Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[Riger]

Does anyone know if any criminal or civil charges have been filed in this incident?

Whilst it is probably not likely to happen, I'd really like to see the DM/Buddy here in the forum putting her perspective on things. (With legal sword of Damocles hanging out there, that might never happen I suppose).

Best Regards
Richard

For those who are wondering -Damocles, a legendary courtier who extravagantly praised the happiness of Dionysius I, ruler of Syracuse. To show him how precarious this happiness was, Dionysius seated him at a banquet with a sword hung by a single hair over his head.

 

[alohagal]

I know you have tried to explain this to the best of your ability. Can you reiterate who was buddied with whom? Was the husband the buddy of Ms. Wood and the DM with the Woods friend? Or was it more like the 4 of them diving together? Was it clear? You may not have the answers for this. But, any insight would be appreciated.

I just got through diving for 3 and half weeks in Cozumel/Playa area. I was solo on the trip, And dove with three different dive resorts and countless different DM's. We did not always have even numbers of people and buddies not always clearly defined by some DM's. I made sure I was in the front with the DM. But, there were times I had more air and more time than the DM who might be near DECO from multiple dives that day, I would then stay on the dive and I would choose to do so, with others who were still underwater with me. Most DM's just required me to surface at 700PSI or 60 minutes whichever came first on the DEEP dive of the day. Even if they needed to go up. Might be foolhardy but that is the way it often went.

Thanks for any insight,
Mary

 

[stadevene]

Mary, my understanding is Mr. Wood and friend were buddies. Based on the accounts it sounds like the DM was Mrs Wood's buddy...however I'm not 100% sure if the DM was brought in as primarily a guide for that group and secondly to make the numbers even.

What I feel we're missing is any pre-dive discussion between the DM and her group/buddy. Was there a typical "follow me, I'll show you some cool stuff" type of discussion or did Mrs. Wood say she was ok solo or was there some discussion about her needing a full time escort? I think only knowing this discussion can there be any finality put to this discussion.

I've said before I think this is a tough position for the DM. I would imagine (based solely on observations of DM/guides I've had in the past) a large part of their role is as an "ambassador" for the location. This seems to be the typical approach especially with divers who don't voice any concerns/aren't brand new. A primary goal is to have their customers comment on how great the dive was. Of course, the divers need to actually come up...

I think we should move on from laying blame to looking at what can be done to avoid this in the future. I think the takeaways from this situation are varied:
For the operator:
- Do everything you can to ensure your customers disclose any prior medical conditions
- Assist your DMs in keeping their skills current by giving them practice time. I'm sure in resort areas DMs are in demand 7 days a week, but attempt to build in some time
- Talk to your DMs about emergency situations and establish a protocol to follow
- Build a pre dive checklist for your employees which includes a review of emergency situations

For the DM:
- Continue to drill emergency situations and at minimum discuss what if scenarios with your fellow DMs.
- Ensure you've talked to, and attempted to build up a rapport with your customers before the dive. You may uncover an anxiety or condition which was not previously disclosed.
- Ensure it's clear what the dive plan is, what your role will be on the dive, and what will happen if anyone strays from the plan
- Ensure everyone is clear what to do in an emergency situation
- Clearly explain your hand signals
- Carry a slate for ease of communication

For the diver:
- Be honest with yourself about your condition. Be brave enough to say no to a dive or put limits on yourself to ensure you're comfortable.
- Ensure your doctor is aware you're a diver and have a trip planned so they can inform you of any concerns or considerations you should have. If your doctor has no knowledge, call up DAN.
- Follow the dive plan
- Stick close to your buddy
- Discuss what your dive formation will be (leader-follower, side-by-side, etc)
- Increase the amount of times you check on your buddy, I'm sure the majority of us don't do it enough
- Set your depth alarm on your computer to match the dive plan
- Carry a slate for ease of communication
- Practice your hand signals with your buddy

There are probably a dozen more I've missed but this is a good start.

 

[alohagal]

I was reading through alot of the posts since obviously this event is on my mind a lot, and I keep reading that the DM with Ms Wood was hired to buddy with with her. I feel that this is not entirely true. From what I learend after the dive the DM was asked to buddy with Ms Wood but was not on a specific contract with extra payment. She was one of or DM's that day and obviously buddied with Ms Wood but I think to use the word hired implies that she agreed to give Ms Wood special attention and that she was at risk with out her own personal DM. I don't even think Stuart Cove offer this service.

