Galapagos Scuba Diving Fatality - February 12, 2010 - Eloise Gale

[champ]

I also was on the Aggressor trip Feb 11-18. My thoughts and prayers go out to the deceased's family and friends.

After returning to port I googled the deceased's name to see if I could find an obituary. I was very dissapointed in both the forum of John Bisnar's original blog referenced at the start of this thread and and the use of the deceased name in discussing the accident (assuming permission from the family was not granted). While I have benefited from discussions about SCUBA related accidents, listing the deceased name could be difficult for the family - especially with many well intentioned postings being speculative.

John Bisnar has since changed his blog to only refer to the initials of the deceased (without any contact by myself). Everyone on the boat was deeply affected by this accident and I don't think he had any bad intentions by listing her name.

Given the fact that the original article has been changed and the rules of the Accidents/Incidence threads, I do not think the deceased's name should be used. Grover48 originally listed an article per the thread rules. I contacted him but he is not able to change the post for some reason, so I also contacted the thread moderators.

Attached below are the tread rules:

Originally Posted by Rick Murchison
The purpose of this forum is the promotion of safe diving through the examination and discussion of accidents and incidents; to find lessons we can apply to our own diving.
Accidents, and incidents that could easily have become accidents, can often be used to illustrate actions that lead to injury or death, and their discussion is essential to building lessons learned from which improved safety can flow. To foster the free exchange of information valuable to this process, the "manners" in this forum are much more tightly controlled than elsewhere on the board. In addition to the TOS:

(1) You may not release any names here, until after the names have appeared in the public domain (articles, news reports, sheriff's report etc.) The releasing report must be cited. Until such public release, the only name you may use in this forum is your own.
(2) Off topic posts will be removed and off topic comments will be edited.
(3) No flaming, name calling or otherwise attacking other posters. You may attack ideas; you may not attack people.
(4) No trolling; no blamestorming. Mishap analysis does not lay blame, it finds causes.
(5) No "condolences to the family" here. Please use our Passings Forum for these kinds of messages.
(6) If you are presenting information from a source other than your own eyes and ears, cite the source.
(7) If your post is your hypothesis, theory, or a "possible scenario," identify it as such.
Thanks in advance,
Rick

 

[DandyDon]

My condolences to the family, friends and those who were on the Aggressor with her.

Some may be interested in this: Eloise' dive buddy, Denise, has responded at John Bisnar's blog:

"I’ll add to John’s note, a few insights that may help in consideration for diving safety. First off, E.G. and I were not as far as part as these comments are beginning to allude towards and it does concern me that it is becoming portrayed that way.

During our first checkout dive the day before the accident, E.G. assembled all her equipment properly and seemed very comfortable with the gear. She had a new Suunto Gekko dive computer and asked the gentleman sitting next to her on the dive bench about the controls. He was the most experienced diver on the boat and probably the one I would have also asked for advice about setting up the computer."

Cont. here:
Scuba Diving Fatality - Galapagos - February 12, 2010 - E.G. :: California Injury Blog


PS. Since it was mentioned earlier. For those who are curious, the above is considered Fair Use under copyright standards. To copy an entire article, or even 50 percent of it is technically a copyright violation. Nobody has to file for copyrights any longer to protect their work / content. With regards to exposure, SB is protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as an ISP as long as the content is removed after written request by the owner of the content.

Thanks for pointing that out. I went back to tha link and read Denise's post, which shed a new light on the separation I issue I had wondered about. I feel similar: If we are buddies, we should dive together where each and see and quickly reach the other - not one following so the one can't know. The rest of her post there is certainly worth finding and reading.

She is an experienced liveaboard divemaster and tech diver. I'll vouch for her anytime.

Any liveaboard DM Capt Wookie vouches for has to be a good one.

Grover, I am curious as to where your brother got this article, as I could not find anything else with this information posted on the net?
I have dove in the Galapagos several times, so I am curious about this post.

There are several listings on the net. Search her name.

Really? Everything isnt meant, nor intended to be owned. Even if the author didnt want his article to be reprinted, I dont think it should matter, especially when the information benefits the community and could possibly save another persons life.

While it is technically copyrighted and SB will removed it if he asks, I doubt that he objects.

 

[dpaustex]

I think any death from an accident is horrible. My sympathies to this woman's family.

With any accident, there can be information used for others in the future, to perhaps avoid the same fate.

In reading the threads, (on this subject, and many others), it seems people forget that some trips are a bit more "extreme" than others. Worse, people think that if they pay for something, that payment entitles them to a safe trip, and a "party" time. Too much Disneyland-type expectation.

