64 year old solo diver dies. Bonaire

[John the Pom]

When I finished my rescue course I asked my instructor if she ever had to rescue anyone. She said, "Once".

It was her long time dive partner on a dive at 60 feet in dry suits. He had a cardiac issue and was gone before she got him to the surface. I'm sure there was guilt there even if there was nothing that could be done.

My rescue course taught me to recognise situations where things were going wrong and gave me confidence to step in. I can put my hand on my heart and say that, in many years of diving, I have rescued two divers who were getting themselves into very dangerous situations. But the paramedic who taught us was pretty sanguine about our chances of saving someone who was already in that bad situation, or who was having a medical emergency in the water.

I did my OW training when the buddy system was taught as gospel, so I still feel uneasy when I see agencies teaching "solo" courses. I can't help feeling that is a case of: "everything is fine until it isn't".

 

[arew+4]

View attachment 722196

You could try contacting Ken directly he may be able to provide some info on prior years. I would suspect the same sort of post mortems would be conducted in other heavily dived areas.