Today starting around 12:15 I saw and heard (on VHF) a diver being brought in from a dive incident off Flat Rock. He/she was transported to the Catalina chamber by Coast Guard helo.

The whole incident highlighted for me the fact that you're really on your own out there. Baywatch Redondo had picked the diver up and was returning to King Harbor to hand over the diver to fire & rescue personnel for ground transportation somewhere. An LA Fire helo was waved off in favor of the CG one, but then the CG helo was too heavy to pick up the diver and a paramdic both and had to fly several miles offshore to dump fuel. Baywatch started setting up a landing zone at Moonstone Park but the CG said they'd rather pick up off the boat. So the Baywatch boat turned around and started heading back toward Flat Rock.

The CG helo then picked up the diver and a paramedic from the Baywatch boat but the boat was around past Dominator Point by then. The boat-to-helo transfer took about 20 minutes. After pickup the CG indicated a 10 minute ETA at Catalina.

In any event, it took an hour or so to get this diver out to the chamber, apparently with CPR being administered for the bulk of this time, plus the time it took from the incident to the time the Baywatch Redondo got out to the dive site and got him/her on board.

I'm sure all the trained rescue personnel did their damndest to save this diver, but it was an illustration for me of how alone we really are when we're diving offshore, even just a few miles from one of the largest cities in the world. I hope for the best result for the diver involved.

• He died. 19:47:29 12/12/10 (1)
  • The late divers was Steven Dinsdale of Palmdale 19:49:07 12/12/10 (0)