1. The Cayman Aggressor was moored in an area where it could not fit through the boat channel to reach a nearby dock. It was a site quite far from where public rescue resources are based. Fortunately Ocean Frontiers had a boat nearby and was able to render assistance. What would have happened had that not been the case?
Drew, one of the main selling points of a live-aboard is that it will likely venture farther from civilization to dive more pristine sites. I see what you're saying, but help being rather far off is a trade-off for this sort of trip.
Charlie59:
I don't know what the average death rate/million (or whatever scale you use) dives/year in the greater Caribbean area is, or what sort of year-to-year fluctuation/variation is typical. So I can't give you a specific number.
But I can tell you it's not zero.
'Horrible regulation?' Bit of hyperbole there. Since the government hasn't yet intruded into scuba in a big way, aside from the courts providing a venue for the legal & insurance professions to impose constraints, we don't seem to have a lot of regulations. But we do have some. Examples that come up on the forum fairly often of dive op. restrictions preventing people from diving how they want to dive:
1.) Prohibitions against solo diving.
2.) Mandating the group come up together, though some divers have plenty of gas. The worst air hog cuts the rest short...
3.) Requiring AOW for some dives that many people with OW could do fine.
4.) Then we have the debates over people choosing not to disclose medical conditions on dive shop waivers so as to avoid dive op.s refusing them services, or requiring medical clearance they don't want to pursue or perhaps find impractical or overly expensive.
And the above is generally due to risk management against potential lawsuits.
If you go into court being sued for some sort of negligence, malpractice, etc..., I imagine it would be more ominous for you if the community standard is that nobody is ever supposed to die on a boat trip. If we say no death rate but zero is acceptable, that's kind of what we're saying. And it's neither realistic nor right.
Richard.