Missing diver.

[Rob9876]

Something bad happened here, and it might be someone's fault or no one's at all. But the stories don't make any sense.

We'll likely never know the full story here. We do know that it happened right near the end of their dive, so the missing diver's gas may have been low and gone fast when dragged down to depth in an agitated state. Also possible the diver got into a narced or ox-toxed situation at depth. And who knows the diver may have had a cardiac event, ruptured an eardrum, or banged his head on some coral or had some other contributing factor come into play.

 

[DandyDon]

there is no way someone next to a wall got dragged down quickly without realizing it, not unless they are blind. 80% of a wall dive, you are looking towards the wall, and certainly would turn that direction if disoriented.

Yep, it can happen. I am often looking ahead to see what's coming, looking around to see where the DM and others are, or too focused on my camera screen.

I am not afraid of going down fast. I am afraid of going up fast.

Ascending too fast is a risk, but we can treat you if you are injured in a rapid ascent. We can't if you drown instead of ascending. Recovered diver bodies are usually found with weights still attached.

Something bad happened here, and it might be someone's fault or no one's at all. But the stories don't make any sense.

They do after it happens to you. I am at a loss as to how an experienced diver can be lost so long after one tho.

 

[bvbellomo]

This is a dangerous story. It is a nice story, romantic even. Husband and wife together a long time, love scuba diving, enjoy one last dive together and holding hands at their safety stop when an evil current comes and drags him to Davey Jones locker.

The problem with this story is thousands of new divers may hear it, some of them may get jostled around by current 100 feet down. Some of them may panic, hold their breath and ditch their weights. Maybe we can treat some of them for ascent injuries, but better not to tell stories and instead stick to the advice we were given on our open water training.

 

[DandyDon]

stick to the advice we were given on our open water training.

Which does not cover the risk at all. But you're new here.

 

[John Bantin]

To my knowledge (and I haven't witnessed a course in 20 years), at no point in PADI open water training do they mention the risk of drowning.

Which does not cover the risk at all. But you're new here

 

[ReefHound]

To my knowledge (and I haven't witnessed a course in 20 years), at no point in PADI open water training do they mention the risk of drowning.

Reminds me of the old joke. How do yo tell if there are sharks in the water. Taste it. If it's salty, that means there are sharks in the water. Similarly, how do you tell if there is a risk of drowning. Touch the water. If it's wet, there is a risk of drowning.

 

[bvbellomo]

To my knowledge (and I haven't witnessed a course in 20 years), at no point in PADI open water training do they mention the risk of drowning.

My open water was also 20 years ago. I actually took 2 courses (PADI and SSI but only did the PADI dive portion). A lot of the advice was to prevent drowning. The SSI course was much more explicit, serious and worrying; PADI was cheerful and upbeat - but the same lessons are there. Drilling into people to keep checking their air, nitrogen narcosis, the buddy system, these were all significant topics. I have no idea how much this changed, but the biggest reason to have certifications at all is to prevent drowning. It isn't to teach people how to attach a regulator - you could do that for someone else on the boat.

We were also taught that the biggest cause of drowning is an out of air situation without a buddy nearby, and that cardiac arrest was also high on the list.

 

[rick00001967]

Not making light of the situation, but there is no way someone next to a wall got dragged down quickly without realizing it, not unless they are blind. 80% of a wall dive, you are looking towards the wall, and certainly would turn that direction if disoriented. Secondly, I am not afraid of going down fast. I am afraid of going up fast. If I am dragged down fast and end up in deco, my dive master will get mad at me, and rightly so. But that is the biggest risk. Exit current, ascend a meter every 2 seconds, maybe you save your dive, maybe you end it, but your life should not be at risk.

Something bad happened here, and it might be someone's fault or no one's at all. But the stories don't make any sense.

as others have mentioned, there could be multiple reasons why a rapid descent turned out badly.

your comment sounds like you are quite confident that your reaction to that situation would be calm and delibrate. thats great to hear. we all hope we will react that way.

but many long time divers are lucky to either never have been in any real "emergency" situation or ever felt the affects of a real panic attack and what it can do to your mind during a bad epsisode. again, if that is your case then thats great.

but no everyone is so lucky. i have felt it. it is not pleasant to say the least. it can be so strong that your body will not even breathe. no rational thought is taking place. people can even rip off ther own mask and/or pull their own reg out of their mouth.

if caught off guard into a rapid descent, many divers might panic. a full blown panic attack will simply not allow common sense or the training instinct to prevail.

- they might dump air from the bcd rather than inflate it
- if they do try to fill the bcd it may contribute to a rapid loss of breathing gas
- they might begin kicking so hard that they quickly deplete their already low gas supply
- they may be descending so quickly that the bcd inflate cannot put enough gas in the bladder fast enough to compensate for the added compression (there were some videos on youtube demonstrating this theory)
- if they are over weighted (i know that could never happen right?) every possible problem becomes exponentially worse
- as mentioned by others they may get narced and do who knows what
- (something i don't think has been mentioned) if they were on nitrox they may go much too deep and O2 toxicity kicks in. possible convulsions. reg comes out of the mouth. fill in the rest

it could be a combination of two or more of any of these possibilties or more that are not mentioned.

we were not there. we do not know what happened. we will likely never know for certain. this diver was not the first to go missing. sadly, they won't be the last. that is the reality.

 

[bvbellomo]

I've never been in anything near a real emergency (1 drowning, but it wasn't me, and it was swimming without scuba gear). I have panicked - several times, all while removing my mask on purpose. I am training myself to get better. I have been lost due to low visibility and did not panic, and hope I'd react the same if lost due to current. As you said, we all hope everyone's reaction would be calm and deliberate if things are either borderline dangerous or a real life-or-death situation. Reading threads like this is going to do the opposite - make it more likely people panic.

 

[bobfmdc]

I think that the statement that all respectable dive ops vet divers, is not merely a statement, but a statement of fact. Now, those being vetted may not be aware of the vetting, but if I knew with an absolute certainty that no vetting was taking place, we'd be gone. I remember clearly our first dive with Cubano. We were unaware that he was paying any attention to us. He told us afterward that he knew in less than 5 minutes that we were comfortable at depth and didn't need his attention.

As an aside here, this is one of the reason's that thoughtless dive shop cheerleading drives me nuts. The shop has little to do with the dive. It's on the dm.

Wholeheartedly agree. An aow doesn't tell anybody anything about one's diving abilities.

Also wholeheartedly agree, the ultimate responsibility for us individually, is us. That would also include down currents. We've never experienced one, but I've asked a lot of questions of dms, divers, shop owners and read many, many threads and posts on this board. I feel like we're as well prepared as possible.

As someone else said, if you've never heard anything more than "the current is strong today", it's way, way past time to find another shop/dm. The dm who limits their briefing to that, is lazy.[Mod edit]

I heard somewhere that PADI dive shops (probably just some PADI shops) are requiring divers with only OW certs to stay above 60' regardless of their experience. Not sure how widespread that is, or even if it is true, but I would consider it just to be an attempt to extort more revenue from divers. Dive guides----just like most of us here--can tell know who is comfortable and who isn't.