Diver dies at Molokai on Maui dive boat

[Haiku Harlequin]

I can't possibly be any less willing to discuss this at length on a public forum, but for the sake of dissuading misinformation, I just want to throw in that I was on the boat that day, and this happened.

 

[whysocold]

Hello. I'm the one who posted the Trip Advisor review. Please feel free to ask me questions and I will respond here.

I have been speaking directly with unhappy and can confirm that this is her account. I have seen communications sent to her from Lahaina Divers staff and they confirmed that there was a death. The Lahaina Divers staff has been less than friendly toward her for posting her review and she was hesitant to post to Scuba Board at all.

I believe that the Coast Guard only posts about incidents where there is a situation that the public can help with such as a diver still missing.

The silence from the newspapers bothers me. I can only presume that they either don't want to harm tourism to the area or strings were pulled to keep the story out of the news.

The victim was possibly out of Phoenix, Arizona. I’m withholding his name due to the forum rules since there has been no news published (anyone know how to obtain the police report? I’ve been searching for obituaries for the victim, but he has a common name and is hard to find). However, his name is in the PADI incident report. The file number is PAM 16-2682.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Hello. I'm the one who posted the Trip Advisor review. Please feel free to ask me questions and I will respond here.

I can't possibly be any less willing to discuss this at length on a public forum, but for the sake of dissuading misinformation, I just want to throw in that I was on the boat that day, and this happened.

What was the USCG response? What specifically delayed assistance & medevac such that "CPR for over 2 hours" had to be performed on the victim?

 

[Unhappy]

2 hours. They were out of Maalea harbor, we were at Mokuhooniki Rock off Molokai. We couldn't start heading back until the rebreathers were found and back onboard. The coast guard met up with us just as we were heading back. I heard there were a lot of other emergencies that day like a missing free diver and a shark incident.

 

[Haiku Harlequin]

What was the USCG response? What specifically delayed assistance & medevac such that "CPR for over 2 hours" had to be performed on the victim?

It was October 14th, I think there are actually some news stories about everything that happened that day. There was a missing free diver off of the Hana side of Maui, a canoe broke in half with people on it, and a shark bite of some sort. Coast guard just didn't have anyone left to respond quickly.

 

[Shaun Delport]

unhappy , any info on what happened to cause this diver to be blue in the face and events leading up to the incident/accident?
You have done 20 dives on this particular reef. Were you working pro or customer on those dives?

 

[EricTheDood]

The review mentions no details of how the diver ended up unresponsive in the first place, nor how long he had stopped breathing before being placed on board. CPR survival statistics in general are staggeringly low. I can only imagine diving-related incidents to be even worse because of the time it takes to get a body from underwater to on-deck.

Also not sure why rough seas and strong currents would matter in this situation.

If the site is so dangerous and "not worth it", why has the reviewer dived it 20 times?

 

[tarponchik]

The above-mentioned shark attack was likely this one. And blueish face is reportedly a sign of blood deoxygenation.

 

[Unhappy]

unhappy, any info on what happened to cause this diver to be blue in the face and events leading up to the incident/accident?
You have done 20 dives on this particular reef. Were you working pro or customer on those dives?

The instructor sent the diver with his buddy to the surface around 10-15 minutes before the rest of us surfaced together as a group. So, the diver made it back on board the boat himself. By the time I made it back onboard, I'd say it had been about a half hour total before his face turned blue. Before that happened, I saw the divemaster Michelle asking him questions while he was able to sit up on his own (his eyes were extremely red and his hand was shaking and that's when I first noticed a problem). Then, dive instructor Nick placed an oxygen mask on his face. A few minutes later, Michelle asked Nick for help laying him down on the deck. The oxygen mask was then removed and Nick placed him in the recovery position facing away from me. I saw this as a red flag and asked out loud twice if he was responsive to no reply. A few minutes later, Nick rolled him on his back and that's when I saw his blue face. The crew did not make any moves after that. I was extremely sea sick so I could only watch and bring the CPR helpers water. So, my friend (a current divemaster) was next to me and she jumped to the diver and started chest compressions. Another customer (who said she was rescue certified) found a pocket mask and started rescue breaths. Divemaster Michelle then sat on opposite site of my friend and switched off chest compressions with her. Nick again tried to place the diver in the recovery position, but my friend pushed him away (CPR had already begun). Nick also switched off rescue breaths with the customer, but disappeared after a couple rounds. Joe, the other dive instructor, dived in the water a couple times and alerted the rebreathers to come up. He said they had a 34 minute deco and largely disappeared upstairs the remainder of the trip. I didn’t see the captain the entire time and neither he, nor the dive instructors managed the crew/customers on what to do. 95% of the CPR that was conducted for over 2 hours was performed by my friend, another customer, and the divemaster (the three least qualified people on board).

My history with Lahaina Divers: My dad was a customer there for many years before I got certified and he introduced me to the company. I dove there as a customer with my dad before I moved to Maui. When I moved to Maui in 2012, I was diving for fun and working in other industries. Then, I did finally work in the shop for Lahaina Divers for 7 months in 2013. I really loved working there and that’s when I dove for free on my days off at Molokai and racked up the 20 dives. I was even offered a divemaster position before I quit to go back to working at those other industries (I originally moved to Maui to pursue art, not diving). Then, in 2014, as a customer, I paid $200 for the Molokai trip again with Lahaina Divers. Also that year, I moved back to the mainland. So, it’s been over 3 years since I worked there. October 2016 was my first time returning to Maui. Since it was my birthday trip, I begged my friend to take a day off and dive Molokai with me with Lahaina Divers. She and I both paid $200 for the trip as customers. There was so much staff turnover since I had worked there that I didn’t know any of the crew that day (other than Joe). But, since I posted that review, crew members I thought were my friends have unfriended me and crew members who weren’t even on the boat that day have sent me nasty messages. They are falsely laboring under the idea that I must be a disgruntled employee.

As a divemaster in training (I'm rescue/oxygen/CPR/EFR certified), I felt I had a moral obligation to warn other divers about what happened and the dangers of this site in general (especially for the newer / older divers) no matter how many friends I lost over it. I had previously taken my dad on this trip and the poor man who died easily could have been my dad. I’m sure this man was someone’s dad/husband and that’s why I had to speak up since no one else would (I did receive approval from my friend who started the CPR to post it). The crew is blaming the victim of course, saying he was physically unfit to dive and had a pre-existing condition. They are also blaming me for being sea sick. There seems to be a pattern here of blaming customers. While my review has been taken as an attack by the crew, it's really management that was my focus (the rebreather policy, the clear lack of emergency training, the lack of useful emergency equipment in remote area combined with rebreather policy). The incident is also being ignored by the news. I don’t care how much money divers bring in to the island, people’s lives matter more.

 

[Unhappy]

The review mentions no details of how the diver ended up unresponsive in the first place, nor how long he had stopped breathing before being placed on board. CPR survival statistics in general are staggeringly low. I can only imagine diving-related incidents to be even worse because of the time it takes to get a body from underwater to on-deck.

Also not sure why rough seas and strong currents would matter in this situation.

If the site is so dangerous and "not worth it", why has the reviewer dived it 20 times?

Because sometimes the dive site is only 6 ft swell, one time it was as flat as a lake, but many times it was like this day and that's what I'm warning divers about. To be mentally and physically prepared to handle a very challenging dive. I'm also an adrenaline junkie and half the age of the diver who died. Before this day, I liked difficult and remote dives. Now, after witnessing all of this and realizing that this also could have easily been me, I don't think it's worth it. I will not go back to that dive site.