Diver Died in Panama City FL

[eeel]

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (WJHG/WECP)-- The Bay County Sheriff's Office says a man from Tennessee died Monday after something happened during his first dive with a diving school.

Investigators say Kevin Michael Kimble, 52, of Tennessee, was on his first dive west of the jetties at St. Andrew State Park when he didn't resurface with the rest of his dive class. When Kimble didn't come up, a search was called. He was located about 30 minutes later.

Deputies say Kimble was pronounced dead while being taken from the dive site to the Panama City Marina by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers.

BCSO Criminal Investigations is looking into the incident.

 

[Steelyeyes]

 

[wgw04024]

I just hate it when I see the phrase 'didn't resurface' especially with a student. Sad.

 

[iamrushman]

oh boy...very sad news for their first dive......deep condolences for family and friends.........keep us informed.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

Heartbreaking....

 

[meatsim]

Anyone have any more info on this one yet?

 

[tbzep]

Anyone have any more info on this one yet?

This is the most I found on it. Nothing more on the accident, but it does have a little info on the person. Kevin Kimbley Of White House Dies In Diving Accident In Florida

 

[Dan]

Sad indeed.

I'm glad to do my 1st dive in 20' sandy-bottom, clear-water Aquarena spring in San Marcos, Texas, where the instructor & assistant instructor could see & monitored ALL of the students conditions. I'm not sure what the condition of the west of the jetty at St. Andrews State Park were like. It seemed like the instructor / dive guide did not keep track of ALL of the student divers.

I also remember of my 1st vacation trip to Cayman Brac, right after getting the certification, my dive #9 in Piper's wall. After everyone gave an OK sign to go down, they all disappeared into the darkness. I left alone on the surface. I looked down to the black bottom sea, my hearth raced & I started to hyper ventilate & just stayed on the surface to calm myself down before joining the group at the bottom. My buddy looked up & had to come back to the surface to check me out. After I calmed down, then we went down together. After that, the rest of my 11 years, 550+ dives, my diving experience have been super. So, I think it is very important to have someone to closely watch out for you for the first few dives.

 

[kelemvor]

So, I think it is very important to have someone to closely watch out for you for the first few dives.

I'm only speaking about what I've seen posted by instructors on SB, but I thought that during class dives for an uncertified student the instructor was responsible for closely watching each student. The number of divers an instructor can take and the number he can effectively closely watch is occasionally debated here. Either way, AFAIK, the instructor is supposed to be watching the students. I wonder how a diver gets lost from an instructor. Maybe it was a dive with awful vis, I guess. If so, probably a poor dive site choice for students at a minimum.

 

[red_tide]

I would be interested to hear more information about this accident. I did my OW dives at this site, or at least one of the dives. It’s a very popular dive site, especially for OW classes. The jetties run parallel to the beach/pass with a shallow gap in the rocks. Inside the rocks, you can do your closed water dives since it’s very protected and might get 10 feet deep or so. For open water, classes go over the shallow gap and either go back towards the bay (shallow) or out towards the gulf (can get to 60+ feet in spots). It can be a great dive if the conditions are right, meaning high slack tide. If you miss slack tide, it can get sporty really quick. Visibility can be great unless there has been a lot of recent rain, which we have had in the last few weeks.

We actually got blown out for our 2nd - 4th OW dives and had to go to Morrison Springs to complete our certification. Moving classes to Morrison or Vortex Springs is a very common occurrence, which would lead me to believe it may have been health related.