Missing Diver off Daytona

[Charlie99]

I once had a somewhat similar situation and dealt with it very sililar to what it sounds like this guy tried to do. This is the story. <snipped>

I learned a few lessons from this: <snipped lessons about good buddies>

Just my story and thoughts,
TTSkipper

I see yet another lesson: when a dive starts off badly and you abort, get back on the boat and sit out the dive.

Problems tend to cascade into other problems and sometimes you need to just call it a day. It takes willpower to do this --- just last week I broke my own rule and continued a dive on the Spiegel Grove after initially aborting at 110' when my buddy got narc'd after a hard swim to the downline. Things worked out well when we continued the dive at the 60' level once he recovered, but in hindsight, we should have just finished our abort and gotten back on the boat.

There is always another day, unless .......

 

[ScubaNorth]

It doesn't sound to me like a solo dive. Divers by nature seem to be an independent and risk taking bunch. I don't like to blame anyone for accidents, after all that is why they are called accidents but.... Why on earth would a dive operator allow someone who had trouble making it to the line and had to exit the water return to the water. This seems like a recipe for disaster. A good rule for boat operators would be any diver exiting the water ends the dive. They may have a mad diver but they will have a live diver. Of all the recent accident reports I hear lately solo seems to be a recurring thread but the definition of solo seems to be stretched to mean anyone not holding hands with a buddy. This poor man was last seen 5 feet from another diver. My prayers are with his family and friends.

 

[jlayman800]

http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Local/03AreaEAST09081304.htm

[font=Arial, Helvetica]Diver missing 11 miles offshore [/font]


[font=Arial, Helvetica]Staff report[/font]

[font=Arial, Helvetica]

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Coast Guard members and the Sheriff's Office dive recovery team searched waters off Ponce de Leon Inlet on Thursday for a missing scuba diver.

The search was called off about 5 p.m. with no sign of the diver, Volusia County sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.





The victim, identified by the Sheriff's Office as Michael Pye, 58, of Detroit was diving at 11 a.m. on an old shipwreck about 11 miles east of the inlet, Coast Guard Petty Officer Dana Warr said.

"He was seen going down, but has not come up," the spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard District 7 office in Jacksonville said by telephone.





Pye was diving with nine divers who left on the Sea Dog from New Smyrna Beach early Thursday, officials said.



The group anchored on top of an old shipwreck, and divers entered the water. Pye returned to the boat when he couldn't catch his breath and later resumed his dive, Davidson said.

Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Whittet, dive team supervisor, said his crew of nine searched the waters between 75 and 85 feet deep to see if Pye was trapped in the wreck, then conducted a line search with the current for another half-mile before running out of air.



Officials planned to re-evaluate their efforts as darkness fell Thursday. Warr said the approach of Hurricane Charley was also a threat to searchers. End of quote.



I pray that he turns up. There is still some hope.John[/font]

​

 

[rjchandler]

drbill - I have many, many dives with "that operation" , and they are top shelf.

This poor guy might still be alive and floating in the ocean in the middle of a hurricane.

 

[jlayman800]

... How can the skipper or DM or whoever allow him to get in the water on his own ?
Surely it's incumbent on them to stop him effectively diving solo. ...

Hey Hoppy. You haven't missed anything. Some people, including myself on occasion, choose to dive solo. It has its risks that we accept. The benefits include not getting stuck with a buddy that is finished with his 3000# in 15 minutes and better spear fishing chances. There are other reasons to numerous to list here including the freedom to explore without always looking for your buddy. I have had some really bad experiences with buddies of opportunity.

Recently I have met some great SCUBA buddies and always try to pair up with one of them. All of them are much younger so I bought bigger tanks (120 cubic foot NITROX) so I can stay down as long and not limit their dives. They look out for me and I look out for them, just like the book says. If all buddies were responsible and there was always a good one available, I would always dive with a buddy. After 20 years of diving, I believe there are reasons to dive solo and many more reasons to have a buddy.

Lost 11 miles from shore and floating in the shark-infested waves doesn't sound like a good day of diving. Maybe he will show up.

 

[rjchandler]

I did find it odd that they sent down a single DM, and everyone else could just follow him, or if you had your own buddy, you could pair up and do your own dive.

Why odd?

 

[diverbob]

I was still fairly new at the time, and didnt realize that solo diving was as popular as it is. I was thinking everyone should buddy up, and then if your buddy team wanted to follow, then that made a lot more sense to me. If I was a DM, I would rather try to keep track of 3 or 4 buddy teams opposed to 6 or 8 individuals.

 

[Mako Mark]

80% of divers that die do so while separated from their buddy, or solo diving.

There is nothing more to be said about it, it is dangerous and silly. Get a buddy.

 

[Rick Murchison]

If y'all want to debate the merits of solo diving take it elsewhere. I will remove any future posts in this thread that put any characterization on solo diving, be it "the greatest thing since sliced bread" or the "dumbest thing you can do."
For this accident the victim chose to dive solo. Whether that had any bearing on the accident itself is unknown at this point. It does bear on the increased difficulty of the recovery effort.
Rick

 

[murphdivers286]

It is always bad when a diver doesn't come up, or is lost. I don't necessarily believe that a buddy should end the dive if his buddy ends it. Each situation is different. This one deals with a buddy stopping a dive at the surface. If they agreed the one would end and the other would continue with another group, then the buddy who ended the dive should have not gotten back in to the water. That one buddy should not be at fault fot leaving his buddy if it was already arraigned.

Plus, if I remember reading correctly. It stated he was a visitor on the boat. This means that some one on the boat had to be his buddy. I don't know about you, but if I had to be someone's buddy on a boat that I did not know and he had to abort the dive at the beginning of the dive I would be going with someone else. Don't get me wrong on this. If we were already in the middle of the dive and my buddy had a problem, you are correct about both buddies ended the dive together.