Bahamas: Missing Female Diver

[diversteve]

Of course I used the same email I'm not retarded!

Actually you didn't...

There are 19 posts by user onlyhalcyon in this thread. I've just reviewed the entire thread - no posts from that user were removed.

I've sent an e-mail password reminder to d*****_s*****7@hotmail.com. When you've recovered the onlyhalcyon account send me a PM and I will remove the Only halcyon account.

If you're no longer able to access the hotmail e-mail account send me a PM and I'll update the onlyhalcyon user account with your current gmail address and send another pw reminder. I'm not able to reset your password - our system doesn't allow it.

 

[DandyDon]

But I am sure that diversteve was not calling you a retard either.

 

[NoDiver]

I have read this entire thread and have been struck by the experienced divers stating that the DM should have been able to grab the tank valve and conduct a safe ascent and that sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

What also occurred to me was the point BowlOfPetunias made where she offered a scenario where the DM had a 'WTF?' moment...although she referred to it as a moment.

My question is this...following the moment, and the 'victim' started to swim down. How much more difficult would it be to effect a rescue i.e. grab the tank valve, when you're confronted with the fins of a 'swimming down' diver?

I may be way off base here, but it just bothered me and I felt compelled to ask the question.

 

[Only halcyon]

If only you knew how many times I have played back in my mind what happened on that dive. It wasn't my responsibility to save her but I truly feel it was with in my capability. With out looking back a my posts the DM was around 18 feet below me ( from memory) and Mrs Woods maybe another 10 / 15 I was over weighted since my wife wasnt sure how much weight she needed i know could have dumped air and been there. After I processed what was happening I swam up to my wife who was having a hard time equalizing on this dive and was maybe 10 feet above me I felt uneasy leaving her, and slightly angry that she couldn't take care of herself while I dealt with this. It's a very tough call to make. By the time I calmed my wife and tried to sign what I thought was happening and swam down to meet the asending DM it was too late to attempt a rescue the risk was way too great. It wouldn't have even taken a great buddy to have saved her, let alone one at DM cert level.

 

[DandyDon]

Did you see the post by diversteve above about your old username and the other email account you'd use to register previously? He is a Moderator who can help you combine those.

If only you knew how many times I have played back in my mind what happened on that dive. It wasn't my responsibility to save her but I truly feel it was with in my capability. With out looking back a my posts the DM was around 18 feet below me ( from memory) and Mrs Woods maybe another 10 / 15 I was over weighted since my wife wasnt sure how much weight she needed i know could have dumped air and been there. After I processed what was happening I swam up to my wife who was having a hard time equalizing on this dive and was maybe 10 feet above me I felt uneasy leaving her, and slightly angry that she couldn't take care of herself while I dealt with this. It's a very tough call to make. By the time I calmed my wife and tried to sign what I thought was happening and swam down to meet the asending DM it was too late to attempt a rescue the risk was way too great. It wouldn't have even taken a great buddy to have saved her, let alone one at DM cert level.

I'm not going to re-read the 983 posts since June 2009 but simply offer my opinions on this one post.

Buddies belong together! My home bud always has issues equalizing the first few days of every trip so we always stop around 15 down for him to work those out the first few days until he can drop like me. Whatever happens to others having problems while my bud is dealing with his problems are just out of our range. As you mentioned, she was not your responsibility, your bud/wife was, so your call was to stay with your bud.

So where was the lost diver's buddy? DMs are responsible for leading dives in some cases, in some others they stay on the boat for backup, but the lost lady had a buddy didn't she - her husband? That is the one person responsible for being with her and helping her. Of course you should not feel any guilt in her accident; sorry you and your wife had to witness it.

Still, I know from every damned trip, my home bud is worthless in that respect. I enjoy him going on some of my trips and have a standing promise to his sainted mom to take care of him, but it's challenging since he abandons me sometime on every trip - so I carry my big pony thru all it takes to get it to destinations and on every dive, take care of myself even with my own screwups, and try to cover him as best I can.

 

[Jan Kruger]

So where was the lost diver's buddy? DMs are responsible for leading dives in some cases, in some others they stay on the boat for backup, but the lost lady had a buddy didn't she - her husband? That is the one person responsible for being with her and helping her. Of course you should not feel any guilt in her accident; sorry you and your wife had to witness it.

I agree with Dandy-if i have to tie a buddy rope to my wife i'll do it - if i am her buddy i have to be available to her needs should she have problems whilst diving- especially if we dive such a dive where the bottom drops out to such depths ! My wife normally has a TURBO Charged way of zooming about to see everything possible so i have to stay with her all the time ! During dives where i take pictures she stays by my side again- it works both ways - we also practise our skills regularly as well to ensure we are prepared should the unforseen happen.
It is VERY sad to read about this incident and our thoughts are with the loved ones involved.

