My take on both of these, from TWARS (This Week at Reef Seekers):
MISSING FREEDIVER FOUND - You've probably read over the last week about the woman (Rebecca Weiss) who went freediving (snorkeling) off of
Terranea (aka old Marineland) and never returned home. Her car and dive bag were found at the site but no sign of her, in or out of the water. There's been an
intensive search going on and L.A. County Sheriffs divers had already scoured the area with no success. Saturday, a group of recreational divers (members of
our extended Reef Seekers family) were doing a dive, came upon Rebecca's body underwater, and brought her to the surface. They say she was in about 35 feet of
water, near the edge of a kelp bed, no signs of entanglement, and was lying peacefully on the bottom as if she was asleep. Her weightbelt was still in place
and that was what was keeping her submerged. So while we applaud the efforts of the rescuers to give the family (who were on the beach at the time) closure, it
also brings up the point of how crucial it can be, perhaps literally the difference between life and death, to ditch your weightbelt if you get in
trouble. You can certainly make the argument that with freediving, if she was hyperventilating excessively and suffered from a shallow-water blackout, there
may not have been time or awareness of a problem to ditch the belt. But the fact remains that as soon as the rescuers released the belt, she started to rise. And
this is a point we try to make anytime we can: Without a weightbelt, you WILL eventually come to the surface which means we have a much better chance to
performing a successful rescue. So, again, if you think things are going south, get rid of the weightbelt. Much better to ditch it at a time when you didn't
have to than to keep it on when you shouldn't and pay the ultimate price.
ANOTHER FATALITY THIS WEEKEND - I'm also saddened to report a scuba fatality this weekend and also someone from the Reef Seekers
extended family. Artie Williams, who was also a camerguy for KABC (I first met him when I was doing the weather for KABC-TV in 1982-83), died Saturday morning
during the first dive of the day at Isthmus Reef. Lovely man, very friendly and giving, and he will be missed by those who knew him. It seems that at the end of
the dive, Artie and his buddy surfaced behind the boat and there was a fairly strong current. While they were trying to make their way back to the boat, Artie
passed out. One of the DMs on the boat was a Long Beach fireman ands got to Artie fairly quickly and apparently Baywatch also came out quickly because the
boat was so close to the Isthmus Baywatch dock. Unfortunately, all these efforts were to no avail. An autopsy will be done by the L.A. County Coroner and my pure
speculation/guess from what I know so far is that this will have some sort of a medical issue as a main or direct cause of death. And it re-emphasizes how
important it is, especially as you get older (the day after he died would have been Artie's 60th birthday) to get some sort of a regular (every 2-3 years)
medical checkup that clears you for diving which means an emphasis on the condition of the heart and lungs. But Artie's death, assuming the strong current
plays into this, also brings up another point: Was this something that he perhaps felt coming on by being tired or winded, but decided to soldier on
rather than stop and wait for help or be "rescued"? There's no way of knowing for sure. But it's something to think about. Even today when I was playing golf
in the heat, I started to feel a little light-headed after a couple of holes. I was thinking it was just the beginning of dehydration but with Artie's death
fresh in my mind, I was also wondering if this was the first sign of a larger problem, one I'd avoid if I stopped playing but one that could get worse if
continued in the heat. Fortunately, as I drank some fluids, all returned to normal fairly quickly. But it was in the back of my mind that I might need to
quit because of the heat to avoid a larger problem. We can always learn something from a diving death. It's always very sad but if something good can
come out of it in the long run, that person's passing can have some positive result. Artie will be missed but not forgotten, on a number of levels.
- Ken
