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

[bsee65]

We are also lacking the critical piece of information, what was EG doing? We know what Denise was doing, but what was EG doing? No one knows.

Isn't that the point? Shouldn't someone know? Shouldn't someone have been there side by side with her to answer that question, hopefully early enough to have done something about it and maybe prevent the fatality?

Now, maybe water conditions made that impossible, I don't know about fighting current at that level. When buddies separate, do you place the responsibility on the buddy that got in trouble, or the one who didn't realize it was happening?

Maybe the victim was in a place beyond her skill level, maybe she just caught a bad break. Maybe the buddy could have saved her with more vigilence, or maybe they both would have been caught in a nasty current. That matters to those directly involved, but not so much to us. What should matter to us is what we can tajke away from this to be safer divers when we enter the water.

 

[Thalassamania]

I agree completely, a dive where someone just disappears and turns up dead later is, in my mind, almost by definition, a dive that was inadequately planned and poorly conducted.

 

[Shasta_man]

Thanks for this informative tragic post.

Not having read all the discussion, and based on my own experience in currents, I can only guess that a combination of factors came together including the current pushing them away and maybe down. With 2000 lbs in the tank, I think narcosis due to depth. Regardless, a tragic tragic story of a human being.

To be clear, the next comments are meant as tips for future divers, and not about the victim.

My own current experience indicates that fitness is before experience in importance. The current can easily wear you out quick and it isn't just going horizontally. That can be scary when you're already at significant depth. I'd also imagine that most of the people going to the Galapagos aren't cold water divers, and that is a big difference.

 

[NTSilver]

Yes, it was Denise's blog post that I was referencing above. You can read that they were separated because Denise was busy fighting her way down to the bottom while the victim was experiencing whatever difficulty led to her death. The question I ask is, would this have happened if they were maintaining a better formation throughout that would have made it easier and more obvious to detect a partner in trouble sooner? In most cases, it's nice to be closer to your buddy and not wonder if they happen to be out of sight behind a third diver. It is practical to expect better in still waters, but is it even possible when fighting heavy and variable currents? Also, wouldn't it be more critical to regularly glance at your buddy during a difficult segment of a dive? That would be when trouble is most likely to hit, right? We don't know from Denise's comments how long it was between the last positive check and the realization that her partner was lost.

I have been diving in Cocos on several occasions, sometimes with currents, sometimes without. I did a lot of research and really prepared myself mentally as I had never experienced strong currents before. Luckily my husband is my dive buddy so he and I were able to discuss and plan what to do in currents. It does not sound to me like the group may not have been totally prepared for the amount of currents they might experience at that particular site and what to do when they did (but that is just what I am inferring from the original story). Unfortunately, it sounds like Mr Bisnar was not even prepared for the currents after waiting for 30 years for this trip of a lifetime.

 

[K_girl]

Knowing your limits in strong currents is the key. I am a mild asthmatic, so I am always aware of overexertion. My sister and I got dropped into a 2.5 knot current one time. The granny line was run only to the front of the boat and not all the way to the anchor line. No one could make it to the anchor line. Top of the reef was at 80 feet, all we could do was follow the anchor line. I fell behind everyone else, but determined not to overexert myself, get to the reef, then crawl back to the anchor line.

Two people came back from that dive said they felt like they couldn't breathe and were starting to panic and couldn't control rapid breathing. What people don't realize is - if you overexert yourself, you begin over-breathing the reg - it can't deliver. Then you are breathing back your own carbon dioxide. This causes you to hypoventilate (different from hyperventilation), your body begins rapid breathing, you cannot control it either mentally or physically once it starts. If it continues it can lead to panic, unconsciousness or heart attack. Bottom line - avoid overexertion at all costs. If you find yourself in uncontrolled rapid breathing, it is not your reg, you are not necessarily having a heart attack, STOP, RELAX, the rapid breathing will subside.

Typically, the strong current situtation is a problem right from the beginning of the dive and this problem will rear its ugly head very quickly into the dive, so you will usually have enough air in your tank to deal with the situation.

If you find yourself in this situation, you have to give yourself top priority. Don't worry about keeping up with your buddy or the group, worry about yourself and if you understand what is happening to your body, it does not have to escalate into panic.