My wife and I were talking over what she had read in response to my posts since we havn't really talked alot about what I wanted to do but didn't. Sure we have talked about the general facts of the dive etc but I kind of held back on my thoughts and feelings relating to the urge to leave her and take charge of what was happening. after reading the posts bashing the DM for not stepping up I find it strange that no one has ever mentioned her husband? He was in fact diving with us that morning and new far more about her than anyone. If she had indeed had a stoke he would have know how serious and to what level of supervision she would require, if she should have been diving at all? Thats like giving a mechanic the keys to your car knowing the brakes may fail but not telling him and blaming him for crashing your car. (im in the car biz so its the best I could come up with) Ms Wood was in a group of 3, her husband and a freind of her husbands, but you have to ask yourself what diver in their right mind would let his wife dive and not be behind her keeping and eye on her.? Given all that he knew that had happend prior to that morning! My wife told me that she didn't feel 100% that morning and I focused on every movement she made that dive. Even though she kept giving me the OK signal I knew she was having a stressful dive. To bash the DM who had far less understanding of Ms Wood just doesn't seem right.

Don't get me wrong before this dive I held resort DM up high and thought that they would make sure nothing bad happened on the dive, but it is obviously not true and after great thought its not really fair to hold them accountable when things go wrong.
Every diver should make every effort to ensure their own safety, if you don't have the skills get them, if your buddy drifts to far away follow them don't expect them to chase you, its YOUR life line incase things go wrong.

It was the first paragraph above that makes me ask my question, again. I am just wondering if they had a group mentality of buddying...and usually couples will buddy together. (not always the best idea, but, often how it pairs up)

I know for a long time my sister and I did not make the best buddies together. We fought as kids growing up and our communication breakdown under water could be just as lousy at times. We would agree what hand signals meant on top and that changed entirely with extra gesticulations under water.

We would go up top to de-brief and we bothed viewed the same scenario completely differently. We had too many years as antagonists under our belt.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I'd really like to see the DM/Buddy here in the forum putting her perspective on things. (With legal sword of Damocles hanging out there, that might never happen I suppose).

Yeah me too but the pen is mightier than the sword. I would suggest the DM would only have to read a few pages of this thread to realize how deeply this particular pen will pierce!

I was reading through alot of the posts since obviously this event is on my mind a lot, and I keep reading that the DM with Ms Wood was hired to buddy with with her. I feel that this is not entirely true. From what I learend after the dive the DM was asked to buddy with Ms Wood but was not on a specific contract with extra payment. She was one of or DM's that day and obviously buddied with Ms Wood but I think to use the word hired implies that she agreed to give Ms Wood special attention and that she was at risk with out her own personal DM. I don't even think Stuart Cove offer this service.

Wow this changes my perception a lot. If the DM was not HIRED to BUDDY with Mrs Wood and had other responsibilities I am not sure it is reasonable to expect her to be constantly watching Mrs Wood and ready to intervene at the first indication of independent behavior!

fter reading the posts bashing the DM for not stepping up I find it strange that no one has ever mentioned her husband? He was in fact diving with us that morning and new far more about her than anyone. If she had indeed had a stoke he would have know how serious and to what level of supervision she would require, if she should have been diving at all? Thats like giving a mechanic the keys to your car knowing the brakes may fail but not telling him and blaming him for crashing your car. (im in the car biz so its the best I could come up with) Ms Wood was in a group of 3, her husband and a freind of her husbands, but you have to ask yourself what diver in their right mind would let his wife dive and not be behind her keeping and eye on her.? Given all that he knew that had happend prior to that morning!

One would reasonable assume that the husband would know of her medical issues and any dive issue and therefor ensure he kept a close eye on her or provided for her in some way (such as hiring a DM buddy to fulfil that role which is what I thought had happened and now realize did not happen) Thinking that he had provided the best he could for her then diving his own dive is one thing... this is something else entirely!

There is a couple I avoid diving with. He is IMHO a competent but selfish diver. She is a very nervous diver with rather poor skills. He never buddies with her... he leaves everyone else to shorten their dives to take her to the surface when she gets low on air or hold her hand when she gets stressed. I resent having dives I have paid a lot of money for and having my holidays ruined by someone who does not seem to do anything to improve their skills while their partner goes off and enjoys the type of dive I have paid for! INHO both these people are being selfish and that may have been the case with the WOODS? I am afraid I believe one day there will be a tragedy with the pair I mentioned and I do not want to be anywhere close by when it happens! We are all adults making choices ...

To bash the DM who had far less understanding of Ms Wood just doesn't seem right.

Don't get me wrong before this dive I held resort DM up high and thought that they would make sure nothing bad happened on the dive, but it is obviously not true and after great thought its not really fair to hold them accountable when things go wrong.
Every diver should make every effort to ensure their own safety, if you don't have the skills get them, if your buddy drifts to far away follow them don't expect them to chase you, its YOUR life line incase things go wrong.

