2 Divers reported dead at Point Lobos, Ca.

[Rob_whee]

Sad about the 2 divers. I always hate to hear about these incidents, but do keep up as a way to learn. Great video though. I haven't had the opportunity to dive CA yet. I did just get back from the Socorros a couple of weeks ago. I took a lot of video myself, and have a question for you. Your video in the surge was very stabile. Any pointers. We dove in current the entire week in current and some of my videos really dance around.

 

[Bopper]

Sad about the 2 divers. I always hate to hear about these incidents, but do keep up as a way to learn. Great video though. I haven't had the opportunity to dive CA yet. I did just get back from the Socorros a couple of weeks ago. I took a lot of video myself, and have a question for you. Your video in the surge was very stabile. Any pointers. We dove in current the entire week in current and some of my videos really dance around.

This forum has special rules. Straying from the following excerpt is discouraged:

The purpose of this forum is the promotion of safe diving through the examination and discussion of accidents and incidents; to find lessons we can apply to our own diving.
​

You might want to create a new thread under the Videography sub-forum to ask your question.

 

[stilldivin]

I agree. As the maker of the video dedicated to this couple, I don't want to field answers about it. It's for them and their family. Perhaps this next note will put an end to speculation until the investigation is complete. I happen to be my local dive shop Sunday picking up my tank. The clerk there said he had rented all the gear to them. They have an excellent record of no equipment failure, and a good, clean compressor. Almost the only cause remaining is [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] both divers embolized. It's possible one diver went shooting to the surface and the other tried to slow them down, but this is not confirmed. (This last note came from a dive buddy of mine who heard it from another shop.)
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[Hatul]

I agree. As the maker of the video dedicated to this couple, I don't want to field answers about it. It's for them and their family. Perhaps this next note will put an end to speculation until the investigation is complete. I happen to be my local dive shop Sunday picking up my tank. The clerk there said he had rented all the gear to them. They have an excellent record of no equipment failure, and a good, clean compressor. Almost the only cause remaining is [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] both divers embolized. It's possible one diver went shooting to the surface and the other tried to slow them down, but this is not confirmed. (This last note came from a dive buddy of mine who heard it from another shop.)
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It's odd that they would rent gear other than tanks, as they lived in San Jose which is driving distance to Monterey? Also I assumed the video was taken by the husband as it only shows the woman.

 

[K_girl]

After looking at the video, the one female diver looked to be at about intermediate level to me. Not completely a "green" diver, but she was working on getting better for sure. Sometimes she would move her arms around some like a beginner and you would see her bring her arms in to stop it. A few times, you could see her bouyancy was starting to take her to the top and she would kick down, but was not "fighting" to stay down. A few kicks and she seemed to be OK. As Chuck T. mentioned the conditions were not favorable that day. So, more than likely conditions were a factor. You cannot tell what the conditions are outside the mouth of Whaler's Cove from the ground, you can't even tell the conditions of the entire cove from the ground. You have to do the short hike up the hill and then you can see all the conditions, even outside the cove. However, an intermediate diver may not recognize more trecherous conditions. There may be one area that appears to be more rough on the surface and you think - stay away from there.

On their Flicker site - these two did successfully dive Monastery Beach last September, which is a known to be a very treacherous entry and even worse exit with extreme surf. This dive site is probably the most notorious in the Monterey area for taking the lives of divers. I've heard numerous stories of close calls and rescues from this site. I'm sure that successfully diving this site would have given them a boost of confidence.

What factors would you say either visually or from ocean data, would you say the conditions would not be right for an intermediate diver? Where would you draw the line?

Several people asked the question - why the double fatality? Especially if the female was not completely out of air. Both divers could have panicked separately over conditions, but more likely, one was trying to rescue the other.I've never seen a "washing machine" condition in that area - has anyone else? And if so, is it anywhere near where they were found?

 

[g1138]

As stated, conditions were very windy. I was diving both Saturday and Sunday after the incident at Del Monte Beach near K-dock and Breakwater. There was lots of surface swell and chop from the wind, and water clarity was down to 5ft that day. Cold 48-50F water depending on which computer you asked.

Surge was light to moderate above 25ft. My team actually got pulled out 20ft from the Breakwater exit on Sunday when were tried to do a continuous swim-in-crawl-out for an exit. We ended up standing up at waist level and pulling out fins off.
Tons of longshore current that would push you into the breakwater if you were not at least 10 ft away from the wall.


What's important to remember is even in the calmest/"safest" of sites, if you're near a washrock or any place where waves crash up onto an incline, there will be surface suction and churning right at the water surface.
I've had the unfortunate experience of surfacing too close to a wash rock and getting back down with the waves and surface tension is much much harder than normal. You're fighting against being pushed back up onto the rock high and dry, then tumbling back down into the water.

So speculating here, the possibility of the couple surfacing in the wrong place could have led to the double fatality. And I wouldn't knock the idea that surface waves pushed them away from the exact place where the incident occurred.

 

[150psi]

Will the autopsy be made public?

 

[cruiser]

Will the autopsy be made public?

If the autopsy was performed by the county medical examiner, it's generally public information but there will be a cost for the report.

 

[chiali]

Chatted with Josy at the gate today. She said they still don't know what happened to them. I wonder if anyone has found a yellow frame mask with a red snorkel. The rescuer removed them from the deceased female diver so rescue breaths could be given. It would be nice they are returned to the daughters...