Diver dies in the Keys

[deeper thoughts]

Naples man dies while diving in the Keys
A 55-year-old Naples man died Wednesday while diving Samantha's Reef.

Authorities are awaiting the results of an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

****** was on a charter diving trip aboard the Reef Hopper, based at Captain Hook's Marina & Dive Center in Marathon.

He and his son, ****** surfaced minutes after they and another man from Ontario, Canada, entered the water about 1:15 p.m., the boat captain told Monroe County sheriff's deputies.

*****, who was about 100 feet behind the boat, was told to drop his weight belt, inflate his buoyancy compensator and put his regulator in his mouth, reports say. His son had reboarded the boat. As the boat approached *****, both his son and the captain lost sight of him, reports say.

The captain dove in and found **** near the bottom, with his regulator out of his mouth and his weight belt stuck on his right ankle, reports say. He brought ***** to the surface and breathing aid was administered immediately and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed until the Coast Guard arrived.

The Coast Guard took ***** aboard their vessel and continued CPR until they reached shore.

***** was pronounced dead at Fishermen's Hospital.

Samantha's Reef, a dive for novices, is 3.5 nautical miles south of Key Colony Beach and ranges from 14 feet to 35 feet deep.

Prayers to the family

 

[ecudiver]

best wishes to family and friends

 

[maj75]

Naples man dies while diving in the Keys
A 55-year-old Naples man died Wednesday while diving Samantha's Reef.

He and his son, ****** surfaced minutes after they and another man from Ontario, Canada, entered the water about 1:15 p.m., the boat captain told Monroe County sheriff's deputies.

*****, who was about 100 feet behind the boat, was told to drop his weight belt, inflate his buoyancy compensator and put his regulator in his mouth, reports say. His son had reboarded the boat. As the boat approached *****, both his son and the captain lost sight of him, reports say.

The captain dove in and found **** near the bottom, with his regulator out of his mouth and his weight belt stuck on his right ankle, reports say. He brought ***** to the surface and breathing aid was administered immediately and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed until the Coast Guard arrived.

Story is missing significant information. I am curious about the following:

Why did they surface "minutes" after entering the water?
Why did his "buddy" leave him alone, 100 ft. from the boat?
Why would a weight belt stick to your ankle?
If they just entered the water, his tanks had to be full, why not inflate the BC?
Would his sinking imply that he was overweighted?

Even if I was incapacitated, I would hope that my buddy would inflate my BC, ditch my weights, check my regulator and stay with me.....

 

[Ocean One]

Condolensces to the family, especially the son, friends, crew and fellow divers. Look like Capt. Hook's folks did a great job to effect a rescue and resusciatation....

 

[DennisS]

Story is missing significant information. I am curious about the following:

Why did they surface "minutes" after entering the water?
Why did his "buddy" leave him alone, 100 ft. from the boat?
Why would a weight belt stick to your ankle?
If they just entered the water, his tanks had to be full, why not inflate the BC?
Would his sinking imply that he was overweighted?

Even if I was incapacitated, I would hope that my buddy would inflate my BC, ditch my weights, check my regulator and stay with me.....

and the speculation begins

 

[Steve_Dives]

A sad event for the family, friends, crew, and the other divers. As noted in an earlier post, there already seem to be several things that could have interupted the chain of events.

 

[Web Monkey]

Why would a weight belt stick to your ankle?

If you don't hold it far away from your body, it will tend to drape over your fin.

Weight belts are an idea who's time has come and gone. Except that they're cheap, they should have been replaced by Weight Integrated BCs or harnesses long ago.

Terry

 

[Web Monkey]

If you don't hold it far away from your body, it will tend to drape over your fin.

Weight belts are an idea who's time has come and gone. Except that they're cheap, they should have been replaced by Weight Integrated BCs or harnesses long ago.

Terry

That was assuming he was trying to drop it.

It's also possible it slipped off, in which case it could be stuck over either or both fins.

Terry

 

[Cheekymonkey]

Yea sounds like he tried to drop it, and yea if you don't hold it away your just looking to get it stuck on yourself, which should be a problem, but not deadly since you shouldnt be that overweight in the first place.

 

[Gombessa]

Wow, very sad and frankly confusing circumstances. Presumably, someone in the group has some facts about what led to the death, since it appears they aborted the dive. Hopefully those facts will come out.