Death of Truk Dive Guide Nuwa

[Kevrumbo]

51m on EAN24 in good conditions for the seasoned diver is no biggy IMO. The time spend at 51m is also not long before they start going shallower.

I am not sure the diver in question completed all the required stops, but this is pure speculation. I hope they can retrieve data from his DC or BT?

The Chuukese Dive Guides who are AN/DP certified at the Truk Lagoon Dive Center/Truk Stop Hotel, generally use Air bottom gas for the deeper wrecks and Ean30 or 32 for the wrecks 36m & shallower; the Dive-Op manager who usually has full Trimix OC & RB cert will utilize at his discretion 20/20 or 18/45 to guide a client, for any complex penetration requiring running reel line at 45m or deeper, or any wrecksite beyond 63m. There is no indication from the prelim account above that Nuwa did not complete all the required deco stops, or had a previously undisclosed medical problem (pending dive computer log download and autopsy, which we possibly may not ever be privy to).

Trimix in Truk is a fortune... and while I don't mind spending money on diving, I've never felt the need to dive TMx in nearly 100 dives there. (Including multiple dives on the two wrecks mentioned.)

They are not "showing divers the ropes" they are usually guiding the dive from beginning to end. It's too tempting for a non-RB diver to overstay their welcome at depth.

What happens in Truk is a RB customer says to a guide "On this dive I'd like to drop down to the sand, swim in through the torpedo hole, tour the lower engine room, get a bunch of photos of the air compressor, maybe see the machinists shop, come up to 40m, tour the holds, get some pictures of the shells and torpedos, check out the crew's quarters, look for that carpet anemone, spend some time in the wheelhouse, get a lot of pictures coming up the mast, and then finish the dive on the kingpost...." That customer is not considering that while their RB is giving them the best mix at every depth, the guide is diving 24% until their deco stop. The guide wants a good tip - and has done that dive 1,000 times - so they'll push it.

I'm not saying OC guides shouldn't guide RB divers... just that I get very nervous when I see it.

With phenomenal SCR (SAC rate) of 4 to 5 litres/min, the open circuit Truk Guides on double AL80's (11L/bar) tanks with an optional stage can usually stay with RB divers on their requisite run times, for the allowed two technical dives with deco profiles conducted per day. Nuwa -who had 12 years general experience guiding with Truk Stop Hotel Dive-Ops- would stay additionally on deco 50% or O2 for as long as needed.

Comment/In my Experience: San Francisco Maru (max 59m) and Shotan Maru (max 51m) are treated as two deep wrecksites that are usually the first deep dives of separate days --that is, not both in the SAME day, especially after nearly a week of consecutive days deep air/mandatory deco wreck dives. . .

 

[LVIANA70]

What happened with Nuwa? He was a great diver and knows everything in Truk.

 

[bakodiver391]

As a dive guide who uses open circuit and regularly guides rebreather divers at similar depths to Nuwa's, I can say I don't see a problem with it, as long as the rebreather diver doesn't expect the guide to accompany him for the entire dive. It's easy to plan a dive to accomplish all the main objectives in the first say 30 minutes of bottom time, then cut the guide loose to begin his ascent while the rebreathers bimble around getting additional photos, etc. The readiness, simplicity, and reliability of open circuit for the guide far outweigh the dubious advantage of having the guide with you for an extra 10 minutes or whatever of bottom time. So for those of you on rebreathers who find yourself with and OC guide, give him some consideration and plan your dives so he can exit early and do a safe ascent with a large safety factor.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Good to hear from ya Bee-Kay . . .Nuwa was my Guide & Friend at Truk Lagoon Dive Center for the eight years since 2007 that I've been using their Dive-Ops at the Truk Stop Hotel. I'm still stunned & deeply saddened by this tragedy . . .

I'm also very shaken & unsure now about multi-day deep deco dives ("Expedition Diving" like our 2013 Bikini Atoll Trip over consecutive days & weeks), especially loading up tissues with residual Nitrogen after several days diving high FN2 bottom mixes like Air --even with de-emphasizing the Deep Stops (per Simon Mitchell MD/Ph.D) and electing to extend the Oxygen deco time profile.

All the best BK --Be careful out there at Bikini and be safe!

 

[Mcarlson]

I just returned from a week diving Truk Lagoon and got to see firsthand how the local dive guides operate. I didn't dive with Truk Stop, but our guide from BLR told us that most operations are run similarly. A few comments on the guides:

* They seem to operate with 3 priorities:
1) Protect their divers. Even though our boat was filled with very experienced (and excellent) divers, our guide actively kept track of each of us. He was quick to notice if anyone wandered away. They know that a record of injuries or fatalities could doom their only real industry.
2) Protect the wrecks. They understand that the wrecks are a resource that they need to help conserve.
3) Make sure that all of their guided divers have a great experience. They work really hard at this.

The temptation to dive near your limits would be significant. Leaving their group early puts all 3 of the above priorities at risk - not to mention the potential loss of tips. Also, these guys dive A LOT. Our guide took one day off a week, but otherwise did 18 dives in 6 days. The time between dives is spent handling cylinders, doing boat maintenance, navigating and managing the boat, etc. I suspect, but could not confirm, that there may be an economic pressure to use air instead of the more expensive breathing gasses as well. I'm not certain of this last point, but the circumstances I observed make this seem likely to me.