Diver dies at Molokai on Maui dive boat

[Dan]

In this case, there isn't a wreck involved. I believe that there are mooring balls, but I'm not positive. The dive boat is a typical vacation diver boat, as you can see in the photo (one of their two boats, I'm not sure which was involved), and there is no chase boat to leave behind.

This dive site is nowhere near 100 miles out, it's approximately 30 miles from the Lahaina harbor. The driving time is about 45-60 minutes. It is minutes from the Molokai coast but I don't know where it is in relation to Molokai's harbor.

With that kind of small boat, I can see having rec & tech divers in the same boat is a bad idea. A clear emergency plan should have been explained in case either rec or tech diver have an emergency situation. It seems to me that was not discussed.

Since the plan was to drop the tech divers first, while the rec divers doing the 2 dives elsewhere & coming back to the agreed site to pick-up the tech divers, as was done in the past, I can see that when one of the rec diver gets into an emergency, it is wiser to take the rec diver to shore first, since Lahaina harbor is only 30 miles away, USGC was slow to respond due to attending other emergencies & especially when the tech divers mentioned if such emergency would happen, they were willing to wait to be picked up later.

 

[doctormike]

I think let's not do the finger pointing at this moment... the blaming game isn't going to make anything better. Maybe focus on what can be improve should be the theme.

Aren't those two the same thing? I mean, I understand your point about not being needlessly rude, but when you do accident analysis, you are trying to figure out what went wrong. "Finger pointing" and "Blame game" are just pejorative terms for that process.

 

[doctormike]

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2. Assess customers based on Data Buoy information

Certification, Experience, Physical condition, Age, Up-to-date medical certificate by diving Doctor
This information should be obtained at booking the dive.
I always carry yearly medical with me when booking dives. I have also opted out of leading dives given the data buoy info due to my age and the cert/experience level of other customers.​

Do you mean that the dive op would exclude people based on this data, or just that the divers should use their judgement whether or not to do the dive based on the local conditions? Having done a lot of charters for our dive club and having discussed this with our lawyers, I know that "vetting divers" greatly increases your liability, since if someone has a problem and you "cleared" them for the dive, that implies extra responsibility.

Of course, all divers should honestly assess any dive before undertaking it, and make a call based on their conditioning, experience and training, but not sure how that would help optimize this operators procedures.
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5. Have at least one permanent crew member, Skipper and/or DM, to get ALS.

I'm not sure if ALS means something different in your country, but in the US it's a pretty advanced course involving things like endotracheal intubation, tracheotomy, and algorithms for the use of intravenous medications like epinephrine, adrenaline and potassium. That would be a pretty high bar for the dive boat business in terms of equipment, training and recertification, and I kind of doubt that it would make a big difference to the average dive emergency. Maybe someone having a witnessed cardiac arrest due to pre-existing heart disease? We don't require ALS providers to be available on site in most other topside recreational activities, not sure why this would be different.

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6. Have an automatic BP Monitor on board, $50

1 minute to determine if there is a heart beat. Respiration or CPR will be administered depending on result.​

A BLS provider should be able to detect a carotid or femoral pulse as well as an automatic BP monitor. If the pulse is so weak in an unconscious patient that it's not detectable by palpation, I don't think that withholding CPR based on a monitor would be appropriate.
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[Dan]

The Lahaina Divers mentions that this hammerhead diving is the most advanced diving & ask divers to call to see if they are qualified for undertaking such diving adventure.

Hammerhead Diving | Maui Advanced Diving

 

[doctormike]

Interesting that in all of the discussion, the one factor that doesn't seem to have been discussed was the dive itself. We heard that the victim ascended with a buddy and climbed the ladder on his own.

Do either of the people in this thread have any information about what might have contributed to this fatality? Dive profile? Current? Did either of you see him underwater?

 

[EricTheDood]

In what way were her posts all over the place? They seem pretty clear, concise, and consistent to me, and she answered the questions that were asked of her.

Really?

It "only" took her 39 posts in this thread before she revealed that the diver got out of the water under his own power. Kind of a crucial detail, don't you think? Perhaps the most important detail of this entire incident.

Her adding tangential details, like being a self-proclaimed adrenaline junky, raised credibility issues and certainly didn't make her posts "concise".

Bottom line, she didn't provide enough relevant details (others had to fill in the blanks) and provided too many irrelevant details. It's too soon to draw any conclusions either way, but I can say that her account is difficult to swallow. It also didn't help that her first course of action was to post a 1-star review on TripAdvisor, which happens to be the #1 Google hit when searching "Lahaina Divers". What was the intent?

 

[lamarpaulski]

In what way were her posts all over the place? They seem pretty clear, concise, and consistent to me, and she answered the questions that were asked of her.

I agree with skwirl..obviously it was traumatic so human recollection can be seriously affected. That goes for both sides.

She obviously has been transparent and does not have an agenda or legal jeopardy. Piling onto her may be premature.

We also have seen how legal jeopardy can affect things.and recollections..that might be why people head for cover when these things happen. Or fail to do the morally right thing.

Hopefully, the Coast Guard will conduct a thorough review. I tend to trust them.

The lack of media attention sounds Third World and suspiciously like covering up bad events to promote tourism. If that's true shame on them.

I have dived with Lahaina and liked them but that was years ago.

The deco vs no deco mix discussion is great and adds to safety awareness.

 

[mdb]

The discussion is worthwhile and could result in changes in boat ops that will be safer and more responsive.

I agree that the USCG is reputable and honest and will do a thorough and complete investigation.

 

[yle]

It also didn't help that her first course of action was to post a 1-star review on TripAdvisor, which happens to be the #1 Google hit when searching "Lahaina Divers". What was the intent?

Exactly... this is why the crew is upset with her. Tripadvisor has become the #1 site on which to post your "I had a great time on vacation" reviews, so any negative review on TA is taken pretty seriously. A post of "these people are incompetent, unsafe and YOU COULD DIE if you dive with them!" appears to have an ulterior motive. It's possible the poster was just naive and thought TA was a good place for her story, but it's no surprise the crew is upset about it. If they were all Facebook friends, you would think there would have been some private discussion before her very public post.

As for inconsistencies... she admits she's not a dive pro, but she's certain the dive pros on board weren't doing what they were supposed to.

I'm sure there's another side to the story, but the professionals understand the importance of proper procedure, including where and how to report an incident like this one.

 

[tarponchik]

Interesting that in all of the discussion, the one factor that doesn't seem to have been discussed was the dive itself. We heard that the victim ascended with a buddy and climbed the ladder on his own.

Do either of the people in this thread have any information about what might have contributed to this fatality? Dive profile? Current? Did either of you see him underwater?

Good point. BTW, the divers very red eyes were mentioned. Mask squeeze? Ascended
too fast or w/o breathing?