Orange Beach accident 11/11/06

[seadoggirl]

Okay. I am posting this message under the true spirit of this forum which is to relate learning experiences. The Lord knows we had one of those yesterday diving out of Orange Beach Alabama. I will be as honest as possible but please don't be mean and hateful and Monday morning quarterback.

We started out of Orange Beach with six divers on the boat. We had two new divers (less than 20 dives), two experience divers (one a master), a commercial diver (13 years of experience) and the boat captain who has 30 years dive experience. We had four divers with spearguns, six total in the water. We were on a six pack boat. The day started out nice with sun and 1-2 seas. The first dive was a 106 foot dive for 26 minutes. Everyone came up okay and were a little disappointed by the lack of fish and the extremely low vis (10 ft). Once we were down for a short time the vis was zero from all the movement by divers.

Before the second dive the commercial diver who is the son of the boat captain noticed that his BC was not connected to the auto-inflate hose. He understood that he would need to manually inflate his BC. (First issue faulty equipment). The second dive I went down first with the commerical diver with guns. The other four divers were right behind us. We all were shooting fish but the vis had gone to zero with all the movement. I looked down and was diamonded up and needing to go to the surface. The second dive was at 109 foot for 20 minutes (Second issue reverse profile and border line DECO). Two deep dives. The surface interval was 1 hour 28 minutes. We all got separated from the commerical diver and everyone surfaced except him. (Third issue leaving your buddy). Five divers got on the boat and we were looking for the sixth diver (commerical diver). He hit the surface about 200 yards off the back of the boat screaming for help. We got him to the boat and he said that he had run completely out of air at 96 feet and blasted to the surface (Fourth issue not checking your gauges). Once on the boat the distressed diver began complaining of shortness of breath, ear pressure, sick stomach, joint pain in his elbows. By this time the weather had changed dramatically and the seas were 4-5 ft. We were 17 miles off shore but started in. (Fifth issue not watching the weather change). We began to slowly work our way in because the distressed diver stating he would be okay. As his situation got worse we made the decision to run in. The waves were horrible and we were all getting beat up badly. The diver would not listen to me (I'm the only one who had taken Stress and Rescue class) because he stated I am a Human Resource Manager and what do I know. He continued to try to call his supervisor at the commercial dive shop for advice but we were outside of cell phone coverage at 17 miles. I got him covered up but he would not lay flat or go into the cabin. (Sixth issue not listening when you are the distressed diver). As the symptoms got worse, we continued to try to call on the cell phones. (seventh issue - the radio on the boat was broken and we could receive calls but not be heard) As cell phone cover came in and out we were able to get to 911 and they understood we had a distressed diver but had no details because we could only get a few words in before we lost cover again. At this point one motor quit (due to running in 5 foot seas at 23 knots). We were able to stop shortly and get them going again. We could not get cell coverage until we were about 5 miles off shore. The commercial diver got his supervisor which told him to lay down and get on O2 ASAP. The distressed diver had been fighting us all along about calling 911. We were able to also get 911 and explain the situation when we were 5 miles off. They informed us that Marine police would meet us at Perdido pass and to go in at full speed with escort. We arrived at the dock and was boarded by the emergency personnel who immediately started O2. Life Flight arrived immediately and the distressed diver was transported to Springhill in Mobile to the Chamber. Once he got O2, the symptoms lessen except for the ear pressure which was causing major headaches. One very important issue is that this was a commerical diver whose job if not his life depends on his recovery.

After 3 hours in the Chamber the diver was cleared to dive again. So all that ends well is well.

As you can see if was crazy bad all the way around. The lessons that we learned are these:
1. Don't dive with faulty equipment. If his BC would have been properly set up he would have been better at the surface.
2. No fish is worth your life. The diver stated this morning that he had checked his air after his first shot and had 1000 PSI. When he shot again, fighting the second fish, He was out. He stated he had found a "honey hole" and wasn't paying attention.
3. Have proper communication equipment on the boat. Fix the radio
4. Don't leave your buddy even in bad vis.
5. If you are the distressed diver, shut up and listen to those on the boat who are trying to take care of your @#$!
6. Always get the dive profile for the emergency personnel. This was the first question they asked and we had already pulled computers to check it. Also get the age and birth date of the distressed diver. They also wanted medical history. Keep the distressed diver talking and awake.
7. Get the distressed diver warm, flat and hydrated. Clock him in the face if he doesn't listen!
8. If you are diving a six pack get O2 on board. It is worth the money.
9. Update your first aid kit. The normal kit does not work for divers. Add alcohol for ears and pain medicine. We are also adding decognestant.
10. Don't listen to the distressed diver when he says don't call 911. By the emergency personnel being available and ready this commerical diver will continue his career and his life.

