newjerseynewsroom.com

The Gypsy Blood is based out of Brielle

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

An unidentified man died Sunday morning in what is being described by the Coast Guard as a dive accident in the Atlantic Ocean 20 miles off Manasquan Inlet.

The man was diving from the commercial dive boat Gypsy Blood out of Brielle when the incident occurred shortly before 10 a.m., the Coast Guard said.

Manasquan Inlet Coast Guard Station in Point Pleasant received a radio call from a Gypsy Blood crewmember at 10 a.m. reporting the man was unresponsive after a dive and was in need of medical assistance.

A 47-foot motor life boat crew that included two emergency medical technicians, responding from Manasquan Inlet arrived at the scene, went aboard the Gypsy Blood and conducted CPR there and on the life boat back while returning to Point Pleasant. Upon arrival, the man was transferred to awaiting EMTs who pronounced him dead.

The man's identify, age or hometown were not immediately available.

The Gypsy Blood, captained by Jim Wilson, is described as a full-service charter and its operators declare it is "the best dive charter anywhere." The Gypsy Blood is a 50-foot, 7-year-old Evans custom dive boat and is equipped with first-aid and oxygen. A dive trip costs $100 per diver. The operators also provide dive training.

While past customers describe the Gypsy Blood as an excellent operation, a Coast Guard helicopter had to rescue a 32-year-old Highland Park woman after she lost consciousness while diving from the boat 30 miles off Barnegat Inlet on July 20, 2008.

And on July 31, 2010, a 30-year-old Princeton woman died from injuries she sustained when she failed to resurface after diving from the Gypsy Blood 15 miles off Shark River Inlet.