Another diver death in Grand Cayman

[Drew Sailbum]

A 57 year old man from Georgetown, TX died after going for a shore dive at Smith Cove. Sunset Divers sent a boat to aid in the search and found the diver floating unconscious.
http://www.caycompass.com/cgi-bin/CFPnews.cgi?ID=1020627


A week prior a diver died off East End, and there has been another diver death as well as one snorkeller death this year in other incidents.

 

[uspap]

I'm going there in August. I'll try not to add to the numbers. Could it have been a health issue due to age?

 

[Rick Murchison]

I can see an emerging agenda in the write-up... new restrictions for divers over 50.
Rick

 

[DandyDon]

I can see an emerging agenda in the write-up... new restrictions for divers over 50.
Rick

That last paragragh in the news piece implied a need...

Last year, 10 people were killed in watersports related activities in the Cayman Islands. Three were divers, seven were snorkelers; eight were Americans, all but one of the victims was over 48 years old.

But I think it's probable that none of the snorkelers had training. Got to wonder about the training and recent dive experiences of the three divers.

Georgetown is just outside of Austin I think. Condolences to the loved ones...

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Well, there has been much discussion about forthcoming regulations in the watersports sector in Cayman. I have heard nothing about age restrictions, but we won't really know exact details until a final set of regulations is published.

As always, the basic things tend to crop up as factors regardless of age. The fact that a boat had to go search for him implies that the latest victim somehow became seperated from his group.

The article on the fatality the previous week indicated that the incident occurred the first full day on the island. I don't know if the diver in that instance had gotten in a dive after arrival the previous day or if it was the first dive of his trip.

In each case, undoubtably a coroner's inquest will look at a post mortem to determine cause of death and any possible underlying health conditions. As divers we can't be complacent on health issue. It's just our responsibility to monitor our own health and fitness for diving in conjunction with our physician's advice.

 

[ecudiver]

man it seems the accident board is lightening up lately i wonder if all these deaths are do to safety violations.

 

[ScubaTexan]

Georgetown is just outside of Austin I think.

Georgetown is approximately halfway between Temple and Austin on I-35.

 

[Rick Murchison]

The average age of the men who died in the four incidents was 63.
Last year, 10 people were killed in watersports related activities in the Cayman Islands. Three were divers, seven were snorkelers; eight were Americans, all but one of the victims was over 48 years old.

This is a prime example of how liars figure and figures lie (or how to use statistics to make a point when there may not be one in the statistics at all). Without knowing the age distribution of vacationing divers in the Caymans these statements are worthless... if the average age is 55, then what do the figures mean? If nine out of ten are over 50, then what do the figures mean?
The writer clearly has an agenda.
Here's mine... if the Caymans put restrictions on "divers over 50" (or 55 or 60 or whatever), they'll just run me off, along with most of the other divers who actually spend money down there.
Feel free to pass that along to the watersports folks.
Rick (ain't dead yet!)

 

[dmmike]

I have to agree with Rick, if places are foolish enough to start to place half thought rules in place :shakehead I'll go somewhere else.

Just to show you how foolish this "rule" would be: I have 2 diving friends, one is around the age of 68 and he is a die-hard wreck diver and the other is near 80 and travels the world to dive, I have and will continue to "trust" my life to them.

I'll dive with them anytime, anyplace .

 

[DandyDon]

I might point out that Rick & I were speculating losely, that no restrictions have been suggested that I know of.

And for me personally, heart attack diving death seems like a better way to go than many others I've seen.