(3/21/05) Cruise ship damages reef and almost runs down dive party

[darcy]

The article link.

The Cozumel News in English, Vol 24

March 13-20, 2005

CRUISE SHIP DAMAGES REEFS AND ALMOST RUNS DOWN A DIVE PARTY
by Novedades de Q. Roo


According to the report filed by the dive operation, Aqua Safari with
Cozumel's National Marine Park office, on Thursday 17 at 15:30 hours the
Carnival cruiseship Inspiration passed within a meter and a half (60") of a
group of 12 divers who were exploring the bottom of reef Paraíso at the time.


According to the reports of dive masters with Aqua Safari, the force of the
propellers raised sediment so that it was impossible to see the palm of
your hand. This situation produced panic among the divers who scattered
away this way and that fearing for their lives and at the same time taking
a risk of being sucked up into the enormous propellers.

After the report, the administration of the park acted immediately and
notified the Harbor Master's Office and Profepa to be sure that the
cruiseship did not leave the port without recognizing the incident and
agreeing to abide by the evaluation of damages and any actions that might
later be taken.

In the meantime the Profepa requested the support of the PGR to commence a
formal collection of fact to be presented before the Federal Attorney
General's office. The formal inspection and subsequent complaint will
evaluate damages and determine responsibility not only for risking the
lives of the divers and their guides but also for crossing a forbidden area
of the National Park, thereby causing grave damage.

The cruiseship Inspiration which was scheduled to leave a 21:00 was not
allowed to get underway until midnight.

 

[Wijbrandus]

Crap!!!

Scary stuff. Talk about p'ing in your wetsuit!

 

[Wijbrandus]

If this ship is using the International Pier, that would put Paradise reef right nearby. I'm assuming Paraiso reef = Paradise reef. By my Coz dive book, that reef is rated at 40'. It's a newby dive site. Those poor divers are lucky to be alive.

What's Carnival's take on this incident?

 

[Wijbrandus]

Upon further investigation, that particular cruise ship has a different time in port than the news article lists. The ship was supposed to arrive at 9.30 in the morning, and depart at 22.00. Was she running dramatically late?

 

[carlislere]

We were on the Princess Cruise lines ship Grand Princess in port at Coz when this happened. The Inspiration came within 50 yards or less of colliding with us and we were tied to the dock! A cold front had hit with some nasty thunderstorms. I took a picture of the wall cloud of the storms coming with the Inspiration in the picture. A few minutes later I took another pic, noticing it was closer, and went back inside our room. A few minutes later my wife yelled and when I looked up the ship was on us. A tender seemed to be trying to help the ship move. They appeared to be having trouble dealing with the high winds that had broadsided them. You could tell from the prop wash that they gunned the engines and the ship pulled out from us. We went up on deck and saw the ship headed toward a group of dive boats nearby after rounding our bow. They turned to starboard again and we could see the sand kick up, so we knew they were near bottom. We were wondering if they hit a reef or not. Glad the divers were OK.

 

[carlislere]

Here are the pics I took of the Carnival's Inspiration before the reef incident. I hope I do this right.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Wow, sounds like fun times. Maybe I should go on a cruise.........

 

[kevink]

I can imagine the the advertisement now - -

Come to Cozumel and see a ship-wreck.
Or maybe come to Cozumel and be the first to dive a shipwreck (as long as you are not ground to a pulp in the propellors).

Is Cozumel trying to be Grand Cayman II or is this just my jaded opinion?

Are Cruise ships and diving just incompatible?

 

[slingshot]

Timely photojournalism Carlislere, wonder if you zoom in you can see the bubbles of the divers, whose air consumption probably rose a wee bit...

 

[DI_Guy]

The Carnival ships have steerable engine pods ( not conventional propellers at the stern). They can do a full 360 degree turn on one spot. I am not sure where the engine pods are located along the length of the ship but they are near the stern. It's amazing that the ship's pilot lost control of the vessel.

It's a scarey thought for the divers. We came close one an Grand Cayman Island. They are massive.

DI_Guy