Missing diver in Tacoma Washington (Les Davis)

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don't let this set you back. keep diving and keep learning. accidents happen even to the most trained and most precautious. it will take time to put these events behind you. whatever the final outcome, let scuba continue to fill your life full of wonder and amazement.





I am newly certified from Aquatic Sports with 14 dives, and I was part of the 9 divers in the group yesterday that suffered the tragedy of losing one of our own. I understand the "armchair quarterbacking" that happens in every discussion as we all look for answers as to why. Some terrible comments have been put out there about what happened with a lot of speculation and even recrimination. You have been getting your news from the press, who interviewed a couple of non-divers who were hanging out at
a picnic table. They did see her flail her arms and hear her calls for help, but any conclusions should not be formed completely from non-divers, as their perceptions of the true events may be uninformed, uneducated or reckless.
Please, for the sake of the family of this lovely lady, wait to discuss any opinions and recriminations until the investigation is concluded and the true story is made clear.
Thank you.
 
With all due consideration to River digger's feelings..

This hits home to me as I am an Oregon diver, was certified at this site, and was originally supposed to do a shop dive there this Saturday (until my shop owner cancelled due to the then-ongoing search). Like some newly certified NW divers, my first thought after certification was "what do I do now"? After about a 1/2 year of dryness post-cert, my wife and I had a horrific Puget Sound dive experience, after which we hired divemasters to go out with us for a couple of dives. After that point, we started to stumble forward in Puget Sound on our own. After several years, we also started to dive in the tropics, where we encountered a much more "casual" approach to dive safety. The bottom line is: my wife and I are more aggressive than some; we're also more timid than some. We are not dive professionals and we have nowhere near the experience of a diver such as TSandM, but I think after 11 years we understand NW recreational diving, and I understand at a deep level what TSandM is trying to say.

I found the <dive shop deleted> invitation for this weekend on the web. It says:
<begin quote>
Les Davis Marine Park Group Dive
Written June 10th, 2015 by <leader name deleted>
Les Davis Marine Park Group Dive
Join us on June 10th at 11 am in Tacoma, WA at Les Davis Marine Park for an awesome two-tank guided shore dive! <leader name deleted> will be leading a group of divers from <dive shop deleted> to Tacoma&#8217;s Les Davis Marine Park (a designated marine sanctuary) on two dives to explore the nooks and crannies of the sunken pier. We&#8217;ll meet at the park at 11 am and gear up from there. The cost is $30/per diver. Call or email for more information!Les Davis Marine Park Group Dive

<end quote>

Let me finally come to the point: Knowing Puget Sound visibility in June (usually bad), visibility at this site (usually worse than most) having experience in Puget Sound diving, and having experience in being a new, only marginally competent NW diver: This invitation scares the hell out of me. It scares me most because it would have been attractive to me as a new diver. I am not a dive professional (already stated) but a "guided shore dive" in these conditions seems like an extremely daunting task, assuming only one dive professional and that there are two or more very inexperienced divers in the group (which seems to be in evidence based on this thread). I lost my "buddy" (quotes mean that "buddy"-ness in this context is usually only a pedagogical exercise unfortunately) in my open water class which was about this size. Because it was an open water class, the eagle-eyed divemaster taking up the rear swept him up. But bear in mind this was a group that had an instructor at the head and a divemaster at the rear. And it was winter, so the vis was "better".

No, I wasn't there.. and maybe the dive professional made a valiant attempt to buddy-up people properly.. but from the invitation, this trip sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Several trips of this kind could probably go off "successfully" with survivable incidents such as John or Jane popping up for whatever reason.. and then this trip happens. Yes, we all agree that we're responsible for our own safety.. but many of us were on the hairy edge when we first started diving in Puget Sound after our open water cert, and this plan just doesn't sound appropriate for those newer divers for all the reasons that previous posts have described.
 
