Death at Gilboa

[cstreu1026]

After hearing about the experiences of some at Gilboa, I feel very fortunate that I had a wonderful experience there while being certified last October. I was fortunate enough to have 4 dive insturctors for the 7 or 8 person class. I feel terrible for the family of the diver that died as well as his dive buddy, other people in his dive class, and owner of the quarry. I can't help but wonder who decided to hire the writer of the first article that was posted. It sounded like it was taken from a high school news paper and I am sure it will only damage the image of diving and of the quarry.

 

[TexasMike]

Originally posted by ICUROK
It goes to show you the importance of using trained divemasters in ow classes.

I know it is almost impossible to know when a student is going to bolt ...

As well as WHICH student is going to bolt.

As I'm going through my DM class, one of the excercises we do after each lecture session with the new students is to evaluate based upon what happened during the class who is likely to be the "challenged" diver during the lake sessions. And based upon this, we can arrange the instructor/DM "layout" so that maximum control is acheived without being over obvious about it to the students.

This also gives us practice in developing the buddy teams so we can level out the strong personalities with the more timid ones so one does not overwhelm the other.

So far, things have gone well. And sometimes its a nice suprise to find out that the student we picked out to be the challenged one was the diver who had the easiest time in the lake.

But I do agree with Scott and the others. There often is no shortage of quallified and willing help with instruction. So why not as an instructor avail yourself of this help to ensure the enjoyment and safety of the class?

 

[O-ring]

Was it 70-80 ffw? What class was it? What agency? Anyone know any other details?

 

[Roooter]

O-Ring,

the diver was a certified OW diver working on his advanced certification. I don't know what depth he was at when he started experiencing a problem. his weight belt was found at about 60'. the rumors flying around the quarry on Sunday were that he & his buddy were from the Deep 6 Dive Shop in the Akron, OH area. there was no mention of them being there with a group from that shop. it sounded to me like it was just 2 buddies out for a day of diving. I also don't know which agency they were certifying with...sorry.

 

[O-ring]

Roooter,
Thanks for what you have...just good to know, that's all. I figure the more we know about accidents the better the chance of preventing another one.

Sounds like a case of panic (maybe reg free flow, whatever) and then a buoyant ascent from a decently deep depth (unless the weights were ditched on the surface)...

I will post anything else I run across.

--Eric

 

[Ber Rabbit]

I was greatly saddened to hear of the death at Gilboa. I've been diving there many times and as Mike says it's not a place to mess with unless you have the proper training. The shallow side is a great place for well-trained students, there is a lot to see and ropes connecting the attractions makes the quarry easy to navigate. You must make sure not to become entangled in the ropes though.
One day at dinner one of our AOW students made the comment that he intended to "find the bottom of Gilboa." I thought my (and his) instructor was going to go over the table after him. She said "You don't have the training or the equipment to go to the bottom of Gilboa. If you try that dive you are going to die!" We were all on vacation and this student was always the deepest person on dives, he didn't seem to want anyone else to beat the depth he achieved each time. He was feeling a little cocky having completed a 113 foot dive in the Sea of Cortez and thought he could tackle Gilboa and the instructor set him straight. Happily he has matured quite a bit over the last two years and she has allowed him into her DM class (right now that's pretty much by invitation only) and would like to see him become an instructor and teach with us.
I can't tell you what the deep end at Gilboa looks like because I've only peeked over the edge, never had a good reason to go down there. I've been told there is a sulfur blackout at 80 feet or so, supposedly the water is pitch black with zero visibility and I have no desire to find out exactly what a sulfur blackout looks like. The waivers tell you that regulators can freeze at 60 feet, my gear is cold water gear but I still always keep this in mind, it CAN happen to you.
Hopefully this accident doesn't end up causing the quarry to close and maybe, just maybe someone will learn something so a life was not lost in vain.
Ber

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Diver died from air embolism. Official reports are stating there was no appearant equipment malfunction.

The link to the coronors report is at the bottom of the second news link in related stories.

Thoughts and prayers to friends and family.

Tom

 

[MikeFerrara]

Ber,
Sometimes there is a sulfer cloud in the last 5-10 feet near the bottom. Sometimes the vis is great and you can see forever everywhere. It's always cold. The temp only veries by a few degrees year round. Without the equipment, training and experience there are more ways a diver can get in trouble than you can shake a stick at. For the divers that want to see the bottom there are classes that can get them there. You won't see me down there with a single tank, no redundancy or without a sling tank of deco gas. Cold seems to make narcosis that much worse, therefore, we will often do that dive on trimix. For those equiped and trained it's a great dive (good place for practice). Those that want to take their Caribbean equipment and experience and "go find the bottom" may only find their worst nightmare.

Mike

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Mike,
Thanks for the info! A couple of guys from the program were diving there several years ago. Cave certified, diving doubles, cold water equipment, etc. so they shouldn't have had any trouble. They got into the sulfur layer and one of them swears he was out of air (he wasn't) and the redundant system failed (it didn't) so he and his buddy did an OOA ascent. The octopus free flowed and they ended up doing a single regulator exchange ascent instead of using his buddy's redundant system. He said that scared him so bad he quit smoking for several months. That's why I've never gone over there, if those two could think they had that many problems with all that backup gear I'm not going anywhere near that place with my single tank. They said visibility went to zero and evidently that combined with some probable narcosis was a little too much for them to handle. I don't believe it was the first time they had done that dive either, it was just their day to freak.
I'll stick to swimming through the tubes
Ber

 

[cstreu1026]

I am doing part of my AOW at Gilboa at the end of the month and reading all of these post has got me a little spooked. Fortunately I have complete confidence in my instructors. I am sure that I do not plan to attempt any deap diving there any time soon, I'll stick to the shallow side.