TSandM: Missing Diver in Clallam County, WA

[H20doctor]

I have been out to neah bay many times .. And what i dont understand about this is why would they choose to go all the way out to duncan rock ? This was there first time going there to dive, very first trip ... So why do a site that is extremely difficult, massive current, huge swell, and very hard to dive...? I have only known 3 divers to complete this site, and most of them fail...
So why didnt they dive the easy sites ... ? The jetty... 3rd beach Reef... Sail rock.. The fingers... This makes no sense at all to me for them and the first dive trip out to neah bay.... Even tattoosh isl or mushroom rock would have worked?...
With all of peters exp and lynnes why did they not know or research Duncan Rock? ...

 

[lesaddison]

Signed in here hoping for an update. One of the fb groups I am in posted a memorial photo with no details

 

[gcbryan]

I have been out to neah bay many times .. And what i dont understand about this is why would they choose to go all the way out to duncan rock ? This was there first time going there to dive, very first trip ... So why do a site that is extremely difficult, massive current, huge swell, and very hard to dive...? I have only known 3 divers to complete this site, and most of them fail...
So why didnt they dive the easy sites ... ? The jetty... 3rd beach Reef... Sail rock.. The fingers... This makes no sense at all to me for them and the first dive trip out to neah bay.... Even tattoosh isl or mushroom rock would have worked?...
With all of peters exp and lynnes why did they not know or research Duncan Rock? ...

They did know. That was the point. I did all those on my first trip out there. They certainly researched Duncan Rock.

 

[Slamfire]

Why is Duncan Rock extremely difficult (other than massive current and huge swell)? Honest question, I've never been on Neah Bay myself.

 

[tomfcrist]

I have been out to neah bay many times .. And what i dont understand about this is why would they choose to go all the way out to duncan rock ? This was there first time going there to dive, very first trip ... So why do a site that is extremely difficult, massive current, huge swell, and very hard to dive...? I have only known 3 divers to complete this site, and most of them fail...
So why didnt they dive the easy sites ... ? The jetty... 3rd beach Reef... Sail rock.. The fingers... This makes no sense at all to me for them and the first dive trip out to neah bay.... Even tattoosh isl or mushroom rock would have worked?...
With all of peters exp and lynnes why did they not know or research Duncan Rock? ...

I would guess that both Peter and Lynne saw that conditions there were as good as they were going to get...with the experience level they have and the confidence in their system of diving, I would probably done the same thing. I honestly think this was a medical event...could have happened sitting on the couch. Lynne had her **** together, and I don't see her having a problem with the conditions. Even separated and dizzy I'm sure she would have headed to the surface if she physically could. Realistically, if she headed to the surface, she should have been found by now. Sad day for many of us.

 

[Akimbo]

Why is Duncan Rock extremely difficult (other than massive current and huge swell)? Honest question, I've never been on Neah Bay myself.

Other than massive current and huge swell??? That’s enough. The open sea along the northern Oregon and Washington coasts are more akin to Alaska than California. There’s a reason the USCG chose Cape Disappointment for Surf Training at the mouth of the Columbia River.

We’re not talking about a “normal” current. Water transiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the major route for tidal water in and out of the massive Puget Sound, is one of the major tidal flows in the North America. That alone creates a lot of challenges even though it isn’t that deep. Duncan Rock is very near Cape Flattery, a few miles inside the Strait from the open sea.

 

[ucfdiver]

I have been out to neah bay many times .. And what i dont understand about this is why would they choose to go all the way out to duncan rock ? This was there first time going there to dive, very first trip ... So why do a site that is extremely difficult, massive current, huge swell, and very hard to dive...? I have only known 3 divers to complete this site, and most of them fail...
So why didnt they dive the easy sites ... ? The jetty... 3rd beach Reef... Sail rock.. The fingers... This makes no sense at all to me for them and the first dive trip out to neah bay.... Even tattoosh isl or mushroom rock would have worked?...
With all of peters exp and lynnes why did they not know or research Duncan Rock? ...

I don't know why they chose this specific dive-- what good would diving easy sites do that her previous 1200+ dives did not? I dove with Lynne in current so fast that I had to grab a hold of a wreck to stay on it, so this wasn't her first rodeo in current.

 

[gcbryan]

Just to be clear, it's outside the Strait and it's not on Neah Bay (which is inside the strait). That's just the name people use to refer to the general area. There are some dives inside the strait at Neah Bay and they don't have the same challenges (but are good dives).

 

[Akimbo]

Here’s an article from Alert Diver Magazine that includes Duncan Rock.

Alert Diver | Washington’s Olympic Peninsula

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Why Duncan Rock? Because it's amazing, it's rarely accessible, and the conditions were damn near perfect for diving it. Why not? If it were me, and I was given the choice, I'd have definitely gone for it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)