Galapagos Scuba Diving Fatality - February 12, 2010 - Eloise Gale

[Bubbletrubble]

They should "ground" weak divers that have made it on the live aboard, so that they don't harm themselves or others in the group. And accidents will still happen; even to those divers deemed strong: People die every year diving in Bonaire, where the diving is super easy.

@Stichus III: I understand what you're saying. Practically speaking, though, would it be OK for a dive op to take the diver's money, allow the diver to board the boat, and then decide to "ground" the diver if his/her skills were deemed not up to snuff? In such a scenario, should the diver's money be fully, partially, or not at all refunded? In the context of challenging dive conditions in the Galapagos, the dive op is engaged in a delicate balancing act between making money and placing weaker divers in harm's way.

With regard to diver experience for Galapagos-like conditions, what's enough? 100 dives? 300 dives? Dives in current? Cold water dives with significant exposure protection? Instructor-level certification? A certain number of very recent dives? "Adequate" level of physical fitness? I list these as rhetorical questions more than anything else. I'm not advocating for strict guidelines at all. Just throwing out a few ideas to make people think...

(Edited Later: I see that Thalassamania has shared some good ideas on level of diver preparation in post #71.)

 

[InTheDrink]

Let's extend the discussion a bit, I've had to run dive ops off of ship in lots of places in the world, including the Galapagos. I've never found it to be problem or an issue and many of our dives are much more challenging and much more task loaded than taking pictures in a heavy current. So what's the difference? It's rather straightforward, divers who are well trained to being with (100 hour course); who are established in a experiential hierarchy before being permitted to make these sorts of dives (the least qualified diver on the trip would be a 100 ft. diver: that means 100 hour course plus 12 dives to 30ft, 12 dives to 60ft, 12 dives to 100ft, all with more experienced buddies; Decompression exams, written and practical); and divers who are all experienced working together, with the same equipment and procedures (not DIR, but philosophically parallel).

Frankly if I wanted to dive this sort of place as a recreational diver ... I'd go GUE or UDT, put together a GUE or UDT team and go on a boat that would let us do as we needed to.

I'm kind of astonished by your post. Is this really you?

While technique and experience might be an aspect I really don't think GUE/DIR/UTD etc. would be the appropriate answer or response to this accident, nevermind that it definitely be adopted as a response.

We can all knock ourselves out without theoretical solutions, but if they are not going to exist in the real world then it remains just that: theoretical.

Not all divers in these locations are going to be GUE etc whatever. And good, a lot of those divers are working through their anal retentive issues, so much the better, I wish them well.

The girl that died may have simply been unlucky. GUE might have saved her but its not a practical solution nor lesson to be learned here.

Focussing on being a good diver and knowing your limits would be the obvious place to start. These do not require GUE/UTD training and lord forbid they ever do (despite my growing adherence to some of the practicses of said groups).

DIR is not an realistic answer to the problem.

J

 

[Bubbletrubble]

@InTheDrink: I think Thalassamania was making the point that the concept of team diving, gear consistency, and experiential training are legitimate means of minimizing risk when diving the Galapagos (or anywhere else presenting challenging conditions). It's coincidental that GUE/UTD/DIR agencies teach this kind of diving. Not every recreational diver has access to the rigorous kind of scientific diver training that Thal describes.

 

[InTheDrink]

@InTheDrink: I think Thalassamania was making the point that the concept of team diving, gear consistency, and experiential training are legitimate means of minimizing risk when diving the Galapagos (or anywhere else presenting challenging conditions). It's coincidental that GUE/UTD/DIR agencies teach this kind of diving. Not every recreational diver has access to the rigorous kind of scientific diver training that Thal describes.

Thanks for correcting me - like I said, I'm not quite on the ball today.

But if we're looking for lessons to be learned I don't think team diving is a realistic application. I've no doubt that it would be great, I just don't see it happening.

Which brings us full circle - what could be easily and quickly done to reduce risk in these areas. I've mentioned two things:
1. Personal responsibility
2. More thorough briefings

J

 

[InTheDrink]

Secondly, there is the individual point as welll as the general point. From an individual point it makes sense to be a good diver. So go GUE or whatever agency. It's all about how you can avoid being that death statistic.

But from the general perspective, basing solutions to a problem around advanced diver training just can't work. Not all divers that go to Galapagos or similar are ever going to hear this word DIR. So how can they be protected and supported?

Better briefs,
Hard unmoving (disseminated/briefed) protocols.

J

 

[Bubbletrubble]

So how can they be protected and supported?

One thing that the dive op could do is conduct a closely supervised check-out dive (more than just a weight-check dive) before agreeing to let the customer dive on the liveaboard. An instructional component on diving in strong currents, consisting of tips/techniques/important considerations (remaining with buddy), could also be included. I'm not sure how easily something like this could be implemented, though.

To be clear, I'm not holding this up as a substitute for experience or advanced diver training. I see them as complementary.

 

[Stichus III]

@Stichus III: I understand what you're saying. Practically speaking, though, would it be OK for a dive op to take the diver's money, allow the diver to board the boat, and then decide to "ground" the diver if his/her skills were deemed not up to snuff? In such a scenario, should the diver's money be fully, partially, or not at all refunded? In the context of challenging dive conditions in the Galapagos, the dive op is engaged in a delicate balancing act between making money and placing weaker divers in harm's way.

