Scuba diver dies after being found floating at Kurnell, NSW, Australia

[MB2013]

I believe that she was diving a new dry suit, and struggling with controlling her buoyancy.

Around last Fri she mentioned leg pain that she was taking Ibuprofen to try to releave, and she thought the leg pain was associated with her struggling to control her trim in the new dry suit, and in shallow diving conditions.

I have no idea if any of this is remotely involved in what happened, though.

At this point there is no value in speculation. There is an on going investigation that we will have to wait for.

There has been a lot of discussion on the tragic accident of Marcia, raising a lot of various points. But no one knows at this point if she felt a side effect from the medication she was taking . Potential side effects are dizziness, raised blood pressure, vomiting. Even the most experienced diver would be in serious trouble if they had a dizzy spell and became disoriented. Maybe the sore leg Marcia had wasn't nothing to do with her new drysuit. Maybe Marcia had DVT. I know she was living in Phuket so at some point would have had a 9-10 hour flight to Sydney. I am not an experienced diver like a lot of the people on this forum, but my thinking is - If Marcia was 100% fit and had no medical problems she would have overcome any problems she had with her new dive gear, especially in shallow easy diving conditions. RIP Marcia, I was so looking forward to meeting and diving with you in November.

 

[Denis Sydney]

But no one knows at this point if she felt a side effect from the medication she was taking .

What medication was she taking?

 

[Cave Diver]

Do you think that Marcia was so used to being in the lead and having a group follow her that she had a hard time when it came time for her to be an equal team mate, maybe even follow those who knew the area? I'm not making excuses. Just trying to understand the complicated dynamics that seemed to be going on here...

Although I've talked extensively with Marcia as well as met her in person, I never had the opportunity to dive with her. I can't comment on that with any type of authority, but suppose it's possible. The flip side of that, is that she should have been used to keeping her eye on a group and not wandering away from it. Perhaps it was the combination of diving with competent buddies who didn't need supervision, excitement of a new area, and distraction of taking pics that led her to ignore "normal" buddy protocols.

 

[Denis Sydney]

Although I've talked extensively with Marcia as well as met her in person, I never had the opportunity to dive with her. .

How many monitoring this post have dived with Marcia? I have, but not on the Sunday.

 

[Namreg 58]

After having read 30 pages on this topic, we agree that Marcia was an experienced diver and very likely mastered her buoyancy as she did surface after each dive and even had a conversation with the other divers on her last dive.

Why won't people entertain the simple thought that as she descended for the final leg to the shore, she may have had a medical event that prevented her from ditching the weights to save herself. To the best of my knowledge and experience, once a second stage is expelled from the mouth it usually freeflows or maybe she came to rest on her occy causing that to freeflow. Couple that with an inaccurate SPG and that 50 bar suddenly vanishes in no time.


I don't know about the rest of the world, but I was never taught to ditch weights. I was taught to unbuckle, remove and or adjust and re- buckle the belt underwater. As to integrated weights, I was always under the impression that they were meant to be offloaded to facillitate easier boarding of the dive vessel after the dive or to ditch in a surface emergency but never while at depth unless you wish to spend some serious time in a chamber.

 

[line]

I've been wondering myself if the fact that she was an avid photographer had skewed her view on the buddy system. It sounds like she had a habit of drifting away from her buddies. Question is why someone would develop such a habit.

Of course I can't tell about others, but I can describe how my perception and diving changed so far. First of all, I'm not an experienced diver, I started diving four years ago and now have about 230 dives, so I'm comfortable "diving in my limits", but that's it.

First, I realized that diving spots I know, started to feel like cruising in my underwater living room and therefore my awareness for my surroundings (including checking on my regular buddy) isn't as high anymore as it used to be. Same goes for so called easy (shallow) dives or at the end of a dive where you just dive a reef / certain spot for your last 3 to x minutes before you get out of the water. Which doesn't mean that I'm becoming careless or don't pay attention anymore, but the "quality of awareness" is changing. It's a lot more routine and relaxed and easy and nothing that calls for "being prepared in a second in case something is going to happen" anymore. My sensing for potential dangers in these situations is by far not as sharp anymore as it was in the beginning or still is when we're diving in a new area.

Second, I take pictures, so I'm more or less constantly looking for things to photograph which means I'm basically on a hunt. And like every hunter my main concentration is on a potential "prey" (motive) which also focuses my perception. Additionally exploring and taking pictures seems to be my primary motivation (which I always realize when I'm "forced" just to dive, e.g. because of a malfunction of strobe etc.). For me it feels strange to look for nudibranches if you aren't able to document your findings.

