Scuba Diver Gets Tangled in Kelp, Drowns

A man who went scuba diving to catch a lobster for dinner became tangled in kelp and drowned, authorities said Monday.

The circumstances surrounding the Sunday death of 24-year-old Enrique Vasquez were unusual, authorities said, because he had 10 years of diving experience and a full tank of air. Most people, they said, manage to wiggle out of their gear or cut away the confining seaweed before drowning.

After spending about 30 minutes in the kelp-choked water near Silver Strand Beach, the Ventura electrician surfaced long enough to call for help. The friend who went with him tried to throw Vasquez a rope, and a bystander entered the water to help.

But the bystander couldn’t make it, and Vasquez drowned less than an hour after he entered the water.

Vasquez, authorities said, was about 50 feet from shore near the Lajanelle shipwreck and in about 30 feet of water. He drowned six feet from the surface.

“I don’t understand what happened at all,” said Ryan Hauber, an instructor for Channel Islands Scuba in Ventura, the shop that rented Vasquez his tank and regulator a few hours before the accident. “The tank is like a backpack. . . . He could just take it off.”

Vasquez died at the beginning of lobster season, in which hundreds of divers will spend the next six months trolling for lobsters in local waters.

Lobsters often live in rocky areas that anchor kelp beds. That means lobster hunters must navigate through the seaweed vines.

“We are aware that we will have more recreational divers, which creates the potential for more activity as far as rescue work goes,” said Tom Law, the incident commander for the Ventura County Fire Department. “We are more vigilant, knowing the season is here.”

Vasquez, authorities said, apparently panicked.

“In general you should stop, catch your breath and work your way free,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer Bobby Rudder. “When you struggle, you get yourself in worse trouble because it seems to surround you.”

Certified as a diver since he was 14, Vasquez broke another diving rule, authorities and instructors said, by not going with a buddy.

“If he were diving with a buddy, that person could have helped him untangle himself,” said Sheila Jacob, open water scuba instructor for Pacific Scuba in Oxnard. “It’s so sad, especially because he was so close to the surface.”