Maryland woman dies in Key Largo 12-30

[deepstops]

It has long been my opinion that what I perceive as a watering down of OW certification programs, and the lack of required recertification thanks to most certs being lifelong, is a potential long-term safety risk.

Bill,

Here's everything that's wrong with SCUBA instruction today: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tr...get-scuba-certified-199-1-time-only-deal.html

Zero to hero in three days with one pool session and four dives (I have no idea when they are squeezing in the academics of the course, perhaps you get a DVD beforehand).

 

[fisherdvm]

Bill,

Here's everything that's wrong with SCUBA instruction today: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tr...get-scuba-certified-199-1-time-only-deal.html

Zero to hero in three days with one pool session and four dives (I have no idea when they are squeezing in the academics of the course, perhaps you get a DVD beforehand).

I would not label this as a fad. Read my post on the GUE OW course in February 2008. It is also a 3 days course.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ng/214542-gue-open-water-course-feb-08-a.html

This is getting to be the norm rather than the exception.

 

[deepstops]

I would not label this as a fad. Read my post on the GUE OW course in February 2008. It is also a 3 days course.

This is getting to be the norm rather than the exception.

GUE hasn't released their OW course that I'm aware of so what are you talking about??
If you're talking about their Fundamentals class, that's a class for divers who are already certified.

 

[RonFrank]

As a member of Nancy Kreiter's extended family, I would like to thank those of you who offered condolences. We are all devastated by her death.

3) There was an autopsy performed. There is no evidence of drowning. No evidence of heart attack/disease. No evidence of pulmonary embolism. Results: inconclusive.

What I would like to ask you, as members of the scuba community, is are these shortened certification courses safe? Could something have happened with her equipment that might have caused her death that someone who had taken the longer certification courses might have been able to recognize?.

I am so sorry for your loss, and the grief of the immediate family.

To answer your question, something killed her, and if the autopsy was inconclusive, then it will likely remain so. Equipment failure generally results in drowning. There are rare cases where the air could be contaminated, but I would think that would have been discovered in the autopsy.

Maybe some of our better medically trained members could think of a scenario where an OC equipment failure would result in something other than drowning, or an embolism, but I can not think of anything.

Again, sorry for your loss, and best wishes to the family, and children during this extremely difficult time.

 

[flashfearless]

Take this as input from someone who has not done a single dive before, but was in the Key Largo area the day before this incident happened. I just joined this forum to provide what little input I can. I have a Google Alert on this event set up and it showed me this forum today so I joined.

We went out snorkling on 12/30 into Pennecamp park and in the less than 10 times that I have been out snorkling in this area, I thought that it was very choppy and I questioned the wisdom of going out that day. I would judge the waves at 2-4ft and the wind at 15 knots.

We left Key Largo on 12/31 (the date of this incident) and it appeared as though this would have been a better day to go out as it was much more humid and hot (at least at 9 AM when we left our hotel).

I have read on some of your forums that it was choppy on the surface, but once you got into the water the current was not bad and the visibility was good.

I just wanted to say from the point of view of this snorkler that I did not feel comfortable on the 30th, and the sense that I got from the crews was that they were not in the business of turning away business and this is one of their busiest seasons.

As with all the other speculation out there if this woman was as severly congested as reported, she should have used better judgement. In my case I bailed on 12/30 within a half hour because I was exhausted fighting the waves. On 12/26, I was in the water for 2 hours and in my opinion the conditions were much better.

I am not a great athlete by any stretch of imagination, as I don't even run more than a 1/4 mile at a time because of weight issues. But I walk about 3-5 miles a day, so I don't think that I am terrible. Still, I have to know my limitations, and it sounds like maybe she didn't consider hers? Don't know.

It is also of interest for me since I used to live in Bel Air, MD. Though I do not know this person. I hope that something can be learned from this tragedy.

