Canadian woman presumed dead - Roatan, Honduras

[KevinNM]

If someone dons a BC with 14 pounds of lead in water they can't stand up in I would really strongly suspect it had air in it.

 

[Dan]

Check out dives are for new divers or those new to the area. An experienced diver with 700 dives who's been multiple times to the area shouldn't need a check out dive to determine their weighting. And when I was in Roatan (Cocoview), you could stop the mandatory checkout dive if you'd stayed there before.

@Dan_T , if you have an issue with the operator, please be upfront and state whats driving you to continue to imply this incident was partially their fault as you seem unfamiliar with diving there or this incident.

Again, I'm sorry if my comments give impression of that I continue to imply this incident was partially their fault. I don't have any issue with the dive operator. I have never been in Roatan. The closest place that I ever been there is Utila. Once is enough for me due to infested noseeum (sand flies). So I stop commenting about the operator from now on.

I'm just surprised about her to do checkout dive in such dive site. I also have been diving for 12 years, logging 575 dives, but every time I go to a dive trip after a few months of not diving, I would do a checkout dive in the shallow. If thing goes wrong, the rescue will be more manageable in the shallow than at depth. If there is no chance to do it that day due to weather or whatever, then I don't do it that day. She planned to be there for 5 weeks. So, skipping a day of diving wouldn't make that much of a difference.

 

[dmaziuk]

The DM and Clay were between myself (closer to the wall) and the 3rd bubble stream. Very clear that there was a separate stream from the other two. Almost 0 current where we were at.

If you're an ex-cop (did I see that right) then your brain is likely better trained at observing and remembering accurately then mine. As others pointed out the most likely explanation is victim going unconscious and then one's jaw is supposed to go slack, reg: to fall out, and then no more bubble trail.

In 20/20 hindsight I wish in your situation I'd have a presence of mind to do what you did: no need to add another victim, but people swimming fast deep might well need extra air on the way up, so standing by at safe depth (and stopping other idjits from going down) sounds like the wise thing to do.

Thank you for the report and my sympathy to everyone involved.

(Edited tyop: was supposed to be "your" not "our" obviously)

 

[cpace]

Check out dives are on the diver, not the op.

My wife and I stayed at AKR last May. The checkout dive was mandatory and done off the back of the boat in shallow water (~10ft) while docked. A few of the divers on our boat complained but our DM still required them to complete the checkout dive.

 

[dmaziuk]

My wife and I stayed at AKR last May. The checkout dive was mandatory and done off the back of the boat in shallow water (~10ft) while docked. A few of the divers on our boat complained but our DM still required them to complete the checkout dive.

We stayed at TB last April, the checkout was the start of the first dive of the week with DM passing people extra weights etc. We did splash over the shallows too, at TB's "house" reef.

Looks like a very unfortunate choice of the site for the checkout dive -- but with the other side of the island closed I wonder if they had any other options.

 

[ljpm]

Terry (thank you for posting) did say he "thought" she had 14 or 16 lbs, but it either could have been much more, or the DM could have put more lead in her BC than she requested by accident (certainly not blaming the DM and this is pure speculation). That could lead her to be overweighted, but I agree @t-mac that it would have been hard for her to accelerate faster than a diver finning down to catch her, in my opinion.

14-16 lbs? Does anyone know if they measure weight in kg in Roatan? It's been a couple years since I was there and I'm not sure. Could the DM have put in 16 kg? The US lost a Mars lander for a very similar mistake.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I'd be surprised if that was the case. A diver of her experience would have noticed. Further, with no medical issues she wouldn't have blithely ridden them down to the bottom with crossed arms. She'd have been attempting to manage the problem.

How do we know that she hadn't done her check out dive the day before. Have I missed some reported fact in this thread?

 

[ljpm]

Yes, but she also didn't put on the BCD until in the water. She wouldn't have known if it was over weighted. After putting it on she would have emptied it to descend. That may explain the fast descent. If she then had a heart attack that might explain why her arms were 'folded across her chest'. Someone having a heart attach would grab their chest. They may even tilt their head to the side.

 

[redacted]

Yes, but she also didn't put on the BCD until in the water. She wouldn't have known if it was over weighted. After putting it on she would have emptied it to descend. That may explain the fast descent. If she then had a heart attack that might explain why her arms were 'folded across her chest'. Someone having a heart attach would grab their chest. They may even tilt their head to the side.

In what way is being gross!y overweighted a necessary element of that scenario?

 

[Coztick]

Myself and Clay (1st time meeting him) were in the water 1st. Went down the mooring line and waiting at 30' on the top of the wall. The boat was being pushed over the wall so the initial entry was off the wall.

Dropping rec. divers in 500ft of water beside a shelf at 30ft sounds unnecessarally risky. Just saying ...