Noboundaries
Guest
Well this certainly was a reality check thread. Thanks for all the info.
Two Scuba divers killed by a speedboat
- Thread starter Hillmorton Scubie
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robint
Contributor
this is the kind of thing that really scares me. I heard a story from some divers in Fla once who were shore diving pulling a dive flag on a float and a jet ski kept passing overhead... they finally surfaced and when they came up the jet ski came over to them and asked what they were doing! They said "diving, can't you see the #@%& dive flag?" The jetskiers laughed and said they didn't know what it was and were trying to hit it as a game. Great! Thanks dudes.
When we went diving in Fla (off a boat) and pulling a dive flag I was really nervous about surfacing! There are waaaay too many boaters off Fla and it seems most of them have no sense of safety and too many of them are intoxicated. :11: Boat traffic Scares the crap out of me!
When we went diving in Fla (off a boat) and pulling a dive flag I was really nervous about surfacing! There are waaaay too many boaters off Fla and it seems most of them have no sense of safety and too many of them are intoxicated. :11: Boat traffic Scares the crap out of me!
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Justifiable grounds for drowning a jet skier?
Wonder where I could get a waterproof grenade launcher...?
[c]
[/c]
Yeah, I think you just have to treat idiots with motors as an overhead environment - and hope you don't get hit by a fast moving sailboat.
Wonder where I could get a waterproof grenade launcher...?
[c]
Yeah, I think you just have to treat idiots with motors as an overhead environment - and hope you don't get hit by a fast moving sailboat.
diverdwn71
Contributor
Makes you want to ram your dive knife into the botton of the jet ski.
Boaters are a real concern on the lake that I live on. From the few times I have been underwater in the lake and those I have spoken with who used to dive it often it really would make a great dive site. The state of MD doesn't even try to regulate boat traffic and they will rent a boat to anyone with a driver's license who is over 18. A friend of mine who dives the lake here and there said the jet skies use his dive flags as slalom buoys.
The boaters up here are not pleased with a boat unless it has dual 200 hp engines and will fly at 60 mph down the water. It's not uncommon for ducks, geese and other water fowl to get run over, I'd hate to see what these inconsiderate, uneducated boaters would do to a diver.
Here is a letter I submitted to the local paper about the situation and how divers might be able to help clean up the lake:
Scuba dive on Deep Creek reveals 'underwater junk yard'
To the Editor:
As a scuba diver, I have the unique privilege of viewing a body of water from a fish's perspective. Since only a small percentage of the population are certified divers, many people's relationship with water lies only on the surface; and perhaps this is the reason that many of the world's waterways are so mistreated and polluted. On a recent weekend when I took a dive on Deep Creek Lake, I was astonished at what I found. My assumption, when reading all the rules and regulations put into place by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources that are to protect the lake as a natural resource, made me assume that Deep Creek's bottom and water quality would be in tip-top shape.
Once I cleared the highly stained and murky water and reached a depth of 30 feet I found myself at Deep Creek's bottom. It was, as is typical of most lakes, a mud bottom with a thick layer of silt on top. Once visibility cleared to where I could see something I found myself in an underwater junk yard. Over the course of our dive we found trolling motors, fishing line, children's toys, televisions, and a well silted beer can paradise. What the bottom was devoid of was what you typically expect to see in a lake; fish life, plant life, crustaceans and perhaps some amphibians. Even in areas that typically house copious amounts of underwater life, (tree stumps, fallen trees, etc.) there was nothing. Perhaps we were missing all the aquatic life because the highly stained, silted water was only allowing for about 8 feet of visibility.
Interestingly enough there could be a way to clean some of the junk laying at the bottom of Deep Creek Lake and take a serious underwater survey of just how the lake's eco-system is affected by tourism and trash dumping. Programs like Reef Check and Project Aware have utilized recreational divers to do just this in areas where coral reefs were declining. Why couldn't the same thing be done on local bodies of water like Deep Creek Lake? Perhaps the fact that the lake is so populated with high speed boats and wave runners is the answer. A diver is literally taking their life into their own hands when making a dive on Deep Creek Lake. To make matters worse boaters, (especially those who have little to no boating experience and have rented boats) do not know what a dive flag is and are going way, way too fast to even see one. The dive flag and diver would be nothing but tangled debris in a boat's prop considering the way many Deep Creek boaters choose to travel the lake. Maybe the State of Maryland could have designated scuba zones on Deep Creek as many other lakes across the country have. Perhaps even on certain days coves or areas of the lake could be closed (for at least several hours) to boaters so divers could clean-up the lake and take comprehensive aquatic life surveys.
It has become obvious that Deep Creek Lake is now a giant aquatic playground for those who have lake homes, boats and wave runners. With each passing summer the lake loses more and more of its value as a natural resource. After seeing Deep Creek from the bottom up, I fear that in addition to a playground our lake has become a landfill for vacationers and those who utilize its recreational value. Implementing the dive community has been highly successful in cleaning up other waterways and would likely yield the same success here at Deep Creek. Sure it may frustrate a few boaters that they can't use certain coves at certain times, or that an area is scuba access only, but wouldn't the lake be better kept as a thriving underwater community and natural resource as opposed to a giant inland cesspool?
Jeremy
Oakland
The boaters up here are not pleased with a boat unless it has dual 200 hp engines and will fly at 60 mph down the water. It's not uncommon for ducks, geese and other water fowl to get run over, I'd hate to see what these inconsiderate, uneducated boaters would do to a diver.
