<<I think I see the problem:
<<"Jones' buddy dumped the air out of Jones' buoyancy-compensation
vest,
sending him quickly to the surface, according to O'Neil. The buddy
ascended
slower because of the depth they were diving, which is beyond the
recreational limit of 130 feet."

<<I always thought dumping the air out of the bouyancy compensator
would cause
the chap to sink.

I saw that too.  Given the writer knows nothing about diving, you gotta
suspect every other piece of information in that piece, except of
course that the diver is dead.

You must be a reporter, Dennis because without any facts you make
sweeping conclusions.
--------------------------
The real story is that it is still under investigation and that Zak is
gone. All else is pure speculation.

I'm a divemaster myself and have dove with Zak during classes. He was a
very skilled diver. I have known Zak for years. He used to work out of a
dive store in Seattle, Underwater Sports before his move to Florida.

He was, without a doubt, one of the nicest people I have ever met. He
had an unparallel enthusiasm for life and diving. There was a memorial
held for him at the Seattle Aquarium paid for mostly (all?) by
Underwater Sports. Beforehand it was thought maybe 100 or so people
would show up. Nearly 400 did, a testament to the affection and respect
everyone had for Zak.

All who knew him feel a terrible loss. You can honor him by not making
speculative claims about what happened. Wait until the facts have come
forth. I know when I was divemastering with Zak and some of the other
instructors we had four deaths at one dive site, which made it one of
the most deadly dive sites any place in the world during that year. The
newspaper reports and divers in forums jumped to all kinds conclusions.
The bottom line is that all of them were completely off base which, of
course, wrongly maligned diving and upset Zak to the sport he loved
treated with so little respect. The real cause was - out of shape, obese
divers who had heart attacks in three of the cases and the third was an
out of air situation. The person was a newer diver in an area they
should not have been chasing crabs and simply run out of air.

I believe an account has been set up to assist Zak's wife, Robyn. Visit
www.prodiveusa.com/home.php for more information. I don't believe they
were that well off but then anyone in the dive industry is not. They do
it for the sport not financial rewards.

Here to good viz!