Dive Boat Sinks in Pompano Beach

[kensuf]

Anyone that's ever shot a bag and watch it go straight up for 70' before taking a 45° angle knows exactly how much fun that can be too.

 

[Manatee Diver]

Anyone that's ever shot a bag and watch it go straight up for 70' before taking a 45° angle knows exactly how much fun that can be too.

It is fun when the bottom current and the surface current are in two completely opposite directions.

 

[Belzelbub]

Yep. I think stern anchoring with no current is acceptable, but every boat I've owned there are a couple boat knives on board. They serve many purposes, but one is to cut an anchor line. That is really what I can't comprehend why it wasn't cut loose.

Yeah, I don’t get that either. I know some anchors are expensive, but compared to what happened here, they are cheap. Plus, in this case, that wasn’t even a factor as it sounds like it was a mooring line from a mooring buoy.

I was diving off a friend’s boat yesterday. His anchor was hung up. He uses an anchor ball to retrieve, and it didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t coming up. The difference was we were anchored by the bow, so it spun us around, but no real danger. I had an extra tank, so dove down and retrieved it. It wasn’t going to come up any other way as the chain was wrapped around a good sized rock. If my friend was an idiot and anchored off the stern, it would have been a different story.

Oh, and on every dive we did the past couple days, we came across some anchors from some other boaters that decided to cut their losses.

 

[ReefHound]

Yep. I think stern anchoring with no current is acceptable, but every boat I've owned there are a couple boat knives on board. They serve many purposes, but one is to cut an anchor line. That is really what I can't comprehend why it wasn't cut loose. I'd also be curious if their bilge pumps were even working. High water bilge alarm? These things are simply cheap insurance for a boat.

If they were oblivious to the boat taking on water even when it was up to the knees, what is the likelihood they would think to cut the line? I have to question the experience and certification of both the captain and the mate.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I hot dropped 3 divers on the Vitric (300 fsw, offshore of Molasses reef, Key Largo) one time in what was a normal ripping Gulfstream current at the surface. Unbeknownst to me the current reversed almost 180 degrees at or around 200 feet. The divers missed the wreck and shot a bag a half mile UPSTREAM of where I dropped them.

I was searching for their bag about a half mile DOWNSTREAM of the Vitric.

Took us a LONG time to find them -- luckily they had one of those 6 foot high safety sausages and we eventually found them at least a mile from where I expected to find them.

 

[boulderjohn]

Three of us tried to hot drop the Hydro Atlantic a couple years ago, and we had trouble descending in the ripping current. Not long into the descent, though, we suddenly dropped like rocks. No current at all. We missed the wreck. After a brief search, I shot a bag from about 160 feet with my 400 foot reel. The bag went straight up for a while, and then it took off sideways. I was worried it would not make it to the surface before my line played out.

 

[jadairiii]

Hot dropped on the Lowrance once, smoking current, Capt drops the first team then goes upstream to drop us, we drop in and .....no current right down to the bottom. Current had just shut off like someone threw a switch. Problem was we didnt really realize it until we got deep enough to see the bottom.

Another time, on the Tracor Dry Dock, smoking current, really rough. We drop and the visibility is crystal clear, can see forever....until we got to 190...mud, ran into the wreck before you could see it, like night time. Up above 190 during deco, like diving through air.

 

[pickens_46929]

FYI - Capt Oliver runs Avid Diver Charters.

 

[kelemvor]

I prefer the Newtons. The charter operators I typically use all have 36-46’ Newtons.

They are nice boats, and I've been lucky and gone out on a newton with only 5 other divers. They aren't quite as fun when packed to the gills as is often the case.

 

[elgringoperdido]

I'm trying to describe to my friends what happened so I made this picture. (I'm not very good with a mousepad and MS Paint so it looks like a first-grader drew it.) I'm not a boat owner or an experienced pilot, so I wanted to ask if this looks like an accurate description?