 

[Only halcyon]

The lost divers buddy was a DM! The whole set up seemed very weird right from the beginning, right from the moment we first saw the lost diver trying on the rental gear trying to get the right size equipment. Now that I think about it even earlier than that, when my wife and I boarded the Stuart Cove shuttle most of us looked like we had just rolled out of bed Mrs Wood (lost diver) caught our attention because she had a fair amount of makeup on period let alone pre dive. There are some people who do wear that much make up daily I'm sure, but usually they don't scuba dive. My wife told me after the fact that she over heard them making dinner plans so that is what puzzled us as we spent the rest of our vacation try to figure out what had happened. Once the boat left the dock. Mr Wood all of the ride to the dive site talking with his friend in the sun at the back of the boat while Mrs Wood was in the shaded part underneath where the captains chair with a DM(bad explanation but I'm to lazy to go into it in detail). I forgot to mention that the Wood group was a group of 3. Mr & Mrs Wood and another man around the same age as Mr Wood. Back to the dive boat. Since Mr Wood and friend were closest to the back they were the first divers into the water after the DM. It was a full dive boat which kind of pissed my wife and I off since we have always dive in very small groups with experienced divers, by comparison this felt like a school outing, many divers in rental gear not really knowing what went where and when to do certain things, very scrappy. We were disappointed and figured there would be very little chance of seeing anything cool so we decided to be the last divers and stay well behind the others. After the fact it seemed strange that a spouse would be so far away, imagine there were around 20 divers that's a long sting of people and a very long distance when in the water he was at the front while she was the second from last. Since my wife had the equalization issue I signed for the DM who was with Mrs Wood to go ahead since technically she should have been behind keeping an eye on divers and making sure no one strayed or got lost. That is how I got to see what happened.

 

[DandyDon]

Ok thanks. I didn't remember if all that had been laid out before. I don't like diving in a trio, and that explains why the men were paired and she went with the DM. Some suggest for newbies to buddy with the DM on lead dives but I don't like that either as the DM has to watch the entire group - whether at front spotting critters or on rear point.

We'll never know why Mrs.W took the plunge so we can leave that. It's somewhat understandable why the DM missed her descent having to oversee that flock. I believe the DM caught Mrs.W who fought off the DM? I know that some here have argued that if it had been them, they would have grabbed the valve and brought her up - period! I dunno? I've got my Rescue card but if a diver is intent on going somewhere, and I don't feel 100% sure that it's a save or let die thing that I can readily prove if challenged later, I might back off and see - especially if I'm taking a hard Narc, which I enjoy but they do fuddle minds. In a flashing thot I might also decide "Screw this! I'm all for saving someone who wants to be saved but not fighting suicidal lunatics at depth!" Maybe. I've had similar thots right before a car wreck: "That stupid @#*&! She cut right across me, this is all her fault, and I'm not rolling in the ditch to miss her!" I did brake hard, ruined two vehicles but no one was hurt.

So you and your wife had your vacation more than ruined witnessing a horrible, self inflicted death. Words fail me here so I'll go on. You stuck to your responsibility, your buddy, your wife, and that's great. I know you wish you could have helped but you couldn't. I can imagine the challenges trying to vacation or dive after that, do another trip, maybe even thinking clearly or sleeping well at times, or I can guess. I've seen people die but nothing like that.

Whether called Post-traumatic stress, or what Padi called it in the Rescue book, or whatever - it's important that you two accept assistance in dealing with having to witness that. I hope you have been in the last year and a half, but I think I see that you're still bothered so hope you are still talking this over with whomever - pastor, counselor, trusted friend, and will share more here if you want to. Prayer and meditation often help but I like spoken actions better myself. I've even seen some talk about fatal accidents at Open AA meetings I used to visit as a guest. I presume the speakers were drunks but it wasn't required at an Open meeting; they asked me to talk about whatever too.

Best wishes to you both. Hope diving is fun for y'all still. Whatever her problem was, she had no right to ruin any part of your life.

 

[isinc]

it is very sad that she choosed that but I gusess she might have been suicided...

 

[John C. Ratliff]

it is very sad that she choosed that but I gusess she might have been suicided...

I very much doubt this...it sounds like narcosis to me. I have not read through all the thread, or even much of it, but I agree with DandyDon that Only Halcon has primary responsibility for his buddy, his wife.

What if, in trying to rescue this woman, the rescuer had been lost? That aspect is not discussed that I can see here (may have been earlier though).

One thing which has also not been discussed is the use of a buddy line--we did it in the Navy, and I've used it successfully on some of my dives in Oregon. This is a short line (3-4 feet, or 1-1.5 meters) which attaches to a harness attachment point, providing positive buddy contact. It ensures buddy contact, and can be used even in the tropics.

SeaRat