Female diver found dead in the water at Blue Heron Bridge

[wtcreaux]

I refused to dive with her months ago for multiple reasons, our dive club refused her to dive with us, and she was not medically cleared by her own doctors to continue diving. .

Taken at face value, speaks volumes..........

 

[DelrayDM]

I was there. The diver was due south of the lifeguard 'tower'.

 

[SeahorseDeb]

I came out of the water about half an hour after the women had been taken to the hospital and I can assure you that no one had much of an idea what had happened. The channel 5 TV guy was still at the scene and he had very little information about the incident. Phil Rudin

Over the years I've noticed news media is 1% fact, 99% speculation.....it's all about keeping the viewer "tuned in for more information later." Most news reports don't begin or end with an expert witness from credible sources, there's too much investigation on site in progress. Lastly, most reporters aren't certified divers, they're certified conjecturers. It isn't until much later, perhaps weeks, before they can report a full factual story, and that's from gathering information made public by the investigators who are professionals at what they do. Those of us in these forums seek to learn from any mistakes while understanding a death occurred and respecting that. It also, as mentioned, concludes that tide charts shouldnt be ignored. I've learned alot from accident reports and conclusions here, and I will never stop my quest for knowledge. It reinforces my training and has twice assisted two buddies in distress.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Having spent thirty years as one of those professional investigators I can once again assure all that not much was known about this death from those actually on scene. The rest is pure speculation.

Phil Rudin

 

[dadediver]

As I knew this diver, and had the unfortunate experience of being her buddy before.. I can honestly say this particular diver was an accident waiting to happen. I refused to dive with her months ago for multiple reasons, our dive club refused her to dive with us, and she was not medically cleared by her own doctors to continue diving.

I am saddened for her family, especially as this accident was so very avoidable.

Way to go here. Disparage a recently deceased diver because YOU say she was a bad diver. She isnt here to defend herself and now YOU say she passed away from being a bad diver without any facts to support your feelings towards this person. You sound like a stand up person.

 

[TSandM]

I'm going to defend divingsiren here. If you dive often enough, you are going to run into some people who truly are "accidents waiting to happen". Generally they are people who are either exceeding their experience and skills, or have a poor attitude, or both; sometimes they're people who physically shouldn't be in the water (the diver who repeatedly has to be towed in from the dive site for exhaustion, or the one who is breathless, pale and sweaty from walking the gear to the car). Sometimes you can be of assistance to such folks, and sometimes they have to learn everything the hard way. We had a near-fatality last year (I think it was) where someone got in a mess that everyone had been expecting to happen for some time . . . he was lucky, and survived it.

We have a thing about not speaking ill of the dead; but if there were behaviors or judgment errors that this diver engaged in habitually that may have led to her death, someone else may learn something from knowing about them.

 

[ktomlinson]

Way to go here. Disparage a recently deceased diver because YOU say she was a bad diver. She isnt here to defend herself and now YOU say she passed away from being a bad diver without any facts to support your feelings towards this person. You sound like a stand up person.

I've never understood the never say a bad thing about a dead person mentality. If someone is a rude jerk in life and they die that doesn't absolve them of a lifetime of rudeness. If they ignore warnings of their peers to their peril does death absolve them of their foolishness? Accident analysis is a useful tool, and it's just logical to include a victims attitude in the analysis. Sure it's subjective, but divingsiren did say that s/he dove with the deceased, cited an example of a club deciding the diver was a risk and wasn't welcome, and had been advised by a doctor to not dive.

 

[letterboy]

I've never understood the never say a bad thing about a dead person mentality. If someone is a rude jerk in life and they die that doesn't absolve them of a lifetime of rudeness. If they ignore warnings of their peers to their peril does death absolve them of their foolishness? Accident analysis is a useful tool, and it's just logical to include a victims attitude in the analysis. Sure it's subjective, but divingsiren did say that s/he dove with the deceased, cited an example of a club deciding the diver was a risk and wasn't welcome, and had been advised by a doctor to not dive.

I can only imagine what my ex will say about me when I die...

 

[Crush]

I've never understood the never say a bad thing about a dead person mentality.

In my experience it is even worse if the fatality is a Canadian - the local dive community really seems to close ranks and do everything it can to shut down any discussion or criticism. Belittling speculation is a local favourite. In this one aspect I believe that you Americans have things right - you are willing to delve into many possibilities, and your local reporting seems to be more open.

 

[bilsant]

I heard nothing disparaging in Divingsiren's comment. I heard an opinion about the deceased's skill set based on first hand observation and a description of historical events. Nothing was said suggesting she was a bad person.

What I also heard was the first factual material in this thread about the accident or events leading up to it.