It was supposed to be a graduation celebration trip for their oldest son.

Kenneth had just graduated from culinary school and the whole family boarded a ship for Bermuda.

But their second day on the Island, the Massover family suffered tragedy — the untimely death of their mother and wife, Barbara.

Mrs. Massover was snorkelling with her family last Thursday in Mangrove Bay with the catamaran Sun Deck 2 when she began waving her arms to signal she was having difficulties.

Despite the efforts of CPR, Marine Police and hospital staff, Mrs. Massover was pronounced dead later that afternoon.

Her husband, Murray was by her side during the ordeal and spoke to this newspaper about what happened.

Mr. Massover said the group, about 35 to 40 people, had left New York on the Norwegian Dawn heading to Bermuda to celebrate Kenneth's achievement.

They are from New Rochelle, New York.

He explained they have travelled all over the Caribbean but this was their first trip to Bermuda.

"We had just gotten off the snorkelling boat. We had placed our gear on and we were starting to snorkel. The water was very shallow plus it was low tide. I was with my two sons, my wife and my wife's friend.

"I believe the total number of people in the group was 35 to 40 people and we were all very, very close with one another."

Mr. Massover continued: "It was probably ten to 15 minutes when we were in the water. I was slightly ahead of my wife. She was snorkelling around and it was at one point when she stood up and started to wave her arms and that's when I realised something was wrong."

He said his wife was a good swimmer and loved going to the beach.

"She was really having difficulty breathing. One of our sons was maybe five to seven feet from her. He then raced back to the snorkelling boat to alert them that there was an emergency. Other people started to come over to assist me."

Mr. Massover said his wife was conscious and then a minute or two later became unconscious.

He said Mrs. Massover was moved quickly to the boat where CPR was administered and then was transported to the dock by the Marine Police.

Mrs. Massover, a nurse, was then taken to the hospital.

"The hospital told us that it was a heart attack. The coroner report indicated that she died of drowning. I'm not sure yet what the actual diagnosis is. There is a technical name that my doctor mentioned where someone can swallow water."

The family had spent the day before at Horseshoe Bay Beach and Mr. Massover said unfortunately they didn't get enough time to see the Island.

Asked if he was satisfied with the medical attention his wife received, Mr. Massover said: "First of all, being an American with our health care system, your hospital was absolutely wonderful."

He said a woman at the hospital, Coleen English helped him out tremendously during the ordeal.

Mr. Massover said Ms English was "an absolute saint" and took care of everything for him and his family.

As for the Police, he said: "The Police department was extremely sensitive in dealing with us. I can't say enough for the support that we got during that difficult trauma. I guess you can say that the only thing good about it was that we were all together when it happened."

Speaking about his wife, Mr. Massover said: "My wife was a very caring woman. She always put people ahead of herself. She would go out of her way for people whether she knew them or not. She was just a very loving and caring woman."

Mr. and Mrs. Massover were married for 28 years and have two sons, Kenneth, 22 and Joshua, 19.