4/5/2010 Incident @ Avalon, Catalina

[Seadeuce]

Sure hope she does well

Seadeuce

 

[drbill]

Rjoline... many thanks for posting this update so we have accurate information rather than rumor to go by. Obvious we are very sorry this happened and all of us are hoping for the best for Denise, you and the rest of your future family.

 

[ScoobaDood]

The lady who had the accident in Catalina on Monday was my fiancée, she is a dive master candidate and was diving with my 16 year old son who was doing his fourth dive for his advanced open water certification. I, also a dive master candidate was diving with my 12 year old daughter who was also doing her fourth dive for her Jr advanced open water.

Denise and my son we doing a photo dive and lost track of their position because of the heavy underwater growth in the dive park. When Denise discovered she was running low on air they made a controlled accent from 35 feet. Upon surfacing she had trouble inflating her BC. I suspect her upper dump valve pull line might have been caught under her BC strap. Since she was low on air she started using my sons octo while he helped support her and signaled for help. They then had trouble dropping her weights since her release buckles are not the best design when wearing heavy gloves.

When the dive instructor mentioned in this post arrived to help she had just lost conciseness. We still don’t know the cause, but a review of both computer logs doesn’t seem to indicate DCI. It could have been a heart attack, stroke, or possibly even drowning.

She is currently at UCLA medical center in intensive care. They have taken brain protective measures (cooling and chemically induced coma). We are not sure of the extent of the damage yet but are hopeful. If not for the quick action of the first instructor to respond, and the heroic action of our dive instructor who provided aggressive CPR until paramedics arrived she would not have had a chance.

Please give your prayers to Denise and your thanks to the dive professionals who came to her aid. My son and daughter are fine but extremely distraught.

Rjoline

Thank you very much for sharing this with us. It is always best when we have the facts. My thoughts and prayers are with Denise, and your family. May she have a full speedy recovery, and be back with her family soon.

 

[CaptainKidd]

Thanks for the info, Rjoline. I was there with 2 students on that day. We were in the water on our dive with the incident happened. My students were quite shaken up, when we surfaced to see all the commotion with EMS. Took me the entire trip home to calm them down. I hope that Denise makes a full recovery, and I wish you and your family the best of luck.

 

[skdevlieger]

I have Denise in my prayers.

My son had an incident at Spiegel Grove in South Florida, so I have a huge heart and understanding for those who have similar incident.

 

[MikeQ]

Prayers go out to Denise and her family.

 

[dcoleman]

I am sorry to hear about the accident. I hope that she has a full recovery and my prayers are with her and the family. After the accurate information I will train my daughter to be aware of the weight dump problems that can occur. I will also make sure she and anyone in my party to be alert to the dump valve cord becoming tangled and causing a malfunction. I am truely sorry that it took an accident like this to bring these causes to my attention.

 

[K_girl]

I also had a pull-valve that got twisted and stuck open under the front strap. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but I knew my BC was not holding air. Luckily, I noticed this at the beginning of the dive and managed to make it to the back of the boat where the problem was resolved and then I resumed my dive. I didn't have to dump my weights, but I was ready to if needed. I did have to do some kicking though.

I believe there are a couple of lessons we can learn Rjoline's description of the incident:

1) It is important to practice the release of weights, with and without your heavy gloves on and with your eyes closed - many times and often. If you can't do it for any reason, don't do the dive; and

2) If you notice your BC is not holding air, don't assume it isn't a big deal - it is; and

3) You can get into trouble, even at shallow depths, so always plan to arrive at the surface with at least 500 pounds of air. Remember, when things go wrong, many divers actually do make it to the surface, but that doesn't mean they are out of danger yet.

Thank you Rjoline for sharing this with us because it will help us to become better divers. I am praying for Denise to fully recover and I hope you will keep us apprised of her condition.

 

[Bubbletrubble]

I also had a pull-valve that got twisted and stuck open under the front strap. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on, but I knew my BC was not holding air. Luckily, I noticed this at the beginning of the dive and managed to make it to the back of the boat where the problem was resolved and then I resumed my dive. I didn't have to dump my weights, but I was ready to if needed. I did have to do some kicking though.

I have made this a critical part of my buddy-check ritual. Once he/she has donned his/her gear, I inspect each pull-dump on my buddy's rig and verify that it is not caught underneath the shoulder strap or otherwise trapped/unintentionally activated. This occurs commonly in novice divers, but I have seen it happen to very experienced divers, too. The right shoulder pull-dump is the one to look out for.

 

[doodis13]

Does anyone have an update on the female diver that was injured 4/5 at Casino Point?