I dove the Galapagos late last October. I went by myself, and joined a group of 3 Americans, 2 Japenese, and 10 Russians, on a liveaboard. All of the liveaboards do essentially the same "route" in the islands, and start with a shallow water check-out dive, then a lesser island, then out to Wolf and Darwin.

From my own perspective, it became quickly evident that there were some inexperienced divers on the boat. However, I was alone, and buddied up with another diver.

Our guide gave an excellent and detailed dive briefing prior to each and every dive. He discussed all of the pertinent information, in great detail.

But this is where I start to diverge from what people think the DM's job is. The DM isn't supposed to hold your hand. YOU are responsible for yourself, which includes diving within your own limits, doing your own buddy check (which includes gear check, air, etc.), and discussing hand signals, lost buddy procedures, etc. prior to the dive. This is taught in every agency's open water class (and I happen to be an AOWI, too, and teach it over and over).

But back to the boat.... The operator requires everyone to be at least AOW certified, and actually asks for a diving resume. It was obvious, after the very first dive, that about half of the people lied through their teeth, as evidenced by poor buoyancy control, and general lack of skills. The other half of us "rebelled", and told the DM that we were not diving with the rest of the folks, period. The DM wisely split the group up, with the most advanced divers being in one ponga, doing more of the difficult stuff, and the other group playing it a bit safer.

In terms of the currents, nothing I have ever read says the Galapagos is easy. In fact, almost everything I read cautioned about the strong currents, the unusual eddy's, down-currents, etc. I dive a lot, but found myself at the whim of the currents in a few situations including feeling unusual ear pressure when my buoyancy was perfect, only to find myself being rapidly pushed down by a strong down-current, that was impossible to swim against (a little help from my BC inflator on that one, while kicking up, too). The point being, the conditions are tough, and you better understand your ability to control yourself in currents, both horizontal and vertical.

As for your buddy, you really have to rely on yourself. This means top-notch gear, in top-notch shape. This also means that if you think having some card that says you're some type of diver, based only on a controlled training environment, instead of actually having done some more difficult dives, then you're mistaken. Too many stressors lead to panic, or the inevitable "snow-ball" effect, where if you don't deal with the stressors as they happen, they snow ball into full blown panic. These stressors include the mental knowledge the dive is tough, using new gear for the first time, the new entry (back roll), the currents, and the temperature. These all hit you at once. Not for the feint-of-heart (and it is recommended in the Stress-and-Rescue courses to minimize the number of stressors, especially the timing of them).

I would love to go back to the Galapagos, on a live aboard. However, my only downside in going is some of the people I met that really don't belong there, from an experience standpoint. Yes, that's a cold and hard perception, but I have been on too many trips, where people think that if they can afford it, the operator is going to bail them out, and that it must be safe, right? Wrong. When you are in the water, the DM is there to show you where to go (and in the case of the Galapagos Park Rules, required). It is not their job to teach you how to dive (and no agency allows a DM to actually "teach" skills). Worse, I don't want someone's inexperience killing another diver, who the first diver may think "it's their job" to rescue them.

In terms of experience, I simply have seen too many paying customers on trips, that think if they have been diving in exotic locations (albeit with no current), that makes them "qualified" to do high-current diving. Sad fact is, it doesn't. But I still believe that the job the live aboards do in the islands is a good one. But the real bottom line is that it is truly an advanced trip (from an overall experience standpoint, in similar conditions), with some wonderful diving. The conditions are challenging, with known current issues, but the currents are what brings the big pelagics. But it isn't Disneyland, folks.

The rest of us have no idea what really happened. Unfortunately, statistics say most panicked divers die with their weights in, and air in their tank. Sadly, I saw the comment that the woman was missing her mask. Perhaps the current ripped it off (yes, the current can be that strong), and she didn't practice her mask removal skills enough, and it caused problems. Yes, it's preaching, but I see 95% of people I talk to on trips that NEVER practice mask removal at depth, saying "I've never done it, except when I got certified".

This is a relatively safe sport. However, part of the safety comes from knowing your own gear (which is why I never rent on a trip, but drag all my stuff with me because I know every single deflator pull location, etc.), knowing and practicing your own skills, and - above all - knowing what to do if something goes wrong (current twists your mask around on your face, current takes you for a ride, etc).

This woman was a teacher, so she deserves a hat's off to her for her profession. Unfortunately, accidents do happen, but this one does not appear (at least initially) to be from gear failure.

Very sad.

 

[scorpiofish]

I'm a little late to the post. I think Keith's post explains much.

I've been to the Galapagos 3 times, all on the Aggressor II. The conditions on each trip were quite different and variable. We had some very new, inexperienced, and/or rusty divers on two of the trips. All completed the week without incident.

Almost all divers can handle the typical dive in most all dive locations. The reality is that any dive has the potential to create a difficult situation that most divers have never faced. And when dives go to hell, sometimes people don't react well.

