A Key Largo man who works as the mate on a dive vessel died Thursday as he tried to help four divers who were drifting away from the vessel.
The dive vessel, out of the Amoray Dive Resort in Key Largo, was offshore of Key Largo at 6:45 p.m. Divers on board had been in the water for 10 15 minutes when the current became too strong. The captain called the divers back to the vessel. Four of them were reportedly drifting away from the boat, so boat mate 59 year old Steven Kipp donned a mask, snorkel and fins and got into the water to bring them a line to tow them back to the boat.
He gave the line to the first two divers. He was swimming to the second two, whod drifted considerably farther from the boat when he became unresponsive. He was brought onto the boat and CPR was performed. The U.S. Coast Guard responded and brought him to shore. He was transported by paramedics to Mariners Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
---------- Post added November 13th, 2015 at 09:17 PM ----------
I was one of the divers supposedly rescued by Steve.
Unfortunately story was not reported correctly. (No surprise there). We were 28 minutes into a night dive when another diver appeared and thumbed the dive. My buddy and I first thought that she had mistaken us for her group but then we heard the banging on the ladder. We surfaced and tried to return to the boat but the current was too strong. We signalled the boat with our lights and they signalled back to us. They were about 100 yards away but the current was strongand we were drifting away from them. We were in the water for about 30 minutes waiting for the boat to pick us up. I dumped my weights and just floated with my buddy-we wre concerned but no panic.. Water was calm - no chop. After they picked us up we went to pick up the missing divers.
Two divers had splashed then had difficulties descending; they started drifting in the current and the boat could not leave to pick them. Steve donned a mask, snorkel and fins took the rope to get to them. Apparently he got to them, tred to say something then went unconcious. They held onto him for about 50 minutes. When we pulled him back on the boat, he was unresponsive. O2 and CPR was immediately applied; Coast Guard arrived in 5 minutes; Body transferred to their boat. Captain acted responsibly and incredibly well. Not much could have been done. Steve was a friendly wonderful guy. RIP.
My takeaway: 1. I would highly recommend that all divers take both O2 and CPR courses. 2. Don't forget to drop your weights when waiting to be rescued. 3. When someone thumbs the dive, don't second guess them.
The dive vessel, out of the Amoray Dive Resort in Key Largo, was offshore of Key Largo at 6:45 p.m. Divers on board had been in the water for 10 15 minutes when the current became too strong. The captain called the divers back to the vessel. Four of them were reportedly drifting away from the boat, so boat mate 59 year old Steven Kipp donned a mask, snorkel and fins and got into the water to bring them a line to tow them back to the boat.
He gave the line to the first two divers. He was swimming to the second two, whod drifted considerably farther from the boat when he became unresponsive. He was brought onto the boat and CPR was performed. The U.S. Coast Guard responded and brought him to shore. He was transported by paramedics to Mariners Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
---------- Post added November 13th, 2015 at 09:17 PM ----------
I was one of the divers supposedly rescued by Steve.
Unfortunately story was not reported correctly. (No surprise there). We were 28 minutes into a night dive when another diver appeared and thumbed the dive. My buddy and I first thought that she had mistaken us for her group but then we heard the banging on the ladder. We surfaced and tried to return to the boat but the current was too strong. We signalled the boat with our lights and they signalled back to us. They were about 100 yards away but the current was strongand we were drifting away from them. We were in the water for about 30 minutes waiting for the boat to pick us up. I dumped my weights and just floated with my buddy-we wre concerned but no panic.. Water was calm - no chop. After they picked us up we went to pick up the missing divers.
Two divers had splashed then had difficulties descending; they started drifting in the current and the boat could not leave to pick them. Steve donned a mask, snorkel and fins took the rope to get to them. Apparently he got to them, tred to say something then went unconcious. They held onto him for about 50 minutes. When we pulled him back on the boat, he was unresponsive. O2 and CPR was immediately applied; Coast Guard arrived in 5 minutes; Body transferred to their boat. Captain acted responsibly and incredibly well. Not much could have been done. Steve was a friendly wonderful guy. RIP.
My takeaway: 1. I would highly recommend that all divers take both O2 and CPR courses. 2. Don't forget to drop your weights when waiting to be rescued. 3. When someone thumbs the dive, don't second guess them.
Last edited: