Six left at sea - Thailand

[DandyDon]

Good that one of them had an SMB. It just amazes me that any diver would go to sea without one...

Boat captain abandons Arizona couple diving in Thailand | azfamily.com Phoenix

MESA, Ariz. --- An East Valley couple vacationing to celebrate their first anniversary found themselves abandoned in the ocean, after a dive trip went wrong.

Lexa and Jake Mendenhall recently became certified scuba divers, and were looking forward to their first real dives in the blue waters off Thailand.

They made two one-hour dives, and all was well until they surfaced. Their boat was gone.

The Mendenhalls were stranded with two dive instructors from the Thai diving company, and another couple of novice divers.

The sun was setting, and their minds were racing.

"I kept thinking, 'What if there's no boat? It's evening. What boat goes out in the evening?" Lexa wondered.

Her husband had a GoPro camera, and documented part of their dive. Before the batteries died, his video shows nearby cliffs which were too steep to climb. A dive instructor waved an inflatable tube in an attempt to signal a boat they say passing by.

"Thank goodness she had it. The waves were five-feet, so without it I don't know if the other boat would have seen us at all," Jake said.

They spent 30 to 45 minutes bobbing in the open water.

"When we were bobbing, I knew there were sharks. I saw them all around this reef, and here I am just bait on the top," Lexa remembers.

It was dark by the time they climbed onto another boat, which was full of snorkelers.

Exhausted and freezing, Lexa collapsed and split her chin open. The wound required stitches.

They later found out, their boat captain had engine trouble and chose to leave them all in the water while he went back to shore.

"The fact that he left is just insane to me," Jake said.

The couple says the dive company had good reviews online when they chose it.

 

[koozemani]

That company needs to be named and shamed. The capt needs a good ol public flogging. To knowingly leave 6 divers in the water and not make sure another boat is standing by, better be criminal.

 

[dytis-sm]

Which brings to mind that the nautilus emergency radio could be the best equipment to carry at least where it is supported...

 

[beaverdivers]

+1 on the lifeline & SMB!

 

[Mike]

Who's going to receive the signal? The only radio on some of those boats looks like one of these -

Carry a light, a mirror and a PLB. You can signal in the dark, signal during the day, and call in the calvary when you need to.

 

[Seymour Fisch]

News story with some clips from their GoPro video:
Boat captain abandons Arizona couple diving in Thailand - YouTube

 

[Dirty-Dog]

I'm disturbed that only one of them had an SMB. Like DandyDon, I consider the SMB to be mandatory equipement for any open water dive.
While there's lots of good to be said about PLBs, anybody who can't be bothered to carry something as inexpensive and simple as an SMB certainly isn't going to shell out for a PLB.

 

[DandyDon]

I'm disturbed that only one of them had an SMB. Like DandyDon, I consider the SMB to be mandatory equipement for any open water dive.
While there's lots of good to be said about PLBs, anybody who can't be bothered to carry something as inexpensive and simple as an SMB certainly isn't going to shell out for a PLB.

You know, a PLB can be rented for a trip - $39 for the PLB for 1 week, $49 for 2 weeks, etc, just $10 more for the dive canister, free two-way shipping. You receive it a few days before your trip and are allowed a couple days after to get it to UPS so there's a week of free mail time included. I have some friends leaving soon to dive Truk and I can't convince them to take one?! GoPro Rental| Avalanche Safety Rental | PLB & EPIRB Rental

A nice 5 oz addition to any hikers backpack, etc. I just read a story by a lady who rented one for hiking Yosemite alone, her helicopter rescue and more: Wendy Stock - Berkeley California | ACR ARTEX He offers Nautilus radios too - $39 for first week, EPIRBs for $49 or $59.

I bought my PLB - $200 after rebate, good for 5 years, and if you ever have to use it - good for one use only, just furnish a written story and they'll replace it. Some of our family hikes are wild enough that we could be in trouble finding help and then our way back to where we left an injured member. I carry mine in the car, every day - and I often take roads not traveled often. OER was nice enough to still rent me the dive canister for my last dive trip.

I hope to take the kids on a road trip this spring, thru the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, and several other remote places between the Rockies and Sierras. I may rent a spare for that trip.

 

[Wandersome]

I can believe it new divers often don't have smb's. I've over 50 dives and just bought mine last week. Next trip out I'll practice using it. These folks dove off of a Longtail boat. My experience with Longtail drivers is that they are not the most responsible drivers out there and, they do not have radios or any other navigational equipment. I've ridden in them, but unless I keep a buddy in the boat, I'll not dive off one.

 

[DandyDon]

I can believe it new divers often don't have smb's. I've over 50 dives and just bought mine last week. Next trip out I'll practice using it. These folks dove off of a Longtail boat. My experience with Longtail drivers is that they are not the most responsible drivers out there and, they do not have radios or any other navigational equipment. I've ridden in them, but unless I keep a buddy in the boat, I'll not dive off one.

"...the sole defining characteristic is a secondhand car or truck engine." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tail_boat