I absolutely agree with your here! I do reserve the right to do all I can to get my buddy's attention if they go where it is not safe to go and try to get them to come back ... but I will not follow them mindlessly into danger either!

I follow this thread with great interest. With 35 years of dental, medical, forensic and CSI practice behind me I can say with certainty this one thing:
If someone wants to pursue an action (like descending or other harmful activities), NO ONE, not even the best trained, most well intentioned person, may be able to stop that harmful action.

I would not point fingers at others involved in this unfortunate situation. I am sure all was done that was possible from what I have read.

If someone's poor judgement led up to this event that is another issue entirely. But from what I can gather that may well have not been the final straw.

I don't read this as intent on self harm (suicide) I read it as intent on doing harmful activities! Taking drugs is a Harmful activity that may result in death but it not neccessarily suicidal! Anyone ever tried to talk a dug addict out of their fix?

I have seen the trouble well meaning people have found themselves in when trying to stop a determined person from doing something they were intent on!

Mr Wood may have been intent on nothing more than stopping anyone from challenging her decision to do what she wanted!

I feel we can learn from this tragic incident as FACTS are known...my take is that many divers feel they need not assume liability for their dive. A DM does not mitigate all the inherent dangers involved with SCUBA. As a LEO, many years on SWAT taught me one thing I carry over as an Instructor/DM..."I can save you from the Boogie Man and all the evils of the world, but I CANNOT protect you from your own damn stupidity!" I have had more 'divers' run out of air, roll hard deco, or just plain hit the 'Oh **** Switch', and everytime I intervened and they lived to I'm sure do it to another unsuspecting DM. I would hope that a sobering, "Hey guys, as divers we need to respect this sport and learn from this incident" would be in order. Instead, let's point fingers and blame someone so we all go back to being lazy and make our safety someone elses responsibility.

:yelclap: I applaud everything you have said here but one part.... I feel we can learn from this tragic incident even without all the FACTS if it makes us think and re-examine our perceptions and skills!

Sorry this is so long but I have tried to respond to this thread a few times over the last few days and kept getting dumped offline when I went to post.. lol this time I am saving my response so I won't have to retype it all if it happens again!

 

[shoredivr]

I was reading through alot of the posts since obviously this event is on my mind a lot, and I keep reading that the DM with Ms Wood was hired to buddy with with her. I feel that this is not entirely true. From what I learend after the dive the DM was asked to buddy with Ms Wood but was not on a specific contract with extra payment. She was one of or DM's that day and obviously buddied with Ms Wood but I think to use the word hired implies that she agreed to give Ms Wood special attention and that she was at risk with out her own personal DM. I don't even think Stuart Cove offer this service.

Wow this changes my perception a lot. If the DM was not HIRED to BUDDY with Mrs Wood and had other responsibilities I am not sure it is reasonable to expect her to be constantly watching Mrs Wood and ready to intervene at the first indication of independent behavior!

Thank you for repeating this bit, bowlofpetunias, seems like some are missing it. "It" being that onlyhalcyon states that the DM was not hired to specifically buddy with Mrs Wood.

 

[stadevene]

I don't think some are missing "it". If I've interpreted the commends right, I think some are feeling it's not relevant and as a DM if you're buddied up with a diver you better treat them as your buddy. Keep proper distance/closeness, communicate with them, check on them frequently, that sort of thing.

As I said in my last (long winded) post I'm curious what the pre dive discussion and plan was. If the DM was brought in to strictly make a team of 4 (two buddy teams) or was brought in, or thought they were brought in to guide the three divers.

 

[Thalassamania]

Thank you for repeating this bit, bowlofpetunias, seems like some are missing it. "It" being that onlyhalcyon states that the DM was not hired to specifically buddy with Mrs Wood.

Read the OP:

The following incident took place today (June 3) at Tunnel Wall near Nassau on Stuart Cove's boat White Bunjie.

At approximately 10:45 am, a female diver was observed descending the wall, which drops from a 35' reef depth to an estimated 6,000'. A dive master retained by the diver/husband attempted to stop her descent at approximately 100', and was seen pushing the DM away and continuing her descent.

An Instructor was alerted and descended to a depth of approximately 170', where he could see a bubble line starting below him. When everyone returned to the boat there were additional underwater searches conducted by Stuart Cove DM/Instructors, and surface searches by unaffiliated DM/Rescue Divers on the boat.

After the requisite debriefing and completeing of witness statements some three hours later, there was still no rescue or recovery of the missing diver. I would estimate the female involved was in her late fourties or early fifties, was not overweight, and appeared in good physical shape. I have no history on her diving background.

