Lessons to be learned-Death in Palau

[triton94949]

My guess is, with better training, and lots of practice, this situation MAY have been avoidable. She still had gas to breath. That's the sad part.

That is always the sad part.

That is the price that society is paying for minimalized training at the will of the unaware consumer public. When NAUI and YMCA set up national scuba training, the training was rigorous. Since 1961, the training has become watered down.

Having two masks is not rocket science. Breathing on scuba without your mask on is not rocket science. Staying with your buddy is not rocket science. Having good instructors and training students rigorously is also not rocket science.

The nurse who tried to revive the victim was fantastic however. A person like this in the group is invaluable, although not enough to compensate for the dangers of weak training combined with a ripping current.

 

[pilot fish]

He was hooked on to the reef with his own reef hook either a short distance up-current or down-current of her just like everyone else. Flying solo like a kite in the wind, again, just like everybody else. Where do you think he would be? There was no way he, nor anybody else could get to her in time. That's given.

From what I’ve hear, everybody did everything that they could. If you buddy unhooks, chances are, that they're or anyboudy else is not going to be able to fight the current to get to you. As I said before, as soon as you hook in, your on your own and solo diving without a buddy. And that, IMHO, is the real root cause of the accident.

OK, he's hooked into the reef, as his wife is, as the RN/nurse, is. His wife being his buddy would mean he's hooked in within eyesght of her. Yes? So, again, my question, why could he not see the sitaution as the nurse did, who is not her buudy and give assistance? The nurse actually reached over to touch her hand and console her. Post says he thought she ONLY lost a fin. In current that is important, which would mean he'd be watching her more closely, I'd say. Seems there is either a lot missing from the story,[ very informative and educating -thanks], or he was a bad bad buddy to his wife.

 

[Dragon2115]

I think the real lesson here is in how panic plays a part in turning an otherwise easily manageable situation into a full-blown tragedy.

A friend of mine was buddied up with a supposed instructor on vacation in Aruba for a dive on the Jane C. The dive was going fine and they were at 90' when the guy over worked in the current as they came around the wreck, hyperventilated, panicked, and suddenly takes off for the surface like he was trying to do an impersonation of a Trident missile launch. My friend managed to keep him from making it all the way to the surface until the DM's could take over. The guy was medivac'ed out and apparently survived the ordeal. This was another example of an otherwise manageable situation that got out of control because the person forgot their training and panicked. It also shows that it can happen to people that are supposed to be trained to handle these types of situations too. Panic is probably one of our worst enemies while diving.

 

[scubatwinned]

I think there should be a certification for this type of hook-current diving. IMHO its beyond a PADI advanced course which isn't all that advanced and seems to me to be a speacialty dive requiring speacilty training.

I agree but the problem is that spots requiring this type of diving are very far and few between. Palau (and not by all the operators)being the only place where one is asked to buy the hook to dive the sites in my experience. I guess what I am saying is that with no demand for the course who would offer it. Maybe a course upon arriving in Palau be manditory

 

[scubatwinned]

OK, he's hooked into the reef, as his wife is, as the RN/nurse, is. His wife being his buddy would mean he's hooked in within eyesght of her. Yes? So, again, my question, why could he not see the sitaution as the nurse did, who is not her buudy and give assistance? She actually reached over to touch her hand and console her. Post says he thought she ONLY lost a fin. In current that is important, which would mean he's be watching her more closely, I'd say. Seems there is either a lot missing from the story,[ very informative and educating -thanks], or he was a bad bad buddy to his wife.

She could have lost her fin at the top of the dive, thus hubby still in touch would see this.
Having done this dive, if they got separated before the plateau by more than 3 meters in the current we are talking they might as well be on different dives.
I would say the nurse reaching her was a fluke, she was hooked in upstream and had a mishap of her own. Which brought her to the distressed woman.
Hubby had no idea she was in distress as to his comments on the surface. Which leads me to say that he got blown over the plateau or aborted hooking in after getting separated on the knowledge the wife had lost a fin and figured/hoped she would do the same.

I think,You think, We thought really counts for jack once the deed is done.
If people do not research on their own what they are getting into and dive over their heads this sadly will continue.

 

[menemsha43]

Panic is probably one of our worst enemies while diving.

I completely agree. I once had my mask unexpectedly kicked askew from my face and had a moment of "near panic". It took me a minute or so to calm my breathing and relax. There was a swift current, it was a reasonably deep dive (maybe 95 - 100 feet) and the water was very brisk which added to the initial shock of the flooded mask. Frankly I should not have been on this particular dive so early on the trip given that I had not been in the water for quite a while (yes, I'm an idiot, thank you). The feeling of teetering so close to the panic button was pretty frightening actually. And driven by something that on its face is an easily curable thing - a flooded mask. Things ran through my mind like "what in the hell am I doing down here in the middle of nowhere at 95 feet?", "why do I feel like I'm not getting enought air when my reg is breathing fine?", and "I know I'm not supposed to head quickly to the surface but I sure do feel like it." The second half of the dive was fine but the experience really shook me up at the time - probably because of the fact that I reacted that way and was so unsettled. It was a really good reminder that you need to practice your skills and be ready for anything. I think I'm a much safer diver now and more aware of what can go on "emotionally" when things don't go right. Only good training and experience and reduce the probability of panic.

 

[scubatwinned]

Kill what you go down to see and photograph....thanks. Hope the pictures come out good, before long, that's all we'll have.....

Jason

The anchor from the dive boat does more damage than 100 reef hooks...

 

[triton94949]

The anchor from the dive boat does more damage than 100 reef hooks...

The boats dont anchor however. Normally they tie off to buoys.

The installation of the buoys does more damage than a billion reef hooks [per day] over 4 billion years. You were close though.

 

[Hank49]

The boats dont anchor however. Normally they tie off to buoys.

The installation of the buoys does more damage than a billion reef hooks over 4 billion years. You were close though.

How?

 

[TCDiver1]

.... that's why being locking into an object underwater with a reef hook is complete BS.

Maybe, but have you ever reef hooked in a current? I have and i gotta say, i didn't find unhooking to be all that hard to do and we had some pretty strong current on a couple of the dives we did. You simply pull yourself down the line with one hand to get some slack, remove the hook with the other hand and off you fly.

I'm not sure i would want beginning divers trying to do it but then again most beginning divers shouldn't be diving in conditions (eg:ripping current) that have spawned reef hooking.

Terrible thing that happened and my heart goes out to all involved but i'm not sure "reef hooking" can be deemed "BS" because of it.