The drowning of a scuba diver from Arizona in the ocean off Po’ipu last Monday while part of a local dive tour has stimulated discussion about what can be done to add to diver safety on Kaua`i. Among those talking
The drowning of a scuba diver from Arizona in the ocean off Po’ipu last Monday while part of a local dive tour has stimulated discussion about what can be done to add to diver safety on Kaua`i.
Among those talking are Kaua`i County Fire Department battalion chief Bob Kaden, whose duties include supervising water safety for the county, Pat Durkin, a lifeguard for 20 years (10 on Kaua`i) and Tim Rysdale, who has driven dive boats for local firms.
“Things aren’t as bad as they seem. Even while there has been a huge increase in visitors and a larger local population, the (overall) number of drowning deaths has held steady,” Kaden said, noting there were 12 drownings in both 1999 and 2000.
Of the 205 official drowning deaths on Kaua`i between 1970 and 2000, only 11 were scuba divers. And as Durkin is quick to point out, many of those divers weren’t on a locally guided tour when they perished.
“How bad is the problem? Is it (scuba diving) a dangerous industry? I don’t think so,” Durkin said.
Rysdale pointed out that the man who died last week, Doug Fisher, a police detective, was a certified diver.
But Kaden said he hoped for more than a check of previous qualifications when divers arrive on Kaua`i to spend a portion of their vacations underwater.
“Something happened (last Monday). There is so much faith involved here. We’d like to see the dive industry assume everyone is a novice,” Kaden said.
“It’s a (internal) battle between the business side and the safety side,” Durkin said. “People are seeking adventure who aren’t in as good shape as they once were, or should be. They work all the time and that’s how they can afford to travel. With the emphasis on adventure traveling, (dive boat operators) need to be able to screen, to be able to say, ‘I don’t think you’re up to this.'”
Rysdale said he has refused to certify some people.
“They were obviously not comfortable in the water and I would say, ‘We need to work some more first’ before letting them go in the ocean off a boat, Rysdale said.
Dr. Monty Downs, co-chairman of the Kaua`i Water Safety Task Force, supports a meeting of local dive charter companies. In a letter he submitted to The Garden Island for publication, Downs called for a “dialogue and review” between representatives of all the local firms.
“I’m sure the dive shops have been very intent on practicing their safety measures – but they haven’t been intent or stringent enough,” Downs wrote.
Downs, independent of Kaden and Rysdale, also believes a meeting of dive company operators is essential to addressing the problem.
“I think this idea benefits all the dive companies. There needs to be a little meeting. Close the doors and ask, what happened?” Rysdale said.
But whatever they think about the scuba diving industry, Kaden, Rysdale and Durkin don’t dispute the fact that more than 200 drowning deaths in the past three decades is too many, and bad for the tourism trade. too.
Kaden and Rysdale agreed that the way to reduce drowning deaths, short of manning every beach with lifeguards, is, mostly importantly, education.
Kaden thinks communication between local dive companies is also important, especially in light of last Monday’s death.
“The bottom line is they have got to communicate. The onus is on” all the dive companies, Kaden said.
“Kaua`i has 85 percent of the sand in Hawai`i. No other island, because we are so exposed to the ocean on all sides, has the swells we have,” Rysdale said.
“We’re also the worst, per capita, for drowning deaths,” Durkin pointed out.
All three watermen said Kaua`i needs more lifeguards.
There are 17 water safety officers, with three more proposed in the county’s proposed fiscal-year budget for 2001-2002.
Despite disagreeing with Mayor Maryanne Kusaka’s rationale for not covering state beaches – because Kaua`i would be liable to lawsuits if they did, without the immunity the state has – Rysdale, Kaden and Durkinspoke positively about what her administration has done.
“More has been done than in all four previous administrations,” Rysdale said.
“I’ve watched this for 30 years and I have to say, this administration has been much more responsive,” Kaden said.
And yet 12 people on average still drown every year. That’s why more lifeguards are needed, Kaden said.
“Forty, including some supervisors, could cover the entire island,” he said.
At this time, no meeting of local dive boat companies is scheduled, the Coast Guard hasn’t issued a report on last Monday’s drowning, and there are only 20 lifeguards slated to be at work by July 1 when Kaua`i is once again inundated with visitors, many of whom swim in the ocean.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
