Indiana woman dies diving Vandenberg - Key West, Florida

[Nemrod]

This "wreck" can be strenuous due to current more than depth. Not sure that depth, in and of itself is particularly taxing of the body. But the long trip down the anchor line or buoy line and the current, which can be rather strong here, can result in more of an effort than many realize.

I often hear it stated that SCUBA is not stressful and is not athletic. Actually, sometimes, it can be. Fitness for a dive is not just having an abc card in the pocket but also mental and physical preparedness. The country song, "I am not as good as I used to be but I can be as good as I used to be once," uh, probably not for most. The aging of the fleet.

I am sorry to hear of this loss for a family and husband. There are no words that can ever make a life lost right. But we can take the necessary precautions in advance.

N

 

[markmud]

That's not how it works around here.

Typically @DandyDon is the first one to post a thread about a diving accident. How he is almost invariably the first to post on such matters defies explanation other than (and I will speculate) that he obsessively scours the internet all day long for breaking news regarding the latest scuba diving fatality.

A link to an article is posted, which will almost always refer to the accident as directly, indirectly or ambiguously related to scuba diving in some way, although often it cannot even be determined if the victim was in fact breathing compressed air at the time of the incident. More often than not, the terms "oxygen tank" will be stated within the article.

After the link is posted here, SB posters will offeri up anything from reasonable and plausible explanations to wild theories that are beyond the scope of imagination or believability. Some will take offense, arguments will take place, no one will ever change their position, and the thread will ultimately be derailed as some minor topic that was brought up along the way becomes the new focus of the thread.

At some point, big red words will fill up the screen with warnings about thread bans and such, at which point things get rather quiet until and unless new information is brought to light.

Welcome to ScubaBoard.

Hi Norm,

This is the Accidents and Incidents Forum. We can do most of what you wrote about on this forum as long as we follow the rules. This forum is not for condolences. We can politely and respectfully speculate as to what happened. It is a good learning resource, I believe.
PLEASE READ FIRST: Special Forum Rules

Yeah, us aged people (60 plus) need to perform our scuba diving in the "old folks" end of the pool. It sucks to get old. No more "Victory At Sea" bravado for me.

I am now realizing that I am "that" old b*st*rd.

I was involved with some diving last week where two boats were damaged and one diver was injured (others suffered some minor contusions and bumps, but were not hauled off on a stretcher as the one diver was [he is OK]).

My wife asked me if she should go diving with the group. I told my wife that since I was 60, I would barely have the ability to save myself, let alone two of us, if the boat broached and turned turtle over the reef. She decided to stay on the beach.

I think that a primary reason that we see senior age diver accidents is that there are more senior divers than junior.

There seems to be an inference on this thread that there aren't many young divers coming up through the ranks. They don't seem to be at the resorts. Are we the end of this avocation?

I'd rather checkout diving than rotting away in nursing home.

I would rather die as this nice lady did rather than rot in an old folks home that smells of fecal matter. My assumption is that she had a medical issue u/w.

On that note, cheers,
m

 

[Steelyeyes]

My deepest condolences to the family, so very sad.

I had my closest “almost didn’t make it back” dive on the Vand. myself. I had pretty much accepted that that day was going to be my final day alive. There was another diver on the boat who said he had over 100 dives on her and had never seen currents so swift there before. I was 38 at the time and in excellent physical condition.

Just wanted to say that it is not a site to be taken lightly when the currents are ripping and the water is green/low viz. The shop I went out with did not put a DM in the water, obviously I have no idea if that was the case here or if that would have had any impact whatsoever. Again, I’m so sorry it turned out this way for this poor diver and her family.

Had a dive like that on the Cayman Salvor after aborting on the Vandy. If any of the buoys aren't visible I wouldn't even splash.

 

[telemonster]

There seems to be an inference on this thread that there aren't many young divers coming up through the ranks. They don't seem to be at the resorts. Are we the end of this avocation?