We learned a new term yesterday from the doctors at Springhill - DAS - Dead at Surface! Not a good term to have explained under the circumstance.

[seadoggirl]

ALSO... everybody quit making fun of SSI and PADI specialty classes. SSI's Stress and Rescue class through Chas Broughton at Underwater Works, Fairhope Alabama made the difference in this situation. If you dive, keep learning!

[Doc Intrepid]

Thank you for sharing.

That must have been upsetting. It sounds like a complete cluster.

You've done a good job of identifying some important lessons-learned.

One thing to emphasize would be the benefit of O2 for any diver who may be suffering even borderline DCI. You may want to consider revising your lesson #8 to read that any time you're planning on making two dives to depths greater than 100', you'd better have O2 and a gas plan that allows you to conduct a safety stop (or plan decompression stops using software such as V-Planner). It's a sure bet that repetitive dives to depths in excess of 100' are likely to result in significant gas loading.

Hope the lessons you've come away with make your next spearfishing dive trip not nearly as exciting... :D

Regards,

Doc

[Jim Lapenta]

Good point with number 5. If that does not work a good slap upside the head may be needed per #7! Said diver should be informed that this is an option. Said diver sounds like despite the fact he is a commercial diver a good rescue class may do him and his attitude some good.

[TwoBitTxn]

Arrogance kills people every day. He's lucky to still be alive.

Sounds like you all did a great job. Some really great lessons learned there.

I don't encourage slapping injured people around to get them to listen. It generally doesn't work.

I have seen a whole bunch of people say that rescue is one of the best courses you can take. I have never seen anyone put it down.

TwoBit

[ArcticDiver]

Thanks for your post. It is exactly this kind of blunt reporting we can all learn from.

One comment though: Don't "clock" your patient to get his attention. He, and everyone else who is mentally capable, has the right to make their own treatment decisions; even if they will result in a less than optimal outcome.

[rookers]

Pain medication is contraindicated in most cases of DCS/DCI. It is especially contraindicated in type II DCS (CNS involvement).

[seadoggirl]

Additionally as the day goes on you think of other issues. He also reported that he was really hot at one point. Burning up. I didn't know what to do. His feet were freezing! I need to call DAN tomorrow to find out what the hot flash was about. I talked to a nurse friend today she said that it was shock. I'll call DAN with 3 questions tomorrow. I thought I was ready for this but I was no where near ready. Live and learn. I called the guy who was my stress and rescue instructor today and told him that I think he rocks. Keep learning. Read those mag's about diving no matter how much you think you know. Commerical Diver's dad and I have spend the entire day second quessing ourselves about every minute. We did the best we could. thank god for his blessings. Commerical Diver is the father of 3 young children.

[TwoBitTxn]

Temperature inversion can be a symptom of DCS.

[FredT]

A very basic rule when chartering on 6 packs is to see if they have O2 and fully functioning radios. If no O2 lives on the boat bring your own, enough for 2 divers all the way to the chamber. If the radio is broke either bring your own or stay on the beach!

FT

[ruffwaterdiver]

Seadoggirl is responsible for the safe return of the diver on this trip. I am not an experienced diver, but am an avid boater and saltwater sportsman and have been for years. Had she not had the training and experience that she does, we could have had a much worse scenario. Because of her training, and the nautical capabilities of the captian, the accident victim is not only OK, but ok to dive again. Please review the mistakes that we made, and take note of them. We have made note and I know it will make better divers of all who were aboard, and all who read this post.

After diving with these people for several wonderful dives, I "had" decided that I needed no further training. Watching and particpating in yesterday's almost disasterous dive has convinced me to continue my training.

[Bill51]

Sorry to hear about the troubles, glad it turned out OK, and congratulations on completing your real graduation from rescue class.

A couple things that might help in the future. I’ve been in some screwed up situations on small boats so I always carry a relatively cheap handheld VHF with weather channels in a ditch bag for more reliable communications and weather awareness offshore. We were talking about this with DAN at DEMA the other day, and if you don’t have O2 on the boat but you have divers using Nitrox, it’s at least better than air for them in a case like this and have the distressed diver suck all the Nitrox tanks dry.

[seadoggirl]

I had another thought. Would it have helped to take him back down to 30 feet with a new tank. If when he surfaced we got in the water with him and a new tank and took him to 30 or 20 feet for 10 - 15 minutes for a deco stop. I haven't figured it out on the tables but I'm wondering (second guessing) if that could have helped.

