Oct 7 - Key Largo

[DandyDon]

I got this report of the accident from another board. It was posted by a well-respected operator in the Keys:

Here's what I understand about the accident.

Two very experienced tech divers and very good friends with the owner and crew of Tavernier Dive Center went out yesterday morning aboard the dive boat Shadow to do the Northern Lights. While at 180 feet a problem occured with a rebreather, which one of the divers was using. That diver mistakenly took a breath of pure O2 at depth, which caused his death. The other diver attempted to get his buddy to the surfaced as quick as possible and suffered DCS. They were only able to get the DCS diver aboard the boat and are still looking for the other diver.

The DCS diver was placed in the chamber here in Tavernier with paralisis, but has since been moved to a room. The hope is that the paralisis is temp.

Please keep the family, dive shop, and crew in your thoughts and prayers while the search continues for the missing diver.

Damn! That's rough. I'll bet Mike and Scotty are shook up too. Bummer.

 

[Spectre]

Damn! That's rough. I'll bet Mike and Scotty are shook up too. Bummer.

Yes. Scotty is taking it pretty hard.

 

[jdwa]

They have the wreck wrong, but looks like they've given up looking. From the Search called off for missing diver. http://www.keysnews.com/293946772625407.bsp.htm

FREE PRESS STAFF

KEY LARGO — The Coast Guard called off the search Sunday for a scuba diver who had been diving on the Spiegel Grove wreck on Friday and who was reported missing.

The Coast Guard and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission were using vessels to search a 350-square-mile area off Key Largo Saturday, Coast Guard spokeswoman Ensign Roxanne Jensen said. Law enforcement officials also deployed helicopters to search for the diver.

A companion diver was taken to the hyperbaric chamber at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier. The two divers were on a commercial charter boat that runs trips to the wreck, which is 510 feet long and lies near Dixie Shoal six miles off Key Largo.

Crew members said one of the divers had surfaced, become unconscious and had no pulse for a time. They supplied the diver with oxygen and paramedics transported the diver to the hospital Friday, Jensen said.

Hyperbaric chambers are used to treat divers who may be suffering from the bends, or decompression sickness. The condition occurs when nitrogen from breathing compressed air at depth builds up in body tissues and is not excreted by a diver surfacing slowly back to surface pressure.

Jensen did not have the names of the divers or the boat.

Coast Guard officials were unable to locate the missing diver as of Sunday. The Spiegel Grove is a popular dive spot, but considered an advanced dive because of the strong currents in the area of the wreck and its depth.

 

[GrierHPharmD]

Terrible tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with family and friends.

-Grier

 

[Miami_Diver]

I dove the speigel and the Duane a couple of weeks ago under similar conditions. the waves were so hight that when I jumped I lost one of my fins from the impact.luckly I got it and swam to the mooring line with one fin and was able to continue the dive. they rearely cancel dives on the keys do to the tourist that paid a lot of money to come to the keys to dive for some of them its only one weekend and they fly out. so I guess thereis a lot of pressure to go on with the dive. I know im Miami they would have cancell the dive with far less wind and waves.

by the way the accident was at the Speigel Grove. there was an article on the northernlights but I live close to key largo and have co workers who live on key largo and it was the Speigel .this year in about April there was another fatalaty on the spiegel . a cardiologyst from a south florida hospital died there.here is the link.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050503/BREAKINGNEWS/50503007

unfortunately. at its depth and so frequently dove the Speigel will continue to claim more divers.

 

[scubadobadoo]

The grove is a tough dive a times, assuming this even happened on the Gove. I have aborted dives on it due to current and I have been on it in almost identical conditions described here. I have never had perfect conditions on it but others have written of no current and glassy surface days. Nonetheless, my prayers and thoughts go out to the envolved party. DSAO.

 

[Spectre]

by the way the accident was at the Speigel Grove. there was an article on the northernlights but I live close to key largo and have co workers who live on key largo and it was the Speigel .this year in about April there was another fatalaty on the spiegel . a cardiologyst from a south florida hospital died there.

Trust me... it was -not- on the Grove.

 

[fldiver327]

My prayers and thoughts are with the families of the divers and the dive operation.

It's tragedies such as this that allow us to focus on what's really important...our families. Everyone please be safe out there!

Becoming a scuba diver has been an incredible adventure for me personally, but understanding that it also bears a tremendous responsibility must always be remembered! I am responsible to make sure I always get home safe! I owe that to my family every time I slip under the waves to view that Wondrous Blue!

 

[ericfine50]

It was not on the grove. They were wrong

 

[DandyDon]

Yes. Scotty is taking it pretty hard.

Mike and Scotty both seem like pretty caring fellows, but then Scotty was there at the time, I would think.

I waited until yesterday, then phoned to offer brief words of condolences to them. Got their Voice Mail and left such.

It's 130 feet to sand on the Grove as I recall. Could not have been the Grove for the depths mentioned above.

Two very experienced tech divers and very good friends with the owner and crew of Tavernier Dive Center went out yesterday morning aboard the dive boat Shadow to do the Northern Lights. While at 180 feet a problem occured with a rebreather, which one of the divers was using.

I've never done the Northern Lights.