Belize: Death of Corey Monk

[Darnold9999]

Johnny - referring to the seven weeks. You have to love diving to do that kind of work - couldn't even imagine it.

Unfortunately the accidents forum is to discuss accidents. As there is rarely any real facts, speculation happens - comments get made about speculation and anyone who actually knows anything gets pissed because assumptions are made and many assumptions and comments are just wrong.

I dove Que Brada the week before your friend's death and thinking back on the dives is strange enough - after would be very very hard.

There are actually quite a few people on this board that really know there stuff re diving - you just have to filter the chaff.

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Johnny-

I remember you from your post about the frozen meat! We were on the boat when Cory went missing. I cannot imagine you or the Nekton crew diving that site every week after that, it would creep me out too.

Interesting comment about the quality of the crew. I don't want to get attacked for "negative" comments but I would agree with that statement. Even prior to what happened to Cory we had opinions about the professionalism of the crew on the boat. The staff is very nice but that doesn't mean you overlook professionalism because you like someone's personality. I agree that it largely has to do with a mostly younger crew (though Brad is a perfect example of the opposite on that boat, always professional and we didn't even get to interact with him much). We had heard (from crew) that several people had been fired...was that the hot tub incident?

We had a chance to check out the PH Sundancer II (the Aggressor was right next to it but guests were already on board so we didn't want to bug anyone). We could tell immediately that their boat had a more professional looking crew and an older crew as well (Aggressor crew looked nice too). Not that looking professional guarantees that they are but we were instantly impressed with their staff and the appearance of the boat as well.

Despite what happened to Cory, we had a good time but I wouldn't classify it as excellent. The things that concerned us were that we never had a safety drill the entire week. Crew members could have been more discreet about their relationships with a guest and a girlfriend that was onboard that week. Practical Jokes between crew members continued to escalate all day long in front of guests which resulted in two very visibly pissed off crew members. A guest and crew member told us about an incident that happened a few days prior to Cory's disappearance. Not 100% sure about all the specifics but he was in one of the skiffs unhooking the mooring line so the boat could head to another site. The weather/wind was bad so the captain decided to go to a different site and Cory was possibly never told (by radio I assume) where they had decided to go to instead of their original plan. I didn't pay any attention to how or what they do when moving to a different site, I am assuming he was maybe waiting at the new site? He was gone for some amount of time (trying to figure out where the Pilot was) and was reportedly really upset when he got back on the boat.It was mentioned that he may have even said he wanted to get off the boat, that's how mad he was. This is the first time I have mentioned this since we got back. I'm just curious to hear your comments having worked for them recently. Seems there is a tendency right now for people to want to defend Nekton or lessen the seriousness of the claims from some people, our issues are really all about safety and professionalism which should be important on any liveaboard. I realize you may have to wait a week to respond now but I'd be interested to hear your comments.

P.S. Since you worked on the boat, can you tell us what the heck those long narrow yellow bags were for that were rolled up and rubber banded on our bed at the beginning of the trip? There was nothing to explain what they were for and they had such a weird shape to them, you couldn't really fit things in them easily. We are still laughing about those things and wondering...My husband used them as a suitcase liner for his dirty laundry.

 

[pilot fish]

Thank you for adding a bit of perspective on this sad accident and the conditions aboard the Nekton Pilot. Would you hazzard a guess that conditons and attitudes onboard the Nekton Pilot were in some small way contributory? As I said in another thread, I had a bunch of Nekton Pilot brochures and was considering, somewhere down the road, of looking into a trip with them. After reading the other thread, and your comments, there is no way I would consider it. I would also caution divers to give this boat a closer look, if they are considering it.

Very sorry you lost a friend - dive bud.

I don´t have any facts to the death of Corey Monk of the Nekton Pilot here in Belize.....However I read the long thread about his death on this website.

I worked on the Nekton Pilot from 6-06 to 3-07 and again for 7 weeks starting in Sept of 07, I am currently working on another liveaboard in Belize and was in Belize at the time of Corey´s death.

So what do I have too add?? ....not much. I read with great interest all the input of people who have no idea of anything about Belize liveaboard life, or of Corey´s dive experience, or of common practices of the Nekton Pilot.

Corey and I were roommates for several weeks coming out of the shipyard and in transit to Belize. We painted our room together ( a garish red!!!). I spent only one week on charter with Corey and the rest of the crew at that time here in Belize....

I was quite dissapointed with the quality of crew, in fact 4 crew members were fired the first week of charter. I had to take a skiff to rescue an INSTRUCTOR diving with a guest on a night dive...this was on a simple north-south wall.

Which leads to a point...the Nekton Pilot has always been a scuba boot camp (and always will be). Young divemasters and instructors on their first jobs.

