#3936
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From Nesher:
This really is terrible. It’s the second death at 40 Fathom within six months I believe.
I had been in contact with some people about taking the NAUI Instructors Course there in 2009. I’m not so sure anymore.
My thoughts and prayers go out for the families.
It sounds like these terrible events were probably more about poor choices made by the divers involved and not any issue with the safety of the Grotto facility. Although I’m sure that time and a thorough investigation will shed more light on the causes of these accidents.
I believe that taking the NAUI Instructor training course there is as safe as taking it anywhere.
We must remember that ultimately we are all responsible for our own safety and we must live (or not) with the consequences of the decisions that we make. Unfortunately, in our sport, the aquatic environment tends to be "not so forgiving" when we do make mistakes. No matter how "good" or experienced a diver we are, it is possible that we make poor choices. It’s just something that people do.
In order to reduce the frequency of those "poor choices" and in order to deal with the situations when they occur, we train, we drill, we plan, we carry alternate air sources, we limit our dives to conditions that are within our training and "known" abilities, we always dive with a buddy and we always follow the buddy rules and the safe diving practices. And these are the ways that divers, for years, have dealt with the risks that we face every time we make a dive. And, for the most part, these things work.
If we carefully study the dive accident reports over the past decade, I think we will see that where there are serious accidents, usually there was a poor choice made by the diver with regards to failure to follow safe diving practices, failure to follow the buddy rule, diving beyond ones abilities and training, or physical/medical conditions. Very rarely will the accident be attributed to equipment failure.
Dive smart, Dive safe, and remember;
Diving is fun, but it’s serious fun...!
My prayers are with all those involved.
Ron sends
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