A husband last night paid tribute to his wife who died tragically after being stranded while scuba diving more than a mile from land.

Mr. Robert "Bob" Steinhoff spoke about Patricia, 58, who was not only a successful business woman, strong scuba diver, but also a loved mother.

"She followed a career in insurance industry. She worked for Marsh as an accountant and most recently as a trainer," he said.

"She made many friends in the business world both locally and internally, but she was also a very popular mother. For many of my sons friends she had become a surrogate mother.

"She was always such a happy outgoing person and this is just such a big loss."

The pain over the sudden loss of his wife and the mother to his three sons, Robert 32, Thomas 30 and Brian 22 was palpable as he choked back tears while speaking to The Royal Gazette yesterday.

He tried to recount the terrible events that led up to the death of Patricia on Monday evening. He and Patricia were taking their two friends and houseguests, Silvard and Barbara Kool, who were visiting from Boston out diving.

Bob said they chose the Southwest Breakers, a popular dive site, because the already secured dive buoys there usually provide a safer option to tie up their boat.

After mooring the boat to the dive bridle, a second line off of the buoys, all four entered the water diving for a little over an hour.

When Mr. Steinhoff, his wife and their friends surfaced the water their boat was out of sight leaving them only one option- discard all diving gear and start swimming for the shore.

After dropping all of their lead weights and air tanks the four started for the shore which was a little over a mile from the dive site.

Mrs. Steinhoff, however, ran into difficulties swimming and though Bob, Silvard and Barbara all helped giving mouth to mouth air every two minutes on the thirty-minute swim into shore, it sadly was not enough. Mrs. Steinhoff was pronounced dead at 6.45 p.m. by paramedics after the divers reached the shore.

After almost 20 years as an experienced diver, the sudden death of Mrs. Steinhoff, said Mr. Steinhoff was shocking. "She was just an extraordinary woman who has been diving for close to 20 years. She also had advanced diving qualification."

Last night her middle son, Thomas said the family had had a very emotional day and were overwhelmed by the support they received.

"The phone calls have been overwhelming- positive support. She was a very loved woman and it has just been tremendous the response," he said.

Speaking to close friends of the family, yesterday, the memory of Mrs. Steinhoff will live on for years to come as the bubbly, friendly woman opened her arms to all those around her.

Originally from Montreal, Canada, her parents and four siblings in June had a reunion at her family's cottage in Norway Bay near Ottawa.

Mr. Steinhoff met his wife while they were both working in Montreal in 1970 and only a year later were married.

The couple moved back to Bermuda where Deborah Burville met Mrs. Steinhoff 30 years ago when both worked at American International Group insurance company.

A friendship quickly developed to the point where both Steinhoffs were present at Mrs. Burville's wedding to John Burville 32-years ago.

It was Mrs. Steinhoff's affinity for the water, however, that Mrs. Burville said was so compelling it convinced her to overcome her fear of being underwater and to take-up scuba diving.

"She was the one who quite a few years ago, loved diving so much she took me into her pool and worked with me until I felt comfortable.

"She loved diving and her boys. She was very, very competent under the water, which makes this so shocking. Were just in Indonesia diving where we were faced with awful currents, but she always kept her head about her."

Barry and Pam Shailer who had spent the last ten New Years' Eves with both the Steinhoffs and the Burvilles said they were just shocked and saddened by the news.

Mr. Shailer who was speaking from New Hampshire said the loss of such a hospitable and loving person was made all the more tragic because the couple had just moved into their dream house in Somerset.

"We would like to express our great sadness and sympathies for Bob and the family. Initially we were just numb by the news," he said.

"Patricia was such an amazingly hospitable and loving person and organised such great parties. She will be sorely missed."

A funeral service will be held at St. Andrew's Presbyterian next week and Mr. Steinhoff said an announcement will be made later on as to the date.