San Carlos Beach/Breakwater Cove, Monterey, CA

[HenryG]

While I think your intention is good, I believe you are focused on the wrong thing.

The only scenario I can see where a life guard can likely have a positive impact in the outcome of a dive incident is if a diver surfaces in distress, the life guard sees right away, the coast guard is called right away, a boat is dispatched. All the while, the diver remains on the surface.

Every other, more likely scenario, by the time the life guard/coast guard intervene, the situation will already be incredibly grim. Sadly, in years I have been casually following the accidents and incidents forum, it is the grim scenarios that are more common.

These grim cases include:
- The diver panics, bolts to the surface, suffers from an AGE, passes out at the surface (and either remains at the surface or re-submerges after passing out)
- The diver runs out of gas, manages to surface (maybe did a CESA), is unable to remain in the surface, re-submerges and drowns
- The diver is found unconscious underwater by other divers during a dive (without ever being noticed as surfacing prior to losing consciousness)
- A diver is missing (is unconscious and is not seen by his buddy or any other diver in the vicinity)

In these cases, by the time someone is able to notify the coast guard, a boat dispatched and the boat to arrive on scene and effect a rescue, the diver is already unconscious having suffered from something like an AGE or has already drowned. While I agree that even in these scenarios, it is preferable to have help arrive in as soon as possible, I doubt it would make a difference.

From my casual observation, recreational diving incidents usually fall into one of two categories - pre-existing health issues and diver error. Though I don't know anything about this specific incident, I would be very surprised if the incident fell outside of these two categories. In my view, it is better for us as divers to focus on these two categories than to pine for life guard/coast guard or other emergency response resources at every site that divers frequent. In the first place, managing health issues and becoming better divers are two very good ways to proactively avoid finding ourselves in grim situations. In the second place, having emergency resources at common dive sites is not only prohibitively expensive, they are also very unlikely to positively affect the outcome of the common dive incident scenarios.

i agree with your point of survivability of the incident in question. As a First Responder, any loss of life effects me greatly. I frequently respond to motor vehicle accidents and take away the horror of each one. It is also part of the response to analyze each incident and evaluate what we did right, what we could have done better and what we had no control over. I approach my diving in much the same way always evaluating what went right and what I could have done better. My feelings about this incident are mixed, mostly I have been looking at what went wrong, I probably should spend some time thinking of the things that went right. 1. Emergency services were called very shortly after the group surfaced with the victim. 2. All available resources were utilized to return the diver to shore. 3. EMS was at work immediately. 4. The diver was in the ambulance very shortly after initial assessment.

Glock34girl: you hit on a very key point that we have on the lake where I live, a pre-plan. We know where surface transportation will be, we know who is responding, we know where the helicopter LZ will be, all dependent on where on the lake the incident happens with all agencies working together. An effective pre-plan is the key to success. Success doesn't always equate to survival, but we like to try and give the best odds.

Descent: perhaps you are right, I may be overlooking the "embarrassment of riches" we have locally. I do live in Fairfield County, CT and grew up in Westchester County, NY. Admiditly we have a fair amount of money donated to our local volunteer rescue organizations, and it probably isn't fair to assume that Monterey, CA can be painted with the same brush that I use on home turf. But, I know there is a lot of money floating around nearby, and the $425 a night I pay for a room there doesn't give the impression of a struggling economy.

Adrian: you and I will probably never best friends, but I will say that I respect what you have to say and apologize for any insults you may have perceived as intentional or otherwise. At the end of the day, if you were ever to need saving or CPR, I GUARANTEE I'll be the first one there for you.

Knowing that this incident ended in a death is upsetting. Wondering if I had been able to have been her buddy, would I have been able to make a difference? What would I have done differently on the surface? What was the one thing that would have changed the outcome and broken the chain? I pray for this diver, her family, her friends and her diving community.

 

[Airburnr01]

Well said Adrian

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[Drin]

Adrian: you and I will probably never best friends, but I will say that I respect what you have to say and apologize for any insults you may have perceived as intentional or otherwise. At the end of the day, if you were ever to need saving or CPR, I GUARANTEE I'll be the first one there for you.

