I was down there with my Peak Performance Buoyancy class, but another instructor I know had her Open Water class elect to defer a third dive until Sunday. Not easy discussions to have with students at any level. We all need to take our physical condition, and any health issues seriously or incidents like this can happen.
Diver recovered unresponsive - San Carlos Beach, Monterey, California
- Thread starter DandyDon
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Jeffrey Compton
New
Thank you for your heartfelt post and description of the events, Rebecca. A sad day indeed.
Jeffrey
Jeffrey
BikerBecca
Contributor
It was, and still is, a difficult experience. I don't know what is bothering me more. What I witnessed or the fact that I was not in the water looking for him. The latter is weighing the heaviest. I wish I was part of the rescue/recovery team.
Becca, for what it is worth. My co-instructor and I offered to join the search team. They were not allowing anyone in the water to search at that point. Had they not found him I suspect they would have probably expanded the search effort and drafted in some additional help to assist. So there was really nothing you, I, or anyone else could have done at that point but wait and hope for a positive outcome.
Mark
BikerBecca
Contributor
They needed to limit the divers in the water so they could move the boats in closer. Too many divers in the water and they could end up turning one rescue into two or more. I agree with you and was ready to go out and help search. The Incident Commander will make the decision on how they are going to proceed with that search, and decided at that time they had sufficient resources in the water to handle the search.
Mark
BikerBecca
Contributor
Yes it did.
Ghost Diver #
Contributor
Im truly sorry guys, I’m sorry that you had to witness something like that, and now have to deal with emotions that follow. These types of things are never easy and there are few words that can help...so I hope it’s comforting that many people are thinking of you and wishing you better days.
Everyone processes events like this differently. It was sad to see, and I am sure that it will be very hard on his family and friends. This should be a wake-up call for all of us to take our own health and physical condition more seriously. Deal with any health issues you may have, and if you need to step back and take a break from diving to address a health issue by all means step back.
I had an Open Water class a few weeks ago, and despite being told three times to review the Medical Statement one student showed up and answered YES to one question. He then proceeded to blow up and create a scene in the classroom. During that blow up he also revealed he answered NO to a question on recreational drug use. He went downstairs and yelled at the shop staff for a while but never got his way. It was OK with me, I did not want to put a smoker who uses recreational drugs and has an anger management issue in the water.
I had an Open Water class a few weeks ago, and despite being told three times to review the Medical Statement one student showed up and answered YES to one question. He then proceeded to blow up and create a scene in the classroom. During that blow up he also revealed he answered NO to a question on recreational drug use. He went downstairs and yelled at the shop staff for a while but never got his way. It was OK with me, I did not want to put a smoker who uses recreational drugs and has an anger management issue in the water.
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