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#2955
 Diver Dies at 40 Fathom Grotto Near Ocala, Florida
OcalaJim - 11/17/2008 9:11 PM
Category: Health & Safety
Replies: 7
It has happened again. A diver has died in 40 Fathom Grotto. I don’t want to paraphrase or make any assumptions, so, here is the link to the story:

http://www.ocala.com/article/20081116/ARTICLES/811161004/0/LIVING
#3515
Nesher - 11/18/2008 5:01 AM


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.
#1473
Plang - 11/18/2008 8:12 AM


The two incidents are completely unrelated. The first was a lady with a medical condition. The second was an example of stupidity.


I hate to be harsh but look at the facts: Impromptu dive at 1:30 in the morning was their first mistake. Second, there were four members of the team and three members of the team left one member of their party by himself. Third mistake was two of the three remaining members took off to try to find the missing member thus leaving another diver by himself. They were lucky there was not a second diver missing or dead.


The member who died was know to pull pranks according to one member so I don’t support the idea he took diving seriously.


As sad as it is this incident should be used by every dive instructor to teach how stupidity can get you killed.
#355
firediver57 - 11/18/2008 7:38 PM
I would not blame the Grotto but look at all the things that went wrong. The hour isn’t as bad as it seems - a good night dive is a good night dive but.the main thing is leaving a group or member behind for any reason. The rule is and always will be that when one diver is low on air the buddy is too. And when there are three you all go up. Pranks aside you don’t separate especially at night. My heart goes out to his family and friends but a poor decision becomes a lesson for the rest of us.
#3936
seawolfdiving - 11/18/2008 7:56 PM
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

 
#3062
Indiana - 12/06/2008 9:28 PM
As a new diver I hate to see this.My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.This is why I take being a buddy very seriously.This accident should not have happened.
#3062
Indiana - 12/06/2008 9:28 PM
As a new diver I hate to see this.My thoughts and prayers go out to the family.This is why I take being a buddy very seriously.This accident should not have happened.