We may not ever be best friends, but if you ever make it back to Monterey I'll take you out to North Monastery and show you the best diving the area has to offer, then buy the first round, at least. And I would do the same for you if you ever needed saving or CPR.

My condolences to the diver's family.

-Adrian

 

[R6Chick]

Fatality, per multiple news reports.

Woman dies after diving at San Carlos Beach in Monterey | Local News - Central Coast News KION

This line from the news article concerns me.
"Her identity is not being release yet because her family has not been notified."

We all fill out paperwork that includes emergency notification persons and our instructors have this with them during our check out dives. This incident happened on a weekend. The woman was in the hospital until her death on Thursday but not one person in her family knew? How the heck is this possible?

 

[Bob DBF]

This line from the news article concerns me.
"Her identity is not being release yet because her family has not been notified."

We all fill out paperwork that includes emergency notification persons and our instructors have this with them during our check out dives. This incident happened on a weekend. The woman was in the hospital until her death on Thursday but not one person in her family knew? How the heck is this possible?

The notification person may not be family, I have no idea what relations are considered family to be notified, and if the family has anything to say about when the name is to be released. Personally, I've been on holiday out of the country for up to 3 weeks and camping, off the grid, for longer, if anyone had to notify me it could have taken several weeks.


Bob

 

[Lopez116]

Anything on the net has to be properly vetted of course, but there is a comment under one of the news articles to the effect that the instructor was on the beach when the student/victim was underwater practicing buddy breathing. I was shocked to read that and simply cannot imagine that the instructor would have the gall to let her do this. Who knows if this is true, though.

 

[descent]

... I know there is a lot of money floating around nearby, and the $425 a night I pay for a room there doesn't give the impression of a struggling economy.

You pose a good question.

I didn't like the answer.

It's not hard to see that Monterey is one of the more fortunate cities in a favored land, with many new entertainments now finished and ready to join a bulging catalog of old ones. New exhibits are built, opened, and removed from the Aquarium faster than I am able to go see them. Fine restaurants in Peninsula cities are also too quick for me, by a large factor. I have no idea how many art galleries there are in Monterey or Pacific Grove. I only know that my wife prefers the ones in Carmel.

Why, then, are there no lifeguards straddling the latest personal watercraft, patiently shadowing each open water class? Where is the fanny pack and boogie board medical corps? Once I got a scrape at a beach on the Big Island and was offered a band-aid and disinfecting spritz while I was still in waist-deep water. I am still amazed.

So, is it graft? Does the City of Monterey skimp on front-line EMS while redirecting the tides of visitor cash down into some hidden sewer of pork and influence?

Because I simply could not imagine that happening, I went home and did something I generally avoid. I hit the web site for City Hall and started studying the civic balance sheet.

An auditor's report (pdf) tells us that there is a fairly large hole in the current budget. Increasingly large deficits are projected.

Among other difficulties, the City of Monterey has an unfunded pension liability. Retired civil servants are entitled to more in pension benefits than can be paid for with existing or projected resources. The largest cohort of these retirees have their own protective association which negotiates on their behalf, shooting down requests for benefit reductions, increased copayments, and other things you and I are forced to endure on a regular basis.

If the annual budget report (pdf) is to be believed, parks are unkempt, wharves rot, rec programs shrink, and the city budget falls deeper into the red every year in large part because one group of public safety employees arranged a sweetheart deal for themselves at the expense of everyone else, past, present and future.

That's where your lifeguards went.

 

[timten]

Does anyone know which shop the class was with?

 

[Shasta_man]

<<because one group of public safety employees arranged a sweetheart deal for themselves at the expense of everyone else, past, present and future.>>

This has happened in many places here. Some years ago apparently some crazy pension deals were negotiated which no matter how valuable a service, can't be sustained now, because it's stuff like retire with a pension of 80% of your salary. Old mayor started trying to change that and made some progress because we just ain't got the money. Platforms for next mayors were all about "public safety" and how we can give all that money back to them again so the cops will come back.

 

[Lopez116]

Does anyone know which shop the class was with?

Not entirely sure which shop it was, but I have heard it was not a PADI facility, but a NAUI facility - not that that is relevant to anything.