Sad to hear. This is a very easy dive, little current from my experience.
Depending on the day. The mooring buoy gets pulled underwater by ripping current on a bunch of days. It was not under water two days ago though, the current has been wicked recently, in general. Like pulling the mask off the face strong. And Blue Hole has enough surge at times even at the top of the hole at 60 feet to pop divers in and out of the hole with each passing wave. So not very 'easy' in any sense of the word I use it, at least on some days. Always diveable, but always worthy of the utmost respect, since conditions on small islands like Guam are really fickle.*
Every dive is 'easy' in that we have scuba on when we are underwater, and every dive is an occasion to have a fatality in that we have scuba on, and we are in the ocean. Any dive that has easy access to 300 foot depths, though, is not 'easy' in the normal sense of the word. Nor is any dive that can have mask removing current, and can have surge that slings divers around in 20-30 foot swings at 60 feet depths.
We get paid to brief and guide to minimize danger, but when one diver in a group of five takes off, like she did, the guide is left with a choice on what to do. It does not help to be in the tropics on the working side because most people think that warm and clear makes the ocean 'safe'.
I have had divers try go for the bottom, narced out of their brains, and not even recall anything afterwards on the boat. I have thus far caught all my guys, but this is not the first time, nor will it be the last that Blue Hole kills a diver.
The guide does this for a living. Still waiting to hear of the full blowback, and we are all still thinking about what we could have/should have/ would have done. I lived though my story, as did my diver, but who knows if that was just plain luck. I would love to put it down to my skill and experience, but sometimes fate just favors us on certain days.
* Fun fact: this place is also used to do intro dives often, which is kind of interesting.
Jim Miller, general manager of dive tour company Axe Murderer Tours, said the Blue Hole is a “very safe place to go.”
I know a Korean family that might disagree with that assessment, sadly