One of the critical factors is the destination itself. The problem is that in the Galapagos, the probability of a dive going to hell is much higher than other locations and they can go to hell in big way. I've seen some odd events during those three trips. The odds of staying close to your buddy during a dive is fairly low. Unless you are physically holding on to each other, you have the potential of becoming separated even after surfacing.

The second critical factor is training/experience. The greater the training and experience, the greater the chances of an appropriate response to bad situation. But no one really can know how a diver will react until it happens, regardless of training or experience, if they have never faced a dive from hell.

I've been caught in some hairy situations. I think the biggest lesson I've learned in those bad situations was watch your gauges and get your arse back to the surface as quickly as possible without getting bent.

 

[Web Monkey]

I've been caught in some hairy situations. I think the biggest lesson I've learned in those bad situations was watch your gauges and get your arse back to the surface as quickly as possible without getting bent.

That's pretty much it. I've done a number of high-current dives, and the water doesn't really care what your "plan" is. If it's not cooperating, the only direction you have control over is "up" (if you're lucky).

Terry

 

[tc]

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A ScubaBoard Staff Message...

Thread reopened after cleanup.

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[merxlin]

No, odd numbered buddy teams are not unsafe for the right teams. But one insta-buddy is hard, two would be harder.

I don't think I said they would separate buddies. But they do seem to stay to that strict 7+7 arrangement. So if you and 7 friends are diving together, I'm curios how they would handle that.

I received a reply from the Aggressor on the boat arrangement. Each boat will hold 10 people: a driver, a DM/Guide and up to 8 divers. So there really is no reason to have odd numbers of divers (i.e. a diver that would have to "buddy" with the DM) unless there are agreed upon teams of 3 that wish to dive together.

 

[widget]

This kind of accident always upsets me because, really, its avoidable.

I have dived the Galapagos as well, and, although the conditions are harder than some other areas, they are no more difficult than many of the dive's off our coast line.

Whatever happened to the young lady in question,the point that concerns me is it appears she was left behind, I am sure this was unintentional but never the less, it appears this way.

In my humble opinion this was the very crux of the issue, it seems there may also have been incompatible matches in the group (ie) some divers been a lot more experienced and perhaps younger and fitter than others, a too fast pace set for some under water by the guide, then, feeling alone, stressed and uncomfortable, perhaps anxious they will be left behind or lost, divers start working harder, probably start hyperventilating, panic sets in, they become fixated, and, thats when things start spiralling out of control.

I always stress listening to our little inner voice, we all have one, and sometimes it starts talking to you before you even get wet, - "this is not working for me, I am not comfortable, I am getting out of my depth here" - honestly, I cant stress it enough, if you feel uncomfortable at any stage of a dive, rather STOP and get out, theres always tomorrow, sort out the issue, get comfortable, and when you feel the time is right, try again.

 

[merxlin]

General question here but germane to this discussion as several people have questioned the DM and the diver's buddy's actions: Can a DM on a resort dive like this lead a group as a dive guide and also serve as a DM to help in case of a diver emergency? Is it reasonable to expect that in deep water with currents? In heavy kelp? Should any diver expect or depend on a DM in a large group as a measure of safety?

 

[DoctorBob]

General question here but germane to this discussion as several people have questioned the DM and the diver's buddy's actions: Can a DM on a resort dive like this lead a group as a dive guide and also serve as a DM to help in case of a diver emergency? Is it reasonable to expect that in deep water with currents? In heavy kelp? Should any diver expect or depend on a DM in a large group as a measure of safety?

I am guessing that these are rhetorical questions, but if you are looking for answers with respect to the Galapagos, all of the answers to the above questions are no.
A place like the Galapagos is not like a resort dive where you have a bunch of divers following a guide around a reef. When I was there,The divemasters were there in the water with us, and gave us a pre dive briefing, but we were responsible for our own profile. Everyone had EPIRBs in case you got lost. If we wanted to we could follow the dive master, because they were good at finding stuff, but we never expected them to keep checking on us every 30 seconds. Because in high current and low vis that is all the time it would take to become completely separated.

Now if you are talking about resort diving in warm water with a bunch of new divers, there might be a different expectation. I have been on some resort dives where there is one divemaster leading the group and another bringing up the rear an d above making sure everyone was ok. This is typically the arrangement on so called "cattle boats" where you have 20 or more divers. I have no interested in this type of diving, but if someone is a new diver this may be a good way to get experience.

I guess I would say if you are not comfortable diving with only our dive buddy and without a divemaster, you should probably not be diving in the Galapagos, or anywhere where there is high current, low visibility, overhead environments or risk of entanglement.