Training Scuba Ranch Incident Report

[cruiser]

I agree the vis wasnt great at ASP in the summer months but that's just due to rainfall amount they had. Vis was 30 feet in April, and it was 15 feet yesterday when my wife and I went. So if you just plan your dives accordingly instead of just showing up out of the blue and check their posted conditions on their site, you'll have a better experience. Yeah they don't have fish but they do have lots of turtles through the tire graveyard. We saw at least 10 back in April. Crawfish only really come out at night there but there are hundreds. New owners are great too. Not trying to glaze them or the park but new walk in shore diving area is nice and the new bright ropes with wreck tag info is a nice touch. We also go to SR at least once a year for a deeper dive and we haven't had much luck with finding a good day of vis. Last time I called SR about conditions they said it was 15 ft then we get out there and it's less than 5. Kinda salty on the misleading conditions we were told but probably won't go back until the vis gets better if it ever does.. Not a bad facility by any means just my personal opinion Athens has more to offer and is safer for newer divers or anyone in general. Hope this accident hasn't hurt SR too much because the owners are very friendly and would like to go back at some point when it's clearer

I'd like to try out Athens' walk-in shore dive area.

Have they gotten rid of the Playschool plastic docks? Those were a pain.

Vis can vary quite a bit at Athens, especially when it's crowded and during warmer months.

 

[kammel78]

Well, it turns out the victim wasn’t a nine year old…
Beginning with that misinformation makes me doubt that the guy and his partner swam over there and joined in on the rescue effort. There is some more specific information I’ll be keeping to myself out of respect for the parents who may be reading these threads.

If the police were smart enough to download the dive computers then we'd know for sure. The girl's was listed in the inventory but not sure if that was actually hers or a rental and went back to the shop, but between the instructor's, other DM's, and the recovery divers' computers we should be able to know exactly what happened without relying solely on eyewitnesses and memory.

If I'm not mistaken, in Linnea's case they gave the victim's computer to the instructor which is just mind numbingly asinine.

I'd also be interested in knowing how much weight it was they recovered and of the 3 items recovered later (mask, fins, weight belt) which, if any, were removed by the recovery divers.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Anyone here a fan of Sheck Exley?

I am. He trained me as an NACD cave instructor in 1975. This was before the NSS-CDS existed. During my cave instructor training he was very happy to take us to 140 feet deep in a cave with limited visibility and expected us to deal with it nonchalantly, which we did.