Third, since my regular buddy is supporting me in taking pictures I'm usually in the role of the "guide", which means upfront we plan together and then I'm "guiding" our dive and I trust that my buddy comes with me especially if I see something on the way that looks interesting. If it's "off route" we "talk" before I go / lead off, if not, I assume he's with me and check on a regular basis if my assumption is still true. This is not how it should be ideally and since we realized what's happening we decided to work on our buddy system.

When I have been diving with Insta-buddies it's not that I'm not interested or don't want to buddy - just the opposite. But I still would like to take pictures and at the same time I don't want to be a burden for a fellow diver who might be bored by watching me taking the 5th shot of a soft coral. And if I get buddied with an already existing buddyteam, it's more or less me doing a solo dive with a buddyteam nearby. And again it's not because I like it this way, but because I feel a dilemma I can't solve without either limiting me or someone else. This is not easy especially if you are on a dive trip where everyone wants to get the best out of it. So sometimes I'm stuck in the middle of my priorities and then "education" is taking over which means one is looking for a (classical topside) compromise which is: the same-ocean-buddy (we're kind of diving together, but you do your thing and I'm doing mine - no harm).

So to sum it up, yes I somehow can relate and I might have a similar problem / behaviour (working on it).

 

[Diver0001]

The following are some pictures of Marcia over her last 3 dives.

1) The first picture shows a side on view. On this picture you can see that she has some unditchable weight, which I would estimate at 4-6kg in total. You can also see on this picture that she is using the drysuit for buoyancy during this dive.



2) next dive; This picture I've included to give people a context to understand conditions and perhaps get a better understanding of the buddy separation.



3) last dive; the first picture again shows conditions during that dive and shows a good view on her trim and buoyancy. The last picture shows another view of the rig and shows that by this point the bubble has moved from the suit to the wing, indicating that she was experimenting during the last three dives with where to put the air.



R..

 

[RJP]

A diver who needs to augment the BC with air in a too tight drysuit would not neccesarily have problems until after ascending and then re-descending.

Up until that point they would have a closed/partially closed shoulder dump so buoyancy shifts could be maintained without a hard squeeze.

After ascending, if they wanted to re-descend, they probably would reach over to open the dump valve wide.

If opened too wide, for too long, the descent could create a gradual squeeze that may not be alleviated by adding air (if they forget to close the valve) because the dump is open and venting.

I've done nearly ~1,000 dry suit dives... but can't for the life of me understand or picture the scenario you're describing.

 

[DandyDon]

After having read 30 pages on this topic, we agree that Marcia was an experienced diver and very likely mastered her buoyancy as she did surface after each dive and even had a conversation with the other divers on her last dive.

Why won't people entertain the simple thought that as she descended for the final leg to the shore, she may have had a medical event that prevented her from ditching the weights to save herself. To the best of my knowledge and experience, once a second stage is expelled from the mouth it usually freeflows or maybe she came to rest on her occy causing that to freeflow. Couple that with an inaccurate SPG and that 50 bar suddenly vanishes in no time.


I don't know about the rest of the world, but I was never taught to ditch weights. I was taught to unbuckle, remove and or adjust and re- buckle the belt underwater. As to integrated weights, I was always under the impression that they were meant to be offloaded to facillitate easier boarding of the dive vessel after the dive or to ditch in a surface emergency but never while at depth unless you wish to spend some serious time in a chamber.

Re: "once a second stage is expelled from the mouth it usually freeflows" - uh, not from my experiences. You may want to adjust yours.

Re: "I don't know about the rest of the world, but I was never taught to ditch weights." Huh...?

Re: "or to ditch in a surface emergency but never while at depth unless you wish to spend some serious time in a chamber." That option has been discussed here from time to time. If you're down and can't get up, last resort is to ditch at depth. A floating body is easier to find quickly than one on the bottom and there might be a chance of saving you even if you're unconscious and/or injured.

I'm just giving straight answers. You don't list dive experiences in your profile so I have no idea about yours.

 

[AfterDark]

Do you think that Marcia was so used to being in the lead and having a group follow her that she had a hard time when it came time for her to be an equal team mate, maybe even follow those who knew the area? I'm not making excuses. Just trying to understand the complicated dynamics that seemed to be going on here...

That doesn't explain her buddy actions. As I posted I've had buddies that just will not me do that, they stuck to my right side like a remora. I'd be distracted taking pics moving around and there'd they'd be. I would not like to have been her buddy today after what happened.