Diver injury in palm beach 6/29/13

[danvolker]

Sportxlh: hey man it's ok just remember because someone joins a site and has 3 posts doesn't mean they don't know anything for all you know they can be diving every single day and don't have time to sit at a computer or smart phone and post on SB all the time. So yes I can take your apology but I was also a little annoyed kind of like judging a book by its cover. If you looked at my profile I'm a rescue diver so I know what is entailed if some one has dci or dcs. Thank you

Sportxlh is a local diver, one quite active in diving the Palm Beach area.
Many of us would wonder why someone we have never heard from before, would be posting about a dive accident in the Florida diving forum....It does beg the question as to whether or not there is an "agenda" to the post, whether this is for a law suit and background research for it....or if it was from someone with a marketing angle they were hoping to create.... There is a forum for discussion of diving accidents...the thinking here is that this is the place where you might learn from the mistakes of others.
If in fact, if this is your intention, I personally am fine with the post being here ( though there are site moderators that get rabid about forum specific postings going to places they don't think they belong )
If it is a legal or liability "quest" , then many of us would see this as ambulance chasing, and it would not be appreciated.

In a very real sense, you just walked into a big "cafe" , sat down at our table, and started chatting with a bunch of people that don't know you. If this was literal, instead of "virtual", what kind of reaction would you expect from the group?

What is it that you want to know, and where are you going with this?



As to some of our reactions to an accident like this....my first impression is that this may be yet another example of current training standards being so lax that divers are getting turned out that don't really grasp the issues about depth and duration. Was this the graduate of one of those huge classes seen flailing along the bottom at the BHB Marine park, clearly not receiving the quality of instruction that the majority of us would want them to --or...was this a guy that received good training, but became complacent ---due to peer attitudes, cultural failures in the youth demographic to understand the differences between the Gaming World and the Real World....etc....?

But we don't know, and I don't think that it really is really likely that anyone that would know this, would be inclined to share....

 

[purepursuit]

Dan he's an avid diver not an attorney. He was legitimately interested in the case. I'll sit down at your cafe table and take a bite of your ceviche buddy!

 

[TSandM]

I actually don't think it's very rare for someone's first post to be asking about an incident or accident. I think that wanting to know what happened to someone locally (and sometimes, just who it was) brings lurkers out of the woodwork.

I know my first reaction to hearing there was an incident or accident in Puget Sound is whether it was someone I know, and the second reaction is to wonder what happened. ScubaBoard's a pretty good place to ask, because there are so many people here.

 

[uncfnp]

Sportxlh: hey man it's ok just remember because someone joins a site and has 3 posts doesn't mean they don't know anything for all you know they can be diving every single day and don't have time to sit at a computer or smart phone and post on SB all the time. So yes I can take your apology but I was also a little annoyed kind of like judging a book by its cover. If you looked at my profile I'm a rescue diver so I know what is entailed if some one has dci or dcs. Thank you

And just so you'll know, sportxlh is one of the most helpful and considerate posters on the Florida forum which i think you will see if you spend much time here. When I first started diving S. Florida and looking for shore sites, he was most helpful to this then newbie.

SB is a great site but not for the faint of heart. So put on a thick suit and jump in...

 

[Diver Don JUAN]

Hey danvolker no need to tell me who is a local diver or not if someone is concerned about an accident then I will post about being concerned. No I'm not a lawyer either are you. Probably not so I don't think for you to question me is in the right. Just concerned that's all. No one has to have 5 million posts to be concerned about a situation. But I see that being concerned is such a big deal to everyone. Have a nice day. THE END

 

[sportxlh]

Sportxlh, How deep was the first dive and what was the surface interval you guys had.

Everyone dives their own profile: the sites were Area 51 (dive 1) and Spadefish (dive 2). One can dive as shallow as 70 feet if one stays right at the edge of the reef ledge (probably even shallower on top of the reef, a few feet east of the edge) and can dive down to about 90 feet or so in the sand. While I went down to 90 feet on both dives, I remained between 70-80 feet most of the time and got a 50 minute dive including safety stop on the first dive. I was the second to last diver to reboard. My surface interval was 45 minutes so working backwards, if the air divers followed the 25 minute recommendation of the Captain on dive #1, then took 6 minutes to surface and take a safety stop, they would have had more than an hour of SI. I've observed in the past that the Capt is careful in ensuring air divers get a minimum interval of 60 minutes.

I failed to mention that the Capt suggested that air divers go no deeper than the edge of the reef top on dive #2 since it would impact their bottom time: as I already mentioned at least one air diver was with me at about 80 feet at about the 30 minute mark: I don't know how long he was that deep, only that he choose to ignore the Capt's advice. I also don't know if that particular air diver I saw under water was also the diver that was injured.

I don't work for JDC but am a very happy customer who dives with them fairly often. I over reacted to Diver Don's post because I've seen trolling on other sites regarding motorcycle accidents (e.g. slezzy attorney looking to blame an event sponsor when it was the riders own fault that he got drunk and crashed or did something else stupid to endanger himself). By the way, I don't have any issue with attorneys as a group: I work with several and they are stand up type people: I just don't like ambulance chasing attorneys looking for a fee when none is really deserved.

Regarding Diver Don and my interaction: I've apologized to Diver Don and he's accepted my apology. I'd like to move on from my ill advised rant and making Don feel unwelcomed on SB. I'm glad we have another experienced diver in Jupiter that will add to the SB community.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Do you know if the two young air divers were using computers? Dropping kids on a reef and then telling them to stay above it and not look under any ledges etc. is.. well..... not practical in my mind.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Their certified. They should know better. Can't babysit everybody.. They chose to go out on that boat and knew (or should have asked) beforehand where the boat was going..

 

[iluvtheocean]

true Jenny... whether they are diving Tables or Computers - dive planning should be part of any dive & should follow it - even if it's just a shallow shore dive. And since the Captain/DM was aware there was air divers and actually suggested depth/time maxs -- let the diver beware.

 

[Amazz]

Why someone would dive without a computer today is perplexing (They're so inexpensive now a days). Sport I assume you work for JDC in some capacity and you were trying to protect the operation from criticism.

loads of gear, it would be normal to wonder why someone would dive without a computer. But take a good look next time you are on a crowded dive boat. Look at the age of the divers. It's not a sport for the poor or young who have little disposable income. Heck, the only reason I can dive so much is that I work in the industry and get some financial perks. It's probably a $125 day if you have to rent all of the gear and that mostly doesn't include a computer. 25 minutes for air dives are pretty tried and true for most recreational Jupiter dive sites. However, the crew can only provide instruction and do little if divers refuse to follow directions. I always hate when accidents hit the media. So many assumptions are made that are quite often baseless. Perhaps he wasn't bent at all. Or maybe he was doing too much yo yo diving. Thanks Sportx for the info. We hear little blurbs but had no idea what happened.