Missing Divers

[Shocky]

Two divers are missing from a dive boat 12 mi. off Port St Lucy power plant. Anyone with more info?

 

[Jax]

No, but I heard the same from another, credible source.

---------- Post added at 05:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:24 PM ----------

Coast Guard searching for two scuba divers missing off South Hutchinson Island

By James Kirley
Posted March 31, 2012 at 7:48 p.m EST

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — A search for two scuba divers separated from their boat and missing in the Atlantic Ocean about 11 miles east of South Hutchinson Island continued late Saturday afternoon, while the U.S. Coast Guard planned to continue searching for them after nightfall by using devices to detect body heat and enable night vision.

"They both were wearing (buoyancy compensators)," said Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Holmes at the Fort Pierce Coast Guard station. He was referring to diving gear that can be inflated.

"Hopefully, they're just floating on the surface, waiting to be picked up," Holmes said.

Holmes said the two divers were among eight people aboard the 23-foot vessel "I.V. Teasing" with a home port of Fort Pierce. He was not able to identify the divers or captain of the boat.

The divers were first reported missing about 4:30 p.m., east of the Florida Power & Light Co. nuclear power plant.

He said the Fort Pierce station launched a second search boat shortly before 7 p.m. and a Coast Guard helicopter from Miami was about to replace one already on-scene but running out of fuel.

Holmes said a search boat from the Martin County Sheriff's Office was on-scene, along with civilian boats piloted by friends of the missing men.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

---------- Post added at 05:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:06 PM ----------

Have heard they were found. Thank God.

 

[koozemani]

Glad to hear it!

 

[DandyDon]

A scary evening for a couple of very lucky divers...

From: Two scuba divers pulled to safety after floating four hours off St. Lucie County » TCPalm.com
"Matthews said he and Allen surfaced from their dive only about 75 yards from the boat. But a strong current prevented them from swimming back to the boat and those aboard apparently did not see the two divers in increasingly high seas." I don't guess either of them had a Dive Alert whistle. Got to wonder if they had mirrors and dive lights?

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Mason Matthews and his scuba diving buddy Nick Allen floated in the Atlantic Ocean, miles from shore, for four hours Saturday evening, catching tantalizing glimpses of rescue boats and aircraft that never quite saw them.
That is until nearly 8:40 p.m., when St. Lucie County Sheriff's Deputy Tony Savage spotted the divers through night vision goggles from the deck of a U.S. Coast Guard boat.
"I saw a hand pop up out of a wave," Savage said.
Minutes later, Matthews, 20, and Allen, 18, both of Fort Pierce, were pulled aboard the boat. They arrived at the Coast Guard's Fort Pierce station wrapped in blankets and walked up the dock to cheering family and friends who had feared they might never see them again.
"I'm just going to hug him and tell him that I love him," said Matthews' mother, Ann Ashton, minutes after learning her son was safe and headed back to shore. Matthews said he never lost hope in rescue.
"About three or four different times we saw boats or (helicopters)," Mason said after being checked out by ambulance crews. "It was only a matter of time before one came by."
Matthews and Allen were found drifting in the Gulf Stream about 10 miles northeast of the Fort Pierce Inlet.
They first were reported missing about 4:30 p.m. by six friends who were still aboard the 23-foot boat "I. V. Teasing". Their location at the time was about 11 miles east of the Florida Power and Light Co. nuclear power plant on South Hutchinson Island.
Matthews said he and Allen surfaced from their dive only about 75 yards from the boat. But a strong current prevented them from swimming back to the boat and those aboard apparently did not see the two divers in increasingly high seas.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Marbrey, coxswain aboard the Coast Guard boat, said the pair were caught in a 5-knot current that quickly carried them north. Marbrey said he piloted the boat in the current's direction and a little inshore of their last known position, guessing the divers would have been kicking toward shore.

For the record, if I got missing 10 miles from shore - I will not be wasting energy swimming for land.

From Coast Guard finds two scuba divers who had been reported missing off Hutchinson Island

Two scuba divers separated from their boat and missing in the Atlantic Ocean late Saturday afternoon have been found alive, drifting in the Gulf Stream about 10 miles northeast of the Fort Pierce Inlet, a U.S. Coast Guard official said.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Joseph Holmes at the Fort Pierce Coast Guard station said the divers were found at 8:40 p.m. and are being brought back to the inlet.
At 9 p.m., Ann Ashton, the mother of one of the divers, Mason Matthews, 20, of Fort Pierce, said she understands both divers are OK. She was at the inlet, waiting for them to be brought to shore.
Robin Longstreet of Fort Pierce, the mother of David "Catfish" Longstreet, was at the inlet waiting for her son, who went out on a boat to find the divers.
"They're very smart young men and I know they knew what to do," she said. "It's just scary getting them here."

 

[Peter_C]

Surface marker buoy, Check! Signal mirror, Check! Whistle and Dive Alert, Check! Nautilus Lifeline, Check!

I would have jumped on the radio and tried hailing the boat on the channel they monitor almost immediately. No one wants to be scared of death for 4 hours floating in the ocean after dark. The right safety equipment could allow a swift recovery.

 

[Jax]

Surface marker buoy, Check! Signal mirror, Check! Whistle and Dive Alert, Check! Nautilus Lifeline, Check!

I would have jumped on the radio and tried hailing the boat on the channel they monitor almost immediately. No one wants to be scared of death for 4 hours floating in the ocean after dark. The right safety equipment could allow a swift recovery.

+ Flashlight for the dark, for signaling!

 

[Jax]

Two scuba divers pulled to safety after floating four hours off St. Lucie County
By James Kirley
Posted March 31, 2012 at 7:48 p.m., updated March 31, 2012 at 10:40 p.m. . . . . . Bolded emphasis added - Jax

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Mason Matthews and his scuba diving buddy Nick Allen floated in the Atlantic Ocean, miles from shore, for four hours Saturday evening, catching tantalizing glimpses of rescue boats and aircraft that never quite saw them.

