Bonaire Reporter this week reports that a female tourist, Sallie Hudson, is dead as result of dive acident. She was staying at Sand Dollar. Any additional information available?

Articles in Papiamentu appeared in La Prensa and Extra on Sept 7. Both are available online. All attempts to revive her failed, but from the description (and the pictures in the Extra) they really tried.

Can someone translate or paraphrase one or both articles for we who are Papiamentu-impaired???

Can anyonoe provide me with information on Sally Hudsons death and her husband Gary's condition. We are friends of both Sally and Gary. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law are very close friends and had left for Bonaire from FL. on Monday morning but have hit several delays due to Ivan. If anyone can provide me with any details that I can foward to them it would be greatly appreciated.

Joe,

I am so sorry to hear this terrible news. My prayers go out to the Hudson family and friends.

Have you attempted to contact the dive shop they were using?

Joe,

If they were using the dive shop at Sand Dollar the email address at the dive shop according to Sand Dollar's website is info@diveandadventure.com

I hope this helps.

Joe, I'm so sorry to hear this. I convey Kay's sentiments, we are very sorry to hear of this and condolences go out to Gary, the family and friends...

Joe and all other friends and family, I'm so sorry to hear this sad news. I wish you strength in this difficult period.

According to the Dutch version of the Amigoe (dutch article) they encountered difficulties while on big depth. One of them died and the other one suffered DCS. The surviving buddy was rushed to the chamber at the San Fransisco Hospital.

Source in Dutch from this link:

http://www.amigoe.com/artman/publish/article_9040.shtml

QUick translation reads:

"The two divers experienced difficulties during a deep dive. One of the divers lost their life while the other continues to receive treatment for DCS.
Sally appears to have been DOA, her buddy survived and was rushed to San Fransisco Hospital.
Police have begun an investigation in relation to the divers profiles etc."

The loss of any diver is always so sad and my sympathies go out to those affected.

So sad to hear this
My condolences to the everybody affected by this tragedy. I hope the buddy recovers. Must be a scary experience.
Sending strength and peace...

Our condolences go out to Gary and all of Sally's family, friends and loved ones. Carole and Joe

My thoughts and prayers go out to family and friends.

Thank you to everyone for your condolences and prayers. I will convey them to Gary and families ASAP.
As far as I know at this moment Gary is off the critical list but is still undergoing decompression therapy. My sister-in-law still has not been able to get there. Their last location was Tobabago. From there they have to fly to Venezuela and then hopefully to Bonaire, all due to Ivan. They have been able to talk to Gary by phone.
Joe

Joe - please let the families know that they are in my thoughts and prayers.

Joe ,
Please convey my condolences to Gary and families.
What a nightmare he must have been going through.
Such a tragedy.

jos

Joe, I am deeply saddened to hear of the loss of Sally. Please extend our sympathies to all of Sally and Gary's families and friends.

We all also hope that Gary recovers completely from his own injuries.

Tom

Joe, I, too am deeply saddened by this tragedy. Please convey the condolences of the entire Bonaire Talk community to Gary and his family.

Any news on how Gary is doing? We were there at the time of the accident---first time I have ever seen ambulances with flashing lights in Bonaire.

Anybody know what exactly happened?

To all you have expressed their concern about Gary and Sallie Hudson.
Gary was released from the hospital Friday and was able to fly back to Miami with friends John and Tracy Bennett.
According to the doctors in Bonaire that treated Gary he was the worst case of DCS that they had ever seen. He is very lucky to be alive. He still is experiencing some edema in his legs and brain, and tingling in his extremities which will all take time to go away. Hopefully he will have no long term physical problems.

I have not seen or talked to Gary yet however, I have talked to Tracy about the accident. While diving at 75'to 90' Sallie was experiencing trouble with water in her mask. She apparently was not having any success in keeping the water out and had to clear it constantly which was causing her to become agitated. She also started to have problem with one of her regulators. At this time we are not sure if trouble she was having with the regulator was a real problem or self induced by her state of mind. It appears that she possibly started to panic. Gary tried to assist her but unfortunately Sallie was now in a serious (deadly) state of panic. While Gary was trying desperately to help she knocked his mask off and by the time he was able to find it and get it on she was out of his sight. At this point Gary assumed she was heading to the surface so he made rapid ascent. When he surfaced he and didn't see her so he dove back down now to a depth of 115'. Once down he again couldn't find her so he made a second rapid ascent and on the way up found her on a ledge in about 10' with her mask off and regulator out of her mouth.
At this point in time it has not been determined if Sallie drowned as a result of panic or some other cause.

Sallie and Gary had given themselves the trip to Bonaire to celebrate their third wedding anniversary.
Sallie was a kind and sweet friend to all she met and a loving wife to Gary. She will be missed terribly.

Joe

What a tragedy. My heart goes out to Gary and the rest of their families. Sincere condolences.
Josie

Our sincere condolences to Gary and his family at this time.

Joe, my condolences to Gary, their family and friends...just tragic...

Oh, Joe, what a heartwrenching story. We pray Gary will be OK physically, mentally and emotionally soon. Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone. Carole and Joe

My condolences to Gary, their family and his and Salies friends, what a terrible loss.

