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[peterbj7]

Report on a fatality that happened on a diver's first dive on a Galapogas trip. Excerpt from the published report:-

“And PADI et al. make it worse when they certify people as divemasters or even instructors with 60 or 120 dives, most of them in lakes or swimming pools. My wife’s instructor certification was worth nothing at Darwin’s Arch, where the current was so strong it twisted our reef hooks. The only thing that counts is experience, and this cannot be provided by the dive guides. However, only a few instructors I’ve seen tell their students bluntly about their capabilities and prevent them from overestimation. For the same reason - - the truth is bad for business.”

My emphasis - The only thing that counts is experience. It is FAR too easy to become a recreational DM or instructor.

Anyone can read the whole report by registering for email at the Undercurrent website. I strongly recommend you do this.

Edited by peterbj7, 03 May 2010 - 11:10 PM.

[ArtRunScuba]

The article was vague about the experience of the woman who died, though or about the possibility that her fatality was caused by a "health" event, such as the one that hit a 40 or so year old woman dive instructor on a liveaboard (I was told it was Peter Hughes' boat) in Galapagos at Darwin several weeks before my November trip. What also struck me was the depth of that first dive at Seymour, which from my memory from last November on the Explorer Ventures boat, was not so deep and not so difficult. Perhaps conditions are different in February, when this group was in Galapagos. Even when we were diving Darwin with the whale sharks, while the current was strong, it was not so strong that hooks were required. Nothing like my Cocos experience or several sites in Palau where you had to have hooks and felt like you were about to fly away to who knows where. Nonetheless, it is clear that a variety of experiences is very helpful when diving under more difficult conditions, and it is very, very sad when one hears stories like the one in Undercurrent.