Scuba diver drowns near Santa Cruz Island

[DandyDon]

No real information to speak of. Got to wonder if he was solo diving?

Scuba diver drowns near Santa Cruz Island » Ventura County Star

A 38-year-old man drowned while Scuba diving near Santa Cruz Island this weekend, authorities said today.

Jiajuang Zhu, of San Francisco, was diving along the south side of the island Saturday morning when dive boat staff noticed that he was in distress, said Shasta Gainer, a deputy Ventura County medical examiner.

The dive master of the boat Zhu was on, the Conception, called the U.S. Coast Guard about 8:30 a.m. Saturday to report that the diver had surfaced unconscious, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Cory Mendenhall, a spokesman for the Coast Guard in Los Angeles. The boat, which had left from Santa Barbara, was several hundred yards from the island at the time, officials said.

The Coast Guard brought Zhu to its Channel Islands station, where he was pronounced dead by about 11:34 a.m. Saturday, Gainer said.

After an autopsy on Sunday, the Ventura County Medical Examiners Office determined Zhu died from asphyxia by drowning and ruled his death an accident, Gainer said.

 

[openmindOW]

38 years-old. Sad.

 

[Mark Michaud SELAUSAR]

No real information to speak of. Got to wonder if he was solo diving?

Scuba diver drowns near Santa Cruz Island » Ventura County Star

From what is mentioned, so far, he seems to have been on the surface or on the boat for the staff to notice he was in distress, probably the surface.

What would solo, or not solo, do to contribute to this? If he ran out of gas, he was not solo, but he was diving by himself (based on the solo premise). If he had been solo he would have monitored his gas with redundancy and reserve planned for the dive.

If he had a buddy, and was distressed on the surface, he most likely became positive or bolted, either way rendering a buddy useless. Sorry if I take offense to the "solo" basis of accident analysis. I have yet to see any real proof of solo diving contributing to accidents. Again, diving alone does not make one a solo diver.

Another option could be a medical issue that has nothing to do with solo or buddy diving. Maybe a missed stop, DCI, AGE, or a heart attack or PE could be the cause and nothing would have helped that. FWIW

 

[fire_diver]

I think there is a bit of journalistic stupidy here (which is pretty common).

If the crew said he surfaced unconscious, then he couldn't have been in distress. He also would very unlikely DROWN is he was conscious and in distress on the surface.

 

[ChrisMan]

Distress can also mean a state of extreme necessity, which certainly this person was experiencing if he were unconscious at the surface. It does not necessarily mean he was panicking or even conscious at the surface.

 

[robint]

Let's look at the basic information here -
Conception is part of Truth Aquatics fleet, very good dive operation
Santa Cruz is outer island in Channel Islands chain, not visited often
Cold water diving... in March I am guessing 40s-50s
Low vis diving... from 5' - 40' this time of year is common
Kelp diving..may have gotten tangled and panicked
Can be strong currents in the Channel Islands
It is still lobster season, so divers tend to do bounce dives (no idea if this boat was out for lobsters, but it might be a factor)

those are all known factors... what we don't know is the diver's personal history, dive experience, health...


robin

 

[cool_hardware52]

Let's look at the basic information here -
Conception is part of Truth Aquatics fleet, very good dive operation
Santa Cruz is outer island in Channel Islands chain, not visited often
Cold water diving... in March I am guessing 40s-50s
Low vis diving... from 5' - 40' this time of year is common
Kelp diving..may have gotten tangled and panicked
Can be strong currents in the Channel Islands
It is still lobster season, so divers tend to do bounce dives (no idea if this boat was out for lobsters, but it might be a factor)

those are all known factors... what we don't know is the diver's personal history, dive experience, health...


robin

Lobster season closed midnight on the 16th. (First Wednesday after March 15th) If this sad event occurred on the 14th the season was still open.

If Santa Cruz is an Outer Island what is an inner Island?

SBI, San Nicholas, San Miguel Santa Rosa are a much longer reach.

Water Temps this time of year? Low to mid 50's

Kelp yes, Currents yes

Tobin

 

[DandyDon]

Lobster season closed midnight on the 16th. (First Wednesday after March 15th) If this sad event occurred on the 14th the season was still open.

If Santa Cruz is an Outer Island what is an inner Island?

SBI, San Nicholas, San Miguel Santa Rosa are a much longer reach.

Water Temps this time of year? Low to mid 50's

Kelp yes, Currents yes

Tobin

I think the story was dated March 14, referencing the accident of the previous Saturday, the 12th - so still within lobster season yes.

Santa Cruz Island is one of the Channel Islands yes, but if not an outer island exactly.

Map File:Californian Channel Islands map en.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Other confusion to avoid: There is also a Santa Cruz city on the mainland whose harbor sustained heavy tsunami damages a day earlier but it is much further north on Monterey Bay.

 

[drbill]

Agree with Robin that the Truth Aquatics boats are a good operation... I use them whenever I can.

Agree with Tobin that Santa Cruz is hardly an outer island but in fact an inner island... the innermost of the largest three in the northern chain. Also agree that water temps there were probably in the low to mid 50s.

As to Don's speculation re: solo diving, I'd prefer to wait until the facts are known.

 

[robint]

oops, sorry I was confusing Santa Cruz with Santa Rosa. :blinking: