10/09/04 accident at Monastery Beach (Carmel) aka ...

[DartRay]

...mortuary beach....

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/9884770.htm

Reality hits home once again. I know this chic and the guys who helped rescue her, her dive buddies. You really gotta be careful diving at Monastery. Great place to get humbled, tossed around, and intimidated. Also a great place to see some of the most awesome stuff, great wall on the North side. I've dived the North and South side. Conditions on the South side weren't real good that day, way to too much surf and surge.

Anyways, the way I heard the story for this incident is she fell on the beach and rolled into the surf. By the time they got to her, they were all 60-80' from the shore. The divers told her to keep her reg in, she nodded slightly and passed out. They gave her CPR, towed her in and called the paramedics.

She was unconscious from the accident Sat and began to wiggle toes, hands, etc., on Sunday. She seems to be making a good recovery. Lets pray that's the case.

That is not an unusual story though from what I have heard and read about Monastery. Monastery has the nickname of 'Mortuary Beach' for a reason. Seems its always the surf that gets them, entering and exiting. Also those Monster berries don't help (the sand is not sand, it's mini rocks/pebbles, and they get into EVERYTHING!)

http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~rvilla/g_adv.html

http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~rvilla/g_adv.html (check out Brian 02/11/04)

ps. some sound advice if you've never dove Monastery want to try:
http://www.firediving.com/wisdom.html

 

[mech]

I absolutly love diving Monastary.
In my AOW class we showed up 5 times before the instructor let us dive because the conditions were rough.
It took me a while to get it.
I walk in and walk out.
If I can't to that it aint worth the dive for me.
Early foggy mornings just before sunrise seem to be the best times for easy entrances. After an hour or so of diving the surf will increace close to 2 feet .
YMMV.
I met a fireman that pulled out 34 bodies there over 28 years one was a family of 4 that tried to save each other with their gear on.
To Sad.
I would definately recommend taking a class from a compitant instructor to learn this place.
To many things to learn like monsterberries and such.
Andy

 

[DartRay]

Yea, I love diving Monastery too. But you really can be deceived at that
beach. Training is a definite must.

I got a new update today saying that she hasn't regained consciousness.
I hope they got the wrong person. Dunno tho, that is a really bad way to
go down, falling on your back and rolling into the surf. Might have been
knocked unconscious by the fall, not sure.

I had a guy tell me once, don't dive it if you're not AOW. Every where I
look on the net, it always warns that this is for advanced or experienced
divers.

I'll have to try the pre-sunrise dive, that sounds really kewl. I saw a post
once that there were lobster there at Monastery. You ever see any?

 

[divenut2001]

Not posible to give someone CPR while in the water. CPR was given after she was back on shore.

 

[DartRay]

Not posible to give someone CPR while in the water. CPR was given after she was back on shore.

....although you cannot do compressions in the water, you can
do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in the water, which is what
this diver did. My apologies for not being exact with my wording,
it was quicker to type CPR than "mouth-to-mouth resuscitation
in the water" (SSI Diver Stress & Rescue manual, pg.69).
I also assumed if you've been trained in CPR, you'd figure out
which part I meant as I can't imagine anyone NOT trained in
CPR attempting to do CPR.

Point I was making was that she was rescued and certain rescue
procedures were performed in the water and out of the water. One
of the divers she was with is certified Stress and Rescue. If you
want the full story you would have to ask that diver. I'm only posting
this as a way of passing on a warning to divers that some places
are more dangerous than others to dive. You may not know that,
you may be a new diver, you may have heard great things about a
spot, but I've attended more funerals than I'd like to recently, and
if I can do anything to help 1 diver not die from a preventable
accident, like pass along some info, I will.

Before this, I knew that Monastery was treacherous, but not the
info I know now. This girl is a very nice person, the guy that
rescued her is a good guy too. She probably didn't realize her
limitations and we're each responsible for ourselves when we dive.
Although I think buddies should really watch each others back,
no buddy can mind read if you're ready or up to the task of this
particular dive.

Sorry if I ranted, it just hits real close to home and it also drives me
nuts when people miss the intended purpose of a conversation, like
safety is paramount when diving.

 

[scubasean]

I had a guy tell me once, don't dive it if you're not AOW. Every where I
look on the net, it always warns that this is for advanced or experienced
divers.

I would like to point out that having an AOW cert. does not necessarily mean you are qualified to dive Monestary, just as not having one doesn't mean you aren't qualified.

But, your point about needing to know and understand your limitations as well as how to safely enter and exit the water at Monestary is quite valid.

 

[Brian Gilpin]

After agreeing with all the above I have to say that the one dive I have at Monastery South was quite a rush. Got knocked over going in by what had seemed like a miniscule surf. Coming out I got washed around a bit and crawled out like my life depended on it.Didnt stop crawling til even the tips of my fins were on completely dry sand and lay there panting for about three minutes.Loved it.

Actually though, I should say I did the dive with a very competent tech diver and instructor who has done many dives there and told me exactly what to do.Dan is his first name and you may have met him at Manta. Thanks Dan.

Dont think I would want to do a dive here with a first time buddy or someone who cannot handle themselves and me if necessary.Although as Dan said once you are in the surf zone its every diver for themselves.

Be careful out there. I hate it when someone I knows gets hurt diving.

 

[mech]

Prayers and pleasant thoughts sent.
Ditto on what scubasean said.

 

[DartRay]

I would like to point out that having an AOW cert. does not necessarily mean you are qualified to dive Monestary, just as not having one doesn't mean you aren't qualified.

But, your point about needing to know and understand your limitations as well as how to safely enter and exit the water at Monestary is quite valid.

And that was basically my point too. It's not necessarily that having a certification
makes you able to handle Monastery. Point being was that you have something
that one can see as to a diver's desire to continue education and getting their
skills improved. After all, certifications are all we have to TRY and identify a
person's level of skill.

There are shops and instructors I have been told that do some specialized instruction
at Monastery. In fact, this Sunday, there is supposed to be a class there at 8am
which will include 'shore diving Monastery beach training'. There is a definite need
for specific training for Monastery shore diving though.

Ultimately, as I've seen posted many places, your safety is up to you. If you aren't
ready for a dive or don't feel comfortable, you shouldn't do it. But I think Monastery
is a place that can fool anyone the first time out.

Mech and Brian, thanks for the kind thoughts. I hope the same for this girl.
I hate it when any of us guess hurt. Guess we all do, maybe that's why we get a
little fueled up when discussing safety, eh? I just want to have a good time and
come back alive and wet from each dive

 

[liberato]

While reading that newspaper article I came upon this one. Note that it is over a year old but I did not find any reference to it being posted on SB and if you are reading this thread it is probably of some interest: TROUBLED WATERS