An investigator (Ed) who used to work in my office and his wife died in Cancun in July 2002 snorkeling. He was a very "buff" 63 year-old. He worked out with weights, had quite the bicepts. He was in was in such good shape, you would easily guess him to be in his mid-40's. In contrast, his wife was very overweight. They went to Cancun regularly and went snorkeling. They considered themselves to be expert snorklers and never wore snorkeling vests. Like the other tourists in the area, they had rented snorkeling equipment and were snorkeling from the beach. Ed took command of a group of snorkeling tourists, showing them how to enter the water backwards with fins on, etc. He was not an instructor or anything, just someone who wanted to help others. They had done one excersion that day. The second trip was the tragic one. His wife became distressed in the water, he came to her rescue, trying to hold her up, calling for help, but she was panicking and dragging him under. A nearby snorkler saw them go down, swam to a nearby boat for a life vest, but he turned back could not see either of them. The search from the boat began. They located her mother first, but nothing was done on the boat to attempt to revive her or even place her on her stomach or side. Their daughter was on the beach and saw her mother brought ashore and began CPR attempts herself, no one helped. A few minutes later, she realized her father was missing and began crying out to find her father. The boat finally located him, but it was apparent that he was gone.
It was determined from autopsy that he had suffered a coronary, but official cause of death was saltwater drowing. Her mother drowned, no other medical findings. I never heard about the conditions that weekend in Cancun, but I know that it is famous for its rip tides and is inherently more dangerous because of them.
I received the call just after finishing a dive in Fort Bragg, CA. Needless to say, it was shocking and I didn't do anymore diving that weekend after that. I decided shortly after that to get my certification in Rescue. Not just to rescue someone else, but be able to rescue myself. And I can see where the techniques can also be used in snorkeling situations.
