Death of British Tourist in Galapagos

[WaterBender]

Waterbender IMHO you have been a bit quick to condemn experienced divers! I would suggest the problem is with the divers you have dived with! Your observations are certainly NOT consistent with mine! Over the last 12 years and nearly 500 dives I have seen good and bad divers. Most of the experienced divers I have observed and dived with do not disregard simple basics. They are not in the habit of tormenting the creatures, diving hung over or medicated. Yes there are some complacent divers out there but IMHO they are the minority not the majority as you conclude!

You're right in that I make a conclusion -but do not condemn anyone- based on my limited experience which is all that I've seen. I do hope that you are right and I will encounter more careful underwater friendly experienced divers in the future.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

It is not my habit to give new divers or new SB posters a rough time and I am glad you realize that was not my intent. Sometimes I am too verbose in my responses :blush:

You hit exactly what I was trying to say.... Anyone who displayed the behavior you describe would be advised they are not welcome to dive with our regular dive group. I have certainly seen the disrespectful, complacent divers you describe I won't dive with them or anywhere near them.

I must say that it is illegal to take fish/crustaceans on scuba here. Spear fishing must be done on snorkel only. Perhaps that explains why I see so few divers who interfere with the underwater creatures here. I have to say it is necessary to understand the local customs and attitudes both towards the creatures as well as the DM's role!

I know some areas they are trying to kill off certain species that are not native or have had the population explosions that upset the balances. I cringe at the Lionfish eradication programs etc but accept their necessity.

Anyway I hope you manage to tag up with some good competent dive buddies:blinking:

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

Interesting we just got back from Grand Cayman where my wife and I did our first dives after getting certified in a local lake. My wife got really motion sick was told to dive because it would settle her stomach. If she needed to vomit just do that and purge your regulator. She said she didn't want to dive so I agreed even after several other divers and the DM tried to get her in the water. I told them she didn't want to go and she stayed on the boat vomiting. I know one can purge vomit but why take the risk if she choked or something and wasn't able to clear her lungs could have turned into something like this.

A little sidebar. If you are seasick on my boat, I don't encourage you to dive, but I Do kick your butt overboard to hang on the driftline in the water, as long as there aren't big waves. It helps. But I wouldn't advise you to dive unless you felt better.
And if this woman had kept her reg in her mouth, she could have thrown up all day underwater and not died. It's gross, but not life threatening. She most likely spit the reg out, sucked in water and inflated like hell to run for the top. She had no business choosing to to dive. And make no mistake, it was Her choice. If she was 15 feet below her buddy playing with turtles and not realizing her buddy was ascending, that is her fault along with her buddy, not the DM.
51 dives, is not "very experienced" as the article states. It is just enough to make you reckless and arrogant if that is your nature. Not all are, but enough.
I am sorry for her death, but she was the one responsible for herself. I hope the DM is left alone. I am sure he is feeling bad enough, as it was on his watch.

 

[Blastman4444]

A little sidebar. If you are seasick on my boat, I don't encourage you to dive, but I Do kick your butt overboard to hang on the driftline in the water, as long as there aren't big waves. It helps. But I wouldn't advise you to dive unless you felt better.
And if this woman had kept her reg in her mouth, she could have thrown up all day underwater and not died. It's gross, but not life threatening. She most likely spit the reg out, sucked in water and inflated like hell to run for the top. She had no business choosing to to dive. And make no mistake, it was Her choice. If she was 15 feet below her buddy playing with turtles and not realizing her buddy was ascending, that is her fault along with her buddy, not the DM.
51 dives, is not "very experienced" as the article states. It is just enough to make you reckless and arrogant if that is your nature. Not all are, but enough.
I am sorry for her death, but she was the one responsible for herself. I hope the DM is left alone. I am sure he is feeling bad enough, as it was on his watch.

The waves were like 5 feet the ladders would come out of the water 1 to 2 feet with every wave. It would have been different if she had 51 dives, but my wife and I were on our 5th dive with this being 1st dive in the ocean. It was a real shame because it has really turned her off of diving were going to do some shore diving for awhile to just get her in the water and some experience.

 

[D_B]

Ohhh ... sorry to hear that kell .. just take it easy and no pressure on her to dive , and if she sits out a dive or two, just come back and tell her what fun you had/thingsyou saw
... On a nice day , a boat and diving from it is a wonderful day of diving .. suit up, drop in, dive, come up, eat-relax-talk, repeat

 

[Tricia]

I don't care if the diver and the insta-buddy were diving with a group- when the buddy surfaced, she should have told the diver and the diver should have surfaced at that time. It's the rule and there's a reason for it.

Re Kell's wife's seasickness: I'm one of those people who's always seasick, even in calm water. But on a dive trip 2 weeks ago, my buddy suggested I take a Prilosec (like Nexium) each day instead of the meds. Guess what? I wasn't seasick the rest of the trip! So my "seasickness" all this time may have just been an acid reflux problem. Hope this helps others!

Trish

 

[DiveTheGalapagos]

Donna has become part of the fabric of my being. Her tragedy did happen in Oct. 2009. I think her death and the death of Eloise Gale will serve to change safety policies in the Galapagos and hopefully prevent others in the future. Both women were alone and behind everyone else.

There was a thread about this last fall.
I posted on that thread here.