I was the one that originally posted this. I want to re-iterate some things after some comments have been made about solo diving. It's your prerogative if you dive solo but these were the facts (known or discussed with other crew members):
1. His computer was broken
2. He had no depth gauge
3. He had no night glow sticks or tank indicators
4. He didn't have on a wetsuit and crew said he tended to overweight himself
5. He may recently have run out of a prescription which he had re-filled in Belize (it's possible the medication could have played a role, who knows?)
6. He light was spotted by another diver (also diving solo) at 92 feet on the wall near one of the sand chutes. The diver said he could not make out a body but saw the light so we assume he was close to or beyond the recreational limits. The Visibility had actually improved from earlier in the week and we dove nearly all day and night at this site and it was relatively good.
About 3 hours after divers had initially entered the water, they sent two divers in to check under the boat and along the wall where we thought he might be. Between that night and the following day we were told by crew members that several of them had gone to 250 feet searching for him. I agree that Coast guard showing up immediately may have not made a difference but it would have made us all feel better. A life vest thrown in the next morning had traveled several miles in an hour. They did a lot of search patterns all around the boat though themselves and came across nothing.
The issues I have with Nekton would be:
1. They discussed having the emergency drill the first night on the boat with life vests but we never had one the entire trip (this does not say guest safety is a priority to me).
2. Two crew members were visibly having relationships with two guests. Nothing inappropriate but some people noticed and on their part it just wasn't the most professional, sent mixed signals to guests. One guest was allowed in the pilot house all the time whereas we had to ask for a tour. I understand that these guys have limited "lives" being on the boat but they need to keep it more discreet.
3. A few of the crew members were involved in some practical jokes that happened in front of guests and continued to escalate until crew members were visibly pissed off. Water balloons, throwing someone in the water, spraying them with the shower heads, dumping a few gallons of ice cold water on them from two stories above, throwing an egg on someone's head on the dive deck while divers were suiting up, stealing all the guys clothes and egging another guys newly laundered clothes. (I don't believe Cory had anything to do with this)
4. Letting crew members dive alone. I truly believe that when you are working on a liveaboard boat and you have customers on board you should not be allowed to dive alone. This happened at the end of our trip and we lost a day of diving, not nearly as important as his life. Perhaps this could have been avoided if the captain didn't allow this to go on and we wouldn't have a trip to remember for all the wrong reasons. They have a sign in/out board which I believe should be directly on the lower dive platform, everyone including crew should be on it and whoever is on the dive deck duty should sign people in and out, get their depth, etc... This way it's more closely watched and people aren't guessing at what time they went in at once they get their gear on and what depth they think they went to.
I know the crew of the pilot had a meeting after most of the guests were gone. I can't imagine how hard it was for them to have to re-fuel and stock up and leave only hours later with more guests. Most of our trip was great but they have got to clean up those issues. Safety has got to be their number one priority for crew and guests.
Lastly, please be respectful of this situation especially for Cory's family. I didn't post this for people to argue about anything. There are definitely things that he should have done which probably would have prevented this or we would at least have more answers. It doesn't make it any less tragic. After this trip I have completed 79 dives and I pride myself (and thank my local dive shop) for instilling how important safety is. I always dive with a buddy, have air horn and safety sausage, flashing night strobes and glow sticks and I don't press the limits. Still, I know I'm not immune and I just hope this helps other people remember how important safety is and it's there for a reason.
