Diver dies in Islamorada

[DandyDon]

In addition the dive buddy of the person aborting the dive would be the escort to safety as, when 1 member of your buddy team is aborting, ideally you both are aborting.

Yeah, well, yes - maybe that should be true, but it doesn't happen. If my buddy aborts early in the dive, I'll see him back to the ladder - then probly catch up to the group. That would depend on the buddy and why he's aborting maybe, but you kinda figure anyone can remove fins and climb a ladder. I might be solo diving until I catch up with the group and even then not part of an organized buddy pair, but as much as it takes for me to get to the ocean and on a boat I'd be very hesitant to blow off a dive because of a buddy's failure to make it.

Worse I guess, if I aborted one early in the water, I'd probly try to suggest my bud go ahead with the group. Never happened to me, but I think so. When I've ran low on air first later in the dive, I've had boat pick buds blow me off for me to ascend alone; that's a little different, and I found someone else to dive with after that. I admit to being an air hog and try to buddy with other hogs, but I do resent ascending alone later in a dive.

Again, a lot of this would depend on several facets of the experience. This particular case was a class, right? In a class, each diver really feels like they are supposed to follow the Inst's lead first.

 

[bsee65]

If this was an AOW course, then the instructor returns the victim to the ladder and the rest wait for his return before descending. It would be outside protocol for students in the process of certifying for AOW to drop to 100fsw unsupervised and wait for the instructor to come back down to them.

 

[David_57]

Say what you will but in my opinion a diver that thumbed the dive at 10ft to 15ft obviously had some kind of problem, considering there was current and high waves said diver should not have been left alone until safely on board!!! Any OP that is not equipped or have procedures in place to deal with this kind of situation should not be a public dive OP period.

 

[reefman]

interesting article in todays key west citizen,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


50s more deadly for divers | KeysNews.com

reefman
key largo

 

[Scott L]

interesting article in todays key west citizen,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


50s more deadly for divers | KeysNews.com

reefman
key largo

Good article...

 

[DandyDon]

Yeah, it's true. But then 50 and over people are more likely to die of a lot of things. Studies show that almost all who died of old age were over 50 even.

 

[Garrobo]

What the hell am I going to do about this 50's thing now that I am 70? Aw shucks.

 

[widget]

Yeah, it's true. But then 50 and over people are more likely to die of a lot of things. Studies show that almost all who died of old age were over 50 even.

 

[rickdean]

I don't know how relevant this is to this particular thread, other than, particularly large seas cause potentially seriously dangerous situations to anyone trying to remove fins, weights, etc, while trying to hold on to a swim platform/ladder. The boat can and will rock up and down hard, with a high potential for knocking someone out cold or worse.

To me, this is one of the more dangerous and physically demanding parts of boat diving. Everyone, no matter how experienced, should be watched carefully during this activity.

 

[biscuit]

While checking to see if autopsy data was available yet, I came across a report that is substantially different from the previously-reported scenario. The biggest difference? It was an interview with her husband/ dive buddy the same day she died. He told a Phoenix News3 reporter that it was a repeat trip from the previous year, including the same boat, and that they were there this time for AOW. At a depth of 12 or 13' she headed back to the surface. He said she was in excellent health but speculated that she lost her grip on the line somehow (this is the first mention I've seen that there was a line) and drifted away. There are U/W photos and a video from last year's dive on News3's website. It was quite eerie listening to the husband talk about the event-- raises more questions than it answers.

azfamily.com/news/local/Surprise-woman-dies-while-diving-with-husband-in-Florida-Keys-91002739.html