Diver Indicted in 2003 GBR mishap

[Dadvocate]

20 pounds is just about 9 kilos, which equates to roughly 4 two-kilo bars. For a small woman of her size, this seems quite a lot with integrated weights. Most integrated pouches have space for two bars (I reckon), so it is possible. I thought someone had her at 38 pounds from earlier on, though.

Keep in mind that what he says she had and what she actually had are two different things.

On one dive I did in Puerto Galera in PG, an American assumed that kilos and pounds are essentially the same thing. He grabbed what he thought was 4 2-pound bars for his belt. Well, it was significantly heavier than he expected. He noticed right away (when he put his belt on) long before he got in the water.

Cheers!

 

[thanksforallthefish]

I believe both the guy who went to the bottom to get her & the diver in the photo were from Mike Ball's boat, so, at least those people were still in the water.

Tape 1 Page 8
WATSON:

ah an you know, sat back down with our BC’s waiting on the boat to come back,
another boat came back er, you know we put our BC’s back on again hooked
everything up and ah walked over to the ladder um, you know to get down on the
boat and ah again we were I think we were last onto the boat so, pretty much we were
sitting in exact the same spots as before, ah and this was the one ah the boat that
Wade who was the trip director or something you know he was, he was on that boat
with a couple of other people and ah we headed back out um you know to the dive
you know, back to the anchor rope and this time since we were in the front ah you
know when we rolled off we were in front of everybody and I told Tina, I said lets go
ahead and get the rope we’re going down​

As far as I can tell he is talking about the second attempt at the dive here, and he says there were other people on the boat, so theer were definitely people from their boat in the water at the same time.

 

[Ayisha]

I believe both the guy who went to the bottom to get her & the diver in the photo were from Mike Ball's boat, so, at least those people were still in the water.

No, they were not. Both the Dr eyewitness and the rescuing instructor, and now that you mention it, the diver in the photo and the accompanying photographer, were all from the OTHER boat. Which is why she was brought up onto the OTHER boat for the attempted rescuscitation.

 

[Ayisha]

Tape 1 Page 8
WATSON:

ah an you know, sat back down with our BC’s waiting on the boat to come back,
another boat came back er, you know we put our BC’s back on again hooked
everything up and ah walked over to the ladder um, you know to get down on the
boat and ah again we were I think we were last onto the boat so, pretty much we were
sitting in exact the same spots as before, ah and this was the one ah the boat that
Wade who was the trip director or something you know he was, he was on that boat
with a couple of other people and ah we headed back out um you know to the dive
you know, back to the anchor rope and this time since we were in the front ah you
know when we rolled off we were in front of everybody and I told Tina, I said lets go
ahead and get the rope we’re going down​

As far as I can tell he is talking about the second attempt at the dive here, and he says there were other people on the boat, so theer were definitely people from their boat in the water at the same time.

There is no question that their own boat divers WERE in the water when they BEGAN their second attempt at the dive. The question is whether their own boat divers were in the water when Gabe COMPLETED his dive and claimed to try to summon their help. Remember that the police claimed that the couple were quite far from the wreck and much further than they were supposed to go as determined by where her body was found. Gabe claimed that the current took her body there. The police claimed that he isolated her from the group. Considering that they started their actual dive much later than everyone else and went much further away, they (he)could easily have finished their dive later than everyone else.

 

[Ayisha]

In the transcript it appears to indicate that Tina was wearing possibly 38lbs, or 17Kg... And he was wearing 13.5Kg.

This is the amount of weight that people are questioning whether it can all fit into the BC alone.

Yes, even 18 - 20 lbs for a slim female in any warm water wetsuit, even in salt water, does sound like a lot. 38 lbs sounds massive.

 

[MikeFerrara]

It would be interesting to know what actual time (ex. 10:30 AM) the other divers (on Gabe's boat) computers showed as their arrival at the ascent line up to and including the safety stop and arrival at the surface in relation to Gabe's actual times. This would show whether it was even possible that they were at the ascent line at the same time.

It would also be interesting to know what exact time the Dr and the rescuer made the discovery according to their computers in relation to Gabe's computer/version of events.

I guess that might be too much to ask to download everyone's computers for comparison, but if they were mostly rentals accessible at the shop, that should be easier for police than if they were customer-owned on different continents.

BTW, getting that much weight strictly into a BC without any type of weight belt would be pretty difficult/impossible in most BC's - especially if she is wearing a pretty small one.

Does anyone know what brand BC's they were wearing? It should be pretty easy to check online for the maximum capacity per weight pocket and the lift capacity for most common brands.

Were they using computers that had time-of-day clocks? None of the computers that I've owned gave time-of-day.

 

[livinoz]

Were they using computers that had time-of-day clocks? None of the computers that I've owned gave time-of-day.

I know mine records the time of day on the surface as well as having a time and date stamp, so I can identify the dives from the log mode or if downloading them onto my computer.

 

[Rick Murchison]

Were they using computers that had time-of-day clocks? None of the computers that I've owned gave time-of-day.

SUUNTO Cobra does...
Rick

 

[bubba105]

No, they were not. Both the Dr eyewitness and the rescuing instructor, and now that you mention it, the diver in the photo and the accompanying photographer, were all from the OTHER boat. Which is why she was brought up onto the OTHER boat for the attempted rescuscitation.

WATSON: oh, I guess we, we got up that morning um probably between six and six-thirty um, you know like I said because we were underneath the kitchen and we could hear pots, pans, walking that kind of stuff ah so we got up um you know and um, excuse me, um I think we went ahead an you know got our bathing suits on things like that and headed upstairs around, it was around seven o’clock ah for breakfast, um I think breakfast is served around seven-fifteen, ah somewhere in there um, Wade came in you know in the middle of while we were eating an you know was basically just saying you know we’re diving the ‘Yongola’, you know it’s said a little bit about the wreck, you know just not nec not condition related stuff but like you know it’s sank in whatever year, how it sank and stuff

I think Wade Singleton, the guy who went to the bottom to get Tina, is from the Spoil Sport. Gabe references Wade in the police interview.



WATSON: ah an you know, sat back down with our BC’s waiting on the boat to come back, another boat came back er, you know we put our BC’s back on again hooked everything up and ah walked over to the ladder um, you know to get down on the boat and ah again we were I think we were last onto the boat so, pretty much we were sitting in exact the same spots as before, ah and this was the one ah the boat that Wade who was the trip director or something you know he was, he was on that boat with a couple of other people and ah we headed back out um you know to the dive you know, back to the anchor rope and this time since we were in the front ah you know when we rolled off we were in front of everybody and I told Tina, I said lets go ahead and get the rope we’re going down

I took this to be the photographer & subject, along with Wade, the dive instructor. The statement about going first brings up another point. If Tina & Gabe went down first, to 45 feet, the top of the wreck, why didn't Wade run into them attempting to get back to the line?

 

[Dadvocate]

That is a legitimate question...

Cheers!