiday resort. In fact, someone applying for such a job with nothing more on the resume than a DM certification has little or no chance.

3. The DM in this case was actually an instructor.

 

[bsee65]

A couple of points:

1. It takes a heck of a lot more than that to get a DM cert. You may be thinking of the master diver cert, which is very different.

2. It is not easy to get a DM job holiday resort. In fact, someone applying for such a job with nothing more on the resume than a DM certification has little or no chance.

3. The DM in this case was actually an instructor.

I am in agreement here, but wanted to add a couple other points.

When a DM is hired to be a buddy, maybe they do only have buddy responsibilities but...

First, they better be the perfect buddy. There's no excuse for someone who has been all the way through instructor training and actually working in the bsiness to have bad buddy skills or a problem reacting to most typical issues under water. The DM should have an idea where she might get narced, and be prepared to recognize and deal with it if her buddy was narced.

Second, as a hired buddy, you're diving as a job, not for pleasure. There's even less excuse to find yourself separated from your buddy because you shouldn't become focussed on anything else or drift off to get a closer look at something you might find interesting. Normally, when buddies get separated, both bear some responsibility, but not so in this case. It's not the hired buddy's dive. This is where it diverges from what I would consider the responsibilities of a highly-trained diver just paired up with someone on a rec dive.

One other thought:
There's been much discussion about Mrs. Wood relative to her state of mind. People wonder if she was narced, suicidal, or just headstrong and ignorant. Does it matter? From the discussion we have and the description of her actions and the DM's responses, we have it narrowed down to those few alternatives and see no means of selecting between them with certainty. If it is possible that she was narced based upon her outward behavior, then the DM should have been able to deal with her as such. I have to agree with Thal's comments on this one. It doesn't appear that any rescue attempt was made based upon what has been described here. An attempt to advise was followed by a more aggressive attempt to advise. There may have been more, but we don't have the DM's story first hand to hear exactly what was done.

 

[boulderjohn]

I

One other thought:
There's been much discussion about Mrs. Wood relative to her state of mind. People wonder if she was narced, suicidal, or just headstrong and ignorant. Does it matter?

I think it does.

If she was purposefully attempting to elude a DM she did not want and who she felt was imposed upon her, we are in a very different situation. A DM would have to recognize that this extraordinary situation is in effect in order to deal with it effectively. The DM's normal gentle reminders to follow the dive plan will be singularly ineffective. I don't know how often DMs have to deal with divers running away from them, but I imagine she did not have a lot of experience with that. One could argue that she should have recognized that something was wrong when she was pushed away, but at that point she would have to decide what to do. Do I overpower this renegade diver (paying customer) and haul her back to the boat, or do I let her go and deal with it later?

 

[mikerault]

"Do I overpower this renegade diver (paying customer) and haul her back to the boat, or do I let her go and deal with it later?"


Now she (the DM) gets to deal with it for the rest of her life. Not a very good choice.