Propeller accident after diving at Galápagos Islands

[Nathalie_nl]

Dear all,

Thank you again for your kind and supportive responses. Here are some of my thoughts on your posts. I'd still like to hear more about how you guys think about the education of new divers. Is the absense of attention for the use of smbs a fault in the curriculum or is it not? (Also see my post #17 last bit).

#18 tracydr: thank you for your offer. I appreciate this a lot. I'm very lucky to have found a first class orthopedic surgeon, close to my home (the Netherlands, Europe). I'm also very lucky that the insurance company is paying all my medical expenses and that my wages are covered as well. I cannot imagine what it would be like if I would be left with a debt of more than 150,000 USD, because of hospital bills.
Allthough I'm starting to get the hang of it, I still don't like riding around in my wheelchair. I'm not familair with your illness, but I wish you all the best.
Regarding the pickup by pangas in stead of larger dive boats: I don't believe this a lot safer. Yes, they are closer to the water, but still the reflection of the water won't allow you to see what's under the surface, unless you look at an almost straight angle. Smaller engines still have the potential to kill. Remember that the rotate with a speed of 180 times per second. Even a small engine will cut through you like a hot knife will cut through butter.

#19 Brodydog: Thank you. For this moment I feel that for me the question of who is the main person to blame is completely irrelevant. I'm also not trying to figure out if I'm entitled to some kind of punitive payment. For me that is easy to say, because all my costs are paid for. Maybe the blame question will become relevant in a couple of months, in case I still suffer from pain by then. I hope not, because blame discussions cost a lot of energy. At the moment I'd love to warn other divers, because my accident was so easily avoidable. Especially the post where I read that people are going to buy an smb, or use it more often, give me energy.

#21 Peter69_56: "Just get used to setting off the alarms in the airports and being frisked every flight. A small price to pay for the freedom of movement." Cannot wait! Bright future awaits me! Small question: are you able to run and fully bend your knee with a knee replacement? I have no idea...

#30 InTheDrink: I partly agree on your theory of pointing your finns down for a faster decent. But just do the math with the information I give you now: an engine rotates 180 times per second. Counting my scars I come to seven. The whole acident took place in a small fraction of a split second. That is not enough time to even start pointing your finns down, at least, that is what I noticed...

Take care,

Nathalie.

 

[Peter69_56]

Dear all,




#21 Peter69_56: "Just get used to setting off the alarms in the airports and being frisked every flight. A small price to pay for the freedom of movement." Cannot wait! Bright future awaits me! Small question: are you able to run and fully bend your knee with a knee replacement? I have no idea....

Nathalie

I have near full bend. My left heel will touch my buttock whereas my right will be about 2" from my buttock. I guess about 120 degrees bend or so. Now the thing is that as the knee area heals, there is a tendency for the muscle and skin to attach to bits that it shouldn't, this causes the restriction in bending initially. You have to do exercises and I also went to a physiotherapist and a masseur as well to literally tear the material from the attachment points. So the combination of all these three slowly breaks the attachment points and thus you have freedom of movement. You bend until it hurts and bend a bit more, and the deep tissue massages hurt but also break down these attachment points. Once you get to the point of near full movement, for the rest of your life, you need to be relatively active so as to ensure limitations don't creep in. I think normal activity, walking, up and down stairs etc as well as DIVING of course ensure you have this movement. Sitting at home daily on ones but will ensure the arc of movement is limited. I know others who had the same surgery, but because they didn't force themselves with the rehabilitation they have only partial movement. Now believe me, if you can bend your knee 90 degrees, IT ISNT ENOUGH. Surprisingly its very debilitating still. You can't get down to the ground without help or get up without help. I can now although there is a little discomfort but nothing to worry about.

You cannot run with a knee replacement. Well you actually can but it damages the joint and it wears it out prematurely. You might only get 5 years out of it compared to 15-20. The second time around replacement is a very big deal as they cause significant damage in removing the original replacement and thus less bone etc to work with. That's why they don't like replacing knees when people are young as they do wear out and become loose and a problem. I damaged my knee when 16 and didn't get it replaced until 55 and they still thought I was young. If however there is no choice, you do what you have to, to have a functional life. My surgeon said low impact sport only, no jumping from height, no running, golf is ok, diving is great for it .

There is life after knee replacement and one to very much enjoy. I am back at work no problem. Dive regularly and have near all activities. One down side is that you might lose some feeling in the knee, this depends on what nerves are cut during the operation. The area around the top of my knee, left side full feeling, right side very limited feeling (down the scar line). It feels like I am kneeling on a jellow bag when I kneel, strange but no problem. You have to take a little care when kneeling as you don't have the feeling so you could stab or damage the skin and not realise, other than that no problem at all.

You will recover well and this will be but a nasty blip in your life. If you wish and PM me if you want any more information.

 

[openmindOW]

Nathalie, thank you for your posts here on ScubaBoard. It is obvious that your posts have touched many of us who have read them.

I wish you a full and happy recovery.

---------- Post added July 24th, 2013 at 08:45 AM ----------

I'd still like to hear more about how you guys think about the education of new divers. Is the absense of attention for the use of smbs a fault in the curriculum or is it not?

This is a good question. The answer depends, in my humble opinion, on the level of training.

At the recreational Open Water level, the use of SMBs should probably be included in the academic curriculum. However, I don't think that training with SMBs should be a requirement at the Open Water level.

As a SCUBA Instructor, my experience is that OW students have a lot of skills to master. Adding a new skill won't help them. Besides, not all OW students will train in environments where propellors exist.

Now, Dive Professionals, DMs and above, should be trained in SMB use. In the last few years, PADI has finally added SMB use as a required DM skill. At last. It took a lot of lobbying to get that change in the curriculum.

