Scuba diver goes missing off Catalina Island

[Ken Kurtis]

Couple of general thoughts:

Jim, according to Sgt. David Carter's

Carver, not Carter. (OC Register had him as both names.)

I'm not familiar with this dive site, perhaps others can chime in who are, but I thought I read it was a mile from shore.

I've dove Ship Rock plenty of times. Nearest point of land (Lion's Head) is 0.86 miles away. Ship itself is essentially an underwater pinnacle that breaks the surface. Here's a topographic view from Dive Nav: http://www.scubaboard.com/community/threads/3d-north-view-of-ship-rock-catalina.266120/ . It's very easy to get deep, and quickly. By the same token, the site is small enough that you can circumnavigate it in a single dive (depending on your depth - but I've done it at about 60-70 feet - took 45 minutes or so).

Not sure if the currents rip through there either . . .

Sometimes currents, sometimes like a lake. I don't have any direct knowledge of what the conditions were like on 12/29.

. . . but I suspect there's a little more that happened to her than the boat leaving her.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that as of right now, there is exactly ZERO evidence of what might have happened. All that is known is that she went down on a dive. Beyond that, nothing is known and would be guesswork at best.

And yes, I agree about the buddy. Does this charter allow solo diving? If she was diving solo, was she experienced enough to be doing that?

Solo diving is quite common in SoCal. And I believe she had about 1,000 dives, including previous dives at Ship Rock, so IMHO, that would be enough experience for her to decide to assume the added risk (should something go wrong) that comes with diving solo.

- Ken

 

[Leejnd]

^^^ What Ken said!

We don't know what happened. We have unconfirmed reports. It's good to talk about how to ensure that no boat ever leaves a diver behind, and that was my purpose for jumping into this thread, because I sure as hell never want that to happen to me, or anyone! But we still don't know if that's even what occurred.

For the record, I have solo dived off certain boats at Catalina, when it's a boat and crew that I know extremely well and they know me and are comfortable with my skills, and it's a site I know well. It sounds like it might have been a similar case here.

 

[PhatD1ver]

So...just to reiterate that we still have no specific information about what happened, and I'm still holding out hope that it's not what is being suggested. (I feel I must preface my comment with that, because I don't want to be accused of taking sides once the true story comes out - and it hasn't yet.)

That being said, I'm happy that we are at least talking about this because it IS such a basic thing in diving: you don't move the boat until all divers are PHYSICALLY, bodily, accounted for. I'm with Ken on this - I don't like the tag system, for all the reasons he stated.

My favorite dive boat is the Peace out of Ventura. They take their roll calls very seriously. Everyone must shut the hell up during roll call. NO chatting, NO showing the great shots you just got on your camera...you sit there quietly and wait for your number/name to be called, and you get some pretty ugly stink-eye if you so much as whisper to someone else. (I know...I've gotten it.)

The DM with the slate (yes he uses a slate) does not lower his head and read off names - he looks at WHO is responding to the name to ensure it's the actual person the name belongs to. It's stated very clearly in the initial boat briefing that nobody is allowed to answer for someone else. If you're in the bathroom or puking off the side, they are going to see you doing whatever it is you're doing before we leave. I've been forced to quickly hike up my wetsuit and hightail it out of the head so Steve can see my face during roll call.

That puts the onus on both the diver and the boat, as I do believe that both are equally responsible. But even this system is not perfect...although it seems as close as we can get. Someone mishears a name and and answers when it's not their turn? The DM should recognize the face and catch that. Water on the slate? Use a better slate that won't smear when splashed.

In the end, it is the boat that makes the decision to move or not move...so it is on them if they move without all souls on board. If they checked off somebody who isn't actually on the boat, then they had to have done something massively wrong - either they didn't get an eyeball on the person who shouted "here", or they let someone else tell them someone was onboard, or they checked a name without calling it, or some other huge screw-up.

I'm sooooo hoping this is not what happened, and I will not assume it is until we know for sure.

I had a similar experience on the Magician out of San Pedro. No talking during roll call. All the divers enforce it, you'll hear about it. They also have a rule that if you aren't there for the boat briefing (which takes place before they leave the dock), you don't ride or dive.

