Cincinnati diver dead after Spiegel Grove - Key Largo, Florida

[Sue J]

Didn't mean to imply RR did anything wrong. I was just thinking that any time you lose someone, even if it's from natural causes and unforeseeable, it's emotionally tough, and to have it happen twice makes it even harder.

Wikipedia, quoting a Miami Herald article, reports that "There were 50,000 dives a year done on the ship during just the first two years." It looks like including this latest death there have been 11 fatalities since the Spiegel was opened to recreational diving in 2002. That's less than one a year. I wouldn't be surprised if that's at or lower than the rate of fatalities at a major ski resort when both accidents and natural incidents like heart attacks are taken into account.

 

[The Chairman]

46? Sure, it was probably a medical event. He could have run out of air, but it seems everyone was right there on him, so that's less likely.

Always sad and has nothing to do with the Dive Op he used.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

On a public Facebook post (different from the one I originally referenced), a person claiming to be a former Rainbow Reef staff member provided the following information:

For those who are unaware, the gentleman went into cardiac arrest on the surface prior to the dive. It is a horrible situation. The crew did all they could, there is not foul play. As a former RRDC employee I can promise the crew briefed dive safety and the dangers of a deep dive. The boat is a coast guard inspected vessel with all required emergency equipment.

The occurrence is very sad. Please don’t comment or place criticism without full knowledge of the situation.

... the diver never made a descent. His heart attack occurred in the water on the surface prior to the dive

 

[The Chairman]

Well, that answers that. Thanks @dewdropsonrosa!!!

 

[wgw04024]

What gives you that idea?

Don??

 

[yle]

What gives you that idea? It sounds to me that a 46 year old drowned for unknown possible reasons diving a wreck that sits on sand 150 feet deep.

134 feet, actually. Years ago I did my DM course with the same dive op in this incident (Rainbow Reef.) As part of the course we did a free descent on the Spiegel all the way to the sand, and sat there for a minute next to the hull... just enjoying the narc.

So sure, the sand is deep but it is very likely the victim in this situation was with a group (most divers with RR follow a guide on the Spiegel) and that group was most at a max depth of 100 feet. But most of the dive was probably between 70 and 90 feet.

This speculation comes from having dived the Spiegel with RR quite a bit over the past 10 years and having some familiarity with their typical way of handling the dive.

 

[yle]

From my experience, Rainbow Reef gives very clear dive briefings on what and how to dive these wrecks. Also, the last two trips we've made, you get a guide unless you refuse one. There are rooms you can find your way into if that's your intention, but people aren't accidentally finding themselves in a silty room all of a sudden. I would say that those large wrecks at that depth are extremely safe considering how many people dive them on a daily basis. Anyone have an annual number for those wrecks perhaps?

RR has been running their SG dives the same way for many years: most divers follow a guide as part of a group, and the dive is very well managed by that guide. And yeah... I've always found their dive briefings to be very thorough.

Annual number... of divers? A very rough estimate... 365 days in the year, anywhere from zero to eight boats a day (or more?), so call it roughly four boats a day, maybe 10 divers per boat... means about 15000 dives per year. In the 17 years that the SG has been underwater, there has been an average of about one fatality per year.

 

[wgw04024]

Of those 17, subtract tech divers and medical events, that doesn't leave many left for 'out of air' or 'lost in a room accidentally'. Out of curiosity, is there a list somewhere of the accidents on that wreck?

 

[Marie13]

134 feet, actually. Years ago I did my DM course with the same dive op in this incident (Rainbow Reef.) As part of the course we did a free descent on the Spiegel all the way to the sand, and sat there for a minute next to the hull... just enjoying the narc.

So sure, the sand is deep but it is very likely the victim in this situation was with a group (most divers with RR follow a guide on the Spiegel) and that group was most at a max depth of 100 feet. But most of the dive was probably between 70 and 90 feet.

This speculation comes from having dived the Spiegel with RR quite a bit over the past 10 years and having some familiarity with their typical way of handling the dive.

Did you see the link that says this diver never descended and had a heart attack at the surface?

 

[DandyDon]

Don??

What? You knew someone was going to say that?

So, the 46 year old man was had a heart attack on the surface, didn't even go down? It sounds like with early symptoms coming on, he should have sit that dive out. I know, it's a lot of work to get gear from Ohio to Florida, to the dive boat, gear up with enough lead to offset the extra suit needed in winter diving - done that myself. You hate to go thru all of that then balk at the last minute just because you're not feeling 100%.

134 feet, actually.

Varies with tide? No, I don't guess it's quite 150 feet. I remember one of the times I dived it, seeing something odd on the sand, going down all of the way for a closer look, discovering a commode, working to not lose my reg while laughing, but it wasn't much below 130 feet then I guess.