Canadian woman presumed dead - Roatan, Honduras

[Steelyeyes]

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

Happens quite often in the Caymans. The wall at Cayman Brac is 5000 (thousand, not typo) feet to the bottom. Bloody Bay wall on Little Cayman is 1000 feet to the bottom. Buoy anchors are on the edge of the wall and depending on wind and current the aft end of the boat is over the abyss almost every morning wall dive.

As mentioned above the divers enter the water, swim to the buoy, descend on or near the buoy line and generally meet at the anchor, at least until the DM's assess your skill set.

 

[tarponchik]

Did the DM even check the boats position in relationship to the wall or was it "pools open, see ya on the bottom?"
During the briefing did the DM instruct divers to swim to the bow and descend down the mooring line or did you and Clay make the decision on your own?

I don't recall an operator that I have dived with that did not have some type of hard deck within a safe depth, 60-90 feet.
Not that it would have saved her but nobody would be chasing a diver to 200 plus feet either.

We were doing a night dive from Nekton next to Blue Hole but the DMs did not pay attention that the boat shifted. So instead of hitting the bottom at 35 ft we kept going down till we felt something was wrong at about 70. I know a guy who went down to 200, just like this, before he glanced at his depth gage.

 

[Steve_C]

Observer said they say a stream of tiny bubbles and two other sets of bubbles. If a diver is breathing you see bubbles that expand as they go up. Tiny stream of bubbles does not sound like any breathing at all. Could just be compression getting the last air out of her lungs and sinuses.

 

[stiebs]

Observer said they say a stream of tiny bubbles and two other sets of bubbles. If a diver is breathing you see bubbles that expand as they go up. Tiny stream of bubbles does not sound like any breathing at all. Could just be compression getting the last air out of her lungs and sinuses.

No the account on the first page of this thread states they observed three bubble trails. You must be making up the bit about tiny bubbles.

Herein lies the danger of making assumptions upon assumptions upon an observers recollection.

 

[Terry Harrison]

Did the DM even check the boats position in relationship to the wall or was it "pools open, see ya on the bottom?"
During the briefing did the DM instruct divers to swim to the bow and descend down the mooring line or did you and Clay make the decision on your own?

I don't recall an operator that I have dived with that did not have some type of hard deck within a safe depth, 60-90 feet.
Not that it would have saved her but nobody would be chasing a diver to 200 plus feet either.

It was a 1st dive of the day. Briefing was get off the boat, down to the mooring point (30') wait for the group up and down the side of the reef with an 80' max for approx. 45 minute dive. That was part of the briefing. Myself and Clay were the 1st off the boat.

 

[CajunDiva]

when we head him banging his tank. It wasn't just couple of bangs. He was in continuous banging. Our group of 4 started moving into the deeper water and I saw the DM on a nose dive motioning up with one hand and banging with the other.

My interpretation of this is that he was going after Maurene and signaling the rest of them to go back up to the boat. (At the very least group together and take care of each other.) Sometimes when things go south, you have to try to keep it together and do the most prudent thing that will give you a positive outcome.

 

[gfaith]

@Terry Harrison .. did you get the dive site name Terry? By the way, thanks for the report. We were on the South side at CoCo View when the norte came in .. So I understand why AKR moved their dive boats.

 

[Felice]

As a novice (<50 dives), I usually just follow threads and learn, but joined today just to put in a few cents.

Firstly, it was an easy web search for her obituary:
Obituaries: Newspaper and Funeral Home Obituaries and Death Notices from the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand

She sounds like an incredible lady. "Peacefully" tells a lot. It could generate more discussion but why not give it a rest?

Secondly, and again as a novice, I think this thread has been beneficial (for the most part) as a learning experience, even though much has been conjecture, assumptions, etc. Personally, I have a renewed respect for the sport and inherent dangers. and will pursue much more training rather than relying on others at vacation dive centers. I imagine it might also be a reminder to those more experienced to be vigilant.

I would like to think that Maureen and this resulting discussion might make it safer for those divers within this thread and those you dive with. RIP

 

[Ayisha]

Observer said they say a stream of tiny bubbles and two other sets of bubbles. If a diver is breathing you see bubbles that expand as they go up. Tiny stream of bubbles does not sound like any breathing at all. Could just be compression getting the last air out of her lungs and sinuses.

No the account on the first page of this thread states they observed three bubble trails. You must be making up the bit about tiny bubbles.

Herein lies the danger of making assumptions upon assumptions upon an observers recollection.

Incorrect. The account did say "very small bubbles", and it was not until post #106, quoted below.

I also took note and wondered why the bubbles were not expanding as they rose.

We did see a trail of bubbles. There were three trails once the DM and Clay went below 120'. Clay said he saw very small bubbles (never saw her) when he got down to 173'.

 

[mmmbelows]

Her obituary pretty much says she had a medical issue causing her death while scuba diving, not a death caused by a scuba diving accident:

"World Adventurer and Avid Scuba Diver
On January 8, 2017 and during her 694th dive, Maurene unexpectedly passed away peacefully during one of her many adventures, this time to the Island of Roatan, Honduras. "