(6/18/2005) Diver lost off Jupiter Point

[H2Andy]

amazz, thanks for the report

sorry that you were there when this happened. hope you're feeling ok under
the circumstances

 

[Amazz]

like his buddies stated, he made it through most of the dive. If he was not an experienced diver, he would have had trouble earlier. He made it to the end of the dive and was about to surface. He either had a medical problem, ran out of air, or is drifting and will be found soon, we hope.

 

[Kriterian]

It's not something I want spread around the diving community. But it's annoying reading about all of the speculation and finger pointing. It was made very clear before the dives that this is an advanced dive.

I'm sorry you had to experience something like this and you have my deepest sympathy for you and your friends. I just wanted to take a moment to say that I don't think any of us here intended to offend. We use these forums to discuss accidents and near misses so that we can learn and grow as better divers. Alot of times all we have to go off of is news reports, which are usually inaccurate in some way or another.

I hope he and all the other missing divers are found, like the fellow currently floating off the NC coast where I live.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm sorry you had to experience something like this and you have my deepest sympathy for you and your friends. I just wanted to take a moment to say that I don't think any of us here intended to offend. We use these forums to discuss accidents and near misses so that we can learn and grow as better divers. Alot of times all we have to go off of is news reports, which are usually inaccurate in some way or another.

I hope he and all the other missing divers are found, like the fellow currently floating off the NC coast where I live.

Very well said, sir.

Adn thanks Angie, for coming to us with this first hand information. We care about our fellow divers and hope the best for you and him.

 

[Talon]

Angie - thanks for posting and I am sorry you had to go through that. I was just talking to friends last night about how hard it would have been to be on the boat.

 

[Dr. Doug Ebersole]

Angie:

Thanks for sharing. My wife and I were diving West Palm that day and our thoughts were both for the diver's family and friends but also for the other divers on board that boat. I'm sure it's a tough situation for you as well.

 

[StSomewhere]

The missing diver's buddies told me that he went through the hole and then signaled that he was ready to surface because he was low on air. He apparently started to surface alone. That was the last anyone saw of him...

:06:

Then why didn't his buddy surface with him?

 

[H2Andy]

Then why didn't his buddy surface with him?

it sounds like the group had some trouble staying together due to the current
on ascent.

so...i would *guess* (just a guess... i have no info) that the separation was
unintentional

 

[JustJoe]

:06:

Then why didn't his buddy surface with him?

Your question begs speculation. Without input from the actual divers we will never truly know.

Speculation follows:
Maybe that was part of their dive plan. Right, wrong or indifferent, they may have agreed beforehand that if one of the divers had to ascend for any non-emergency that they would do so alone.


Joe

 

[Tom Winters]

80' is pretty viz for that dive. I've done it in 20' viz that was not much fun at all. 2-3 knots is a pretty wicked current - I'm a powerful swimmer in the water, and I couldn't swim long against 3 knots.
4-5 knots and I'd call the dive if I was the captain. Too risky and too much client scatter if you're close to shore doing a reef dive. On Hole-In-The-Wall, you're out there in the Atlantic Ocean. Even large SMB's are hard to spot at a distance.
The other thing is tank capacity. I'm amazed that people even think of doing this dive with an aluminum 80. I will only do it with one of my 121's pumped up to 160 cubic feet. Plus I have another 40 cubic feet of either pure O2 or 50% nitrox.
80 cubic feet is ok for a small, highly experience diver with a great sense of gas management, but for pretty much everyone else, there's not enough of a safety margin there.
Sorry to see stuff like this happen. People will always die diving - if it's a heart attack, you can carry all the gas in China and still check out. It's the avoidable running out of air or surface panic scenarios that just should not happen.