Wow this is sooo sad to hear of her death. My heart goes out to her family and loved ones. This seems like a unfortunate death.
Having been on the Galapagos Aggressor twice in 2003 and 2006, I have first hand knowledge of the operation and conditions there. Of course crews change often so my DM's and crews have moved on I'm sure to other jobs. From my personal experience, all of our dive briefings were thorough and complete. They always told always to follow the yellow tank, ie DM. Of course once you are all in the water, people tend to do their own thing. And the DM cannot babysit each and every diver unless they had been instructed to do so prior to the dive. I remember our DM (Cris Merz) telling us a story of a 80 year old woman who did the charter. She was too weak to hang on to the rocks in the strong current. So she had her own personal DM who literally drift dived with her making pass after pass at Wolf and Darwin. The panga would pick them up and take them back up current and drop them in again. Bless her heart! Can any of us imagine our mother at 80 doing such a trip?
I am a Delaware and New Jersey cold water NAUI trained diver, age 42. I have been diving for 20+ years, 19 of which have been in a Viking dry suit. I have completed NAUI Advanced diver and rescue diver, thats all. But what do have is loads of experience in all kinds of underwater conditions. Since 90% of my dives have been local off the coasts of Jersey and Delaware, I have experienced all kinds of conditions from brail diving, 10 ft seas, strong currents and very cold temps to name a few. We always brag, that if you dive regularly in New Jersey, you can dive anywhere in the world.
But even with this experience, me and my travel mates were truly concerned and even scared about the currents in Galapagos prior to our first trip in 2003. Not to mention all of the large pelagic activity there. From all of our readings, they were legendary. Then toss in the strength it takes to get into the panga in rolling seas and one has many reasons to be concerned about this trip. For the record, everything we had read and heard was true....we had currents at Wolf and Darwin that had us outstretched like flags and a 20 mph wind. Trying to descend in this type of current through schooling hammerheads to reach the rocks to hold on is not for the squeemish. When we would hold onto the lava rock, many times the rocks would break loose and we would be struggling to find a new hand hold while being pushed down current. I also experienced strong upwelling and downwellings while floating in the blue. Nothing gets my heart racing more then when I was at 25 feet with about 800 lbs in my tank and then I suddenly found myself at 60 feet from a down-welling. I have also nearly had my mask ripped off my face from currents there. You had to make sure you kept your mask facing directly into the current ALL the time.
My impressions are that Eloise may have had 150 dives and been DM certified, but as others have said, PADI certs people in pools and quarrys. This hardly prepares people for real ocean conditions, strong currents, wind, cold, on a swaying boat. Maybe many of her 150 dives were in calm, warm tropical waters. Even if she had a few dives in strong currents that is not enough overall experience at such a yound age. Physical fitness plays a strong part in it too. One should be strong and fit, non-smoker. I don't know what her physical abilities were.
Someone should have advised her on her actual level of experience verses Galapagos conditions. They should have been truthful with her instead of taking her money and booking her spot. Sounds like she was traveling alone too...and at 23. Kudos to her for being so brave and willing to take risks and explore, but man, I wasn't ready nor did I have the experience at 23 for this trip.
I can remember my certifying dive shop graduating divers who couldn't swim to the bottom of a ten foot pool to retrieve a weight or swim the length of the pool underwater in one breath. These were NAUI requirements to be certified. But the shop owner knew if he failed them, they wouldn't be in to buy their $3000.00 worth of dive gear to go traveling, so they were passed and sent out into the world to go diving.
I don't blame the DM or Aggressor for this death. It could have just been bad luck, being amped up and nervous, turning her head and mask sideways to the current at the wrong time causing her to lose her mask, or fin...no one really knows. I've been there in my early years of diving with those nerves, my heart pounding, all the while breathing heavy trying to keep up, watching my air get lower and lower, and worrying about whats "the group" is going to think.
I have always tried to partner myself with strong, confident, in-shape, knowledgable divers. It is one of the first things I start assessing when I am walking onto a dive boat by myself...who am I going to dive with? That decision can sometimes save your life and certainly makes for a more comfortable dive when you know you have a partner looking out for you and ready to help underwater.
Eloise, I wish I could have been there for you.