I am newly certified from Aquatic Sports with 14 dives, and I was part of the 9 divers in the group yesterday that suffered the tragedy of losing one of our own. I understand the "armchair quarterbacking" that happens in every discussion as we all look for answers as to why. Some terrible comments have been put out there about what happened with a lot of speculation and even recrimination. You have been getting your news from the press, who interviewed a couple of non-divers who were hanging out at
a picnic table. They did see her flail her arms and hear her calls for help, but any conclusions should not be formed completely from non-divers, as their perceptions of the true events may be uninformed, uneducated or reckless.
Please, for the sake of the family of this lovely lady, wait to discuss any opinions and recriminations until the investigation is concluded and the true story is made clear.
Thank you.

With all due respect, we would love to wait until the investigation is concluded. But the reality is that facts from an investigation are almost never released in cases of dive fatality ... so what you're asking is, in effect, that we simply not talk about it. That's not the purpose of this forum ... nor will it serve anyone who might be reading this in an attempt to learn what went wrong.

Since you're closer to the situation, perhaps you can answer some questions and help clarify some things.

1. How many experienced divers were in this group?
2. Did the dive guide make an attempt to pair up newly-certified divers with experienced ones?
3. Was any form of separation plan discussed prior to the dive?
4. What was the visibility like on the day of the accident?
5. Was there any plan or option given the new divers for calling the dive if the conditions made them uncomfortable?

I ask these questions as a local dive professional with something like 3,000 dives in Puget Sound ... including more than 100 at the site where this accident occurred. What follows is my opinion, based on what little I know of the accident. I'll say up-front that it may or may not have bearing on what actually happened ... in the absence of information, one must "read between the lines" of what's reported. But the purpose of this forum is to discuss and share information that may prevent such accidents from happening to someone else. New divers, in particular, are ill-equipped to know when they're putting themselves into an ill-advised situation ... and I'll say up-front that, based on what I've read, this dive was ill-advised from the beginning. I understand the reasons why they scheduled it, but I also think they probably didn't go about it in the most prudent manner.

First, this woman and her 12-year old son were recently certified in order to go on a trip to Fiji. This dive was scheduled as a way to provide them with some experience prior to that trip. It's been reported that the son was one of the people on the dive. It's unclear that he was buddied with his mom ... and I hope that he was not, or if he was that there was an experienced diver accompanying them as a 3-person buddy team. In poor vis conditions, that would have been difficult enough, but manageable. A "group dive" of eight divers in the conditions we've been experiencing lately would not at all have been manageable. In those conditions, the prudent approach is to divide the group into pairs ... or teams of 3 ... and designate each as a "primary buddy team". Did this happen? If not, why not? When diving in a group you should always have a separation plan. It usually goes something like this ... "Stay with your primary buddy team. In the event that you separate from the group but remain with your team, conduct your dive as normally. If you lose a primary buddy, surface and remain on the surface until you regroup there or you summon assistance." Was there such a plan? There should have been.

The dive site chosen is appropriate for new divers ... she might possibly have learned how to dive there ... but conditions can be challenging when vis is poor, as it has been for the past several weeks due to the gorgeous weather and how that drives plankton blooms. Add in the generally poor finning techniques for new divers and it makes seeing anything beyond a 3 to 5 foot range almost impossible ... particularly in situations where one team is following another. It's easy to see how separation can occur ... it's almost inevitable under those conditions, and you have to anticipate it and prepare to deal with it. Under these circumstances, planning a "group dive" is inadvisable, and any local dive professional should know better ... particularly with newly-certified divers who have never experienced such conditions outside the very artificial and controlled conditions of an OW class.

Now, what do conditions like that do for the new diver? Generally, it induces stress ... in part because of the fact that they're new and insecure with their skills, and in part because they're really not yet equipped to deal with low-vis situations. And stress does a couple of bad things ... it induces "tunnel vision", which can reduce a diver's awareness of what's going on around them, and it causes their breathing rate to increase, which will cause them to go through their air faster than anticipated. Either of these can lead to events that will increase the likelihood of a bad outcome. Divers generally get introduced to how to deal with those conditions in their next-level (AOW) class. In that respect, the site may not have been appropriate for the newly certified diver, because of conditions on the day of the dive.