Here is a letter I submitted to the local paper about the situation and how divers might be able to help clean up the lake:
Scuba dive on Deep Creek reveals 'underwater junk yard'
To the Editor:
As a scuba diver, I have the unique privilege of viewing a body of water from a fish's perspective. Since only a small percentage of the population are certified divers, many people's relationship with water lies only on the surface; and perhaps this is the reason that many of the world's waterways are so mistreated and polluted. On a recent weekend when I took a dive on Deep Creek Lake, I was astonished at what I found. My assumption, when reading all the rules and regulations put into place by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources that are to protect the lake as a natural resource, made me assume that Deep Creek's bottom and water quality would be in tip-top shape.
Once I cleared the highly stained and murky water and reached a depth of 30 feet I found myself at Deep Creek's bottom. It was, as is typical of most lakes, a mud bottom with a thick layer of silt on top. Once visibility cleared to where I could see something I found myself in an underwater junk yard. Over the course of our dive we found trolling motors, fishing line, children's toys, televisions, and a well silted beer can paradise. What the bottom was devoid of was what you typically expect to see in a lake; fish life, plant life, crustaceans and perhaps some amphibians. Even in areas that typically house copious amounts of underwater life, (tree stumps, fallen trees, etc.) there was nothing. Perhaps we were missing all the aquatic life because the highly stained, silted water was only allowing for about 8 feet of visibility.
Interestingly enough there could be a way to clean some of the junk laying at the bottom of Deep Creek Lake and take a serious underwater survey of just how the lake's eco-system is affected by tourism and trash dumping. Programs like Reef Check and Project Aware have utilized recreational divers to do just this in areas where coral reefs were declining. Why couldn't the same thing be done on local bodies of water like Deep Creek Lake? Perhaps the fact that the lake is so populated with high speed boats and wave runners is the answer. A diver is literally taking their life into their own hands when making a dive on Deep Creek Lake. To make matters worse boaters, (especially those who have little to no boating experience and have rented boats) do not know what a dive flag is and are going way, way too fast to even see one. The dive flag and diver would be nothing but tangled debris in a boat's prop considering the way many Deep Creek boaters choose to travel the lake. Maybe the State of Maryland could have designated scuba zones on Deep Creek as many other lakes across the country have. Perhaps even on certain days coves or areas of the lake could be closed (for at least several hours) to boaters so divers could clean-up the lake and take comprehensive aquatic life surveys.
It has become obvious that Deep Creek Lake is now a giant aquatic playground for those who have lake homes, boats and wave runners. With each passing summer the lake loses more and more of its value as a natural resource. After seeing Deep Creek from the bottom up, I fear that in addition to a playground our lake has become a landfill for vacationers and those who utilize its recreational value. Implementing the dive community has been highly successful in cleaning up other waterways and would likely yield the same success here at Deep Creek. Sure it may frustrate a few boaters that they can't use certain coves at certain times, or that an area is scuba access only, but wouldn't the lake be better kept as a thriving underwater community and natural resource as opposed to a giant inland cesspool?
Jeremy
Oakland
Jimmer
Contributor
I've had 2 close calls, one was last summer I was in 10 feet of water trying to remove a fouled prop from a boat. We had both bow and stern hook in, and an escort boat to tow us back in once the props were off, he was to the stern with his front hook in, a dive flag was being flown, and while I was in the water, some jackass on a jetski actually ran full tilt between the two anchored boats while I was in the water between them. We never found the guy that night but I got a call from the folks I was doing the work for, who informed me that they tracked down his jetski, and he would have a hard time getting it to and from the boat ramp without wheels on the trailer. 
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- Messages
- 53,773
- Reaction score
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- # of dives
- 500 - 999
dir-sussex
Registered
Although I dive in the busiest stretch of water in the world, the English Channel, quite near the narrowest section between the Kent coast at Dover and Calais in France (only 22 miles across), we don't seem to have many of these type of incidents.
That's possibly because theres a greater proportion of commercial skippers compared to the leisure boats, so it's their job on the line if they get it wrong and most, if not all, have some professional skipper qualification, but I have been on dives where our dive boat skipper (who are usually divers themselves) has had to put our boat between us and an idiot in a pleasure boat, be it yacht or powerboat.
I don't know if its common practice elsewhere in the world, but most, if not all, UK skippers keep a 'live' boat whilst we're on the dive and dont tie-up to any mooring or drop anchor, so they can protect divers in the water and also collect them from wherever we surface. We don't expect divers to have to swim or fin back to the boat as it's an unnecessary strain after a deco dive, especially in a heavy sea swell.
Usually a message on the VHF sends the idiot boaters packing, especially if the local harbour master at the nearest port is also advised.
That's possibly because theres a greater proportion of commercial skippers compared to the leisure boats, so it's their job on the line if they get it wrong and most, if not all, have some professional skipper qualification, but I have been on dives where our dive boat skipper (who are usually divers themselves) has had to put our boat between us and an idiot in a pleasure boat, be it yacht or powerboat.
I don't know if its common practice elsewhere in the world, but most, if not all, UK skippers keep a 'live' boat whilst we're on the dive and dont tie-up to any mooring or drop anchor, so they can protect divers in the water and also collect them from wherever we surface. We don't expect divers to have to swim or fin back to the boat as it's an unnecessary strain after a deco dive, especially in a heavy sea swell.
Usually a message on the VHF sends the idiot boaters packing, especially if the local harbour master at the nearest port is also advised.
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