2 Russian tourists died while scuba diving in Verde Island in Batangas City
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Was there 2 years ago and didn't caught anything too crazy, but maybe i got lucky. But again this inciddent happened on a new moon. That definitly didn't help
I was at Verde about 9 months ago, it was a full moon and I was caught in a severe downcurrent which came about suddenly as we rounded a curve in the wall. There were no warning signs of other divers ahead in trouble or the fish struggling against the current. Dropped from 18m to 30m in a few seconds and luckily found a handhold to prevent further descent. The current was definitely too strong to swim against and almost ripped off my fingernails and mask as we clung on for dear life. As we hung there and contemplated possible escape routes, we started to use up air and NDL, and realised we couldn't stay there forever. Finally we decided to swim for it sideways along the wall but the current was still pulling us down, so we swam out into the blue and fortunately the current gradually abated when we were about 15-20m away from the wall.
This was the worst downcurrent I have experienced, and this includes 'interesting' dives in Raja4, Komodo and Penida. In retrospect, I'm not sure exactly what could have been done differently and whether it would have changed anything, but my humble 2 cents: avoid full moon/new moon, look for strange wave patterns/unusually still patches of water/whirlpools on the surface, dive close to the wall so you can grab on if absolutely necessary.
May those 2 unfortunate souls RIP. Anyone who thinks they can send up a DSMB/lift bag under these conditions is deluded and clearly has never been in this situation before. I am not trying to dissuade anyone from diving Verde, it is a beautiful dive site and I am heading back to PG later this week and look forward to 1 or 2 Verde day trips. But it does require experience, composure and skill to dive safely, and is absolutely NOT suitable for beginners/inexperienced/ 5 day back-to-back new OW/AOW heroes.
This was the worst downcurrent I have experienced, and this includes 'interesting' dives in Raja4, Komodo and Penida. In retrospect, I'm not sure exactly what could have been done differently and whether it would have changed anything, but my humble 2 cents: avoid full moon/new moon, look for strange wave patterns/unusually still patches of water/whirlpools on the surface, dive close to the wall so you can grab on if absolutely necessary.
May those 2 unfortunate souls RIP. Anyone who thinks they can send up a DSMB/lift bag under these conditions is deluded and clearly has never been in this situation before. I am not trying to dissuade anyone from diving Verde, it is a beautiful dive site and I am heading back to PG later this week and look forward to 1 or 2 Verde day trips. But it does require experience, composure and skill to dive safely, and is absolutely NOT suitable for beginners/inexperienced/ 5 day back-to-back new OW/AOW heroes.
@wsar
Experienced it once while tec diving there. There was no warning on the down current of course. We literally had to climb up the wall on our fours. Could only look up briefly to locate the next rock to hold fearing to lose the mask. Diving close to the wall is the only approach to dive Verde Island.
I had known several fatalities over the years.
Experienced it once while tec diving there. There was no warning on the down current of course. We literally had to climb up the wall on our fours. Could only look up briefly to locate the next rock to hold fearing to lose the mask. Diving close to the wall is the only approach to dive Verde Island.
I had known several fatalities over the years.
I’m no longer staying at the resort in Puerto Galera, but I was on the boat that picked up the first diver from the water. This diver and their group probably went in just a bit after our dive finished. I think I was out of the water about 30 minutes when the diver was seen face down in the water with no movement, this would have been around 1 give or take, the dive boat we were on saw the diver and made to pick up the non-responsive diver. CPR/ Oxygen was started immediately after he was pulled on the boat and his gear was removed. The CPR was continued for 30-40 minutes as the boat went to the shore at Sawang (beach?, it was our surface interval/lunch location), support was called as we headed in and a twin engine speed boat arrive with an AED and more oxygen was brought over in the for of a larger tank. When the the diver was brought up, the belly was distended looking like it was full of liquid. I stayed back while the boat crew/dive shop/dive guests worked on the diver.
The individual was transferred to the speed boat and taken away, there was some question about the second diver and where their boat was during this time but I did not have any insight into this. A examination of the dive computer showed “95”, i dive in imperial so I was thinking in feet. The diver also had a stick mounted GoPro with led on top in a stick type configuration.
After the transfer of the diver the gear was transferred back to some folks on shore where we were, I believe they were waiting for that boat to come back, it was pretty somber at lunch and we declined to do Dishwasher and did the coral gardens near there. I hope the family finds peace, and we all come back from our dives. I’m attaching my profile for our two dives we did around the pinnacle. It was not easy with the current and I stayed close to the wall.
And for what it’s worth, there weren’t any sharks we saw during the dive and they are not common there from what I understand after asking a few locals.
The individual was transferred to the speed boat and taken away, there was some question about the second diver and where their boat was during this time but I did not have any insight into this. A examination of the dive computer showed “95”, i dive in imperial so I was thinking in feet. The diver also had a stick mounted GoPro with led on top in a stick type configuration.
After the transfer of the diver the gear was transferred back to some folks on shore where we were, I believe they were waiting for that boat to come back, it was pretty somber at lunch and we declined to do Dishwasher and did the coral gardens near there. I hope the family finds peace, and we all come back from our dives. I’m attaching my profile for our two dives we did around the pinnacle. It was not easy with the current and I stayed close to the wall.
And for what it’s worth, there weren’t any sharks we saw during the dive and they are not common there from what I understand after asking a few locals.
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