Did she have a dive light? There's a reason why virtually every local diver not only carries one on every dive, but they generally choose pretty powerful ones that are capable of cutting through the kind of murk we get this time of year ... without a dive light it's almost impossible to keep track of a diver outside a range of a few feet ... and even then it's almost impossible to identify who that diver is without some form of unique ID like the color of their tank or exposure suit. If those are all the same, you really can't tell who you're diving next to ... particularly in a group setting. And that would explain why this group didn't realize she wasn't among them until they surfaced.

So, all that said, and considering that the purpose of this forum is to learn from accidents like this one, I'm going to offer some thoughts. Again, I'm basing these not on what really occurred ... because we really don't know and probably never will ... but rather, conclusions drawn from reading various accounts of the story.

1. Don't dive in groups in Puget Sound. If diving with a large group, divide yourselves into pairs or, at most, 3-person primary buddy teams. Your responsibility is to your primary team. Your separation plan revolves around your team.

2. HAVE a separation plan. Don't assume ... speak it out during the pre-dive briefing. Make sure that everyone understands what it is, and agrees to it. Not doing so only invites confusion that can lead to someone getting in trouble and having no one available to help them.

3. Make sure that the dive is within your capabilities. That starts from the time you sign up for the dive ... make sure that the dive site chosen is appropriate for your level of skill and experience. In this case it was ... that might be about the only thing that happened in this case that I'm comfortable with, based on what I've read. Once on-site, check out the conditions. If there's anything about them that make you uncomfortable ... vis, weather, surf, or anything else that makes you hesitate, CALL THE DIVE! New divers have a tendency to trust the more experienced divers to make that call for them ... DO NOT DO THAT! Only you are responsible for your safety ... take charge of that responsibility. Any diver should feel comfortable being able to say "not today". I'm sure there was pressure on these new divers to do this dive ... either internally, because they really wanted to do it, or external ... things like the fact that they paid for a dive, drove all the way up here, and by God they were going to do it no matter what. Don't do that ... the potential consequences aren't worth it. There's always another time to go diving.

4. If you're organizing a dive, make an effort to pair up the new divers with more experienced divers. Plan and organize the dive around those principles. If you can't or don't want to do that, then don't invite the new divers along. They are going to put pressure on themselves, and push themselves, because no new diver wants to "ruin" the dive for the more experienced folks. Well guess what ... the very best way to ruin someone's dive is to have an accident ... I guarantee you that NOBODY had a good time that day. Nobody ever does when there's an accident. So don't push yourselves, or put others in a position where the likelihood of that happening increases to an unacceptable level.

Finally, I was dismayed to learn that this woman's 12-year old son was involved in the dive. I seriously hope that he wasn't her dive buddy ... not because he did anything wrong, but because this young man will spend the rest of his life blaming himself for the death of his mother ... and that's probably even more awful than the fact that she died. Regardless of his involvement, it's going to impact him hugely ... and I hope some thought is being given to providing him with some professional counseling. No matter what happens, he has to go on living ... and that's a very heavy burden for a 12-year old to live with. I hope someone close to the situation is dealing with that issue.

Nothing good ever comes from diving accidents. They're tragic ... but in almost every case they could have been avoided with a bit of forethought and/or preparation ... people put themselves into situations where the risks exceed reasonable levels, and when something goes wrong they aren't equipped to deal with it. For those of you who have made it this far through my ramblings ... particularly the new divers ... please make the effort to think about what can go wrong, and how you'd deal with it if it did. BE HONEST with yourself about your ability to deal with an anticipated problem ... we're all very good at thinking ourselves better equipped to deal with them than we probably are. Practice your skills in benign conditions until you can do them without conscious effort. And it requires practice ... nobody ever "masters" a skill in OW class, you only get introduced to how to "master" it ... under very controlled and artificial conditions. The moment when you actually need those emergency skills you learned in OW, you'll be taken by surprise, probably in conditions nothing like what you experienced, and there WON'T be an instructor within arm's reach to bail you out if you do something wrong. So make sure your first few dives are in conditions that don't stress your abilities to begin with ... and preferably do them with someone who has more experience than you do.

