Any Information About A Discover Scuba Death in Grand Turk?

[Mcote]

I can't find much factual info at all about this incident, but I did a discover dive with oasis in January on Grand Turk. They had three guys on the boat for 8 of us. The hour long knowledge portion on the boat and the 30 minute skill demonstration in shallow water were handled in a professional manner, at least I thought they were. That dive is what has put me on the path to OW certification. God Bless that kid and his family.

 

[BUGBAGGER]

Personally, I don't think having more than 2 DSD students per Inst is wise, altho I guess Padi thinks so. I am glad I had a private Inst for all of my DSD dives.

With respect, I don't think it is relevant to name a specific training agency when the same standard is used by more than half a dozen agencies that I know of and I am sure that there are more.

It's important to note that even when there is a standard for the maximum number of participants, a prudent instructor will use good judgement and assessment skills regarding all of the following to determine what would be a "safe" number of participants to supervise. The instructor must asses their own experience and skills in the specific genre, the participants overall preparedness physically, mentally, emotionally, and cognitively, the dive site's potential hazards, the prevailing weather and water conditions, the potential for distraction with a mixed or large group if applicable with several leaders, etc.

Exercising good judgement and specific examples of the factors that should be considered were emphasized in all of my professional training courses through four different SCUBA training agencies.

There are factors that would make me reduce the ratio to 2:1 or even 1:1 but there are also particpants and places where I have conducted intro courses where the challenges or the participants abilities made the activity less risky than some "deep end of the pool" classes that I have observed.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok, Bigb - I know that several agencies meet and agree on standards. I changed my post.

 

[Laurie S.]

I can't find much factual info at all about this incident, but I did a discover dive with oasis in January on Grand Turk. They had three guys on the boat for 8 of us. The hour long knowledge portion on the boat and the 30 minute skill demonstration in shallow water were handled in a professional manner, at least I thought they were. That dive is what has put me on the path to OW certification. God Bless that kid and his family.

Are you saying there were three instructors on board? There were three staff on board on our trip, also, but one was a deckhand, and two were DMs.

 

[Mcote]

Are you saying there were three instructors on board? There were three staff on board on our trip, also, but one was a deckhand, and two were DMs.

One guy stayed on the boat, he was designated "The Rescue Diver". Being dive-ignorant then (and now), not sure what actual function he performed beyond driving the boat. The DM did say the boat driver was just as competent as the other two. Without knowing any better, the 8 HAL cruisers accepted the 4:1 diver to DM ratio without question.

Just having completed the E-Learning for OW, I have to say the DM who performed the knowledge portion and led the dive seemed to cover the basics and stress the potential dangers pretty well. That doesn't mean this was the same crew or that everyone listened to the briefing on this boat.

I will say, I felt safe during the dive.

Marc

 

[openmindOW]

. . . a specific training agency . . .

I do want to know the agency. The odds are that it is my agency: PADI.

PADI keeps these incidents quiet. Yes, I've attended the PADI Risk Management lectures. They were fine, but I want to know more about how such tragic incidents happen. That's how we can hopefully prevent them from occuring again.

There is no good reason for a young person to lose his life on a DSD. It is tragic beyond words.

 

[nimoh]

I do want to know the agency. The odds are that it is my agency: PADI.

PADI keeps these incidents quiet. Yes, I've attended the PADI Risk Management lectures. They were fine, but I want to know more about how such tragic incidents happen. That's how we can hopefully prevent them from occuring again.

There is no good reason for a young person to lose his life on a DSD. It is tragic beyond words.

In the context of his post, his point was that there is no need to drag an agencies name through the mud when most other agencies have the same standard. If there was something specific in the standards unique to the agency that led to the incident, and would have been prevented under a different agency's standards then perhaps it is warranted.

 

[Laurie S.]

The cousin of the 17-year-old has now posted on cruisecritic. He has confirmed that he died and I have asked for details. I'll post if they're provided.

 

[RonFrank]

Hmm, seems like all that is known is someone age 17 had a problem, was flown to the US, and may or may not be dead. That's not very good investigative reporting.

This is just Dirty Laundry as I see nothing here worth discussing. And now we apparently may get the news from some other Board where someones cousin posts? Really? Sigh....

 

[Laurie S.]

Sorry, you have that attitude, but I'm a regular on that board and there is a scuba forum there and a lot of divers. The accident occurred during a discover scuba excursion, the 17-year-old died, and Oasis Divers has had their contracts cancelled by both Carnival and Holland America. Not speculation, but rather, facts.

And, for the record, the cousin posted there to learn information about what happened. He lives in Dubai and the family has returned to the U.S. and is in seclusion while they try to deal with the loss of their son.

---------- Post added April 13th, 2012 at 06:40 PM ----------

Here's the latest update from (oh, forgive me!), the cruisecritic forum:
"I had two friends on this excursion. There were 16 people plus 3 instructors. 1 instructor stayed on board the ship. The father of the boy was unable to get his bearings under the water so he ended up not diving."

Sixteen discover scuba students and two instructors in the water? OMG.