This is a report I received from my brother. Neither one of us were there on the boat. My brother was in the Galapagos on another boat when this occurred. He sent the article. There is a Byline after the title.
Galapagos Scuba Diving Fatality - February 12, 2010 - Eloise Gale
Written February 14, 2010 by John Bisnar
The first real dive of a scuba diving adventure for 14 divers aboard the Galapagos Aggressor II ended in the death of Eloise Gale, a 23-year-old kindergarten teacher from Galveston, Texas and New York.
Due to the numerous requests for more information about what happened and how Eloise died, the following account is provided. First, my deepest condolences to Eloise's family and friends. I have no words that will alleviate your pain or give you back what you have lost. Eloise will, however, live in our hearts and memories. But for a twist of fate, both my wife, Kimberly and I could have been with Eloise today.
Second, Eloise was a teacher. Let's let her last act, that of succumbing to a sport that she loved, be a lesson for all of us, especially scuba divers. I ask, in Eloise's name, as a tribute to her and in the hopes that we can learn from her tragedy, in the spirit of the lessons we learned from our own kindergarten teachers and dive instructors, to please, at the end of this article, in the comments section, add any insights you may have into what may have happened and how such tragedies may be prevented in the future.
On Thursday, February 11, 2010, in the baggage pick-up area of the San Cristóbal Island airport, Kimberly and I meet Eloise, Denise Friou, dive masters Jamie, Patricio and the other ten divers on our adventure. Eloise and Denise immediately gravitated together, being the two unaccompanied women on the trip. They quickly discovered that they were both from Texas.
We were bused to the Galapagos Aggressor II and boarded immediately. After a short briefing, room assignments and luggage stowage, all of the passenger divers went into the water for a short "check-out" dive to test and familiarize ourselves with our equipment. The dive was less than 20 feet for about 20 minutes. Eloise, as many of us did, struggled with finding the right amount of weight to carry for neutral buoyancy. We were in heavy wetsuits and high salt content water. All appeared fine.
Shortly after 6:30 am the next morning, February 12th, we had breakfast followed by a dive briefing by Jaime. Jaime explained the dive site and plan from a map drawn on a white board. The map indicated we were at the eastern most point of North Seymour Island. Among other instructions, Jamie instructed us that visibility was about 60 feet, not to go below 90 feet, there were currents going in different directions and we were not to stay down longer than an hour. He gave us some tips on surfacing safely around the pongas and how to get back into the pongas from the water. Kimberly and I were surprised at the brevity of the briefing, especially being our first actual dive of the trip.
We geared up and headed into the pongas in two groups of seven. Eloise, Kimberly, four other divers and I were in the second ponga, along with the ponga driver and dive master, Patricio. I was surprised that there was no equipment or "air on" check by the dive masters before we headed into the pongas, which has been our experience on our two other Aggressor trips. At that point I wrongfully assumed we would do a dive plan briefing, safety check and "air on" check in the ponga, with Patricio before going in the water.
We traveled about 100 yards from the Aggressor to the dive spot. Patricio instructed us to push off backward into the water at the same time on his instruction, otherwise the ponga would be unstable and those still in the ponga would get tossed around. At that point Kimberly and I both recheck our regulators to be sure our air was on. On Patricio's command, we went off backwards into the water.
As soon as I was in, I located Kimberly and we gave each other the "OK" sign. I cleared my mask and rearranged my hood which was causing water to leak into my mask. Patricio and others were +/- 20 feet below and moving away. I am usually slower than most to equalize on early dives, so Kimberly and I were behind most of the group from the start but were descending much quicker than my usual in order to stay with the group being lead by Patricio. I do not know where Eloise was at that time. I was focused on descending safely and keeping close to my buddy, Kimberly.
My dive computer indicates the following dive time in minutes and depth in feet at that time: After one minute - 22 feet deep, 2 - 43, 3 - 52, 4 - 88, 5 - 98, 6 - 104, 7 - 103, 8 - 96, 9 - 89, 10 - 86, 11 - 85, 12 - 84, 13 - 79, 14 - 62, 15 - 54, 16 - 52, 17 - 48, 18 - 51, 19 - 49, 20 - 42, 21 - 35, 22 - 35, 23 - 33, 24 - 34, 25 - 44, 26 - 44, 27 - 29, 28 - 18, 29 - 16 and 30 - 14.