 

[RonFrank]

Bill,

Here's everything that's wrong with SCUBA instruction today: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tr...get-scuba-certified-199-1-time-only-deal.html

Zero to hero in three days with one pool session and four dives (I have no idea when they are squeezing in the academics of the course, perhaps you get a DVD beforehand).

Let's not turn this thread into a OW training discussion. There is ZERO basis to blame her certification agency, or the Instructor, or the Dive Boat, and NO reason what so ever to link in the thread above.

Speculation is bad enough. Following up on the speculation with a link on a certification deal is poor form!

 

[KeysCuda]

This is the verbatim public information account from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the investigating agency on the Dr. Kreiter incident, which contains details such as the "climbing on board":


Monroe County Sheriff's Office
Daily Crime and Information Report
December 31st, 2007

Maryland woman dies while diving
Key Largo - A Maryland woman scuba diving with her family off shore of Key Largo died Sunday afternoon.
According to her husband, David Clissold, 50 year old Nancy Kreiter of Bel Air, Maryland wanted to learn to dive for ten years so she, her husband and their two children traveled to the Keys to fulfill that dream. They all took scuba diving lessons together and became certified just two days prior to her death. On Sunday, they went out on board a commercial dive vessel out of John Pennekamp State Park. They were diving on the Benwood Wreck. Kreiter was diving with her son and her husband was diving with their daughter.
Witnesses told Deputy Kyle Page Kreiter and her son surfaced and swam back to the boat. She took off her fins and began climbing onto the boat. He returned to the water to continue diving. On the boat's ladder, Kreiter reportedly collapsed and stopped breathing. She was brought on board the boat and crew members began CPR. The Captain called for help from another dive boat which was nearby. He asked that boat - which was reportedly smaller and faster - to take her to shore for medical assistance while he stayed and picked up the remaining divers from both boats and returned them to shore.
Paramedics met the boat at Port Largo Homeowner's Park, on Marina Avenue. She was pronounced dead shortly after. Homicide Detective Terry Smith was assigned to the case and took her dive gear into custody for examination. An autopsy will be done to determine the cause of her death.


Condolences to family and friends; must have been hard on all.

 

[RonFrank]

This is the verbatim public information account from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, the investigating agency on the Dr. Kreiter incident, which contains details such as the "climbing on board":

Unfortunately, one thing we HAVE learned about the *official* accounts is that they are often inaccurate. Notice that the report says *witnesses*. Now we have second hand information, and not even necessarily from anyone that was on the boat.

In any event, tragic regardless of how it happened, and when.

 

[fisherdvm]

GUE hasn't released their OW course that I'm aware of so what are you talking about??
If you're talking about their Fundamentals class, that's a class for divers who are already certified.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ng/214542-gue-open-water-course-feb-08-a.html


This is the second time that they have offered such course. I don't think the first one went. This second course is currently not listed. So they must have canned it too??

 

[hopashore]

Hello,

I am Nancy Kreiter's daughter. I was there when the accident happened, and would like to add some additional information that may help clear up what some of the "official reports" say.

1) Her chest cold had occurred three weeks earlier. The torn cartilage was determined via x-ray by a doctor who knew she was intending to dive. She had not been coughing for almost a week preceding her death. The only medication she was taking was ibuprofen for the cartilage.

2) She was not on the boat. She surfaced and swam to the line next to the ladder still with her fins on and regulator in her mouth where my dad lost sight of her. The next thing he knew one of the dive masters was saying she had stopped breathing.

3) Yes, she was an inexperienced diver. But not only is the Benwood an easy dive, she had dived it once before WITH an instructor and there were 30 other divers in the water at the time. Her technical dive buddy was my brother (who is 13, turning 14 in a week) but she was oftentimes with a group of more people.

4) About 10 minutes before she came up, she had come up previously to get additional weight. She added the weight, gave the ok signal, and went back down.

5) She came back to the boat with 900 psi in her tank.

6) She took all of the safety material course online. She scored 100 on all but one of the quizzes and on the final exam. She had two days of pool training and four open water dives with an instructor prior to the incident.

Let me know if I can be of any other assistance.