Diver missing on Spiegel Grove - Key Largo Florida

[COWSskateGOOD]

A friend of mine is good friends with one involved in this dive (also a Paramedic) Subbed for updates..... God bless his family and friends.

 

[ianr33]

A post on Cavediver stated "he had no overhead training and was in OW gear" provided that is true there really is no lesson here.

He made his choice as a trained diver and died.

 

[Jax]

My opinion here, having known Jim since 1994 and Joe since 2011, is that sometimes things go wrong. Both of these guys were well trained with plenty of experience, and from what sterlunk said, were properly equipped and conditions were favorable. What happened here, as with many dive accidents, was likely a cascading set of events that were not that serious on their own. However, when a series of seemingly insignificant problems comes together in a certain way, they add up to catastrophe.

I beg your pardon, sharpenu, but I am throwing the Bull**** flag on this statement.

The were, at least, not properly equipped. Reels and a pony is not proper equipment. As for well trained - did both have an advanced wreck card?

*I* have had Adv Wreck training, but didn't finish the certification dives. I do not go into wrecks unless with an adv wreck instructor.

This sad outcome is *exactly* the reason why. You either embrace "don't dive beyond your training and experience", or you don't. Period.

I'm sorry your friend died, but this is the hard truth.

 

[MalibuJerry]

So, can we have the facts: What was their gear? how much air/nitrox/mix were they carrying? what was their training and experience in overhead environments? how many lights, cutting devices? Does anyone actually know as this is key to understanding this accident.

 

[BishopSA]

The irony here might be that if it was a double dip and these divers had planned an engine room run, a single planned decompression dive would have left them with a lot more in terms of gas reserves during an emergency.

 

[Mark Michaud SELAUSAR]

A single bottle of any size and a pony is not ever the proper equipment for a legitimate penetration dive. This was a legitimate penetration dive. If you are on a sunken vessel with lots of holes for entry and exit there is a bit for forgiveness built in. This dive is plenty deep enough to force mandatory decompression in a penetration dive. Doubles (side-mount is double), proper gas planning and management (including possible deco gas), multiple lights, including a strong primary and enough reels and or spools for a safe dive and an emergency are just the start for descending multiple levels and all overhead.
Many dives without an incident does not equate to experience..............only luck. I hear a lot of talk about being certified for a dive. That's fine, but what is more important is that you are qualified for the dive you undertake. Whether or not the operation figured they would penetrate the vessel does not matter. In scuba diving I am responsible for my actions on a dive I choose to make.

In the end a man lost his life. He chose to use a single bottle and a pony. He chose to penetrate a vessel after being instructed not to. The biggest reason operations don't want you to penetrate and do deco dives is they are on a schedule. This is how they make a living. They are only responsible for a dive brief. In Florida it has been long established, by the courts, that a diver is responsible for the choices he or she makes. This diver made a choice and it cost him his life. It is unfortunate and, so very, sad for his friends and family. It does not make him a bad person. It makes him human and a man who made a choice that cost him dearly. It has happened before and will happen again.

In personal responsibility this means we should be frank about what happened and make sure we don't make those same mistakes. Mistakes were made. If all of us don't recognize this, and learn from it then his passing is for nothing. It happened. No one can change the outcome. What we can do is realize, we have, all, been this man in our own lives. We have made dives we weren't really prepared for. We have had drinks and then got behind a wheel and were thankful later we did not hurt any one or ourselves. We are humans. That's what humans do.

If I got the story correct this man was a public servant, a firefighter I believe. I can tell you that most of us in police and fire service will say this......If I die doing something stupid, learn from it and talk about it. If I do something I should have foreseen and it got me killed, talk about it and learn from it. If I try something new and it gets me killed, talk about it and learn from it. By virtue of who we are we tend to be risk takers. We run towards the fire, towards the gunfire and toward those who will harm the helpless. Sometimes we take risks that we should not because, well, because we just do. That's who we are and what makes us good at our profession when this "risk taking" is tempered with good sense and time.

To the Deceased diver......Rest in Peace and may we all take something from your experience that makes us better people and safer divers. Mark

 

[kwinter]

A single bottle of any size and a pony is not ever the proper equipment for a legitimate penetration dive.

+1
IIRC from the 2007 incident, those guys were also diving single tanks, but they had at least staged some additional tanks outside the wreck. Unfortunately they didn't find their way back to the same exit. I went with the survivor of that incident on his first return dive to the wreck a few years ago, but this time on a rebreather. We found our way back to the same spot. It was a sobering event for me, and I'm sure much more emotional for him. But the additional gas removed the time pressure and made the dive not only safer, but more enjoyable.

My condolences go not only to the victim's family, but also to the surviving buddy. It is a trauma that will never go away.

 

[Lorenzoid]

The Scuba Do release form ( http://scuba-do.com/documents/divingrelease_new.pdf) would seem to permit planned deco (if trained) but does prohibit overhead and penetration diving. I wonder if the divers modified their release forms before they signed them.

I also don't see anything on that release form that says it cannot be modified orally.

 

[Wookie]

I also don't see anything on that release form that says it cannot be modified orally.

Only in the dreams of Personal Injury lawyers would anyone allow a release to be modified orally. What the release says, and what the divemaster briefed in front of witnesses will be upheld in court. If there was a disconnect between the two, perhaps there would be a case. It doesn't seem that there was such a disconnect.

 

[SFLDiver3445]

I was on the SG yesterday morning and happened to run across a diver placing a sign on the wreck in honor of the the lost diver. I was taking pictures at the time, so like any good photographer, snapped a shot: