Lost diver in Puget Sound

[keruxts]

Leah,

I live in Greenville - with whom were you diving? Single Divers, a charter, or one of the local shops?

 

[JD'sMom]

That's so very sad. My thoughts and prayers go to his family and friends.

 

[Ocean One]

I have previously expressed my sympathy and condolescences for the loss of this your man. I am incredibly pleased with the amount of knowledge and caring that is displayed here on the SB. Thanks for the follow-up Leah on the instructor's suspension.
FWIW in Colorado Criminally Negligent Homicide- Any person who causes the death of another person by conduct amounting to criminal negligence commits CNH a felony.
Criminal Negligence is a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would exercise. The shoe fits here criminally and civilly !!!

 

[Vayu]

I respect the agency NAUI for the most part. Like I said before not all of them are bad. The number of bad ones I have met exceeds 25 (I will say here the agency in general has high standards and that they have reportedly taken action in this case). Some of them I thought were ok at first. Bad instruction in the SCUBA industry can be decieving. Most divers just don't know what they don't know. The family must be upset that representatives from his certifying agency were present on this dive. Scuba has inherent risks but most of these can be handled if a little planning and common sense are put into it.

One thing an instructor should have known that it is likely the new students would not have known: The partial pressures of an air mix at a depth exceeding 200' is borderline toxic to the human body. If a new diver ended up at 220' on this gas and in strenuous conditions it is no wonder they may have been disoriented. As the depth of a diver increases so does the partial pressure of oxygen. People have gone deep on air before and I have seen it in action. People have also died doing this and 220 feet deep on air and a single tank at night is a really bad place to be. Puget waters are not the place to begin testing the limits of human physiology.

I am sorry for everyone on this dive and with personal connections to it. Please realize how easily this could have been a multiple fatality.

That is all I am going to say in this thread.

 

[BDub]

That is all I am going to say in this thread.

Yeah, probably a good idea.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I respect the agency NAUI for the most part. Like I said before not all of them are bad. The number of bad ones I have met exceeds 25. Some of them I thought were ok at first. Bad instruction in the SCUBA industry can be decieving. Most divers just don't know what they don't know. The family must be upset that representatives from his certifying agency were present on this dive. Scuba has inherent risks but most of these can be handled if a little planning and common sense are put into it. From the look of things around here this epidemic of bad instruction is not isolated to Florida. Everyone should take caution who they get in the water with especially if they are instructors.

One thing an instructor should have known that it is likely the new students would not have known: The partial pressures of an air mix at a depth exceeding 200' is borderline toxic to the human body. If a new diver ended up at 220' on this gas and in strenuous conditions it is no wonder they may have been disoriented. As the depth of a diver increases so does the partial pressure of oxygen in the tank. People have gone deep on air before and I have seen it in action. People have also died doing this and 220 feet deep on air and a single tank is a really bad place to be. Puget waters are not the time or place to begin testing the limits of human physiology.

That is all I am going to say in this thread.

I don't think this is the thread where we should get into agency-bashing.

In the case of this particular incident, this instructor needs to be taken out ... before he has a chance to influence someone else to try something this insane. But NAUI has suspended him pending investigation of the facts. That they did it so quickly speaks volumes for their emphasis on safe diving.

Yes, I'm a NAUI instructor. Yes, I did contact NAUI HQ directly concerning this incident. So did a number of other instructors (NAUI and otherwise) in our region.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[dsteding]

As the depth of a diver increases so does the partial pressure of oxygen in the tank. People have gone deep on air before and I have seen it in action.

That is all I am going to say in this thread.

Three points:

1) the partial pressure of oxygen in the tank remains constant, it is the partial pressure in a person's lungs that changes with depth.

2) Regarding people going deep on air before, and you seeing it, I can only assume this means you too have gone deep on air.

3) How about keeping the agency bashing to a minimum here? Someone has died, I think there has been a good effort to both be compassionate and informative to those that knew him and have been posting in this thread. Don't try to hijack this thread to push your own agenda. Your comments about NAUI are out of left field. I can certainly say that my experiences with NAUI instructors have been overwhelmingly positive, and it does look like NAUI has responded appropriately so far regarding this terrible accident.

 

[dsteding]

****

(I'm having a bad day-edited out)

 

[DandyDon]

My sincere condolences to the loved ones of the lost diver.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Let's stay on topic, please ... out of respect for a very nice young man who is no longer a part of our community ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)