GLENFWB
Contributor
I hesitate to get in this discussion because others far more qualified then myself are already putting some good information out here.
First, I do not trust anything the media says about diving or time frames. jwp8363 you keep mentioning the few statements that are reported and who knows if they are accurate, but even if they are accurate, you have to consider the facts that are not mentioned. If I was at Vortex unwinding after a day of diving, and someone came up to me and said that a diver was over due. If I saw the panic in a girlfriends eyes I would say the EXACT same thing that Eduardo did, "Don't worry, your boyfriend has plenty of gas with him." After she walked away I would begin aggressively working to find a way to check on the diver. We do not know if that is exactly what happened. The next mention the girlfriend makes is that after another hour she goes to report for the second time her concern. Where was Eduardo? She said in the water preparing to search. Doesn't sound like he just sat around doing nothing after her first report.
How long would it take me to get ready for a dive like Vortex to the back of the cave if I was not preparing to dive? Did he have the proper mix of tanks? Did he have to top tanks off and get his gear ready for this cave dive? Remember, Vortex is a dive that will kill you if not done properly. The fact that he was in the water when she went the second time tells me he acted after her first report. It would take me an hour to get ready for an Intro. dive, much less a dive like this one. What if Eduardo had been diving that day already, what if he had surface interval time yet needed before he could safely attempt a dive to 150 feet? Should he risk his life to try to reach someone that may already be out of air? You said you are a rescue diver. What is one of the basic rules of rescue diving.....don't let your actions cause there to be two victims.
The only reason for this message is your statement that "some of the blame should be taken by the shop." NO it shouldn't. There is no indication that the shop or Eduardo were a part of the divers original dive plan. We have no idea what was "really" going on after the first report was made. If nothing had been done as you suggest, then there is no way Eduardo would have been in the water when he was. I know people are struggling to understand and deal with all this. I know I certainly am. Larry and I took Intro.Cave together in 2009, and I hate this has happened to a nice guy like him. But I sure don't think with what little information we have now, that Eduardo should in anyway be publicaly called out for not acting when the facts to me just don't bear that out. I think he is to be commended for going in there that night and making the effort to find Larry. Kudos to Ed for yet again using his skills to recover a fellow diver.
First, I do not trust anything the media says about diving or time frames. jwp8363 you keep mentioning the few statements that are reported and who knows if they are accurate, but even if they are accurate, you have to consider the facts that are not mentioned. If I was at Vortex unwinding after a day of diving, and someone came up to me and said that a diver was over due. If I saw the panic in a girlfriends eyes I would say the EXACT same thing that Eduardo did, "Don't worry, your boyfriend has plenty of gas with him." After she walked away I would begin aggressively working to find a way to check on the diver. We do not know if that is exactly what happened. The next mention the girlfriend makes is that after another hour she goes to report for the second time her concern. Where was Eduardo? She said in the water preparing to search. Doesn't sound like he just sat around doing nothing after her first report.
How long would it take me to get ready for a dive like Vortex to the back of the cave if I was not preparing to dive? Did he have the proper mix of tanks? Did he have to top tanks off and get his gear ready for this cave dive? Remember, Vortex is a dive that will kill you if not done properly. The fact that he was in the water when she went the second time tells me he acted after her first report. It would take me an hour to get ready for an Intro. dive, much less a dive like this one. What if Eduardo had been diving that day already, what if he had surface interval time yet needed before he could safely attempt a dive to 150 feet? Should he risk his life to try to reach someone that may already be out of air? You said you are a rescue diver. What is one of the basic rules of rescue diving.....don't let your actions cause there to be two victims.
The only reason for this message is your statement that "some of the blame should be taken by the shop." NO it shouldn't. There is no indication that the shop or Eduardo were a part of the divers original dive plan. We have no idea what was "really" going on after the first report was made. If nothing had been done as you suggest, then there is no way Eduardo would have been in the water when he was. I know people are struggling to understand and deal with all this. I know I certainly am. Larry and I took Intro.Cave together in 2009, and I hate this has happened to a nice guy like him. But I sure don't think with what little information we have now, that Eduardo should in anyway be publicaly called out for not acting when the facts to me just don't bear that out. I think he is to be commended for going in there that night and making the effort to find Larry. Kudos to Ed for yet again using his skills to recover a fellow diver.
With me not being a cave diver, maybe I am wrong on this but I am a master scuba diver and I am a little confused on the way things supposedly went so please clarify. Was it not stated in the report that the diver told his gf that he should contact someone if he did not return in 1-1/2 hours which she did. If that is the case, why would she be then told that he was fine and not to worry. I would never dive without a buddy, but understand why some people might. With that in mind, I do know my approximate limitations and if I tell someone to get help if I am not back in the time I set, then the help I send someone to get should take it as an emergency and not tell them that I am fine and not to worry. I think that some of the blame should be taken by the shop for not acting when the girlfriend came in the first time.