There's just so much about this story that raises red flags with me. Granted, in the absence of real information we can only speculate. But, to my concern, the accident started with the idea that a guided "group" dive in Puget Sound was a prudent thing to do. Guided dives here are generally one-on-one ... or one guide per buddy team. There's just no other way to do them with a reasonable expectation of keeping the group together. Unless this shop was providing an experienced guide for each buddy team, the accident began with a bad idea and cascaded into tragedy from there ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
The sole reason for this forum is to learn for available (even if wrong) information. This incident has limited information available from (as we all know) notoriously unreliable news reporters.

From the published news info we have:
- a group dive
- (some?) new divers
- shore bystanders noticing a distressed diver
- the diver did not remain on the surface

We also have some SB members indicating that
- visibility would expected to be very poor (as bad as 3 - 5 feet)

I first focused on the "missing buddy" as the prime issue (blame others for losing me because of group dive brain) but then sat back and wondered about why the diver did not remain on the surface? (blame me!). If in fact that is true? Let's assume it is.

So I want to flip the focus to ditching weights and/or other things to maintain the surface.

As an experienced vacation diver, I can not claim that my first impulse would be to ditch weights. I know my gear, fully understand the buoyancy changes of an AL80 and can not honestly say I would ditch weights as a first impulse. This maybe because I "know" I can maintain buoyancy by inflating my BCD. What does a new diver "know". What do they think about if they panic?

Maybe this discussion extends to weighting of new divers? And management of that weight?

I read more stories about divers over weighted by 10 or 20 lbs than i do about divers needing 1 extra lb to stay down at the end of a dive (again based on AL80 buoyancy).

Stupid idea: is there any merit to incorporating a "surface and dump weights" training skill into the basic scuba training? I personally have NEVER dumped my weights (on purpose, had a bad rental belt clasp once, not my fault!). I think this idea is overboard, but sometimes safety measures need us to break out normal thinking patterns.

If it was considered "normal" to always dump weights when you got to the surface, and you only retained them if you were really, really happy.

My thoughts are sparked by the Japanese pointing and calling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_and_calling concept. But maybe twisted a bit?

P.S. I learned about P&C very early in my professional career and still use it on a daily basis every morning as I jay walk across the street to catch my bus.
 
The sole reason for this forum is to learn for available (even if wrong) information. This incident has limited information available from (as we all know) notoriously unreliable news reporters.

From the published news info we have:
- a group dive
- (some?) new divers
- shore bystanders noticing a distressed diver
- the diver did not remain on the surface

We also have some SB members indicating that
- visibility would expected to be very poor (as bad as 3 - 5 feet)

I first focused on the "missing buddy" as the prime issue (blame others for losing me because of group dive brain) but then sat back and wondered about why the diver did not remain on the surface? (blame me!). If in fact that is true? Let's assume it is.

So I want to flip the focus to ditching weights and/or other things to maintain the surface.

As an experienced vacation diver, I can not claim that my first impulse would be to ditch weights. I know my gear, fully understand the buoyancy changes of an AL80 and can not honestly say I would ditch weights as a first impulse. This maybe because I "know" I can maintain buoyancy by inflating my BCD. What does a new diver "know". What do they think about if they panic?

Maybe this discussion extends to weighting of new divers? And management of that weight?

I read more stories about divers over weighted by 10 or 20 lbs than i do about divers needing 1 extra lb to stay down at the end of a dive (again based on AL80 buoyancy).

Stupid idea: is there any merit to incorporating a "surface and dump weights" training skill into the basic scuba training? I personally have NEVER dumped my weights (on purpose, had a bad rental belt clasp once, not my fault!). I think this idea is overboard, but sometimes safety measures need us to break out normal thinking patterns.

If it was considered "normal" to always dump weights when you got to the surface, and you only retained them if you were really, really happy.