I understand, but what else should they do? Let the diver endanger him/herself and other divers just because he/she paid? Money cannot buy skills (or life). Also, on some dives, no one can really help you if you get into trouble. Extra DM's might just give a false sense of security.

 

[bsee65]

How does a diver prepare for this sort of dive? Obviously, it's nothing like diving in a quarry or a reef dive off Key Largo. You could have hundreds of dives in warm, clear, still water and be completely unprepared. If diving Galapagos is your goal, what other dives should a person do to work up to it? It must be possible to put together a list of places that would bridge the gap between a 40 fsw reef dive and a Galapagos trip advancing in difficulty a little at a a time.

Fact is, if you show up and aren't prepared for this level of diving, no amount of briefing detail is going to keep you safe. Personal responsibility is a big one for me. It starts with doing enough research to know what you're getting into before you book the trip. For many, it seems to start when they descend to depth on the dive. As seriious as the risks associated with bad diving can be, I am always shocked when someone ends up on a dive that is well beyond their skill level. It seems like the resources exist to tell you what to expect from a given dive, so why don't people make better use of them?

 

[ancientdiver]

Thanks for sharing this sobering story. I too think it was panic, perhaps her mask got ripped off by the current, and things went awry from there. We'll never know.

I learned to dive in fairly clear, farily fast moving rivers of east Tennessee, at 15. Admitedly not the best training ground, but I was young and stupid. Later, after college, I moved to the Palm Beach area to live because I loved diving so much. I got certified by the guy, who years later, went on to start the Agressor Fleet. Yep, I'm older than dirt, but still diving. Any dive off of Palm Beach is in the Gulf Stream, the world's largest river, which makes it a current dive. Sometimes the Gulf Stream can be ripping 4.5 knots. Sometimes 1.5 knots. Mostly between 2 and 3 knots. For what it's worth, based on a lifetime of diving, when current is present, plan the current into your dive, and plan on going with the current, never against it. Otherwise you get exhausted divers, masks pulled off, and divers get separated from each other with extreme ease - in a New York minute. When diving as a group in current, use a surface float and reel, and the person with the float is who you follow - the boss. If you do get separated, surface without delay and signal the boat. Even the best whistle can only be heard 1/2 mile or so with an engine running. A signal mirror can be seen for many miles, even when it is overcast it still gathers light and can generate a flicker that will be noticed over the water. I learned that in the jungles of Viet Nam, not from a dive instructor. I have had a life long amazement factor working in me over the dive industry not beating this into the head of every new diver. Several times while in Palau, and once off of Palm Beach, I got separated from the group by current. My bad. I surfaced, and had I not had the mirror, I would not have been found. The boat was at the edge of my horizon. The mirror is what saved me from taking a slow drift to Thailand or the Phillipines. The flicker of the mirror is all the boat could see. A diver gets swept away at least once a month in Palau. I was way outside the range of a whistle (I carry one too, but would never dive without a mirror) in each of these situations. And even with currents being a known risk, I was the only person on any dive I made that had a mirror with them. So here's what you can do if you decide to get back in th water. When "drift diving" the boat stays with the float, and the group stays with the reel. Stay with the person holding the reel, go with the current. No exceptions. No "lollygagging" or bug cathing unless the entire party stops, which is almost impossible in strong current. Any dive plan that has you swimming against the current, if current is more than 1/2 knott, is IMO, a dive you should sit out on deck. Don't do it. Always have a whistle and a mirror, every diver, every dive.

This dive sounds like the DM was "leading" the group, rather than sheperding the group from the rear, making sure no one was left behind. Leading from the front is, IMO, what young, inexperienced DMs do. I have found that the really seasoned divers - more than 1,000 dives gained over many years and many locations, and not all in one dive locale over a couple of years, are a cautious, careful, deliberate bunch. That's how the guy who started the Aggressor Fleet was when he was just a dirt poor divemaster and dive boat captain- in the rear, herding cats, somewhere along the wall down in Grand Cayman. I'm in that group of seasoned divers. It is unimaginable to me that there is not one among this group of "old salts" who haven't had some close calls and seen some divers not make it. There are no Rambos in this group. No Mike Nelsons, no John Waynes, no Prince of the Kingdom of Testosterona. And finally, the most important thing I can advise andy diver - listen to your inner voice. If you are not comfortable, get out of there and back to the boat, nice and easy like, relaxed. It's just a dive, not the unfound remaining Treasure of the Atocha.

I am so sorry this has happened. The other comments are completely accurate - the dive industry downplays and understates the risks - because it's bad for business. If you don't belive this, then you are still a low time diver. Stay safe. Have fun. Don't ignore your own judgment.

My condolences to the family.

 

[Stichus III]

How does a diver prepare for this sort of dive? Obviously, it's nothing like diving in a quarry or a reef dive off Key Largo. You could have hundreds of dives in warm, clear, still water and be completely unprepared. If diving Galapagos is your goal, what other dives should a person do to work up to it?

Good point. I have not been to the Galapagos, so I just don't know.

My best guess:

A diver probably needs (1) enough dives under his/her belt to be very skilled at scuba diving, (2) be physically well conditioned and fit, (3) have succesfully (without any panic) faced challenges during difficult dives in the past and last but not least, (4) the diver needs to be very well informed as to what to expect during the dives and how to best react.

Most divers, including myself (at the moment), will fail at (2): we are just not conditioned/fit enough.