West Palm Beach Fatality 59 yo male diver

[flots am]

300 ft in the ocean as well as the Lakes AFIK.

It's complicated.

NY is 100' in rivers and inlets and supposedly 300' in lakes, although the Sherrif's department will give you a lot of crap if you're more than 100' from the flag, so there may be different local laws. MN is 50' from the flag max for the diver, and 150' from the flag minimum for other boats. Canada requires use of the flag, but apparently has no requirement for how close a boat can be or how far a diver can be.

flots.

 

[Splitlip]

It's complicated.

NY is 100' in rivers and inlets and supposedly 300' in lakes, although the Sherrif's department will give you a lot of crap if you're more than 100' from the flag, so there may be different local laws. MN is 50' from the flag max for the diver, and 150' from the flag minimum for other boats. Canada requires use of the flag, but apparently has no requirement for how close a boat can be or how far a diver can be.

flots.

I guess, lol. I was relying on Florida laws and rules.

 

[LeafyGirl]

Very sad situation, a professional colleague was on this dive boat and fortunately she is a mental health professional and assisted the diver's son during this traumatic ordeal. It was a horrendous experience for all involved. No further info than what has been reported.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Sad indeed but I really appreciate the detailed and clear explanations of the sop's of dive boats in Florida and other US sites. Quite different from here. It helps me understand the expectations or lack of expectations when people travel.

I have to say I chaff at the restrictions that are in force esp in Queensland regarding staying with the DM etc. I dislike being part of a herd but I appreciate that the DM's have to obey local laws to cover themselves and the operator! *sigh* it was such a treat to convince a DM in advance to "not notice" as our group of 4 fell behind to spend extra time in a location we were particularly interested in! One of our group was a qualified instructor, two Rescue Certified and non with less than 500 dives in various conditions. We had dived there all week and were all feeling frustrated by the "leash" so they knew our in water skills.

I have enjoyed the "freedom" of diving in Florida and California!

 

[OkieGirl]

He was family of mine. :crying2:

---------- Post Merged at 04:00 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:53 PM ----------

An older fellow from Oklahoma comes in to town flashes a C-card and they let him dive solo? I can't believe any reputable dive boat (commercial or recreational) would allow it. Why not send a dive master down with him if he has no buddy. There has to be more to the story.

There are a lot of unanswered questions, facts are scarce.

Can anyone in the know post a first hand account? There was a good east wind that day, so I suspect the affected diver's flag blew off the reef and towards shore rapidly. This should have tipped off the Capt. and Crew something is amiss.

As a recreational boater in the area, I don't have a lot of confidence in Commercial Dive Boats after what I have read, heard and seen first hand myself over the years.

He wasn't diving solo. His son was in the water with him along with others. Also, please don't comment smart alleck things when you don't know all of the facts right off. His family, like myself, may be and are reading this!!

 

[DandyDon]

He was family of mine. :crying2:

He wasn't diving solo. His son was in the water with him along with others. Also, please don't comment smart alleck things when you don't know all of the facts right off. His family, like myself, may be and are reading this!!

He OkieGirl. I am sorry about your family loss. You may have noticed that this special discussion forum prohibits condolences & RIPs as such interfere with the straight forward discussions and safety objectives of this forum, but sometimes we offer those anyway. We have another Passings forum for remembrances and sometimes our Moderators work to move those there. Anyway, sorry the vacation took a tragic turn, hope he was a member of DAN (Divers Alert Network) and they have been helpful with getting your family member home for services and more. I often say I'd rather go diving than bored at home or something else, with apologies for messing up others dive trip - and I hope my daughter remembers to use DAN to help with final needs.

I don't think that poster was speculating so much as asking as there is so little info from the news, which is often inaccurate, the dive operators often won't provide much under orders from their insurance and attorneys, and even if others on the boat might happen to know what happened - we seldom hear from them. Truly, very few if any really know what all happened in such cases.

So we have this forum to discuss accidents, under moderator controls and rules unlike the news sites themselves, and we often discuss what-ifs, possibilities, and questions in hopes of reducing accidents. It is really not advisable for family and friends to read these discussions unless you'd like to offer info unknown to us.

Otherwise, best wishes to you all in your time of grieving....

 

[MMM]

I may have missed this but is it possible that the deceased diver had a sausage and reel and disconnected his inflator hose underwater to inflate his sausage?

 

[DandyDon]

I may have missed this but is it possible that the deceased diver had a sausage and reel and disconnected his inflator hose underwater to inflate his sausage?

I've not seen an inflator hose that will supply air unless hooked to the BC? Does yours? I think that is usually done from second stage.

 

[weitodive]

Safety sausages have fittings that will inflate when you jam te fitting into the Lpi hose.

 

[hilton194]

So sorry for your loss. He was a friend ours through my husbands work. He will be missed.