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Ginny De Mattei swims near a sea turtle.
She said so far she has avoided any mishaps while diving. 
Photo courtesy of Ginny De Mattei 


 

By Steve Pike

 

In a spooky public service announcement weeks before his death, film legend James Dean urges the audience to drive safely.  “The life you might save,” he said, “might be mine.”

Dean died alone at the wheel of his Porsche in 1954, but his message resonates through the decades: Be responsible for others. That’s true whether it’s in a car or a boat. In regards to the latter, the life you save you might not even see.

Boats — or rather their operators — might be the single most dangerous threat to the SCUBA divers and snorkelers that flock to the area during the winter season. Incidents between boaters and divers aren’t common, but when one occurs, it nearly always results in serious injury to the diver or divers.

In January, for example, James C. Shelley, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., was hit by a boat while diving in the Atlantic Ocean off the Boca Inlet. Shelley was cut by the boat’s propeller even though, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report, he and the commercial vessel were displaying dive flags.

Highland Beach resident Jon Berger, 64, who was behind the wheel of the powerboat that day, was charged with culpable negligence and careless operation resulting in a boating accident, according to the FWC. Additionally, Berger was cited for failing to stay at least 300 feet away from a diver down flag.

On dry land and in the safety of a Boca Raton restaurant, Ginny De Mattei gently knocked her knuckles on the table next to her soup.

“I’ve never seen an accident,” the Boca Raton dive master and banker said. “I mostly dive with members of my dive club (South Florida Divers Inc.).  They’re extremely experienced. We dive according to the rules.

“There was an incident a couple of years ago where someone got the bends, but he didn’t do anything wrong.’’

That seems to be the key phrase in most accidents that involve divers and boats. The diver, “didn’t do anything wrong.’’

Between 2004 and 2009, according to the FWC, 22 scuba divers were injured or killed when run over by a boat.

Those are just the accidents. De Mattei, who has logged more than 230 dives around the world since 2005, said she has seen an increase in near-miss incidents in the areas where she dives between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale.

“Sometimes up in West Palm Beach they don’t dive with flags like we do in Boca and Broward. They blow up what’s called a ‘sausage,’ which is a tube you fill with air as you’re going to the surface.

“That’s a little disconcerting. We always dive with (red and white) flags and I make sure I come up directly underneath it. But even doing that, it’s hard for boaters to see the flag if the ocean is choppy.’’

Perhaps even more disconcerting is the fact that the state of Florida requires that only people born after Jan. 1, 1988, complete a boater education course approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators or pass an approved equivalency exam. The exam can cost as little as $14.95. Operators who are required to have completed a boating education course or exam must carry on board a boating safety-education ID card issued by the FWC.

Florida law says divers must make “reasonable efforts’’ to stay within 300 feet of a divers-down flag on open waters (all waterways other than rivers, inlets or navigation channels) and within 100 feet of a flag within rivers, inlets or navigation channels.

Boat operators are made aware of the law through the safety education program, but that’s not good enough for De Mattei.

“I think all boaters need to be licensed,’’ she said. “No question about it, I fear a boat a lot more than I fear a shark or something else in the water.’’

“Fear’’ is not part of a good diver’s vocabulary; it’s certainly not part of De Mattei’s vernacular. A healthy respect for the sport and the rules, however, is as important to diver’s safety as an oxygen tank.

“I would never classify it as a dangerous sport,’’ De Mattei said. “Is it a sport that has risk involved? Yes. But like everything else in life, you do everything to mitigate the risk.’’

A diver of any skill level, De Mattei said, must: always dive with a buddy; make sure equipment is in good working order; stay rested and hydrated; use a diver-down flag; and if running low on air, get to the surface.

“It’s a very equipment-intensive sport,’’ De Mattei said. “From my perspective, it’s a matter of safety. You want whatever’s going to
keep you safest.’’                 Ú


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