Canadian woman presumed dead - Roatan, Honduras

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Large "herds" around here.

Try the Duke Estates - hundreds if not thousands - you won't hear a single one. It is how they stay alive - they don't have any other defenses.
Now in Rutting Season you may hear the bucks - other than that - not so much...

But ok maybe they were Tap Shoes in your neighborhood....

 

[chillyinCanada]

Let's leave the "deer hearing" out of this thread, shall we please?

 

[Jack Hammer]

"When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras"

--Dr. Theodore Woodward
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Description: A very highly experienced diver descends, making no evident attempt to stop the descent or any real movement of any kind, until she disappears from view in the depths.

Background facts: In the annual DAN fatality reports, the highest percentage of fatalities by far are associated with cardiac events. In most years, they are roughly 40% of all casualties. Sudden cardiac death is the number one cause of death in the United States.

Comment: A person suffering from sudden cardiac death at the beginning of a descent wold continue to descend without movement until reaching the bottom.

I am having a hard time understanding this search for the zebras highly unusual causes of death in this situation.

John, it is probably is relevant you add she was 72 years old.

 

[Cali_diver]

I'm 5'9", 160lbs using 5mm full wetsuit and 14lbs of weight would descend pretty slowly with positive entry. I have to descend with negative entry (head down & fins up) & start finning to about 20' deep to get more negatively buoyant (compressing the air pockets out of my new 5mm wetsuit). So, I imagine she could easily fin up with her BCD completely deflated & with her 14-16lbs of weights still with her.

I think it is hard to compare each individual with what they use for weights..everyone is so different. I am not too far off of your measurements and I would plummet to the bottom with that much weight. I always wear a 5 or 7mm wetsuit and have never used more than 1-2 kilos depending on the condition of the wetsuit. (I do have a lite SS backplate that gives me 2.6 more pounds) Might need an extra half on first day until suit gets wet enough... Either way if she rocketed to the bottom faster than the DM could fin to her then she must have been a bit overweighted.

Now, I have had boat crew accidentally swap my weights with someone else's which resulted in an unexpected fast descent. I now always put my own weights in. Always...

 

[simcoediver]

No doubt; however, in this case you have to consider some of the things we have heard. For example, there was still what appeared to the witness as a third bubble stream coming from the victim, suggesting gas escaping from her scuba or her exhaling. I didn't hear any account of whether her reg was still in her mouth or not. And we also have a peculiar account of her arms being folded. What that suggests, I don't know. But it certainly raises questions as to whether these things jive with a sudden cardiac death or if there is something else.

It could have been an aneurysm, they can cause instant death.

 

[CuzzA]

It could have been an aneurysm, they can cause instant death.

True, but dead people don't breath.

 

[Joneill]

Try the Duke Estates - hundreds if not thousands - you won't hear a single one. It is how they stay alive - they don't have any other defenses.
Now in Rutting Season you may hear the bucks - other than that - not so much...

But ok maybe they were Tap Shoes in your neighborhood....

When deer are just walking around you don't hear them - unless they are moving through the brush. However, the FACT is that when 20-30 of them run across your backyard or run across the paved street - you absolutely hear them. If you want to argue otherwise, your time might be better spent researching hearing aids.

BTW - Thanks for derailing the point I was making about context of the situation driving many possible factors in this tragic death.

 

[redacted]

True, but dead people don't breath.

A fairly steady stream is not normal breathing. It is more likely a leak.

 

[CuzzA]

A fairly steady stream is not normal breathing. It is more likely a leak.

And so what would be the chances of a sudden medical death and a scuba failure?

 

[redacted]

And so what would be the chances of a sudden medical death and a scuba failure?

Not necessarily a failure. If you spit out a well tuned 2nd as you are inhaling, it should continue to flow.