For me, if I was a boat operator carrying that many people, I think I'd issue necklaces with a number as people board. I'd guess there are always repeat customers, but a place like Catalina, I'd bet the Magician guys couldn't point me out in a crowd two days after my dive day. I'm just saying that from my military days, that two way confirmation before handing off the controls comes back into play. DM calls out "19"!! and I hold up my tag at the end of my necklace and yell "19, HERE!" Unless people have TWO heads, no double reporting, and you know who went in and that they are all on the boat. Same for returning to dock. You turn in your lanyard as you stop off "19, OFF THE BOAT!"

Sounds corning, but I'd bet my life that it would work.

 

[Leejnd]

I had a similar experience on the Magician out of San Pedro. No talking during roll call. All the divers enforce it, you'll hear about it. They also have a rule that if you aren't there for the boat briefing (which takes place before they leave the dock), you don't ride or dive.

I've been on the Magician several times. They run a first class operation too, and take roll-calls very seriously. I would not want to get the stink-eye from them during roll-call.

 

[Zog]

This is indeed tragic. She has not been found yet.

I am not trying to diminish the responsibility of any dive operation but...divers do have a responsibility to dive...responsibly. Diving alone...out of sequence with the rest of the divers...no BCD...maybe aggressive diving... can all add up to tragedy for the diver, and the boat.

I've been on the Sundiver Express a lot. They have ALWAYS run a top notch, safe operation when I've been on board. At the same time, I have witnessed several divers diving poorly (poor habits, poor pre-dive checks, no real dive plan, etc) on this boat and MOST boats I've been on.

Divers need to be responsible for themselves.

Where the right gear. Have a way to stay afloat when you are done diving. I always count on the boat NOT being there as a worse case situation. I carry a large SMB and, if diving away from shore (oil rigs) I carry a small, waterproof, VHF radio. Currents change rapidly in SoCal and you may not surface near the boat.

Do the right thing. I personally never jump off a boat until I see that I have been accounted for. When I get back on, I ensure I'm properly accounted for...it's my but on the line after all.

I hope we can find her. Her family needs to know.

Godspeed Laurel

I may have missed on previous thread about "no BCD,' Is this a preferred method when lobster diving? I don't hunt, so I have no idea.

 

[Peter69_56]

Regardless of the cause of this incident.

With the boats I dive with out of Port Phillip bay, the norm is to provide name, gas, run time and expected depth on a dive sheet. Total boat head count prior to diving and compared to the sign off sheet (less crew). On some of the boats, prior to the dive ALL divers demonstrate air on all regs (no drop in tank pressure), BCD inflates, all deco tanks work (with technical divers demonstrated air checks are usually NOT the case on many boats).

On completion of the dive you sign off the sheet, and as well they do a total boat head count again. If this procedure is taken seriously it should prevent leaving divers behind. However in saying that, I am disappointed in the number of small dive operations in OZ who do not fulfil anything like this. This smacks of sheer laziness and poor operation. I believe any boat operators who do not have a process similar to the above, if they lose a diver due to sloppy procedures, should be charged with manslaughter and given full penalties. There is NO excuse to avoid having a fool proof procedure.

"If I have no knowledge, how can I be held accountable, however once having been given the knowledge I now have a legal and moral obligation to take appropriate action"

 

[undrwater]

"No BCD" indicates "vintage" to me, though I have no idea how or if either relates to this incident.

 

[Leejnd]

I may have missed on previous thread about "no BCD,' Is this a preferred method when lobster diving? I don't hunt, so I have no idea.

No. I do hunt lobsters (every chance I get, in season) and I have never done it without normal dive equipment.

"No BCD" indicates "vintage" to me, though I have no idea how or if either relates to this incident.

Hi Russ, long time no see! "Vintage" - yeah, I guess they didn't use BCDs back in the day, did they? I don't personally know anyone who dives vintage equipment.

 

[drbill]

What's a BCD? I didn't use one until 27 years after my first dive (and it failed so I unhooked the inflater and dove without it).

I wasn't aware that Laurel was diving without a BCD.

Although there are some verified facts in this situation, there are also a bunch of rumors. Heck, I heard yesterday on the island that they had recovered Laurel's body.

"No BCD" indicates "vintage" to me, though I have no idea how or if either relates to this incident.

 

[afdgf]

What's a BCD? I didn't use one until 27 years after my first dive (and it failed so I unhooked the inflater and dove without it).

I wasn't aware that Laurel was diving without a BCD.

Although there are some verified facts in this situation, there are also a bunch of rumors. Heck, I heard yesterday on the island that they had recovered Laurel's body.

Yes, there was an earlier news media report that said that the body had been recovered. That report has since disappeared AFAIK.