MARATHON KEY, Florida — Bruce Ellwood Cook lived life on the edge of adventure, his brother recalled today — scuba diving, spear-fishing, exploring caves and navigating the waters in a 17-foot cardboard canoe. Cook, 58, of Wellington, died Thursday morning while spear-fishing near Marathon Key, according to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office. "He did all the things you dreamed about doing one day," said brother Kevin Cook, of Madison, Wis., where Cook grew up. "He kind of lived the wilder side of life, scuba diving and spelunking." Cook, a massage therapist, was with three friends in about 50 to 70 feet of water on the Atlantic Ocean side of Marathon Key, according to the Sheriff's Office. Cook became separated from the other divers and surfaced on his own. One of the other divers noticed him floating facedown on the surface. The survivors began waving for help, and the commercial boat Marathon Lady spotted them and came to help, according to a sheriff's office report. Paramedics later pronounced Cook dead. An autopsy was completed today but the cause of death has not been determined. Kevin Cook said he was supposed to meet his brother next week to explore old mines in North Carolina and Arkansas. He talked to his brother before he set out on the last of his many diving adventures. "He told me he'd call me when he got home on Friday," Kevin Cook said. Kevin Cook said that among other adventures his brother built a 17-foot canoe in Wisconsin out of old cardboard boxes of O'Doul's nonalcoholic beer and named it Missy O'Doul's. He said Cook drank heavily after his fiancee was run off the road and killed in a traffic accident in the 1990s, then quit drinking alcoholic beer and built the O'Doul's boat, which he took out on the water when he visited Wisconsin. Cook was spear-fishing, not diving for lobster, but he was the fourth diver to die in the waters of South Florida during the state's two-day lobster mini-season, which ended Thursday night. By Jason Schultz and Eliot Kleinberg Florida's dangerous, diver-unfriendly waters On July 30, Norman Williams Jr., 60, became the fifth diving accident victim during Florida's lobster mini-season after he was hit by a boat near Key West.On July 30, Bruce Ellwood Cook, 58, became the fourth diving accident victim during Florida's lobster mini-season.On July 30, Scott Schichtel, 39, became the third diving accident victim during Florida's lobster mini-season.On July 29, Shane Slusarz, 36, became the second diver to die during lobster mini-season.On July 29, Daniel Pochedley, 48, of Sarasota, was found dead about an hour after disappearing near Haulover Beach on the first day of lobster mini-season.On July 24, the U.S. Coast Guard airlifted David Baptist, 57, to Florida Hospital after he resurfaced with signs of potentially fatal decompression sickness.On July 23, a 57-year-old woman was rushed to hospital after she resurfaced from a dive to 18 meters with symptoms of potentially fatal decompression sickness.Also on July 23, a 38-year-old man was rushed to hospital after he started spitting up blood following a dive off Pompano Beach.On July 19, Lana Gandert, 58, of Edison, Ohio, died while snorkel diving with her husband and two sons at Sand Key Light, Florida.On July 17, popular elementary school teacher, David Sheppard, 60, of Cross City, died while diving off Steinhatchee, Florida, after he was hit by a boat.On July 16, Michael Manna, 46, apparently drowned five days after he married while snorkel diving at DuBois Park, Florida.On July 12, Craig Winnerman, 48, was rescued after his boat drifted away in strong winds while he was scuba diving alone near Dunedin Reef, Florida.On July 10, Richard Losz, 37, died off Hollywood, Florida, while scuba diving alone.On July 7, Daniel Goepel, 29, of Coral Springs died while snorkel diving off the Dolphin dive boat at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo.On July 5, two more divers who were diving off Hollywood, Florida, were hospitalized after they were hit by a speed boat.On July 4, searchers found the body of 31-year-old Darren Rordan who died while scuba diving off Manatee County, Florida.On June 8, the Coast Guard airlifted Bill Nelson, 55, to Shands Hospital for emergency medical treatment of potentially fatal decompression sickness (the bends) after a scuba diving accident off Tampa, Florida.On June 4, William Husic Jr, 61, a chemical engineer who resides in Brighton, died while snorkel diving at Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys.On May 30, Robert A. Jones, 38, of Zephyrhills, died while solo free diving in a cave at Blue Spring State Park, Florida.On May 10, Timothy Allen, 52, and Paula Allen, 48, were rescued off Hernando Beach, Florida, after drifting in the ocean for nearly 24 hours. The couple were swept away from their boat while scuba diving in strong currents.On May 5, NOAA research diver, Dewey Smith, 36, died while diving at the Aquarius underwater laboratory in the Florida Keys.On May 3, searchers recovered the body of Michael McQuillen, 29, of Lakeland, who disappeared the day before while scuba diving with friends west of John's Pass, Florida.On April 12, Mary Darnley, a 58-year-old retired nurse from Pennsylvania who had recently learned to dive, died while scuba diving with her husband off Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Florida.On March 20, a man in his 40s who was scuba diving off the Emerald Dive Charters boat, was rushed to hospital for treatment of potentially fatal decompression sickness (the bends).On February 18, Joseph Diver, 66, was rushed to hospital after a boat struck him while he was scuba diving at Pickles Reef in the Florida Keys.On January 11, two women in their 20s were rushed to Boca Raton Community Hospital after a boat hit them off Boca Raton, Florida.On January 10, Rob Murphy, 26, lost both legs after a hit and run boat struck him while he was scuba diving near Sandsprit Park, Florida. | | Bruce Ellwood Cook, 58, died while scuba diving near Marathon Key. Cook was the fourth of five divers who died during Florida's 2009 two-day lobster mini season.
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