Second Caymans fatality in a week

[DandyDon]

Cayman Islands News

A 73-year-old American tourist has become the tenth person to die in Cayman waters this year, one of the highest number of deaths recorded in the islands during a six month period. The visitor, who was on holiday in Little Cayman with his wife, got into difficulty while diving Bloody Bay Wall on an organised boat dive . Police said that at 12.25pm the man lost consciousness as he was ascending. He was transported to shore on the dive boat as crew carried out CPR. A nurse met the boat at Salt Rock Dock and continued CPR while the man was taken to the local clinic in the dive company’s vehicle, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. A police spokesperson said that enquiries continued but there appeared to be no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
The visitor’s death at sea comes less than one week after 80-year-old William Lemuel Lawson Jr, who was visiting from Florida, died while diving off the Double Wall dive site northwest of Cayman Brac.
The number of water-related deaths in Cayman this year has already exceeded the annual average, with only half the year gone. Eight of those deaths have involved ocean swimmers, snorkelers or divers, the youngest of which was Pablo Perez Lara (41), a swimmer with the Special Olympics team from Uruguay, who died during an 800-metre race. Most of the other victims were visitors from the US who were over 50 years of age.
The other two water-related deaths include the drowning of a 9-year-old boy in a swimming pool and a 21-year-old man who died in a boat incident.

 

[Tricia]

"Most of the other victims were visitors from the US who were over 50 years of age."

I'd be curious to know how many years these folks had been diving (or really, how many dives they had) before this happened. It's one thing to dive as a senior citizen when you've been doing it for years and are in good physical condition. But it seems like a lot of older folks who are not in good shape are taking up diving. Not sure if that's a good thing.

 

[PatW]

I have been to Little Cayman 3 times. I am in my early sixties. I tend to be on the young side of the population on the dive boat. Most of the divers are experienced and have a good skill level. The fitness levels of the divers could be better but it is usually not that bad. When you put that many divers into the water, one can expect a few cardio pulmonary events. I suspect that most of the divers who suffered these events were taking reasonable precautions, they just got unlucky.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Being only 60 (been diving for 24 years) I'm in no hurry to kick off. But if I have to, and I will, I'd just as soon do it while having fun. My only concern would be the risk that I might place others in while doing so.

So, if you are above middle age or unhealthy, please consider the risk you place others in while you are wanting to go out with a bang. Get fit, be smart, know when to say "when."

 

[DandyDon]

"Most of the other victims were visitors from the US who were over 50 years of age."

I'd be curious to know how many years these folks had been diving (or really, how many dives they had) before this happened. It's one thing to dive as a senior citizen when you've been doing it for years and are in good physical condition. But it seems like a lot of older folks who are not in good shape are taking up diving. Not sure if that's a good thing.

Well, I bet that most of their divers are Americans over 50 to start with. I was over 50 when I started, but hadn't slowed down. Nowadays I do give more thought to some cautions, but really - I'd hate to stay home and hide all the time. I've known people half my age with cardiac events, strokes, aneurysms, etc. so when do you think people should give up and hide?

Ok, yeah - use older divers are indeed more likely to cash out diving, hiking, etc. than younger ons, true - but we're more likely than the younger ones to die at a cafe too. Life is like that.

Being only 60 (been diving for 24 years) I'm in no hurry to kick off. But if I have to, and I will, I'd just as soon do it while having fun. My only concern would be the risk that I might place others in while doing so.

So, if you are above middle age or unhealthy, please consider the risk you place others in while you are wanting to go out with a bang. Get fit, be smart, know when to say "when."

Yeah, I'd rather go out on a dive or hike than at home alone. I'd hate to be a kill-joy for others on the trip for fun, or the poor rescuers who have to retrieve my carcass and contact DAN for return shipping - but then I'm not ready to just hide or pick a better time & place to die.

