Canadian woman presumed dead - Roatan, Honduras

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It would be good to hear any comments made by the captain on what he observed when she jumped into the water, as the rest of the divers were already in deeper water & the DM was busy helping a diver equalizing his ears in 20 fsw.
 
Good question / observation... After going back and reading Terry's account again... There's the answer...



3 streams would indicate that Maurene was still breathing, along with the DM and Clay, as the depth increased. Then you factor in what Jim Lapenta touched on, with regard to body position, during the descent... Which, if she truly was vertical with fins down, indicates to (at least) me that she was still in some form of control. Of course, that is just speculation on my part..
there are other options - maybe a leaking valve /stage/hose/connection and if so not able to inflate BCD and this would show as a bubble stream or maybe a damaged bcd or inflator hose - she may have been constantly pumping air in and it comes out through a split inflator hose


Pine cube raises a good point-
Just a thought. Someone who has one hand on their inflator and their other hand holding their nose (to equalize) would fit the DM's description of "arms folded". I would probably not responding to the DM either, especially if panicked, if I'm trying to simultaneously inflate and equalize.
 
Excellent approach. I also like to drill ditching weights on the first dive as the grab is not as easy without practice. I think the first day of a dive trip is generally the most dangerous.

3 weeks ago, I did a checkout dive in a cold (61F) 20' deep San Cristobal harbor before cruising out to Darwin Island (Galápagos). I calculated that I would need 14lbs of weight with my full 5mm wetsuit. However, I ended up floating like a cork. I ended up adding another 4lbs of weight to get down. When we finished the check out dive, I gave my BCD & fins to the zodiac crew, before climbing up the ladder. He then pointed something in the water that came out of my BCD pocket. It was an empty 500ml water bottle that I forgot to fill it out with water. So carrying an empty 500ml water bottle equals to adding 4lb weight to your BCD. :D
 
3 weeks ago, I did a checkout dive in a cold (61F) 20' deep San Cristobal harbor before cruising out to Darwin Island (Galápagos). I calculated that I would need 14lbs of weight with my full 5mm wetsuit. However, I ended up floating like a cork. I ended up adding another 4lbs of weight to get down. When we finished the check out dive, I gave my BCD & fins to the zodiac crew, before climbing up the ladder. He then pointed something in the water that came out of my BCD pocket. It was an empty 500ml water bottle that I forgot to fill it out with water. So carrying an empty 500ml water bottle equals to adding 4lb weight to your BCD. :D
you take a drink with you diving ?:wink:
 
3 weeks ago, I did a checkout dive in a cold (61F) 20' deep San Cristobal harbor before cruising out to Darwin Island (Galápagos). I calculated that I would need 14lbs of weight with my full 5mm wetsuit. However, I ended up floating like a cork. I ended up adding another 4lbs of weight to get down. When we finished the check out dive, I gave my BCD & fins to the zodiac crew, before climbing up the ladder. He then pointed something in the water that came out of my BCD pocket. It was an empty 500ml water bottle that I forgot to fill it out with water. So carrying an empty 500ml water bottle equals to adding 4lb weight to your BCD. :D

No, 500ml of water is a bit over 1 pint, which is only 1lb of buoyancy.
 
So carrying an empty 500ml water bottle equals to adding 4lb weight to your BCD. :D

The last I heard, water only weighs 1 kg/liter, so I suspect you had something else going on.
 
you take a drink with you diving ?:wink:

After reading the Malpelo (Colombia) accident, where 5 divers were lost at sea, 1 swam to the island & rescued by another boat, 2 were rescued 2 days later by US Navy, 1 found dead 5 days later & the last diver, the DM, was never found, I made a promise to myself to carry 500ml water bottle in my BCD pocket with other emergency gears (SMB, flashlight, mirror, PLB1).

4 diveres went missing - Malpelo, Colombia
 
The deceased did not appear to be making any effort to save herself. With 700 dives, I very much doubt she was in a frozen panic.

As for her weights, if I understand correctly this was to be the first dive of her trip. She may have added a couple of extra pounds due to a new wetsuit or because it was very dry. Perhaps she'd planned to drop some weight on subsequent dives. I'm projecting here because I've been known to do this myself.

Is our witness absolutely positive there were 3 bubble streams or was he reporting what he expected to see?
 
Based on her weight of 180#, and possibly wearing a 5mm I do not think she would be over weighted with 14# when using an aluminium 80. I weigh 215 and use 14# on just a rash guard in salt water with an aluminum 80#.
 

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