Kennedydive
Contributor
Linda Palmer loved scuba diving so much she couldn't stay away from the ocean, say her friends and family.
The 28-year-old Dartmouth woman died in a diving accident Saturday morning off Sambro Island.
"She was very passionate about scuba diving," said her friend, Jennifer Oldford.
"She lived out in Calgary last year and moved back here because she just couldn't deal with being so far away from water."
Ms. Palmer earned a degree in marine biology at Dalhousie University before she decided to become a teacher, said Ms. Oldford, who met her four years ago when they studied education at Mount Saint Vincent.
She taught sciences and mathematics in various schools around metro as a substitute.
"Linda was awesome," Ms. Oldford said. "She was always there to comfort you if you if you needed it, and to have a good time and a good laugh. She was hilarious."
Ms. Palmer's friends and family still don't know what caused her death.
"It's completely unreal. It doesn't make any sense," Ms. Oldford said. "She knew how to scuba dive. She was an instructor. . . . It's not like she was just an amateur who made a mistake out there."
Ms. Palmer had been diving from the charter boat Ryan & Erin.
She had descended a short distance and surfaced again when the trouble started, said Fred Palmer, Linda's father.
"I know she was on the surface when something happened," Mr. Palmer said.
"Something happened and she lost her mouthpiece, but got that back. Then they tell me she gave the thumbs-up she was OK, and then she passed out."
A coast guard rescue boat brought her ashore Saturday at about 11:30 a.m. Paramedics took her to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax in critical condition.
Doctors pronounced her dead at the hospital.
Ms. Palmer's plan had been to go on two dives Saturday one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
"She called it a fun dive in the morning, before she left, which meant no student divers," said her father.
Her parents had to make the sad drive out to Sambro on Saturday to pick up her car and what was left of their daughter's diving gear.
"They had to take it off to get her out of the water," Mr. Palmer said.
Mounties are probing the death, but investigators still haven't told the family what went wrong.
"We really don't know," her dad said. "We're hoping for some sort of explanation of why this could have happened to her."
His daughter had worked at Torpedo Rays Scuba for five years.
"She taught open-water diving pretty much all summer," he said, adding that she was working a few evenings a week this fall at the Dartmouth outfit.
Ms. Palmer had recently bought a small second-hand sailboat.
"She wanted to sail that, although she'll never have the chance to do that now," said her father. "It's sitting in my backyard."
She was the youngest of four children.
"She's the baby of the family," said her dad. "She was the adventurous one."
The 28-year-old Dartmouth woman died in a diving accident Saturday morning off Sambro Island.
"She was very passionate about scuba diving," said her friend, Jennifer Oldford.
"She lived out in Calgary last year and moved back here because she just couldn't deal with being so far away from water."
Ms. Palmer earned a degree in marine biology at Dalhousie University before she decided to become a teacher, said Ms. Oldford, who met her four years ago when they studied education at Mount Saint Vincent.
She taught sciences and mathematics in various schools around metro as a substitute.
"Linda was awesome," Ms. Oldford said. "She was always there to comfort you if you if you needed it, and to have a good time and a good laugh. She was hilarious."
Ms. Palmer's friends and family still don't know what caused her death.
"It's completely unreal. It doesn't make any sense," Ms. Oldford said. "She knew how to scuba dive. She was an instructor. . . . It's not like she was just an amateur who made a mistake out there."
Ms. Palmer had been diving from the charter boat Ryan & Erin.
She had descended a short distance and surfaced again when the trouble started, said Fred Palmer, Linda's father.
"I know she was on the surface when something happened," Mr. Palmer said.
"Something happened and she lost her mouthpiece, but got that back. Then they tell me she gave the thumbs-up she was OK, and then she passed out."
A coast guard rescue boat brought her ashore Saturday at about 11:30 a.m. Paramedics took her to the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax in critical condition.
Doctors pronounced her dead at the hospital.
Ms. Palmer's plan had been to go on two dives Saturday one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
"She called it a fun dive in the morning, before she left, which meant no student divers," said her father.
Her parents had to make the sad drive out to Sambro on Saturday to pick up her car and what was left of their daughter's diving gear.
"They had to take it off to get her out of the water," Mr. Palmer said.
Mounties are probing the death, but investigators still haven't told the family what went wrong.
"We really don't know," her dad said. "We're hoping for some sort of explanation of why this could have happened to her."
His daughter had worked at Torpedo Rays Scuba for five years.
"She taught open-water diving pretty much all summer," he said, adding that she was working a few evenings a week this fall at the Dartmouth outfit.
Ms. Palmer had recently bought a small second-hand sailboat.
"She wanted to sail that, although she'll never have the chance to do that now," said her father. "It's sitting in my backyard."
She was the youngest of four children.
"She's the baby of the family," said her dad. "She was the adventurous one."