When he got to the Chamber they took him to 60 feet for 1 hour, took 40 minutes to bring him up to 30 feet, then he stayed at 30 feet for another hour, then the accended at 1 ft per minute. His ear is still an issue tonight but he has been cleared to dive.

[Doc Intrepid]

No.

In-water recompression/decompression is controversial under the best of circumstances (DAN, 2005).
http://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/faq/faq.asp?faqid=47

With weather moving in, you don't have time for it even if all other criteria were met, which they weren't**.

If you are in some absolutely remote location with zero options, where the situation is either die or attempt in-water recompression, the answer may be a qualified perhaps.

In all other cases, call for help, run for shore, and get medical attention as quickly as possible.

And as everyone has been saying, put the distressed diver on O2 as soon as they come out of the water and keep them on O2 until they are under medical supervision. This is why even if there IS a large T-bottle of O2 aboard the boat, it still makes sense to bring your own anyway. Not all CG helicopters have O2 on them. If you have a small bottle you can send it with the diver in the helicopter. If you don't have a small DAN bottle of O2, you can't.

O2 is the cheapest, easiest, and most effective "initial responder" remedy you can possibly apply. If you are going to routinely do the dives you've described, then there is no reason not to bring your own O2 with you on your charters.

FWIW. YMMV.



Edit: ** Citation regarding in-water techniques:
http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/AQUAcorps/Bent/inwater/Edmunds.htm

Note requirements include communications between surface and diver, preferably voice (e.g. full-face mask, also indicated due to potential for convulsions on O2 and vomiting), safety diver in the water with the distressed diver, surface tenders, and additional logistics which would only be on-hand if such a potentiality had been pre-planned due to an extremely remote expedition being contemplated. These items would not be present on most standard charters.

[Tigerman]

I had another thought. Would it have helped to take him back down to 30 feet with a new tank. If when he surfaced we got in the water with him and a new tank and took him to 30 or 20 feet for 10 - 15 minutes for a deco stop. I haven't figured it out on the tables but I'm wondering (second guessing) if that could have helped.

When he got to the Chamber they took him to 60 feet for 1 hour, took 40 minutes to bring him up to 30 feet, then he stayed at 30 feet for another hour, then the accended at 1 ft per minute. His ear is still an issue tonight but he has been cleared to dive.
According to the training I have gotten (which does not include rescue, YET (OWD, AOWD)) you should NEVER take a diver (or yourself) back down for underwater decompression as it can make the situation WORSE rather than better. If youre above your safety stop depth for more than a minute or two, you should start sucking o2 and hope youre ok and if youre not get proper medical training.

I think what you did in the situation that occured was what id hope other divers did if it was me that got bent. Also.. If I ever say "im ok, dont call help" when i clearly have been bent.. Slap me in the face to get my attention and if you cant.. send someone out of my reach and have them call. Im sure Ill be greatful afterwards and I hope the bent diver, whos life you might well have saved, is as well. If hes not, I dont think Id like to dive with him..

[seadoggirl]

THanks guys... as you can tell, I'm spending a great deal of energy second guessing myself. It's good. This is how I will learn.

[Doc Intrepid]

It's fine to obsess and analyze to discover what went wrong and what went right. Most divers don't learn much from the dives that go perfectly. You really only learn major lessons from the ones that don't.

But don't beat yourself up. I'm sure you made the best calls you could make give those exact circumstances.

You will be better equipped and wiser next time.

The guy lived. You have much to think about. Its all good.

Take it easy on yourself.

Doc

[Tollie]

I’d like to second what Doc and others have said here.

For me at this point the key is that you acted… you handled the situation and kept it together. The outcome could have been much worse and because of your actions the problems that the diver had were mitigated. The heart of the rescue course is anticipation of problems and if in a situation… action.

One other thought… there is an affective consequence for those who sevre as rescuers. What you are going thru is normal. It is most helpful to gather your support people around you and talk it thru.

My guess is that the reasion you and others (who should have really known better) did not anticipate a problem is because diving is a generally very safe sport. We just don’t really (in our gut) believe that we will ever have a very bad day in the water. It just takes one incident and your perspective changes. Things can go south and prevention is better than cure.

Eventually (this is my experience) you come to a balance about risk but it does take time.

Many thanks for sharing your story. It is a good and useful reminder to all of us… especially those who are dive professionals or who are well in there comfort zones that attention must be paid.

[FredT]

THanks guys... as you can tell, I'm spending a great deal of energy second guessing myself. It's good. This is how I will learn.

Second guessing is a good way to learn. Self recrimination isn't.

