Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[LeadTurn_SD]

I am in agreement here, but wanted to add a couple other points.

When a DM is hired to be a buddy, maybe they do only have buddy responsibilities but...

First, they better be the perfect buddy. There's no excuse for someone who has been all the way through instructor training and actually working in the bsiness to have bad buddy skills or a problem reacting to most typical issues under water. The DM should have an idea where she might get narced, and be prepared to recognize and deal with it if her buddy was narced.

Second, as a hired buddy, you're diving as a job, not for pleasure. There's even less excuse to find yourself separated from your buddy because you shouldn't become focussed on anything else or drift off to get a closer look at something you might find interesting. Normally, when buddies get separated, both bear some responsibility, but not so in this case. It's not the hired buddy's dive. This is where it diverges from what I would consider the responsibilities of a highly-trained diver just paired up with someone on a rec dive.

One other thought:
There's been much discussion about Mrs. Wood relative to her state of mind. People wonder if she was narced, suicidal, or just headstrong and ignorant. Does it matter? From the discussion we have and the description of her actions and the DM's responses, we have it narrowed down to those few alternatives and see no means of selecting between them with certainty. If it is possible that she was narced based upon her outward behavior, then the DM should have been able to deal with her as such. I have to agree with Thal's comments on this one. It doesn't appear that any rescue attempt was made based upon what has been described here. An attempt to advise was followed by a more aggressive attempt to advise. There may have been more, but we don't have the DM's story first hand to hear exactly what was done.

bsee65 has summarized (nicely) what I've been thinking ever since more info was posted on this incident. Especially the statements highlighted in red.

There is a lot to learn from this thread for "regular" divers like me, and for dive pros.

As I noted in an earlier post, I found myself in a very similar situation years ago. It is indeed unexpected and confusing, but should not be beyond the capabilities of an average attentive buddy to handle, let alone an instructor.

Best wishes.

 

[ItsBruce]

... When I teach CPR I always warn my students that you need to decide now, not at the scene, what you will and will not do. The same goes for these sorts of incidents, you need to decide now what is reasonable for you and what is not reasonable for you, and then abide by that decision if you are ever faced with the actuality.

I was going to post a "thanks," but decided that this admonition was so important that a "thanks" did not say enough.

Someone on SB used to have a signature line that included something about pre-planned responses, though I have not spotted it recently. It is critical in all aspects of life.

FWIW: One of my other life activities is racing sailboats. Before major regattas, I write the profanity of the day on a piece of tape and stick it on the bulkhead. That way, when things go wrong, I don't need to spend mental energy thinking of something really rank to yell ... I just read it off and devote my mental energy to whatever is going wrong. It is a pre-planned response.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Has it been established that the DM was a qualified instructor? I know there was reference to an instructor but I thought it was one of the other DM's.

 

[boulderjohn]

Has it been established that the DM was a qualified instructor? I know there was reference to an instructor but I thought it was one of the other DM's.

Yes. It was stated quite some time ago that all three DMs were in fact instructors.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I have been following this thread closely but must have missed that post on a page break or something... I was too lazy to try to read all the way back again to find it ....thanks

 

[Only halcyon]

I am FedExing my dive computer to the Invest team tomorrow at their request. I guess it will provide them with a credible time line for the dive. I personaly have so many holes that I would like to see filled by their investigation. I did ask them for some insight into a few of the key blanks mentioned here in this forum, but they only replied with the request for me to mail them my dive computer. Fair enough I guess. It would be nice for someone to make some sence out of all that happened that morning. It is almost impossible for any of us to really know what happened that morning. We can work through the snippets of info and try and arange them in some kind of order based on previous dive / life experience, but we will never know with certantanty what happened which is a shame. Hopefully I will hear what happened that morning once the dive invest team conclude their investigation.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

onlyhalcyon that is the reality of life I am afraid frustrating as it is. Even witnesses to the same event filter it though personal perceptions, bias and experience.

What we do know is that this thread has led many people to knowledge that could save a life one day. We often don't know how we impact others. I would like to thank you for your contributions in particular and the other posters in general for a very worth while exercise!

Your continued contributions are much appreciated!

 

[Thalassamania]

I'd still like to know who these investigators are and whom they are working for.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I'd still like to know who these investigators are and whom they are working for.

Yeah... I'd REALLY like to know that BEFORE I sent my computer myself. I would rather send a download of it maybe I am just not very trusting

 

[Thalassamania]

I would not be worried about getting my computer back, but someone is paying these investigators, someone with an axe of some sort to grind.