Florida keys deaths

[mike_s]

To my knowledge, the Tortugas are protected & you can't take bugs from there.

ahh..... that's right... I forgot you can't fish, spear fish, bug fish, etc there....

 

[DiveGolfSki]

Yawl can keep the cold, I'll wait a few weeks for the knuckle heads to stop terrorizing the bugs down here then I'll do a mid-week night dive and get a few to share with my wife.

Hmm, spinny lobsters versus New England lobsters.... no contest ... cold water lobsters tastes the best!

Did anyone notice the age of the divers (53 and 58)? Can anyone speculate what the probably cause is with at least one of them??

Same thing happens on opening day of deer season! Cold weather+exertion (either due to conditions or excitement)+weight, age or fitness issues = heart attacks. The rest of the accidents are due to stupidity (shoot anything that flashes white, falling asleep in a tree stand w/o a harness, etc.)

As for these diving accidents, let's not speculate ... but if you must, I think it was the Aliens that did it.

 

[StSomewhere]

Did anyone notice the age of the divers (53 and 58)? Can anyone speculate what the probably cause is with at least one of them??

From what I've read, at least one of the divers didn't take off his weight belt when he took off the rest of his gear in the water.

 

[DandyDon]

From what I've read, at least one of the divers didn't take off his weight belt when he took off the rest of his gear in the water.

I've heard of that sort of thing happening - seen it almot happen on six-packs.

Do you have a link to the story...?

 

[Walter]

ahh..... that's right... I forgot you can't fish, spear fish, bug fish, etc there....

Not exactly true. You can't take anything while inside the restricted areas, but there are lots of places to dive where you can take lobster & fish.

 

[StSomewhere]

Do you have a link to the story...?

KeysNews.com, not sure if you have to register or not.

The guy still wearing the weight belt appears to be the earlier recovered body, not one of the two who died on opening day.
http://www.keysnews.com/283869501896772.bsp.htm
http://www.keysnews.com/300690716332633.bsp.htm

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks, got this off of one link...

Three divers' bodies recovered

OVERLINE: MINI-SEASON OPENS




BY VALLI FINNEY

Citizen Staff


The opening day of lobster mini-season saw thousands of boaters on the water throughout the Keys, while law enforcement and rescue workers were busy with the recovery of the bodies of three divers in the Lower Keys.

The first body discovered is believed by officials to be James Dobson, the 49-year-old Loxahatchee man who was reported missing Monday afternoon at Bahia Honda State Park between the two bridges, said Deputy Greg Artman, a Monroe County Sheriff's Office spokesman.

Officials have yet to release the names of the other two victims because family members had not been notified of their deaths, Artman said.

Dale Beaver, Marathon Fire Rescue deputy chief and fire marshal, found the man's skeletal remains Wednesday morning in the waters under the old bridge at Bahia Honda.

Sheriff's Office dive team members recovered them, Artman said.

Beaver was off-duty and looking for the Florida spiny lobster, along with several family members.

"I was diving and I picked up a lobster and saw something about 10 feet away from me," he said Wednesday evening. "The visibility was terrible. I went over and looked at it. At first, I thought it was a large fish on the bottom."

He then recognized it as a human body lying on the ocean floor in about 25 feet of water.

"I dropped my marker on him, came up, got in the boat and called 911 and the Coast Guard," Beaver said. "I just knew I had to do something."

The tide was slack when he found the man's body and Beaver said he knew that within about an hour the current would kick up again and could possibly carry the man farther out to sea.

"I wanted to try to get them [officials] there as soon as I could," he said. "I knew the tide would turn again and we could lose him again and I didn't want the family to have to go through that."

Beaver has been in the fire service for many years and has seen much during his career, but he has never found a person's body.

"I can't say I ever have and I can't say I ever want to again. I'm glad someone else didn't find him," Beaver said.

Beaver's family — and friends who were in the area when the man went missing Monday — questioned him about the possibility of the man being in the area where they had decided to lobster hunt.

"I've been telling my family, 'there's no way, he's probably way out in Hawk's Channel from the current'," Beaver said. "I never would have thought he would have gone [only] a quarter mile. It's a ripping current."

The man's dive belt, mask and clothing were not on him when Beaver found him.

The Monroe County medical examiner took possession of the remains and will attempt to use dental records to positively identify them.

Dobson was last seen Monday afternoon after he surfaced from a dive. His son, his brother-in-law and his son's girlfriend were aboard a 30-foot center console vessel when the incident occurred, Artman said.

Apparently, Dobson surfaced from the dive, grabbed onto the boat and began removing his dive gear, taking off his tanks. His diver down flag began to float away and he let go of the boat to retrieve it, Artman said. He was still wearing his mask and weigh belt.

Several agencies, including the Sheriff's Office dive team and TraumaStar medical helicopter, the Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission along with volunteers, searched the area Monday and Tuesday, before calling off the search.

The other two dive-related deaths were apparently related to lobster mini-season in the Keys, Artman said.

Both victims were taken to Lower Keys Medical Center, where they were pronounced dead.

The two were not diving together — one was near Sawyer Key, the other near Sugarloaf Key, Artman said. They had reportedly lost consciousness in the areas in which they were diving. In both instances, people with them began cardiopulmonary resuscitation until reaching shore where rescue personnel awaited to transport them to the hospital.

Artman said one victim is a 57-year-old man from Punta Gorda; the other is a 54-year-old man from Fort Myers.

Sheriff's Office detectives are investigating the deaths, Artman said.

Other than the diving fatalities, and a typical mini-season assortment of some overeager lobster hunters with undersized quarry or excessive catches, said Fish and Wildlife Commission spokesman Officer Steve Acton, "We haven't had any major events."

"[There are] a lot of people out there so we have a fairly well-behaved crowd," he said.

Charter captains said this year did not appear to stand out.

"It's definitely crowded out here in the Gulf, but doesn't seem as crowded as last year," said Capt. Chris Norwood aboard the charter boat Lucky Dog while heading in from the first day of mini- season.

His divers had not caught their limit of six lobsters per day, but the Lucky Dog is heading out again today.

"The bugs are out there, but they're harder to find this year, and they don't seem to be in the same place they were last year," Norwood said.

I've seen divers remove their gear int the water, weight belt last - always scares me. What if they lose grip, sink, panic...!?

 

[Shasta_man]

How is it that they can't pop the weight belt release?

Thanks, got this off of one link...



I've seen divers remove their gear int the water, weight belt last - always scares me. What if they lose grip, sink, panic...!?

 

[HarleyDiver]

Hate to add more bad news, but while we were on our SI between dives on the grove today, we heard radio reports about a lady who died on the Duanne. They had not pronounced her, (still on the boat going in), but it was prety clear from the chatter she would be a DOA. Max depth 10fsw per her computer,

I did one rescue yesterday, an instructor on our boat today went in to help a guy from another boat, we had to throw lines to 5 people (not from our boat), and we watched many people surface on wrong balls & needing help.

Lots of bad stuff this week, and Mini-season is over already.

 

[JoeyFla]

He was a business associate of mine... owner of a large business of underground utility construction. His employees don't know much more than the article from the Key West News... that he came up to the boat and removed most of his dive gear to his son (on the boat) and that his dive flag float had got away from him and he let go to retrieve the flag forgetting that he still had his weight belt on. His son thew a rope, but he failed to reach it and went under. He was later found on the bottom on Wed. by another diver hunting for lobster during the mini season... and indicated he didn't have the weight belt on. Very sad....