First, my background. I am a Tech rated and Divemaster rated diver with over 600 dives, mostly in cold CA waters. I have worked for many years as an emergency paramedic (6), airline captain (12), and now urgent care physician assistant (18). During that time I have earned an Aviation Safety Certificate from USC, and been a member of a national level safety committee for a type specific commercial airliner.
In the last 6 years I have slept overnight in the bunks on 4 Southern California live-a-boards a total of 13 nights. These include the Conception, the Truth, the Pacific Star, and the Horizon. The last night I slept in the middle bunk directly below the escape hatch (Horizon).
Does this make me a maritime safety expert? No. But it does make me
more of one than the vast majority of readers on ScubaBoard.
With the above in mind this is
MY perspective on the safety of California live-a-boards.
- NOTHING in life is 100% safe. We all say “Safety First”, but anyone in the industries knows this is really at best “safety second”. It is all a calculation of risks vs. benefits. Every diver does that on every dive. If they don't, then they are deceiving themselves. This is sometimes not an easy calculation, and whole books have been written on it.
- California live-aboards serve a diver driven need. They are not like warmer water live-aboards (as I understand, haven't been on any), but they do the job quite well. Much of what they offer cannot be done with day trips.
- There are certain circumstances that have little to no survivability. Examples are mid-air explosions, loss of a wing, and major in-flight (especially at cruise) cabin fires. A completely engulfed Salon fire is one such circumstance if you are below decks in the bunk area.
- The above circumstances are most impacted by prevention rather than improved escape means. Do we equip all our airline passengers with parachutes?, escape pods?
- Each and every time I have been on the above boats I was given a complete and comprehensive safety briefing. That doesn't mean that everyone listens attentively.
- Each and every time I have been on the above boats we were told there was a NO illicit drug or firearm policy. Anyone found with either of these would cause the captain to inform the Coast Guard, immediate return to port, and arrest of the offending passenger.
- Each and every time, the crew has been entirely professional and helpful. They assist when asked, they are competent, and they do top notch accounting of each diver in the water/return to the boat. A double check is done by name and only by the person called before the boat is moved.
- Each and every boat had all the expected safety equipment. This includes at least: PFDs, Fire Exinguishers, Fire hoses, First Aid kit, Medical O2, Chase boat, radios. I'm sure I'm missing something they all have.
- I have never seen a DPV, charging or not, anywhere but on the open deck or in the water. They wouldn't really fit in the Salon, and certainly not downstairs, nor would I expect the crew to allow DPVs in either of those places.
- I have seen cameras and batteries charging both in the Salon and below decks, often off of extension cords with multiple outlets (all of which were in use).
Given what I have seen, read, and surmised I would go on the same type trip, same density of passengers, with the same (or similar) boat, and the same crew as the Conception disaster without hesitation. I have been wanting to do such a trip again and will book it as soon as it fits in my schedule. I will even sleep in the bunks. The risk of a repeat situation, even as catastrophic as it was, is less than my calculated benefits of such a trip. Your calculations may differ.
Not to diminish anyone's level of pain, but in my mind, the most affected long-term in order are:
- Surviving crew. They have to live with the events for the rest of their lives. There will be survivor's guilt, public questioning, and constant questioning if they could have done something more – even if there was nothing more they could have done.
- Owner of Truth Aquatics. Same as above on a lesser level
- The lost divers' surviving families. They will no longer have the lost divers in there lives.
- The lost divers' and crewmember themselves. Depending on your belief system, they are either in a better/higher place or in oblivion. I believe in the former. But they certainly left this life too early.
- And finally, the whole diving community.
My heart aches for ALL of them.
Where do we go from here?
We let the NTSB do their investigation and come to their recommendations. This may (may not) include:
- Better escape routes
- Better fire watch procedures
- Better fire suppression
- Changes to battery charging on boats
In the aviation safety industry there is (or at least was) a term called “blood priority”. What it means is the more deaths, and the more tragic they were, the more likely (and faster) there will be a safety improvement. Is that right? NO!, but it is reality. The Conception tragedy should rank quite high on the “blood priory” scale.
God Bless (if you believe), Stay safe, and do your own risk vs benefit calculations. Your safety is ultimately YOUR responsibility and the choices you make.
