Carnival Pride - possible death ashore in Grand Turk

[frediver]

Sad for sure and likely both incidents resulted from the same cause, lack of training.

Some might also say poor Dive Master ( leader ) or a failure in the Buddy system.

Truth is you can not Always watch your buddy or all divers under your supervision.

Still in a down current as described you find another dive sight regardless .

9 or 10 dives after your basic class a few years ago DOES NOT make you

an experienced diver, I would ever say it puts you back to the just graduated level if I was leading the dive. Your skills even with only 9-10 fresh dives are just not

ingrained yet.

Concerning the 17 year old accident: there are not enough details, was it a discover dive, ie, did he have any other dive experience?

Truth is I do not tend to trust guided dives for excursion tourists, there is not enough individual diver supervision.

[Herfnerd]

Thoughts and prayers to all the families involved

 

Having been OW certified since 1982, and AOW certifed since 1985 I've always been leery about these 2 hour SCUBA resort courses. It took me several weeks of lessons and five check dives before I got my OW cert and then more training and check dives, including deep water and night dives for AOW.

 

Not trying to scare anyone off and for the most part SCUBA is safe, but the key is training - and I am surprised that they labeled someone with 9-10 dives under their belt as experienced.......

[Inside Cabin Cruiser]

The 17 year old was flown to a hospital. My wife was on the same excursion.

There was a fellow cruise member that performed CPR tirelessly on the boy, she should be thanked. My prayers are with his family.

[maxamuus]

It's not something to undertake lightly.

 

Having oodles of snorkelling water-worthiness beforehand helps a lot:

by that I mean someone who is already WELL familiar with how to fit,wear and use (their own?) mask, snorkel, flippers

 

-so that all they really need to learn now...is the SCUBA bit

which is quite enough in itself! :)

 

 

This observation from someone who has conducted at least 1,500 resort SCUBA crash courses

on the Caribbean island where I live..

 

I think ill stay up here on dry land, thanks. If i want to see fishes i will snorkel or go to a aquarium.

 

I am sure diving is exciting and fun, but too many risks for me.

[CanWeGoYet?]

I think ill stay up here on dry land, thanks. If i want to see fishes i will snorkel or go to a aquarium.

 

I am sure diving is exciting and fun, but too many risks for me.

 

I'm with you - being on top of the water in a cruise ship is about as close to it as I want to be. I already have asthma, so feel like I have a challenge breathing on dry land at times. Doubt they would let someone with respiratory problems do it even if they wanted to.

[CanWeGoYet?]

The 17 year old was flown to a hospital. My wife was on the same excursion.

There was a fellow cruise member that performed CPR tirelessly on the boy, she should be thanked. My prayers are with his family.

 

Praying he makes a recovery, and for his family too. Heartbreaking thing to happen on what must have been a long anticipated & expected to be happy - family vacation.

[lidodeckbound]

I had heard that the boy passed, again that is what I HEARD on Sunday at breakfast from the people at the table. I so hope they were wrong.

[frediver]

If your wife was on that excursion does she know if it was a discover dive for the 17yr. old or did he have prior dive training, I'm curious now?

[gelo7]

All are terrible to hear about.

[sharecruises]

Very sad

 

You have to wonder about these "scuba training" courses given on an excursion....

there are so many potential ways that things can go wrong, so many shore excursions seem pretty unorganized to start with

 

I do know people who scuba dive and it is NOT something to be taken "lightly" as others said....training, good equipment are really important.

 

Really a tragedy.

[CheckersMidwest]

Smithkids......please remove your picture of the boy being loaded into the ambulance. as the wife of a long time paramedic, I can tell you from experience that the families don't appreciate it. with all due respect, it's tacky.

 

my nephew drowned several years ago. we did not know it was him until my husband pulled him out of the water (also a certified rescue diver) to begin CPR. The front page picture in our local paper that week was of my husband doing CPR on our nephew, who died.

 

We have both been PADI certified divers for years. part of the training - a big part - is what to do if there are problems. The diving itself is not hard nor complicated. There had to be other circumstances.

 

My son has taken the Discover Scuba course in the Bahamas twice and they were very thorough. Both trips he did two-tank dives with Stuart Cove. They had a great diver/ staff ratio. in fact, the first time, the dive master stayed close to my son in case he had any problems. Not all dive operators are careles and some of the Discover courses are fine.

 

my heart goes out for the boy's family. What a terrible tragedy.

[happy cruzin]

Smithkids......please remove your picture of the boy being loaded into the ambulance. as the wife of a long time paramedic, I can tell you from experience that the families don't appreciate it. with all due respect, it's tacky.