Hypoventilation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypoventilation (too much carbon dioxide in the blood)

Hyperventilation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperventilation (not enough carbon dioxide in the blood - that is why they have you breathe into a bag, to increase your carbon dioxide)

 

[InTheDrink]

Knowing your limits in strong currents is the key. I am a mild asthmatic, so I am always aware of overexertion. My sister and I got dropped into a 2.5 knot current one time. The granny line was run only to the front of the boat and not all the way to the anchor line. No one could make it to the anchor line. Top of the reef was at 80 feet, all we could do was follow the anchor line. I fell behind everyone else, but determined not to overexert myself, get to the reef, then crawl back to the anchor line.

Two people came back from that dive said they felt like they couldn't breathe and were starting to panic and couldn't control rapid breathing. What people don't realize is - if you overexert yourself, you begin over-breathing the reg - it can't deliver. Then you are breathing back your own carbon dioxide. This causes you to hypoventilate (different from hyperventilation), your body begins rapid breathing, you cannot control it either mentally or physically once it starts. If it continues it can lead to panic, unconsciousness or heart attack. Bottom line - avoid overexertion at all costs. If you find yourself in uncontrolled rapid breathing, it is not your reg, you are not necessarily having a heart attack, STOP, RELAX, the rapid breathing will subside.

Typically, the strong current situtation is a problem right from the beginning of the dive and this problem will rear its ugly head very quickly into the dive, so you will usually have enough air in your tank to deal with the situation.

If you find yourself in this situation, you have to give yourself top priority. Don't worry about keeping up with your buddy or the group, worry about yourself and if you understand what is happening to your body, it does not have to escalate into panic.

Hypoventilation: Hypoventilation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (too much carbon dioxide in the blood)

Hyperventilation: Hyperventilation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (not enough carbon dioxide in the blood - that is why they have you breathe into a bag, to increase your carbon dioxide)

I find it difficult to input given my level of experience. But it is essential to understand not to fight the current.

Make sure you have something that will get you picked up after but in any kind of current (and it doesn't have to be that big) make sure you are the person in control and not the current. That might mean going with it.

Fighting a current of any strength is nearly pointless and often worse than that.

Think first. Can you get beyond this current to your target?
Yes, ok proceed with caution
No, plan B. Don't flail on plan A with no chance of success. Go to Plan B - go with the current.

As long as you have air and are at the surface you have every chance of survival.

N.B. The Galapagos may be somewhat challenging - but only in the same way many dive sites can be. It is no Everest nor even Kilimanjaro. It's just another dive location where strong currents may be present.

J

 

[Bob DBF]

To be clear, the next comments are meant as tips for future divers, and not about the victim.

My own current experience indicates that fitness is before experience in importance. The current can easily wear you out quick and it isn't just going horizontally. That can be scary when you're already at significant depth. I'd also imagine that most of the people going to the Galapagos aren't cold water divers, and that is a big difference.

Actually the statement you make shows that the experience of current and cold water diving are vitally important to the decisions to be made in those conditions. Fitness is important but experience will call the dive and focus on getting safely to the surface rather than continuing a plan which is going badly assuming your fitness will overcome your problems.

Experience is what gives you the ability to see when conditions are deteriorating and understand that the plan has to be changed accordingly even if the dive has to be aborted.

Bob

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Actually the statement you make shows that the experience of current and cold water diving are vitally important to the decisions to be made in those conditions. Fitness is important but experience will call the dive and focus on getting safely to the surface rather than continuing a plan which is going badly assuming your fitness will overcome your problems.

Experience is what gives you the ability to see when conditions are deteriorating and understand that the plan has to be changed accordingly even if the dive has to be aborted.

Bob

I'll go for brains over brawn in a dive buddy any day thanks:blinking:

 

[Wise Eagle]

Scuba Diving Fatality - Galapagos - February 12, 2010 - E.G.
Written February 14, 2010

There have been many comments added to this story, they can be seen on the blog where this article was orgianlly posted. Becuase I am a new member here I can not post a link. However, the article can be found by Googling this article's title.

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

While I firmly believe there are many safety precautions we as operators can take and we as divers can take and while this was certainly a horrible tragedy, accidents can, and do, happen everywhere. Subsequent to this, a Navy seal died in shallow water in Florida, a diver died in a Maine lake, a man died in Cozumel and six divers were poisoned from bad air in Cozumel.

I read through all accidents reported /discussed because I think there are lessons to be learned. This happened in the Galapagos, but it could have happened anywhere. Becoming mentally prepared for the specifics of any dive trip is part of a diver's responsibility, but instilling fear of a destination could backfire. So much of dive safety is mental, no? So no to complacency and no to over-dramatizing. Many divers safely dive the Galapagos every single day. And it is so very worth it or people wouldn't dream of doing it as a result of all the people who rave about doing it.