Raja Ampat diver death

[living4experiences]

My hope in reporting my experience is for others to learn and be mindful and well prepared for every dive. I do need to make a clarification to my report as follows: "One diver dropped her weights, emptied inflated her BC, and still could not fin up."

Once she was out of the down current, she then emptied her BC to stabilize her ascent.

 

[Ianw58]

I was on this trip with Steve, and here's an excerpt about the accident from my trip report, which @Dan so kindly referred to in an earlier post in this thread.

Thank you for your kind words. I've dived with Steve in many places. He was a great photographer and diver. I've learned loads from him over the years.

He was truly a gentle soul and helped me learn calm and peace. I will miss him forever. This world is a much better place for him being here.

Steve never managed to get a good shot of a slender file fish. I hope he has now.

 

[Ianw58]

I really appreciate your attention to detail, being very factual and matter of fact. Do you recall;
(1) what type of BCD be was wearing,
(2) whether he had ditchable dive weights,
(3) and the status of those dive weights when they found him floating face down on the surface?

Steve always wore a Zeagle BC. I can't remember which model. It had ditchable weights. I do not know what the condition was whe collected.

 

[dianna912]

Stick to the wall, as the current velocity there is zero, as shown in Figure 4.7.1, below


View attachment 815402
Courtesy of John Southard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 4.7: Velocity Profiles

I feel like this needs to be discussed more. We are planning our Raja trip in early Feb and I’m thoroughly conflicted on what the best course of action is.

 

[dianna912]

The discussion in the other thread was very helpful. I think we are still a bit conflicted, though, since it sounds like Steve’s buddy actually survived BY kicking off the wall. Do we know how deep Steve’s computer read? How his dive profile ended up reading? It also makes me wonder if the camera impacted the outcome. That is always a fear of mine.

Being especially prone to narcosis, I find it even more concerning.

 

[living4experiences]

I feel like this needs to be discussed more. We are planning our Raja trip in early Feb and I’m thoroughly conflicted on what the best course of action is.

Having gone through this experience, I wish the dive staff had given us a risk assessment of down currents in Raja Ampat and how best to handle a bad situation. I recommend asking your cruise director on day one to give a briefing about the down currents in RA.

What boat are you on?

 

[living4experiences]

The discussion in the other thread was very helpful. I think we are still a bit conflicted, though, since it sounds like Steve’s buddy actually survived BY kicking off the wall. Do we know how deep Steve’s computer read? How his dive profile ended up reading? It also makes me wonder if the camera impacted the outcome. That is always a fear of mine.

Being especially prone to narcosis, I find it even more concerning.

I don't know those answers. I do know the other diver with Steve had a big camera rig also. He was a little further up the wall than Steve. He said he was ready to dump his $20,000 rig when one of the guides took it from him then disappeared into the blue. He was one of the guides that was missing but later found, and he still had the other diver's camera. Having the camera still attached when Steve was found may have made a difference, but it's just speculation.

 

[dianna912]

Having gone through this experience, I wish the dive staff had given us a risk assessment of down currents in Raja Ampat and how best to handle a bad situation. I recommend asking your cruise director on day one to give a briefing about the down currents in RA.

What boat are you on?

We will be on Amira, per @Dan's recommendations.

 

[chillyinCanada]

We will be on Amira, per @Dan's recommendations.

What moonphase?

 

[dianna912]

What moonphase?

New Moon is Day 2 of our trip.