My thoughts are sparked by the Japanese pointing and calling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing_and_calling concept. But maybe twisted a bit?

P.S. I learned about P&C very early in my professional career and still use it on a daily basis every morning as I jay walk across the street to catch my bus.

Are you suggesting that everyone ditch their weight every time they surface? Yes, that's stupid. :)

Ditching weight is part of the open water training and rescue training. I think I've even run into a few dive stores that tell all rental customers that if they ditch their weights they will not be charged for that weight (good advertising).

New divers are frequently over weighted but then again many new divers have a hard time submerging until they become more experienced.

If people panic it's hard to fix that (except with more experience and training). If you aren't out of air you can use your inflator. If you are out of air and panicking you probably won't think to manually inflate it.

If you are panicking you may not think to ditch weights either. That's how people drown after all. IMO it's probably what happened here.

Until you can get more experience you need some supervision. That's pretty much the answer in many cases. Two committed dive buddies will solve much of that as well.

Group diving with a bunch of new divers is just solo diving by new divers.

By the way, driving all the way from Portland and paying $30 to dive at Les Davis in a group dive is insane IMO. From the nasty parking lot to the dirty water with little to see it's one of my least favorite dives.
 
Sorry to hear of this accident. My brother and I both started diving in cold murky water and buddied up using a short piece of rope to keep track of one another. It may sound like a ridiculous way to dive, but it always made me feel relaxed and allowed me to focus on learning to dive instead of looking for him. We were self taught and it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.

Unfortunately, this case reminds me of the recent Florida accident where the son was on the dive when the parent died. I never thought about this when I got the kids into diving. Post traumatic stress comes to mind.
 
Sorry to hear of this accident. My brother and I both started diving in cold murky water and buddied up using a short piece of rope to keep track of one another. It may sound like a ridiculous way to dive, but it always made me feel relaxed and allowed me to focus on learning to dive instead of looking for him. We were self taught and it seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.

The Finnish Diving Federation even today still recommends a buddy rope for less than 6m visability. Most people who use them prob. consider using one at something more like >2m vis. Some people hate buddy ropes and I understand why (please don't tell me a single word more about why: I know why, everyone can guess why and we have zero interest in hearing more. Thank you in advance!), but if you have learned to use on in very low vis they can be useful.

A buddy rope is thick and stiff enough that it cannot easily tangle, has loops at the ends and a float in the middle to keep the rope up and out of your way. See the loops at the end of the rope in the picture? You do NOT tighten the loops around your wrist; instead you use the permanent loops to create large, loose loops that can easily be removed as needed.

7a86c37373f2528ad61c628eb0d5a8e6.jpg
 
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During my initial training, we were recommended buddy ropes for poor conditions and offered the usual warnings as to their careless use. Fortunately, haven't encountered an overwhelming need for tying to a buddy but have held a buddy's hand any number of times.
 
- visibility would expected to be very poor (as bad as 3 - 5 feet).

In the Puget Sound in the summertime I would consider this good visibility, not very poor. I've had many days at Les Davis with less than 1 foot of visibility while diving.


-Adrian
 
Missing diver identified as Portland woman

Posted: Jun 12, 2015 9:20 PM CDT Updated: Jun 12, 2015 11:06 PM CDT By FOX 12 Staff fox12news@kptv.com

TACOMA, WA (KPTV) -
The Tacoma Police Department has identified the diver at the center of a two-day search as Candy Sneed, 50, of Portland.
MOREAdditional LinksPoll

Officials said Friday that they have suspended search efforts pending any new sightings.
Witnesses made a diver in distress call Wednesday afternoon after Sneed went missing during a sport scuba dive at the Les Davis Pier in Tacoma. Tacoma Police, Pierce County Sheriffs, the Coast Guard and others searched for Sneed to no avail.
This was her first "open water dive" after becoming certified. She left with a group of eight people from Aquatic Sports in southwest Portland.
Copyright 2015 KPTV-KPDX Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.

Read more: Missing diver identified as Portland woman - KPTV - FOX 12
 

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