What a terribly sad and painful story. Gary and all those who loved and cared about Sally are in our thoughts and prayers.

What a horror-story
I guess I'll be spending more time than usual reviewing safety-procedures with Cinthie be4 our next dive. Diving is great, but the environment will always be hostile 2 us humans.
My heart goes out 2 Gary and all people affected by this tragedy.

My heart goes out to the families. It is always difficult to hear of this kind of news.

I am a firm believer in learning from events like this though and am curious if the divers were Deep Dive certified.

It's very cool how BT Divers and snorklers respond when an event such as this occurs on Bonaire. My dive flag flys at half mast upon reading of this Bonaire diver lost. (Lee - max recreational depth as I understand it is 132 ft, therefore, a deep dive certification is not required for dives at 75 - 90 ft.)

effectively dealing with a panic situation is probably beyond most of us "experienced" divers...i'm not too sure their actual level of experience had much to do with the outcome....

maybe some good will still result from this tragedic accident...

It's a terrible accident...I feel greatly for them...and but by the grace of god go I.
How often do you take off your mask underwater (me every dive..Eva never)
How often do you take the reg out of your mouth underwater (same answer)
Simple exercise...fill your BC orally....good practice on clearing
In a panic the only way you can work through the crisis is by instintively doing the procedure. And so you have to practice it on every dive. When I was a mountineer you didn't have time to think about self-rescue...generally things were happening at 33ft/sec/sec accerlation...falling quickly focuses the mind.
I once got so choked I puked through my reg...not nice but the dang thing still worked.

PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE YOUR SKILLS
It could happen to any of us

My condolences to Gary and his family.
It's always sad to hear one that of our own has had such a tragic accident.
We all need to learn all we can from this unfortunate accident. Wally, I agree with you completely, almost none of us practice our safety skills like we should. The last course I took was dedicated almost exclusively to buoyancy control and emergency procedures. Setting here typing this, it is clear that my wife and I need to spend some dive time doing emergency procedures. I am sure she has not had her mask off since OW class. When was the last time any of us did a ascent while sharing air.....even better with your mask off. A skill that may well have prevented this accident.

Wally I couldn't possibly agree more. Take off your mask occasionally, take your regulator out, get used to how it feels !

In addition to what Wally has said, I would like to encourage all certified divers to take the Rescue Course. Anyone who has taken it will tell you it was the best course they've taken. You must be prepared for the worst at all times and be aware of your abilities and those who are diving with you.

I am so saddened by this tragedy.

WOW! My thoughts and prayers go out to Gary and his family. Very sad news. A lesson to all of us though, is to regularly check our clearing masks, sharing air etc. procedures, something my hubby and I haven't done for quite a while. Will definitely do so next trip over or maybe go to the spa and practice in deep area of pool. That mask off and not taking water in is tricky, not sure if one of us is panicked, how to deal, time to get back to basics with our Naui instructor for refresher courses too. Debbie

My thoughts and prayers too go out to Gary and his family. What a horrible tragedy, very sad.

I also completely agree with several of the above comments. We should practice our safety skills. For me that's a given. Several times on every trip I do a no mask 2 minute swim, a regulator removal and recovery, orally inflate my BC. But I know that my kids don't do that - but they will.

And I also second Kelly's comment about doing a Rescue Diver course. For anyone that has not - you should. It is by far the most challenging yet most helpful course outside of your OW course. This is the course where you look and understand your surroundings, your fellow diver surroundings, etc. It is also one of my favorite courses to teach as it makes people so aware of what can happen and how to effectively deal with that situation.

Mara

Mara,
I don't know if your class is flexible enough to add drills but if it is, this is one I found very useful in my last class (GUE-DIR-F). I had to remove my mask, signal OOA, do a several yard swim sharing air and then do a free ascent including a 3 minute safety stop. The instructor gave me my mask back at the surface. I am convinced that panic is the biggest danger we all face, drills like this sure help build confidence and reduce the chance of panic.

Herman,

WOW - now that sounds great. Actually my classes are flexible enough as long as I get through all of the other things. I really like that - alot!

Thanks - Mara

Just to clarify it somewhat, during the swim, I had the instructors arm for guidance but during the ascent and during the safety stop there was no physical contact. We were floating horizonal, facing each other using (blurry) eye contact to maintain depth. Your buddy's job was to stay close and to act as a visual ref during the ascent and safety stop. He watched the gauges, made the time/air calls and you watched him. I did this in fresh water, I suspect saltwater would be a bit more difficult, it burns the dickens out of my eyes but the extra stress may be a good thing during training.

I too am saddened by this tragedy. The scars is leaves on the family are deep especially for those who are non-divers and have limited knowledge what of what we experience as divers. I've been counselling a woman(non-diver)this week who lost her brother 4 years ago in a similar accident. Like Kelly, I too want to encourage as many of you as possible to take a Rescue Course. At the very least, take your gear to your local aquatic centre and practice, practice, practice. A diver should NEVER stop learning. Please don't wait for your yearly trip to Bonaire.

Joe....I´m so sad. my condolences to the family and friends

Joe,

we are also sad for the families involved....we thank you for the update and details of the accident...as others have said, it is a sad reminder to continue practicing basic skills

Does anyone know what dive site this accident occurred on?

Thanks.