 

[agilis]

Age and diving fatalities is a fascinating topic. I suspect that many of the over 50 crowd, being deep into what physicians used to call Cardiac Death Valley (about 45 to 65), are new divers, deciding to experience what they have seen so often on TV but have never actually taken the plunge (sorry) until this cruise or this trip, or the two or three just before what turns out to be the last.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but these older men are profoundly inexperienced, in a high state of excitement, and quite frightened in most cases, especially when things go even slightly wrong. I was a good snorkeler and breath hold diver at 3 years old (thanks Mom) and did my first compressed air dive in high school. It would have been sooner, but compressed air equipment was hard to get in 1960, when I was a HS freshman. It was all for the best, though, because I've seldom felt totally dependent on that sort of equipment, and have zero fear of water. It's my element in a very real and honest sense, not as in "I'm a fish" coming from someone who couldn't do pool laps or free dive at 5 or 6.

I'm a fairly old diver at 71, but an experienced one, free diving for close to 68 years and using scuba regularly for almost 60 years. I may have a coronary event when diving and die as a result, but it will not be because my pulse is racing and adrenalin is making my heart beat harder than it should. That happens on the surface at times, but almost never when submerged. Only powerboats produce that effect these days in the water, when they zoom overhead as I'm surfacing. If I were not such a gentle civilized person I'd probably want to put a hollow point in their ignorant asses, but that would be wrong. Or so I've heard.

Older people who are doing these kinds of once in a lifetime of things, or starting to learn scuba at a rather advanced age have every right to do so, And I'm glad they have the opportunity while what entranced me in the mid 20th century still exists, though to a greatly reduced extent in most places. The direction is sadly clear: The reefs, especially in the Caribbean, are rapidly approaching their demise. When I read people being defensive about the reefs in places like Bonaire, defending them against slurs by writing, 'But you are comparing their present state to 1984, so that's not a valid criticism" I feel a sense of the tragicomic.

Let the geezers have their fun, but by all means accept that this sort of fun, when unfamiliar and engaged in for the first time so late in the game, may be as deadly as a visit with a seductive and skilled 19 year old hooker.

 

[diverrex]

Men (and sometimes women) 50+ will have cardiac events and die while diving. They will also have them and die while they are walking, hiking, jogging, skiing, fishing or even just in bed. It happens. While I think it's possible that some of the stresses of diving, heavy equpment, current, etc. may contribute I know of no study that shows that. We in the scuba world take any death while diving seriously and always look for ways to prevent them. Some will just happen.

 

[drrich2]

We're all going to die. Some people, were they to give up their joys and passions, might suck air a few more years.

Whoop-de-freak'in-do.

Drowning is not the way I'd prefer to die, but then again, not everybody gets to die peacefully in their sleep.

So, if you are above middle age or unhealthy, please consider the risk you place others in while you are wanting to go out with a bang. Get fit, be smart, know when to say "when."

A good point, but how much likelihood of serious bodily injury or death to others are we talking about here? Versus the inconvenience of having to stop a charter trip, hunt your carcass & put up with the inquiries into the death? That's no small inconvenience! Then again, are you willing to constantly live for 10 to 20 years limiting yourself so that if you drop dead others won't be too inconvenienced?

Richard.

 

[dmoore19]

I think the deaths in Cayman may have more to do with who is able to afford the trips. Cayman is more expensive that some places. The over 50 gang, that I am a member of, has the financial capabilities of visiting Cayman and some of the other more expensive diving venues. Just a thought.

I intend to keep going until I feel I am unable to do so. I have already given up a few things that I did when I was younger. I can't guarantee that I won't drop over from a coronary episode on my next trip but then neither can anybody else.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Two eightyish guys have died on the Brac in the space of a few months, both snorkelling I believe. Both from heart conditions. I guess it's not bad way to go if your time is up but makes for bad headlines. I was reading some comments on the Cayman News website and the locals weren't happy about old Americans coming to die on their islands.


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