That is until nearly 8:40 p.m., when St. Lucie County Sheriff's Deputy Tony Savage spotted the divers through night vision goggles from the deck of a U.S. Coast Guard boat.

"I saw a hand pop up out of a wave," Savage said.

Minutes later, Matthews, 20, and Allen, 18, both of Fort Pierce, were pulled aboard the boat. They arrived at the Coast Guard's Fort Pierce station wrapped in blankets and walked up the dock to cheering family and friends who had feared they might never see them again.

"I'm just going to hug him and tell him that I love him," said Matthews' mother, Ann Ashton, minutes after learning her son was safe and headed back to shore. Matthews said he never lost hope in rescue.

"About three or four different times we saw boats or (helicopters)," Mason said after being checked out by ambulance crews. "It was only a matter of time before one came by."

Matthews and Allen were found drifting in the Gulf Stream about 10 miles northeast of the Fort Pierce Inlet.

They first were reported missing about 4:30 p.m. by six friends who were still aboard the 23-foot boat "I. V. Teasing". Their location at the time was about 11 miles east of the Florida Power and Light Co. nuclear power plant on South Hutchinson Island.

Matthews said he and Allen surfaced from their dive only about 75 yards from the boat. But a strong current prevented them from swimming back to the boat and those aboard apparently did not see the two divers in increasingly high seas.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Brandon Marbrey, coxswain aboard the Coast Guard boat, said the pair were caught in a 5-knot current that quickly carried them north. Marbrey said he piloted the boat in the current's direction and a little inshore of their last known position, guessing the divers would have been kicking toward shore.

'nuff said!

 

[Magnolia3]

those aboard apparently did not see the two divers in increasingly high seas.

I have NO idea what the newspapers version of "increasingly high seas" defines out as...however, looking a bit offshore of Titusville at the NDBC bouy shows todays sig. wave ht 6.6 feet with an dominant wave period of 6 sec. It could have been a 4-6 foot day or a 6-8 foot day... The boat can be up, and the diver in the trough of the wave.. despite having a flashlight/whistle and/or a Nautilus.. you may or may not have been found.

Divers need to remember that any VHF is a line of sight device. You can be 30 feet from a boat and still get either no reception or crappy reception due to where you are in the wave interval. At night a flashlight just looks like another star, or blends with the shoreline. offshore it can be windy.. a whistle blends with the wind in the rigging on some boats.. A strobe will mosdef get noticed when you hit the top of a wave. Not saying that one should not have those items, just to remember their limitations.

In 2004 I was near the end of a delivery from Slidell, La. to Bradenton Fla.. we heard a mayday and turned turned to answer, along with other offshore boats and the Coasties. Wave ht was, as noaa claims 6-8 feet with short steep waves, and short wave periods.. they lied.. it was more like 10-12 with a few 15 footers in there.. 3 boats that I know of, including us were within 500 feet at times of a bright orange 8 foot liferaft, daylight and never saw it despite lookouts and them having a handheld vhf. Coasties spotted the liferaft from above and relayed the coordinates and a fishing boat picked them up.. we turned to continue our delivery.

While this isn't diving... I learned to sail when we used sextants and the radios were not all that great.. I learned to not rely on technology to save me. I apply that to my diving, considering when I first learned all this cool stuff was not yet available. I say for this reason.. when all geeky technology fails where will "you" (generic you) be and how will you do for yourself. It is a question we all need to answer for ourselves..

The nautilus is a great thing.. according to the website it sends out a gps coordinate for 18 klicks around you.. IF you can get a decent line of sight you can call your dive boat or any boat with a working and turned on VHF. FYI here, most sailboats will have their VHF on.. do not count on powerboaters to do this consistently.. also most divers, who have a nautilus forget to ask the dive boat what channel they are listening on... that makes a huge difference.. IF you broadcast on 16 for help or call the dive boat, they may or may not hear you.. since 16 (in the US) is a distress channel theoretically.

While this is a diving forum, this comment applies to anyone on the water.. You can have x amt of redundant systems and a battery operated device.. IF all of them fail, what will you do? It is a question anyone who plays on Mother Ocean needs to ask and answer for themselves. YMMV

---------- Post added at 11:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 AM ----------

+ Flashlight for the dark, for signaling!

Just remember a flashlight in the dark can be seen by a boat as:
starlight reflection on the water
blending with the lights on land
blending with the stars themselves.. esp if you are bobbing up and down in waves..

A strobe of some kind works a bit better...

the unfortunate part of diving is that a lot of the really great signaling devices are not dive capable.

 

[Jax]

Just remember a flashlight in the dark can be seen by a boat as:
starlight reflection on the water
blending with the lights on land
blending with the stars themselves.. esp if you are bobbing up and down in waves..

A strobe of some kind works a bit better...

the unfortunate part of diving is that a lot of the really great signaling devices are not dive capable.

Good point -- I choose my lights so I always have one with strobe capability, and the mirror is designed for immersion.

 

[Magnolia3]

Good point -- I choose my lights so I always have one with strobe capability, and the mirror is designed for immersion.

I probably would not have mentioned it, except coming in under the sunshine skyway the other night, the main span green vertical lights.. blended with the traffic above.. I have local knowledge of where the center span is.. so it was not big deal but it was amusing..
and so was avoiding the speeding train, I mean tanker...

---------- Post added at 12:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 PM ----------

Good point -- I choose my lights so I always have one with strobe capability, and the mirror is designed for immersion.

just remember to keep the batteries current... and never use rechargeables on something like that they don't last as long as nicads do.