Most likely they can't afford it. As worldwide asset bubbles were blown big in housing, the young lost a lot of buying power. Much of their money is going to nosebleed rents or mortgages on grossly overpriced houses.
This is in addition to money extracted for student loans. For those renters, owning things is a liability since you have to move it all, possibly often. When the housing prices should have fallen back to reality, the government and bankers stepped in to keep it inflated.

Older people have the retirements, the equity in assets, etc. So they are more lilkely to be at the resorts.

Diving is an expensive hobby.

 

[Wookie]

Most likely they can't afford it. As worldwide asset bubbles were blown big in housing, the young lost a lot of buying power. Much of their money is going to nosebleed rents or mortgages on grossly overpriced houses.
This is in addition to money extracted for student loans. For those renters, owning things is a liability since you have to move it all, possibly often. When the housing prices should have fallen back to reality, the government and bankers stepped in to keep it inflated.

Older people have the retirements, the equity in assets, etc. So they are more lilkely to be at the resorts.

Diving is an expensive hobby.

Not the way the youngsters do it. They don’t go to resorts, they stay at backpackers hostels. They don’t go on dive vacations, they get an Air BnB and spend 1 or 2 days on the dive boat. Then they go to the rain forest and see the fruitbats or go abseiling in the cloud forest or go see the civit cats poop coffee beans. They travel differently than we do.

 

[cruiser]

Hardly. I do try to post what I find if no one else has, only sharing what I find, then hoping others with more information will bring us more even tho they did not want to be the first to post about an incident, in hopes that we can learn from the mishaps of other divers - but I don't put any time into my endeavors. I do get google alert emails once a day that do include links to stories on diver accidents including sky divers, cliff divers, competitive divers, dumpster divers, but those are easy to scan. And once a day at most I search google news, scanning the first three pages. Oh, I also post on stories others have referred to me because they did not want to be the one who did. But that's all.

Dandy Don makes the internet work for HIM

 

[BFRedrocks]

Another tragedy. When I dove the Vandy, I was with a DM who had more than 400 dives on that wreck (so he said) and the current was whipping. And I mean that the first dive was essentially a drift from the bow to the sat dishes, and then I literally had to pull myself hand over hand along the railing to get back to the bow where the line was. As folks know, all that's being done at 95 feet or so, so needless to say, I was a bit concerned about my breathing rate and air intake. We even had a "less experienced" diver go OOA at 30 feet on that dive, so yeah, if the conditions are right, it can be a difficult dive. I can certainly see a variety of medical problems that could come from someone overexerting themselves at depth on that wreck...it's not as easy as I think some folks make it out to be. Still, very sad for the family and friends of the diver.

 

[swimbody]

I just hate it that the sugar industry has caused cardiac disease to skyrocket over the last 30 years. All you have to do is cut out the sugar and lower your carbs and you can repair a lot of damage to the heart and valves. Sorry for the family that she left this 3 dimensional plane at such a young age. 59 is not old age

 

[markmud]

I just hate it that the sugar industry has caused cardiac disease to skyrocket over the last 30 years.

Ah, so someone else is responsible for "our" collective obesity and cardiac disease. We ate the crap. We all collectively voted for more of it by buying it like no drunk sailor could.

I ate the crap, I own the disease.

Sorry, I don't go for the blame shifting.

Everything else you wrote is right-on, except for your opinion that 60 is not old age. Trust me, old age begins for relatively healthy people at 60. I know, I am healthy and 60. Most of my 60 year-plus friends and family are old people, I am the lucky one. Just look at us and our medical issues.

thanks,
m

 

[Joneill]

I just hate it that the sugar industry has caused cardiac disease to skyrocket over the last 30 years. All you have to do is cut out the sugar and lower your carbs and you can repair a lot of damage to the heart and valves. Sorry for the family that she left this 3 dimensional plane at such a young age. 59 is not old age

Agreed to a limit, but folks need to understand and own their own health/diet - the last I checked, the sugar industry doesn’t make me eat anything - I have to choose to eat it.