Please keep the missing diver, her husband, family and friends in the San Francisco Bay area, the DM and Instructor involved in the initial search, and those involved in subsequent rescue activities in your thoughts.

Out of respect for those involved, names are not being provided. I am sure this information will be released publicly by local officials.

Dan

Then read:

I was reading through alot of the posts since obviously this event is on my mind a lot, and I keep reading that the DM with Ms Wood was hired to buddy with with her. I feel that this is not entirely true. From what I learend after the dive the DM was asked to buddy with Ms Wood but was not on a specific contract with extra payment. She was one of or DM's that day and obviously buddied with Ms Wood but I think to use the word hired implies that she agreed to give Ms Wood special attention and that she was at risk with out her own personal DM. I don't even think Stuart Cove offer this service.

My wife and I were talking over what she had read in response to my posts since we havn't really talked alot about what I wanted to do but didn't. Sure we have talked about the general facts of the dive etc but I kind of held back on my thoughts and feelings relating to the urge to leave her and take charge of what was happening. after reading the posts bashing the DM for not stepping up I find it strange that no one has ever mentioned her husband? He was in fact diving with us that morning and new far more about her than anyone. If she had indeed had a stoke he would have know how serious and to what level of supervision she would require, if she should have been diving at all? Thats like giving a mechanic the keys to your car knowing the brakes may fail but not telling him and blaming him for crashing your car. (im in the car biz so its the best I could come up with) Ms Wood was in a group of 3, her husband and a freind of her husbands, but you have to ask yourself what diver in their right mind would let his wife dive and not be behind her keeping and eye on her.? Given all that he knew that had happend prior to that morning! My wife told me that she didn't feel 100% that morning and I focused on every movement she made that dive. Even though she kept giving me the OK signal I knew she was having a stressful dive. To bash the DM who had far less understanding of Ms Wood just doesn't seem right.

Don't get me wrong before this dive I held resort DM up high and thought that they would make sure nothing bad happened on the dive, but it is obviously not true and after great thought its not really fair to hold them accountable when things go wrong.
Every diver should make every effort to ensure their own safety, if you don't have the skills get them, if your buddy drifts to far away follow them don't expect them to chase you, its YOUR life line incase things go wrong.

So what are the facts?

 

[Only halcyon]

I know you have tried to explain this to the best of your ability. Can you reiterate who was buddied with whom? Was the husband the buddy of Ms. Wood and the DM with the Woods friend? Or was it more like the 4 of them diving together? Was it clear? You may not have the answers for this. But, any insight would be appreciated.

This is probably more detailed than it needs to be, but it have played this through in my mind so many times its kind of nice to type it out. Hope it fills in the gaps.

The Woods and a friend boarded the boat as a group of 3 and preped their equipment all sitting next to each other on the port side of the boat (left side if facing the front of the boat) taking up the last 3 positions. To form a mental picture the port side of the boat starting from the rear was made up of the Woods group of 3 next their were 2 more divers and then my wife and I were next this bring us upto the enty/exit point next to the dock where people were getting on the boat and just under the deck where the captain and upper deck starts. Ms Woods husband and his friend didn't really mingle pre dive and don't remember seeing Ms Wood at all on our way to the dive site. The ride from the dock to the dive site which was around 12 mins I do recall noticing that Ms Woods husband and his friend spent that time sitting next to each other talking. To me this is usually a sign of being fairly new to diving since experienced divers frequently share stories and chat pre dive (not always but most of the time). After ariving at the site her husband and his friend / buddy were I would say probably in the first 6 people to enter the water, which was pretty quick but having said that they were at the back of the boat. A DM was first to enter and this was the same DM who lead the dive and the one who dismissed me after I informed him that their was a diver missing.
My wife and I were probably close to the last divers to enter, leaving around 6 divers left to enter and Ms Wood and her DM were among the 6. So in the water you have a DM upfront probably closely followed by Ms Woods huband and friend who were buddied and Ms Wood at almost the back of the group. This was a very full boat with around 17 divers. My wife and I had comented the day before that it sucked that we had such a large group since our previous experience with groups this large usually means that you have so many different skill levels, which almost always leads to a less enjoyable dive due to sand being kicked up and any cool stuff has usually fled the scene by the time the back of the group gets to that point. My though on this is to hang back as far as possible in the hope that the cool stuff will come back out of hiding once the group has passed. Being at the back and given my wifes trouble equalizing and and being at a shallower depth than we would normaly be at is when I saw the events unfold. Its interesting when I think back, if my wife was not having the issue with her ear we would have been at the same depth as Ms Wood and her DM. Since they were in the water after us and I saw them swim under me and below and shortly after pass me below, if I had only been at our regualr depth the panicing DM would have seen my wife and I instead of being below me and unaware that there were divers close by and just above since we were right at the back of the group. When I rewind in my mind the key points and replace some of them with 'if only' the events that day could have played out very differently. I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago when I watched a movie. In the movie 'Curious case of Ben Button' in the last 3/4 of the movie they do something very similar when Brad Pitts girlfriend is hit by a car. I constantly find myself doing something very similar in my mind. Anyway.
If anyone else has any Q's I would be more than happy to answer them if I have the knowledge. I know it if difficult to mentaly put things together a form a factual picture of what happened that morning. Even for me.

