2 more divers dead on 2nd day of lobster mini-season

[Floridawannabe]

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones and the missing diver.


I have one question. How many diver fatalities happened last year or the years before? I do not understand how these people died, maybe the one that was not certified but the other ones

 

[Walter]

Every year, during mini season, people dive who haven't dived in a very long time. Most of the muddle through with, at worst, a few close calls. Those we don't hear about. A very few make mistakes that result in someone dying. Mini season is the one time of year I stay out of the water. I don't want to be anywhere near that CF.

 

[HowardE]

Every year, during mini season, people dive who haven't dived in a very long time. Most of the muddle through with, at worst, a few close calls. Those we don't hear about. A very few make mistakes that result in someone dying.

I dived it (mini season) for the first time this year. I only take pictures (my wife takes lobsters) - but it was a CF for sure. We didn't even think of diving our beach, as there were more boats out there than I've seen since we moved to this apt in Feb. We did boat dives.

For those who don't know - Mini-season is a 2 day period (2 weeks before the official season starts) when commercial lobstering isn't allowed, and personal limits are doubled from 6/day to 12 lobsters/day.

Some observations for those who don't know how crazy this mini season is.

1) lots of boats out there (way more than usual) - the chance of being hit by a boat is greatly increased.
2) like Walter says here - people haven't dived since perhaps last mini season. Their skills are iffy at best...
3) lobstering makes you work harder, and breathe harder. My wife who was lobstering, drained her tank in 40 minutes (to a level where she had to surface) - on dives where we normally stay an hour, and have gas to spare. So her SAC was almost effectively double the non-lobstering dives. For people who don't look at their SPG every few minutes... this could spell disaster quite easily.

 

[ItsBruce]

The lobsters I've seen always seem quite timid. I'd never thought that they could be so dangerous. Sharks do not cause as many deaths among divers.

 

[wreckchick]

From being land-based the past two years and on the water this year for mini-season what I tend to see is divers that don't dive but maybe once a year (mini-season), poorly maintained equipment, poor physical condition, poor water skills and a general disregard for the danger because most of the diving is very shallow (under 10').

There are plenty of people diving hookah rigs that are uncertified and don't think that it's the same thing as a tank.

Obviously not everyone falls into all or any of the above categories but there are a lot more idiots out on the water. My friend was stabbed with a tickle stick because she was on scuba and the woman said it wasn't fair, stole a lobster right out of my friend's net.

Although on the water there were most definitely morons out there, it was actually surprising how many conscientious boaters there were percentage-wise. There are just a lot of people and anytime there are a lot of people there are going to be more Darwin award candidates.

Rachel

 

[Fotoz4FX]

That's why I grab my bugs right before the mini season... so they don't have their people snares out yet and aren't expecting me.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

That's why I grab my bugs right before the mini season... so they don't have their people snares out yet and aren't expecting me.

I really hope you are joking, or trolling, 'cause your comment really isn't very funny.

 

[deeper thoughts]

There was talk about stopping mini season, these incidents are only going to add fuel to the fire

 

[HowardE]

There was talk about stopping mini season, these incidents are only going to add fuel to the fire

don't people get killed every year during mini-season?

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Yep.