Canadian woman presumed dead - Roatan, Honduras

[DiverGirl1972]

...The posture described during decent could certainly have been her trying to reconnect a disconnected LPI. Head tilted, trying to see...Not finning, just working on the task... Oops can't quite get it...gonna have to inflate orally... Choking on a little inhaled water would take a few more precious seconds.... Something like this may panic even a seasoned diver when realizing there is no bottom. Having as much experience as she had, I wonder if she stayed too calm for too long while trying to inflate her bc.

I can appreciate that an experienced diver might tackle a problem in a calm and methodical manner, but if my bcd had failed and I had already dropped down to 100ft with no progress, I have to believe I would simultaneously be finning to stop or slow my rate of descent. No way my legs are just going to remain still (if I'm conscious), knowing that I'm sinking deeper and deeper into the abyss. Of course, panic can affect people differently...

Texas Torpedo speculated that she may have had a stroke, which seems very plausible IMO. It could explain the lack of movement, but the presence of bubbles.

I also wanted to add that I am a woman who is 5'7" and weighs 145 lbs. I recently returned from Anilao and wore a brand new full 5mm. I started with 14 lbs on my initial weight check, but had to add 2 lbs at the start of my dive as I was struggling to descend. I have always been more "buoyant" than my dive buddies, but at 16 lbs, I was perfectly weighted for me. I would not assume at all that the victim was grossly overweighted given her stats...

 

[Joneill]

"When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras"

--Dr. Theodore Woodward​

​

Actually, it's not that simple as there is context that needs to be considered in every situation. For example, in parts of Africa, you likely would think Zebras... where I live, you think deer... etc.,

Bottom line is that I think people are speculating a range of possible scenarios to try to understand what might have happened so as to, hopefully, avoid it in their own diving - if at all possible. To me, that is worthwhile discussion and spurs reflection that might help folks out one day. .

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

where I live, you think deer

When was the last time you heard Deer? lol seriously?

 

[tridacna]

When was the last time you heard Deer? lol seriously?

Man, I just laughed out loud...you gotta stop.

 

[muzzon]

When was the last time you heard Deer? lol seriously?

LOL. The last time I "heard" a deer was sitting on my parents' porch, since my mom wrapped a string with bells on it around the perimeter of the yard so she'd hear when they're coming to eat her flowers and she could scare it away

 

[TerriB]

Did you not understand why the DM was banging his tank?

Was this procedure not explained to you as part of the pre-dive briefing? If not, AKR deserves some of the blame for this. Continuous banging on the ladder or tank is always a sign to immediately return to the boat.

And you saw him motioning to return to the boat and instead chose to continue your dive? Why?

 

[chillyinCanada]

I've found myself descending and then realizing that my bcd isn't properly connected. I attempted to connect it myself with no success. Knowing that I could breathe air into the bcd if necessary, I swam up to the guide and pointed out the situation. He hooked it up and we all carried on with the dive. At any point in time, I still would have been able to fin myself up to the surface. Such a scenario doesn't play for me either in this woman's incident.

 

[CuzzA]

"When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras"

--Dr. Theodore Woodward
​

Description: A very highly experienced diver descends, making no evident attempt to stop the descent or any real movement of any kind, until she disappears from view in the depths.

Background facts: In the annual DAN fatality reports, the highest percentage of fatalities by far are associated with cardiac events. In most years, they are roughly 40% of all casualties. Sudden cardiac death is the number one cause of death in the United States.

Comment: A person suffering from sudden cardiac death at the beginning of a descent wold continue to descend without movement until reaching the bottom.

I am having a hard time understanding this search for the zebras highly unusual causes of death in this situation.

No doubt; however, in this case you have to consider some of the things we have heard. For example, there was still what appeared to the witness as a third bubble stream coming from the victim, suggesting gas escaping from her scuba or her exhaling. I didn't hear any account of whether her reg was still in her mouth or not. And we also have a peculiar account of her arms being folded. What that suggests, I don't know. But it certainly raises questions as to whether these things jive with a sudden cardiac death or if there is something else.

 

[Dan]

...The DM stated he saw Maurene and she had her arms folder and her head tilted to the side as she was dropping feet first. She never responded physically to his gestures or tank banging. He lost sight of her after he got down around 200'. We found out later that this section of the wall drops down to 400-500'....

That is an odd description. I have never seen a diver descending in this posture (tilted head). It seems to me she was already unconscious by then.

Since she donned the inflated BCD on the water. The normal arms posture for positive descent would be left arm rise up with fingers on the BCD inflator, letting the air out of the BCD to descend, not in folding position.

I'm 5'9", 160lbs using 5mm full wetsuit and 14lbs of weight would descend pretty slowly with positive entry. I have to descend with negative entry (head down & fins up) & start finning to about 20' deep to get more negatively buoyant (compressing the air pockets out of my new 5mm wetsuit). So, I imagine she could easily fin up with her BCD completely deflated & with her 14-16lbs of weights still with her.

 

[Joneill]

When was the last time you heard Deer? lol seriously?

I hear them all the time - we typically have 20-30 hanging around our property (have counted as many as 43) and when they all run across the back yard, (especially on frozen winter ground) - you hear them for sure. I also hear them running across the street all the time when I'm walking the dog. Large "herds" around here. lol all you want but it is fact that you hear them quite frequently around my neighborhood!