On the descent, Patricio was always lower and further out from the island than Kimberly and me. I was surprised when Patricio led us past 90 feet due to Jamie's previous instruction. At some point I remember struggling greatly against the current. My best estimate is that it was around the 3-5 minute mark based my computer's information. I was near hyper-ventilating and had to consciously slow myself down. I could see from Kimberly's body language that she was struggling as well. At about the nine minute mark, Patricio was closer to the island and was signaling to us to grab hold of the sloping bottom and hand over hand move up against the current.
Kimberly and I were struggling against the current and neither of us had gotten comfortable in the water yet.
Kimberly said that during the time she was struggling, at the 3-7 minute mark, was the last time she saw Eloise who had been just behind her, toward deeper water. Neither of us remember seeing Eloise or Denise grabbing onto the sloping bottom. It is Kimberly's recollection that Denise was in front of her and me, while Eloise was behind Kimberly.
When Kimberly and I got control by hanging onto the rocks and moderating our breathing (about 10-15 minute mark based upon my dive computer), I started looking around to see where everyone else was. I didn't see Eloise. Kimberly and I were well under 2000 psi of air at this point, which is a lot of air to have used so quickly.
What caused me to start looking for Eloise specifically, was that I saw what looked to me to be Denise and Patricio communicating about someone missing. It looked to me that Patricio communicated to Denise to stay put, hang on to the rocks with the rest of us and Patricio would go after Eloise, which it appeared he did. This was about the 13-17 minute mark.
We moved up to watch a group of sharks circling in 35-50 feet of water. Kimberly eventually indicated she was low on air, as was I, at about the 23-24 minute mark. I signaled to Jamie that I was at 700 psi and he signaled for me to go up.
I moved down to Kimberly and took her hand to ascend, I was concerned about getting separated in the current as we left the rocks for open water. Kimberly said I was holding her very tightly like I was afraid she would drift away (I was). She said it was the first time in any of our dives that she was glad I was hanging onto her so tightly. Kimberly was also concerned that she would drift away in the current.
We did a three-minute safety stop and then surfaced at the 30 minute mark. I expected Eloise to already be surfaced, because I thought there was no way for Patricio and her to fight the current to get back with the group.
While waiting for the others to come up we searched the surface for Eloise. Both my wife and I thought we heard a diver's whistle and said so to the other ponga driver who took off in that direction. At that moment I assumed it was Eloise, although we couldn't see anyone. Now I believe the whistle may have been Patricio because the next time I saw that ponga, Patricio was in it (although I am not certain he wasn't in the ponga before it went off in the direction of the whistle). I could see that he was worried.
As divers came up we kept looking for Eloise. I have done only 150 dives but I had a bad feeling about Eloise when she didn't make it to the rocks. She was young and very slightly built. She did not look strong enough to fight the current the way we did. With her training (I am told she had done a dive master's course and a rescue course) I would have thought that she would have simply gone with the current and slowly ascended to the pongas after getting separated from us, which is standard protocol when getting separated from your dive buddy.
Eloise had a diver's flag designed to activate on the surface to make it easy to spot. We searched the surface for that flag for hours both from the Aggressor and from the pongas. At some point, separate from the Aggressor searching the surface, I believe that Patricio and Jamie dove from one of the pongas back down in the water to search for Eloise, without success. During that time, there was also an aerial search. Many other boats and the Ecuadorian Coast Guard also joined the search. Later in the search I believe Jamie mentioned that he was "bent" from his dive looking for Eloise. Jamie was clearly shaken.
At some point during the search, Jamie mentioned to a few of us that it was getting close to time to do our land excursion that was planned for the afternoon. I sensed that he was looking for feedback or some direction as to what to do. I told him, in no uncertain terms, we can't go on until Eloise is found. After all, how could someone go on about their vacation diving trip, not knowing where a missing diver is, not knowing if they are bobbing in the water, waiting to get picked up?
Eventually, after four plus hours of searching the surface, we returned to the original dive location. Denise Friou and Patricio went back into the water at the place Eloise was last seen with an extra tank (Nitrox) of air.
Denise told us they descended to the place Eloise was last seen and then rode the current to where it took them. At 150 feet Denise saw Eloise laying on the bottom at 168 feet. She said she was in somewhat of a fetal position, eyes closed, looking restful and calm, without a mask and the regulator out of her mouth. Denise said upon inspection after getting Eloise to the surface, there was 2000 psi of air in Eloise's tank and she showed signs of downing although she didn't seem to have water in her lungs. She said she saw no signs of equipment failure or loss. Denise was not certain if Eloise had both her fins on when she was found but does know at least one of them came off during the ascent.
At this point the crew and other divers were in various states of shock. Most of us were feeling sick, for our stomachs had been in knots for hours. Ecuadorian officials came on board and questioned some but not all of us. They eventually took Eloise away.
