KEY LARGO.. 3 divers die OOA

[LKunze]

Yeah, I didn't mean to discredit taking a pony bottle or having gas redundancy.  My point was that gas redundancy is a great thing but it can't be a crutch for poor dive planning.  Nobody will likely ever know for certain all of the facts to this accident but it sure reinforces some of the basic rules we have all learned in our dive training. 

[MAXFACTOR]

I agree with all of the things that could have been done.  But,  I too have dove down the ladder that heads toward the engine room. 

WHen you get to the bottom you can go forward about 25 feet see different rooms, and if you turn half way, to your starboard side, you can see another ladder set up, which is confusing if you get twisted around easily.  If you take that ladder up when you think you're going topside, you're actually in a different staircase.    One of them leads back up topside, the other takes you up about 1/2 a deck but there is no (topside) it takes you to another part of the boat but doesn't go up, it ends up bringing you to other parts of the boat which is deeper into the side of the engine room and then you end up going down.   Remember its dark.

I wonder if the rescue workers will be describing the forensic layout of the ship to see if this is what happened. 

In either case, my dive buddy Reuben from Miami and I decided to turn around and not even mess with it.  As it turned out, we finished the length of the boat on what I will call the first level interior corridor that runs the entire length of the boat.  We went all the way back to the part of the deck drops off to that flat landing space and then decided to call the dive as we were down to about 700 pounds of air each. 

We took the closest mooring line up, Knowing full well that we had our safety stop to do and then have a 500 foot surface swim back to the boat, as we ended up in the stern, and the dive boat was moored to the bow.  Safe rather then sorry.

There's no way I would have taken the extra flight down without a line and without adequate planning.  The Silt was never a problem for me on any of the dives I did on the Spiegel.

maxfactor

[eric myers]

Lkunze:  No, I was saying that lack of gas redundancy was part and parcel to poor planning.  In my mind, its the first indicator of poor planning (not a crutch).  I agree that at that depth it may not have been the single determining factor of life over death.  To me its not which is worse not having a guideline or not having redundancy, its both, that points to poor planning. 

As we know in Scuba its not usually one decision or problem that kills its the snowball effect. 

Being an "expert," being an instructor, being certified in Trimix, having redundancy, having a guideline, none of these things make up for poor planning, poor decision making, and lack of situtational awareness. 

Now you can make the argument that as experts "they should have known" because they should have.

Maxfactor:  I can respect your experience on the wreck, your knowledge as to how it can be confusing but most of all I respect your situational awareness, recognizing the danger, and your conscious decision to avoid it.

[arcFlash]

This all reminds me of a saying from Admiral Nimitz (I think) from Heavy Weather Sailing by Adlard Coles

[As a sailor you will have to face problems, As a captain it's your resonsibility to avoid having them all at a single point in time.]

(excuse me if I miss quoted, I don't have the reference)