Regular passenger of burned California boat to continue scuba diving

Southern California resident and scuba enthusiast Skip Tucker could easily have been on the tragic dive boat Conception when it caught fire last weekend in California — in fact, he was scheduled to go out on it just days later, this Thursday.

The three-level boat went up in flames near Santa Cruz Island, off the coast of Ventura County, with 39 people aboard. Thirty-four of them are presumed to have died in the blaze, including entire families with children.

Tucker has himself stayed on Conception many times, calling it one of the biggest and most luxurious dive boats in Southern California. He knew many of the people who lost their lives in the fire.

“Very seldom am I at a loss for worse — this is one of those times,” he told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson.

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It’s a disaster that shook the diving community in Southern California. The close-knit group of divers sees one another regularly, not only on the water, but at events like the annual “Scuba Prom” fundraiser at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

“It ripped all of us apart,” Tucker said.

Tucker’s grown sons are also avid divers, and the three have gone on many scuba adventures together.

“I can’t even conceive of something happening like that to my family, to my kids,” he said. “So I don’t even know where to start to understand what these families are going through.”

The National Transportation Safety Board has just begun to investigate cause of the fire. One thing that is for sure, Tucker said, is that this was a boating accident, not a scuba accident. While scuba diving can get a bad rap, it’s actually a relatively risk-free pastime when done correctly — and Conception was “one of the top of the line for divers.”

“Scuba has its dangers, but if you know what you’re doing, it’s as safe as any sport out there,” said Tucker, a Washington native who first learned how to dive in Seattle.

Despite the horrors of what occurred last weekend, Tucker is not letting fear stop him from pursuing the hobby about which he is so passionate. In fact, this coming weekend, he is going to do a dive off Santa Catalina Island.

“I’m not discouraged at all to continue the sport, or doing live-aboards — I’ve done a lot of those, and every single time I’ve been on one, it’s been a great experience,” he said. “This is the absolute exception to the rule, and it’s a horrible exception.”

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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