Continued in Part 2
Galapagos Scuba Diving Fatality - February 12, 2010 - Eloise Gale
Written February 14, 2010 by John Bisnar
The first real dive of a scuba diving adventure for 14 divers aboard the Galapagos Aggressor II ended in the death of Eloise Gale, a 23-year-old kindergarten teacher from Galveston, Texas and New York.
Due to the numerous requests for more information about what happened and how Eloise died, the following account is provided. First, my deepest condolences to Eloise's family and friends. I have no words that will alleviate your pain or give you back what you have lost. Eloise will, however, live in our hearts and memories. But for a twist of fate, both my wife, Kimberly and I could have been with Eloise today.
Second, Eloise was a teacher. Let's let her last act, that of succumbing to a sport that she loved, be a lesson for all of us, especially scuba divers. I ask, in Eloise's name, as a tribute to her and in the hopes that we can learn from her tragedy, in the spirit of the lessons we learned from our own kindergarten teachers and dive instructors, to please, at the end of this article, in the comments section, add any insights you may have into what may have happened and how such tragedies may be prevented in the future.
On Thursday, February 11, 2010, in the baggage pick-up area of the San Cristóbal Island airport, Kimberly and I meet Eloise, Denise Friou, dive masters Jamie, Patricio and the other ten divers on our adventure. Eloise and Denise immediately gravitated together, being the two unaccompanied women on the trip. They quickly discovered that they were both from Texas.
We were bused to the Galapagos Aggressor II and boarded immediately. After a short briefing, room assignments and luggage stowage, all of the passenger divers went into the water for a short "check-out" dive to test and familiarize ourselves with our equipment. The dive was less than 20 feet for about 20 minutes. Eloise, as many of us did, struggled with finding the right amount of weight to carry for neutral buoyancy. We were in heavy wetsuits and high salt content water. All appeared fine.
Shortly after 6:30 am the next morning, February 12th, we had breakfast followed by a dive briefing by Jaime. Jaime explained the dive site and plan from a map drawn on a white board. The map indicated we were at the eastern most point of North Seymour Island. Among other instructions, Jamie instructed us that visibility was about 60 feet, not to go below 90 feet, there were currents going in different directions and we were not to stay down longer than an hour. He gave us some tips on surfacing safely around the pongas and how to get back into the pongas from the water. Kimberly and I were surprised at the brevity of the briefing, especially being our first actual dive of the trip.
We geared up and headed into the pongas in two groups of seven. Eloise, Kimberly, four other divers and I were in the second ponga, along with the ponga driver and dive master, Patricio. I was surprised that there was no equipment or "air on" check by the dive masters before we headed into the pongas, which has been our experience on our two other Aggressor trips. At that point I wrongfully assumed we would do a dive plan briefing, safety check and "air on" check in the ponga, with Patricio before going in the water.
We traveled about 100 yards from the Aggressor to the dive spot. Patricio instructed us to push off backward into the water at the same time on his instruction, otherwise the ponga would be unstable and those still in the ponga would get tossed around. At that point Kimberly and I both recheck our regulators to be sure our air was on. On Patricio's command, we went off backwards into the water.
As soon as I was in, I located Kimberly and we gave each other the "OK" sign. I cleared my mask and rearranged my hood which was causing water to leak into my mask. Patricio and others were +/- 20 feet below and moving away. I am usually slower than most to equalize on early dives, so Kimberly and I were behind most of the group from the start but were descending much quicker than my usual in order to stay with the group being lead by Patricio. I do not know where Eloise was at that time. I was focused on descending safely and keeping close to my buddy, Kimberly.
My dive computer indicates the following dive time in minutes and depth in feet at that time: After one minute - 22 feet deep, 2 - 43, 3 - 52, 4 - 88, 5 - 98, 6 - 104, 7 - 103, 8 - 96, 9 - 89, 10 - 86, 11 - 85, 12 - 84, 13 - 79, 14 - 62, 15 - 54, 16 - 52, 17 - 48, 18 - 51, 19 - 49, 20 - 42, 21 - 35, 22 - 35, 23 - 33, 24 - 34, 25 - 44, 26 - 44, 27 - 29, 28 - 18, 29 - 16 and 30 - 14.
On the descent, Patricio was always lower and further out from the island than Kimberly and me. I was surprised when Patricio led us past 90 feet due to Jamie's previous instruction. At some point I remember struggling greatly against the current. My best estimate is that it was around the 3-5 minute mark based my computer's information. I was near hyper-ventilating and had to consciously slow myself down. I could see from Kimberly's body language that she was struggling as well. At about the nine minute mark, Patricio was closer to the island and was signaling to us to grab hold of the sloping bottom and hand over hand move up against the current.