 

[Kksmama]

I am currently on vacation in the Bahamas and only joined this site after reading the posts. I am the primary witness to the dive incident involving Mrs Wood. I will post my account of what happened once I get back to NY and once the Forensic Dive Investigation team has had a chance to talk with all the people involved. I would like to say that prior to talking with the Dive Investigator I had similar views to the posts above. However what we are all missing is the DM's account of what happened. After talking with both the DM and the FDI I now have a clearer understanding of what transpired that morning.

Scubafanatic,RichnLenny,

Hang in here for a minute,I need your help.Heres what I saw happen on the dive.I will keep this as short and as factful as my memory will serve.

When I speak of Mrs Wood, shes the missing diver. Mr Wood is her husband. There is another couple I will speak of also. I will refer to them as "Another couple".




We all got our briefing,the plan was that we would dive out to the edge of the wall. Comfortable (experienced) divers and their dive buddy could dive past the edge or drop off. Mrs.Wood was to dive with her assigned DM.

The group descended to the bottom. At this point we were ALL moving along the bottom toward the wall.At this point I didnt know who was who except who my partner was and the instructor. The instructor was leading. The total distance from were we touched the bottom to the edge of the ledge was about 100 feet. The depth at this time, about 72 feet. The group went out to the edge of the ledge and turned right and followed the edge 100 to 200 feet and turned toward the boat and started a slow shallow incline ascent. I was the first one on the line.(stern line with a weight to do a safety stop at). Another couple was hanging not on the line but near me at the stop. I got out,and on the boat. I was removing my gear and another couple and the DM getting on the boat. I got out of my gear and was walking over to another couple and asked how they liked the dive. The guy from the other couple was shaking his head and told me the DM lost her partner. He turned to the DM and asked where her partner was. The DM walked to the bow alone and sat down with her back to the cabin and stared texting a message.(she was very upset and wipping her eyes.) About 5 minutes or so later the Instructor and the group returned on board. The man from another couple told the instructor that the DM was missing her partner. The instrutor rushed to the bow and had a very brief talk with the DM. The instrutor then came to the dive deck and geared back up. Him and a diver entered the water to search for Mrs.Wood. There were 4 other divers snorkeling and searching. After what seemed like thirty minutes or more we pulled anchor and picked up the instructor and other diver. As they were boarding our boat another boat from SC arrived with two more search divers. Mr. Wood and his friend then boarded that boat that was going to search again.

We left the area and meet another boat from SC and the DM boarded this boat and they went in,to the Dive center. The rest of us went and did a dive on the James Bond site and went in. I was not questioned by anyone. This is all I can tell you about what happened. I have tried to give the best account I can with facts and not blame or theories. It leaves as big of a question mark in my mind as it does everyone elses.

The DM was only hird to dive with MRS.Wood / Mr. Wood was diveing with a friend / yes the DM was informed by via hand signals by another diver and his wife that her partner was gone / confrontation I dident see it and dont know that it happen / not totaly what I think but almost

1. I was on the same boat with MRS.WOOD we all enter the water at the time
2. I would say that most of the divers on the boat were Advance or better
3. MR. WOOD was diving with us
4. another diver and hie wife useing hand signs single the DM that her partner was missing
the Instructor found out when he got on the boat
5. the DM was hired to dive with Mrs.Wood
6. I know nouthing of her diving background

It sounds like Meg clearly understood the DM to be a hired buddy, Onlyhalcyon seems to have had more post-incident discussions which have influenced his thinking. Memories are tricky things, and evolving judgement about what has been witnessed is common. Onlyhalycon, I imagine you'll be asked to explain how talking with the DM afterwards clarified the incident for you - I'd certainly like to know. I'm not criticizing here, I don't mean to suggest that either you or Meg is "wrong" but just that it is very easy for two people to have two (or more) different perspectives and for those perspectives to change over time and be influenced by subsequent events/conversations.