Aggressor II to Galapagos - DO NOT GO ON IT.

[Mossman]

The only additional information I heard was that she was recovered at 70 m by a fisherman and had 1800 psi in her tank. This was the first dive of the trip, after the check dive the previous day.

It's always so hard to imagine how things like this happen, but especially at N. Seymour where the 'reef' (rocks) are always visible on your left. I've felt some strong current there at the northeast corner, but...??? Like any accident, no doubt there will be lots of speculation, but rarely real information. How unimaginably awful...so young.

Am I right to assume that the Aggressor went on to complete its scheduled itinerary up to Wolf & Darwin? The blogger who was on her trip probably won't be back in internet range until the 17th, at which point we'll at least have more information from her fellow divers and the crew.

There will be an autopsy performed on her, if not in Ecuador, then when her body is shipped back to Texas. The #1 cause of death while diving, i.e. heart attack, is pretty unlikely in someone her age, but there might have been some other physical condition that manifested to prevent her from breathing normally underwater, or it was equipment malfunction (her equipment will be tested), or panic. In the latter two cases, and possibly even the former, a buddy should have been able to avert the tragedy, which leads me again to question (as someone also did on the blog), where the heck was her buddy?

(Given the depth she was found in, oxygen toxicity is also a possibility especially if she were diving nitrox, but it's more likely her body was carried to that depth by currents)

I suspect we'll have more follow-up information in this case since her family and friends back home will want to know "why" and the Aggressor will certainly want to find and publish information that would tend relieve them of any responsibility/liability not to mention bad PR.

 

[Grover48]

Anyone have some more info on this accident?

I started a thread in Accidents and Incidents covering this incident:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ac...ng-fatality-february-12-2010-eloise-gale.html

 

[ababyuk]

Are you sure that this is the correct link? It doesn't work.
I disembarked the Aggressor II one day prior to this accident and am very interested in the topic...

 

[LRobbins]

Sorry to hear this. We were in Cocos a couple of years ago and had excellent DMs, Javier and Beto (who was also the captain). Last year I went to Galapagos with the Agressor. The DMs and crew were great, but our hotel reservations were messed up and the Agressor took no responsibility for it, nor offered any other compensation. We are going to Palau this year and decided not to book with Agressor based on this experience. As an aside, one of the guys were were diving with on our Cocos trip, got left at a dive site for over an hour on another Agressor trip (not at Cocos). He too was told not to tell anyone and got a substantial discount for Cocos, but of course he told us.

 

[Mossman]

Sorry to hear this. We were in Cocos a couple of years ago and had excellent DMs, Javier and Beto (who was also the captain). Last year I went to Galapagos with the Agressor. The DMs and crew were great, but our hotel reservations were messed up and the Agressor took no responsibility for it, nor offered any other compensation. We are going to Palau this year and decided not to book with Agressor based on this experience. As an aside, one of the guys were were diving with on our Cocos trip, got left at a dive site for over an hour on another Agressor trip (not at Cocos). He too was told not to tell anyone and got a substantial discount for Cocos, but of course he told us.

That's too bad. The Palau Aggressor is an excellent boat and crew and, except for the franchise name, has nothing to do with the locally owned Galapagos Aggressors. It's the local Ecuadorian owner's office that screwed up any messed up hotel reservations as well, though I always personally confirm any hotel reservations (just about any reservations for that matter) made for me by someone else because I've found that people often screw up.

It's like boycotting McDonalds everywhere because one cashier at one franchise shortchanged you.

 

[bajabev]

Well let me start by saying I have been hesitant to post for several reasons that have already been addressed by previous posters, however I feel it's time to weigh in on a few things. I was on the Albatross for the Aggressor Galapagos trip Aug. 25- Sept. 2.

American Airlines started by dropping the ball by only getting 1 diver to Ecuador on time and losing another passenger's dive gear when the rest arrived. The airline eventually issued some future travel vouchers (in my case extra since it was not there first major screw up).

Needless to say folks were rushed, tired and agitated but after getting to the boat a 20 min. check out dive was performed and we started off for Wolf Island... I will cut straight to the short & sweet.
1. The crew served me a hummus dip the very first meal (dinner) which had walnuts in it, after I had submitted in writing per Aggressor's forms AND telling the crew in the presence of the other divers in English and Spanish. I am severely allergic and suffered an anaphylatic episode which besides being life-threatening cost me the whole first day of diving at Wolf Island. I did one snorkle at the end of the day to see if I could resume my plan to dive the next day.
2. I dove Darwin for the first 3 dives even though my dive buddy couldn't. I paired with the least experienced diver on the boat (who is the person whose dive gear was lost) for one and the vessel's divemaster on the other two. One diver had to abort due to a failed attempt to desend quick enough. I will add here that if you can't get down quickly as most posters have mentioned don't go. It is not for the timid. The dive location was amazing and I did see hammerheads, turtles and whale sharks. I felt confident enough in MY abilities to dive that day even though I had only logged 36 dives prior. (I certified in Monterey, Ca have have dove several times in Dominica, Curacao, Cozumel and Mexico)
3. Another diver was seasick and progressed to having dehydration issues (at Darwin Island the next day.) Since the phone was missing or broken on the Albatross a walkie talkie was used to communicate with a Dr. on the sister ship (who I saw the morning after my poisoning). The Dr. requested the blood pressure of the sick passenger but the crew was unable to produce a BP cuff. So after diving for the day at Darwin the captain made the decision to run in for an evacuation.
4. The local response (Peter) from Ecuador was excellent in providing assistance from this point out although having to return to the ship was stressful due to the hostile enviroment that some of the other passengers created.
As per several folks who have said Wayne tends to blow you off... I wholeheartedly agree. Aggressor issued $300 to each passenger to use on a future trip only after a lot of complaining. Would I go on another trip with Aggressor? Why would I give them a second chance to kill me?
Misc. extras... DAN and trip insurance covered some of the losses incurred (although DAN is limited to a small portion of a lost day of diving and Wanye feels my request for a partial refund is not justified. Poison a guest with a food allergy, cost them a day of diving (at the very least) and I guess it's just the classic case of "you signed a waiver."

 

[theduckguru]

I don't know what I find more troubling - the bad reports or those defending the poor service.

 

[Shasta_man]

"stalked her a bit"??!! So incredibly out of touch without knowing it.

The usual "my previous visit to the same place means I know what happened when you were there and I wasn't"