Corey went on a night dive alone to perhaps deep depths....perhaps not. Maybe he had a heart attack (he was 35 as i recall). Perhaps not.

But the point is...never dive alone at night and never go over the wall...you can be at 180 feet before you know it.....

As far as you know it all posters....I noticed most of you had not a clue about diving.

johnnydiver2003 (on vacation in Publa Mexico)

 

[UnderwaterBumbleBee]

Pilot Fish, having been on board and awake when they realized Cory wasn't back I would strongly say that the crew did NOT contribute to his disappearance. There is no way for anyone to know what exactly happened to him but what we do know is that he went out alone, was possibly diving below the recreational limit on a night dive and possibly had little to no working equipment. Ultimately it was his decision to take all those steps that lead to us not knowing what happened. We don't know if his body just failed which could have happened regardless of him diving with the group in the water that night.

 

[pilot fish]

Thank you for that UBB. I was not suggesting that the crew had any direct link to his accident but was wondering if things were so lax on that boat that it encouraged this kind of reckless diving?

[[ and possibly had little to no working equipment.]] Please explain? Thanks

Pilot Fish, having been on board and awake when they realized Cory wasn't back I would strongly say that the crew did NOT contribute to his disappearance. There is no way for anyone to know what exactly happened to him but what we do know is that he went out alone, was possibly diving below the recreational limit on a night dive and possibly had little to no working equipment. Ultimately it was his decision to take all those steps that lead to us not knowing what happened. We don't know if his body just failed which could have happened regardless of him diving with the group in the water that night.

 

[DiveMaven]

P.S. Since you worked on the boat, can you tell us what the heck those long narrow yellow bags were for that were rolled up and rubber banded on our bed at the beginning of the trip? There was nothing to explain what they were for and they had such a weird shape to them, you couldn't really fit things in them easily. We are still laughing about those things and wondering...My husband used them as a suitcase liner for his dirty laundry.

OMG, you're kidding, right?? They never bothered to tell you that those were "safety sausages"?? Holy smokes, you really didn't get much of a safety briefing, did you?

 

[pilot fish]

OMG, you're kidding, right?? They never bothered to tell you that those were "safety sausages"?? Holy smokes, you really didn't get much of a safety briefing, did you?

If they never bothered to tell UBumbleB about those safety sausages, it's not hard to imagine them overlooking, neglecting, maintenance issues as well. That really is amazing.

UBumbleB, did they hold a fire drill or show you how ANY of the safety gear worked?

 

[berick]

I was on the Pilot the week before the accident. They told us about the safety sausages on the first dive briefing. However, my wife and I always carry our own safety sausages . . .

 

[peterbj7]

How can there be any diver who doesn't know what an SMB (safety sausage) is? That goes right back to basic training, and general awareness and observation as a diver. IMO every diver should have one and use it, but at the very least they should all know what they are!

Mind you, it's a shame that the color coding that works so well with all divers in Europe and with tech divers in the USA isn't observed all the time. That is that a red SMB signifies a normal ascent with no problems, and a yellow one that there's something wrong and the diver needs assistance.

 

[Darnold9999]

Thank you for that UBB. I was not suggesting that the crew had any direct link to his accident but was wondering if things were so lax on that boat that it encouraged this kind of reckless diving?

[[ and possibly had little to no working equipment.]] Please explain? Thanks

Based on exactly no evidence and considerable speculation you have decided that the diving he was doing was "reckless" diving and of course it is Nekton's fault.

The only facts we have are that he was diving at night and he was diving solo. Pretty common for working divers the world over.

Each and every day on each and every dive on the PH boat one of the crew was in the water diving solo - unless one of the guests decide to tag along or wanted a buddy which did not happen often. "Reckless diving" I don't think so - if you do then such diving is done on liveaboards everywhere and has nothing to do with Nekton. You might want to skip the liveaboard experience entirely.

On the Mike Ball boat a solo diver went into the water on many sites to place markers where interesting things could be found before guests went into the water. No redundant air - "reckless" - I don't think so. Again if you do - you may want to skip doing a liveaboard - you are going to see a lot of "reckless" diving by crew.

UBB - more and more sounds like something was going on during your trip that made it unusual. To not know what the long yellow bag is and you obviously don't - OMG - did you miss the safety briefing entirely, not paying attention or was it a poor briefing. On trips I have done on all liveaboards they do the same briefing before the first dive and insist that everyone be there even if you are not diving!! If a new crew member is doing the briefing for the first time then it is done from a checklist and another crew is listening. Same with the assemble at muster stations. It is done immediately after the crew introductions on the first night. Happens on every trip - if it truely was skipped (as opposed to your just missing it which given everybodys jet lag etc. I assume is possible) this all tells me that something was seriously wrong on that trip - somebody was not in control.