 

my nephew drowned several years ago. we did not know it was him until my husband pulled him out of the water (also a certified rescue diver) to begin CPR. The front page picture in our local paper that week was of my husband doing CPR on our nephew, who died.

 

We have both been PADI certified divers for years. part of the training - a big part - is what to do if there are problems. The diving itself is not hard nor complicated. There had to be other circumstances.

 

My son has taken the Discover Scuba course in the Bahamas twice and they were very thorough. Both trips he did two-tank dives with Stuart Cove. They had a great diver/ staff ratio. in fact, the first time, the dive master stayed close to my son in case he had any problems. Not all dive operators are careles and some of the Discover courses are fine.

 

my heart goes out for the boy's family. What a terrible tragedy.

 

Unfortunately, a poster can only edit a post for about 15 minutes after it's posted to the boards :o......

[TriciaEMTB]

I had heard that the boy passed, again that is what I HEARD on Sunday at breakfast from the people at the table. I so hope they were wrong.

 

 

I actually hope for the kid's sake, he passed.

 

I've transported a couple near drowning post arrest kids who are veggies. It's not a pretty or meaningful existence. I know I'd never want to be in that position. Your exsistence becomes nothing but decubitus ulcers, pnuemonia and UTIs.

 

Hopefully he's at peace now.

[lidodeckbound]

i actually hope for the kid's sake, he passed.

 

I've transported a couple near drowning post arrest kids who are veggies. It's not a pretty or meaningful existence. I know i'd never want to be in that position. Your exsistence becomes nothing but decubitus ulcers, pnuemonia and utis.

 

Hopefully he's at peace now.

:( :( :(

[Cushing985]

Very sad but not sure why you posted this?

 

In case if someone who might be interested...like yourself since you opened up the thread. Any questions?:cool:

[CheckersMidwest]

Thanks smith kids :)

[Smithkids5521]

Smithkids......please remove your picture of the boy being loaded into the ambulance. as the wife of a long time paramedic, I can tell you from experience that the families don't appreciate it. with all due respect, it's tacky.

 

 

I apologize. I agree that if it were my son I would not want the picture posted. Again- very sorry.

[hitenkm]

Unfortunately the 17 year old who drowned did not make it. He was my cousin brother. I hope the authorities investigate and punish those responsible. I hope there are more safety precautions taken. Please remember him and his family in your prayers.

[murphyarnold]

Unfortunately the 17 year old who drowned did not make it. He was my cousin brother. I hope the authorities investigate and punish those responsible. I hope there are more safety precautions taken. Please remember him and his family in your prayers.

 

 

I am so sorry for your loss. my heart goes out to you all.

[Laurie S.]

Unfortunately the 17 year old who drowned did not make it. He was my cousin brother. I hope the authorities investigate and punish those responsible. I hope there are more safety precautions taken. Please remember him and his family in your prayers.

 

I am so sorry for your loss. If you can, could you please give us some details about what happened? Were there really 16 discover divers on board? There is a set ratio of divers to instructors on discover dives and it sounds like the required PADI procedures were not followed. I also had a bad experience with that shop in March.

[spleenstomper]

I am very very sorry for your family's loss. Please know we are sending you positive thoughts and hugs across the internet....

[inco]

Unfortunately the 17 year old who drowned did not make it. He was my cousin brother. I hope the authorities investigate and punish those responsible. I hope there are more safety precautions taken. Please remember him and his family in your prayers.

 

Would not your cousin's brother also be your cousin? Maybe he was a cousin-in-law?

[murphyarnold]

I am so sorry for your loss. If you can, could you please give us some details about what happened? Were there really 16 discover divers on board? There is a set ratio of divers to instructors on discover dives and it sounds like the required PADI procedures were not followed. I also had a bad experience with that shop in March.

 

 

What is discover divers..is that like SNUBA???

[maxamuus]

Would not your cousin's brother also be your cousin?

 

That puzzled me too.

[lbow2006]

Would not your cousin's brother also be your cousin? Maybe he was a cousin-in-law?

 

 

There are a way or two that they wouldn't necessarily also be cousins. If his cousin has a biological parent and step parent that are considered the op's aunt and uncle, but a separate biological parent who is also the cousin's brother's biological parent with another separate biological parent? Or something along those lines.

 

That being said this posting has me a little bit worried and I feel horrible for that boy's family. We were planning on doing one of the Discovery Dives? when we cruise in September, but neither of us has ever actually dived before. The post online I found said they were very safe, but I'm not sure how I feel about it now. My husband really wanted to go though...