As to in water decompression, I've done it a few times when circumstances have required a more rapid ascent than normal, or no gas was available with me for deco but the requirement is to immediately drop to about half depth once gettng more gas. Seconds on the surface can make the difference between a hit and not. Then spend several times what your normal ascent would have been coming up. Generally it involves sucking every tank on the boat dry with freedivers bringing you more gas as you hang out at 10 ft. Once symptoms show it's much better to call for all available help.

With weather going south you didn't have that choice.

FT

[mike_s]

Who was the charter boat that took customers that far off shore w/o a working radio? ( this was a commercial charter right? not a private boat?)

A boat going that far off shore should have two radios in case one fails regardless of whether it's a charter or private boat.

[jon m]

Who was the charter boat that took customers that far off shore w/o a working radio? ( this was a commercial charter right? not a private boat?)

A boat going that far off shore should have two radios in case one fails regardless of whether it's a charter or private boat.
YES!YES!YES!

[seadoggirl]

This was a private boat. Not a charter. The radio would receive but not send. Believe me if we knew this it would have been fixed. As for the backup handheld, you can bet that we are spending some serious money and time double and triple checking everything.

Lessons learned the hard way stick with you a lot longer than the easy ones like sitting on shore and reading the books. Believe me, I learned more Saturday than in any course or average day of diving. Please continue with the constructive feedback, we are doing so much of it ourselves. Everyone on the boat (except the distressed diver) gathered back at the boat early and talked for several hours about what happened. The distressed diver showed up later and it was great for him to hear everybody give their positive feelings about him. The hard part for him was going to work at the commerical dive company today. As you can imagine they were all second guessing him also. We have all been through angry, blame, crying, cussing, everything. But one thing for sure, we are all better divers for it and stronger friends. thanks again everyone.

[mike_s]

This was a private boat. Not a charter. The radio would receive but not send. Believe me if we knew this it would have been fixed. As for the backup handheld, you can bet that we are spending some serious money and time double and triple checking everything.

Seadoggirl. I'm glad everything came out ok with this.... Here's some thoughts on the radio that might be helpfull to you in planning for your upgrades. (please take this as constructive feedback)

As you can tell, those handheld are worthless offshore.

For a boat that runs offshore and is big enough to support dual engines, it will most likely have enough console space for dual console mounted radios. Put them both on seperate whip antennas so that they are completely isolated from each other in case of coax or antenna failure. If your boat has dual batteries, wire them so they are on seperate batteries to keep a single battery failure from killing boat radios. Make sure you have spare inline fuses for those radios also. A blown fuse will kill a radio.

Also, BTW... a sympton that the radio will receive but not send is also a sympton of the batteries being low or having a bad power connection. This is typical on VHF handhelds also. The lower the handheld battery power, the lower the transmit power. A really low radio will flash the display when trying to transmitt on many models.

also consider a radio that connects with your GPS and supports the emergency DSC signal that will send your Lat/Long coordinates in the event of an emergency.

The other benefit to having two console mounted GPS's is that you can use it to monitor two different radio channels at the same time. This is good if you want to listen in on fishermen bragging about where the fish are or listen to the marine weather forcast but still maintain one radio on channel 16.

The handheld still has its place, but with that rubber duckie antenna and lower wattage, it's range is extremely limited when compared to console mounts.

Some boaters also consider a SAT phone. They are cost effective to buy now and service plans are reasonable if you buy a low minute plan. (BTW... these typically are sometimes sold on the annual plan of minutes instead of a monthly plan like cell phones are. This works to your benefit as they are typically not used as much monthly but more in spurts at certain times of the year when out of cellular range. While they may not seem cheap, consider the cost of emergency o2. Cost doesn't really matter when you need it.

IF you often take out buddies on your boat, this might be a good group gift item from them as boats and outfitting/equipping them is an expensive task. We did this for an outpost camp(cabins) of a friends in the Canadian wilderness that we use for free. Every year we as a group make a large purchase of something the camp needs since he's nice enough to let us use it for free. One year was a Sat Phone. (other years were two propane refridgerators.... gotta keep the beer cold).

In addition to that handheld VHF, consider a handhelf GPS as a backup also. If you have an complete electronics failure, it could help get you back to port in the even of visibility problems during an unpredicted squall.

Lots of folks pack a "boat bag" with this stuff. Put the GPS handheld, VHF, Sat Phone, etc because they can just grab the bag and put it on the boat as needed. They don't like to leave them on the boat due to summer heat or being stolen.