 

[emoreira]

A propeller guard for a fixed prop as found with an inboard engine is relatively easy, and I have often seen them. A guard for an outboard is extremely difficult as the engine moves around so much. I discussed them with boat builders here (Belize) and never found a way. I don't think it's anything to do with the power of the engine.

A simple google search shows several solutions for outboards.
https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=...com%2Fpropeller-guard-technologies%2F;320;213

---------- Post added July 24th, 2013 at 11:21 AM ----------

I'd still like to hear more about how you guys think about the education of new divers. Is the absense of attention for the use of smbs a fault in the curriculum or is it not?

For the average new diver, a lot of information is given in the OWD course. There is a whole world to be discovered by the new diver. Adding too much information in the OWD course could be even counterproductive. A new diver needs time to process all the new information, procedures and techniques. adding the procedure to deploy a SMB to start the security stop to a diver that has poor buoyancy control and has little situational awareness is a way to overload the new diver.
I think that a new diver should be informed to better select the dive site. A friendly dive site with no currents, no boat traffic, easy entry and exit. And insist with good fitness and swim abilities if the new diver emerges far from the boat owing to poor navigation skills.

 

[peterbj7]

A simple google search shows several solutions for outboards.
https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=...com%2Fpropeller-guard-technologies%2F;320;213

I wonder why these are never adopted in practice? I have NEVER seen any one of these. I can think of several possible reasons, but I wonder what the clinchers are.

 

[Okie Mike]

My first ocean dives were in Cozumel with my instructor from my college scuba class. He instructed us to ascend from the 15 foot safety stop in a rotating motion constantly scanning for boats. In Cozumel, you can see a boat from a long way away. Clearly, the boat should not be on top of diver bubbles, but it is also the diver's responsibility to try to locate the boat while underwater and not surface too close to it. I remember on my last trip to Cozumel watching my boat back up to stay close above us while doing the safety stop and really noticing the spinning propellers and thinking how dangerous they could be. I would not surface when a nearby boat is under power.

 

[cephalopod2]

Nathalie one more thank you for sharing your traumatic story with such bravery, clarity and positivity. Your attitude and approach are inspiring. I wish you a quick recovery and many more happy dives. I am so glad there were skilled individuals close by to assist you.

I am sure I am not the only diver reading this thread who carries an SMB and line but does not use them as much as I could. I definitely think SMB deployment at depth should be at least introduced in AOW. I can't recall being taught it in any of my courses including Rescue, or being made to practice it in any of the courses. It is useful in so many different types of diving. Yes, dive guides/DMs on drift, low vis and high traffic dives have responsibilities as well - not to be understated! - but aren't things like flashing OK with a torch on a night dive (to give one example of something which is taught) much easier to learn on one's own than deploying an SMB at depth? SMB deployment helps divers avoid being lost or run over - my memory of my AOW course is that it had lots of room for more rigorous material.

 

[emoreira]

I am sure I am not the only diver reading this thread who carries an SMB but does not use it as much as I could. I definitely think SMB deployment at depth should be at least introduced in AOW. I can't recall being taught it in any of my courses including Rescue, or being made to practice it in any of the courses. It is useful in so many different types of diving. Yes, dive guides/DMs on drift, low vis and high traffic dives have reponsibilities as well - not to be understated! - but aren't things like flashing OK with a torch on a night dive (to give one example of something which is taught) much easier to learn on one's own than deploying an SMB at depth? SMB deployment helps divers avoid being lost or run over - my memory of my AOW course is that it had lots of room for more rigorous material.

As of what I recall in all the courses I took under SSI, in no one there is a mention of the SMB, how it has to be deployed and practice that in pool or open waters. In fact a normal pool is too shallow (10 ft) to deploy a SMB.
I have just bought my SMB + finger reel and I had still no chance to practice deploying it, though I have already 138 dives under my belt and I have just finished my Dive Master course under SSI. SMB is a piece of gear required to be a DM.
Now, as I'm involved with the dive school where I took my DM, I'm trying to install the need to practice this in the pool. There is a Master Scuba Diver course (in fact MSD is an automatic recognition SSI level and no specific course is involved - AOWD + S&R + 50 logged dives) where a set of practices are done in the pool, so I want to add the SMB deployment.
There are several youtube videos of how to deploy a SMB + finger spool. This is one of my favourites http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtpoGCzVWZs

 

[peterbj7]

I taught myself to use an SMB and reel. Neither was taught in any PADI courses when I started out.

On reels. I use finger reels when I want to lay line for some reason. I never use them with DSMBs as the combination is almost impossible to control. For DSMBs I always use a ratchet reel, and by far my favourite is the Buddy fully enclosed ratchet reel. With a bit of maintenance to the reel (yes, reels do require maintenance) this has to be the simplest and safest way of sending up a DSMB. The idea of using a finger reel horrifies me, as there are so many ways it can (and does) go wrong.

 

[D_B]

Nathalie .. Thank you for your story, and your courage in telling it
I am sure we all will use our SMB's more often, and be more aware while coming up

I always have one that I can deploy attached to my BC held alongside the wing with two loops bungees, and a finger spool clipped to a D ring .. having one was a requirement for the drift dives in the Gulf and I learned to deploy it underwater there (one tip by the captain was if it's your first time, to do so after your safety stop, you might go up a bit while deploying it (oops :blush: )
I cant see learning to deploy one under water as part of the OW class (I remember being so stressed in OW because EVERYthing was so important to learn correctly) But the instructor did tell us about them, and their use
... it might be more applicable to after OW, during AOW

Edit: I haven't practiced with it quite some time ...you have me thinking I should rectify that