Kimberly and I were struggling against the current and neither of us had gotten comfortable in the water yet.
Kimberly said that during the time she was struggling, at the 3-7 minute mark, was the last time she saw Eloise who had been just behind her, toward deeper water. Neither of us remember seeing Eloise or Denise grabbing onto the sloping bottom. It is Kimberly's recollection that Denise was in front of her and me, while Eloise was behind Kimberly.
When Kimberly and I got control by hanging onto the rocks and moderating our breathing (about 10-15 minute mark based upon my dive computer), I started looking around to see where everyone else was. I didn't see Eloise. Kimberly and I were well under 2000 psi of air at this point, which is a lot of air to have used so quickly.
What caused me to start looking for Eloise specifically, was that I saw what looked to me to be Denise and Patricio communicating about someone missing. It looked to me that Patricio communicated to Denise to stay put, hang on to the rocks with the rest of us and Patricio would go after Eloise, which it appeared he did. This was about the 13-17 minute mark.
We moved up to watch a group of sharks circling in 35-50 feet of water. Kimberly eventually indicated she was low on air, as was I, at about the 23-24 minute mark. I signaled to Jamie that I was at 700 psi and he signaled for me to go up.
I moved down to Kimberly and took her hand to ascend, I was concerned about getting separated in the current as we left the rocks for open water. Kimberly said I was holding her very tightly like I was afraid she would drift away (I was). She said it was the first time in any of our dives that she was glad I was hanging onto her so tightly. Kimberly was also concerned that she would drift away in the current.
We did a three-minute safety stop and then surfaced at the 30 minute mark. I expected Eloise to already be surfaced, because I thought there was no way for Patricio and her to fight the current to get back with the group.
While waiting for the others to come up we searched the surface for Eloise. Both my wife and I thought we heard a diver's whistle and said so to the other ponga driver who took off in that direction. At that moment I assumed it was Eloise, although we couldn't see anyone. Now I believe the whistle may have been Patricio because the next time I saw that ponga, Patricio was in it (although I am not certain he wasn't in the ponga before it went off in the direction of the whistle). I could see that he was worried.
As divers came up we kept looking for Eloise. I have done only 150 dives but I had a bad feeling about Eloise when she didn't make it to the rocks. She was young and very slightly built. She did not look strong enough to fight the current the way we did. With her training (I am told she had done a dive master's course and a rescue course) I would have thought that she would have simply gone with the current and slowly ascended to the pongas after getting separated from us, which is standard protocol when getting separated from your dive buddy.
Eloise had a diver's flag designed to activate on the surface to make it easy to spot. We searched the surface for that flag for hours both from the Aggressor and from the pongas. At some point, separate from the Aggressor searching the surface, I believe that Patricio and Jamie dove from one of the pongas back down in the water to search for Eloise, without success. During that time, there was also an aerial search. Many other boats and the Ecuadorian Coast Guard also joined the search. Later in the search I believe Jamie mentioned that he was "bent" from his dive looking for Eloise. Jamie was clearly shaken.
At some point during the search, Jamie mentioned to a few of us that it was getting close to time to do our land excursion that was planned for the afternoon. I sensed that he was looking for feedback or some direction as to what to do. I told him, in no uncertain terms, we can't go on until Eloise is found. After all, how could someone go on about their vacation diving trip, not knowing where a missing diver is, not knowing if they are bobbing in the water, waiting to get picked up?
Eventually, after four plus hours of searching the surface, we returned to the original dive location. Denise Friou and Patricio went back into the water at the place Eloise was last seen with an extra tank (Nitrox) of air.
Denise told us they descended to the place Eloise was last seen and then rode the current to where it took them. At 150 feet Denise saw Eloise laying on the bottom at 168 feet. She said she was in somewhat of a fetal position, eyes closed, looking restful and calm, without a mask and the regulator out of her mouth. Denise said upon inspection after getting Eloise to the surface, there was 2000 psi of air in Eloise's tank and she showed signs of downing although she didn't seem to have water in her lungs. She said she saw no signs of equipment failure or loss. Denise was not certain if Eloise had both her fins on when she was found but does know at least one of them came off during the ascent.
At this point the crew and other divers were in various states of shock. Most of us were feeling sick, for our stomachs had been in knots for hours. Ecuadorian officials came on board and questioned some but not all of us. They eventually took Eloise away.
Continued in Part 2
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