One most important thing that many boaters are guilty of is not "filing a float plan" with someone. Now you can actually download "float plans" to fill out and give to someone, but at the minimum at least tell a responsible party where you intend on going and what time you expect to return to port. Have them write down the sites and approximate times you should be at them if more than one site. (To someone who's not familiar with the sites, if not written down, they could be easily confused). If you make a drastic change in your planned events of the day, you can update the person on shore via cell phone easily. This is important in case you experienced engine failure and VHF or electrical failure, your repsonsible party on shore will know that if you are X minutes (pre determined between the two of you) past your due time, that they will call the proper authorities and alert them.

A float plan example could be as easily as telling someone (in writing) that you plan to launch about 7am and hit the Chevron oil rig by 9am, then the sunken barge #12 at 11am, and should be back to port by 1pm. If you get to a site and can't dive it and choose an alternate site, it's easy to phone in the change. Of course these changes are as important on a nice calm day inshore, but offshore in rought conditions, you can see the importance.

anway.... hope all that is helpfull and constructive feedback

-mike

[scubadobadoo]

Doc has been very wise with his comments above. I'll third that the idea (in part) of a Rescue class is to learn how to avoid putting yourself in the position of having to be in a rescue situation in the first place. As you know, in several ways, you and the other very experienced but (in this case) seemingly dumb divers did many things to directly aid the possibility of an incident. Broken radio, 17 miles off shore, no O2, hunting in low viz, deep depths with new divers, bad gas management and planning, the list goes on and on and on.....It almost seems as if you didn't take that Rescue class you mentioned earlier.

How is it that a commercial diver of many years doesn't kow that he/she needs oxygen with all of those obvious symptoms? How is it that you were left to be the rational one on a boat with some very experienced divers? Something is odd here. Good for you for keeping your cool and for learning from this. Bad for you for stepping onto that boat in the first place.

I'm glad it all worked out in the end. For the record, I'll dive with you any day. Your honesty here has proven your future dedication to diving in a more safe manner.

[Divmstr223]

Just a few things to add...

You said in your original description that the BC was not connected to the inflator hose and that he saw this BEFORE the second dive. Did something break, or did he just not reconnect it?

Also...#4 should be #1 in my opinion... If his buddy had never left him, you would not be posting about this incident at all. Maybe just an OOA, air-shairing ascent. Not trying to Monday morning quarterback, sorry if it comes off that way.

All things considered...everything went wrong and it's fortunate that the diver is okay. So much better to have a live and learn experience than a fatality learning experience.

Glad your training paid off and the diver still has a career....;)

[WesTexDiver]

Another thing to consider is an AED. We bring one with us..they are in very small packages now days, and there is a man walking this earth today who owes his life to said AED. Glad to hear everyone made it out all right and lessons were learned, thanks for the post.

[DeepisBliss]

I happen to know that this was NOT A CHARTER! This was a bunch of friends out for an afternoon of fun. All charters should have O2, if not, get off the boat. The point is that private boats should consider O2.

[DeepisBliss]

Note to new instructors: don't post pics of yourself giving the "up" signal underwater. It makes it appear that you don't know "ok" from "up".

[DeepisBliss]

For this situation, you did everything right. What I've found about near misses, is that when the crap hits the fan, EVERYTHING seems to go wrong: weather, radio, cell phones, etc. Just keep that in mind. Yes, some things like gear malfunction (I would have dove it myself so don't sweat it. In fact, I have dove without a power inflator.), performing a radio check before leaving shore, having 02 on board...these things are in your control. There are a LOT of factors out of your control. YOU CANNOT CONTROL WHAT YOU CANNOT CONTROL (weather, un-cooperative diver, dumb decisions by someone else). In spearfishing you are most likely solo diving, and anything that happens is the SOLO DIVERS RESPONSIBILITY. I believe you are taking too much on yourself. The injured diver decided to go off in low vis, with poorly working equipment, and shoot TWO fish with less than 1000 psi. He's a commercial diver. He knew enough to make his own decisions and to live with the consequences. I commend you for posting the incident, and for the way you have learned from it. But I also think you are taking too much responsibility. I have dove with you, and will always be proud when you've got my back.

Guns-N-Roses Rule!

Much love and respect,
Beth
PADI MSDT #180167
Down Under Dive Shop, LLC
Gulf Shores, AL

P.S. Call me! I can't find your number!

[ItsBruce]

Mike's comments are very good. I'll add my 2 cents, though they are not really relevant to this incident. I don't get on any boat bigger than a dinghy in the harbor (and this includes 100,000 ton cruise ships) without my own GPS and handheld VHF. I also carry the wax portion of the wax ring that is used to seal a toilet to the floor. That wax can help solve all sorts of water leakage problems on a boat.