Abandoned at Sea - Sun June 26, 2005 - The Ibis, Dania Beach, Hollywood Fl.

[ReefGuy]

It's not the name. It's the fact that SOMEONE heard their name and is responding to it. Next time you're on a dive boat that has a lot of divers on it, try counting them when everyone is getting their gear off, getting a drink, walking around, etc. It's not easy to ensure an accurate count. If the divers are instructed to answer to only their name, this is a good solution.

Dan's, of course, is even better.

So, I need some education.........
That there is a missing diver from the group, a name is imperative?????Is gender important???? I am new to diving and don't understand many of the inuendos.....
thanks for enlightenment...I don't undestand.
I am coming to dive in fla soon, and I appreciate what to be on guard for......

 

[oscar_2424]

I've alerted Southeast Oceanic Services to this thread. I suspect that soon Neil (or his replacement) will be doing genuine roll calls.
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By the way, whenever I have a group on a boat that's in the habit of doing head counts, I get the names of all divers - my group and any others when we don't have the whole boat - and do a roll call myself.
Head counts are worthless.
Rick

I dive a few times with south east oceanic and they have always done a roll call, i hope we can hear neal"s side of the story and lets hope this incident wont happen again

 

[novicediver]

There really is no other side to the story, a diver left at sea is a diver left at sea and there are NO acceptable excuses for it. Divers are trusting the boat to still be there when they surface and if it isn't, I cannot imagine the fear. Glad to see that "this time" it turned out ok.

 

[hermosadive]

Not to mention that Padipro backs up Don's point that Neil still is not performing "roll calls".

Matt

It sucks that Don Janni and his buddy were left behind, but I'm not aware of any law that requires a roll call. I've only been on a couple boats ever that performed roll calls.

However, if a charter left me behind I would be doing more that posting about it. Find a lawyer and then you should be able to change things for the better.

 

[cudachaser]

I had a bad experience with them and I had students the week before...will never use them again...Very disorganized and bragged about partying the night before...that's not excuse that should be brought up to paying customers. They never really did a head count after the dives...I told them I had students and they slammed me with a deep dive....68 ft. Fortunately my students did well. Ocean Divers and Abernathys are so professinal...so I will continue to use them for my classes

 

[cmalinowski]

Every time I've been out on the lady-go-diver, they've done both. They start with a head count, then do a role call. I can see someone getting missed on a crowded boat, and it always scares me a little, but at least they try pretty well. Like someone else pointed out, I try to make my presense known and my absence missed.

I like the DAN ID tag system. It's simple, and cheap to do. I can't imagine that DAN would charge much for it, but if they do, then they can make one of their own.

People make mistakes. I wouldn't chastise ibis too harshly for missing someone if they learned from their mistakes and genuinely tried to remedy the situation and not have it happen again. But, it sickens me that they didn't learn, nor do they care enought to try any harder to prevent a repeat of the situation.

 

[diverrick]

The numbers board is the only way to truly be sure all are back on board. A sign in/off sheet in addition, would add a second level of safety. I have also noticed that some dive ops are lax about this issue. I usually attempt to do my own head count and keep track of that during the dives. I am not baseful about bringng it up if I don't think all are back on. I have been wrong every time thank god, but at least I am bringing it up, when my count doesn't match the boats count. I would much rather be thought of a jerk by others, than allow someone to be left behind, when I noticed the count did not add up, and didn't say anything.

 

[jakubson]

I like the DAN ID tag system. It's simple, and cheap to do. I can't imagine that DAN would charge much for it, but if they do, then they can make one of their own.

It's FREE to DAN business members ($125 per year membership).

 

[MB]

:doctor: Small boats, few divers, captain not separated from passengers (due to boat layout), the captain can quietly check the roster against the humans standing in front of him. But change that scenario by adding passengers, separating the captain from the passengers by adding a flybridge, or simply by having a boat where everybody is not instantaneously visible, then its just plain stupid not to call names.

What the heck is going on here? Is there some magical testosterone formula that says it looks cooler if there's no role call? Sorry... its hot, folks are distracted, a bit tired from the dive, a little mellow, thinking and attending to other things (like gear tinkering or booty watching) and the number game is a disaster because its so prone to error - that includes the baby DM working off a hangover or hustling the tourista!

Thanks for posting this story. We had hoped that we've got a good and dependable operator, but those hopes fade quickly when stories like this get out. There are too many REAL operational issues to consider. If something as simple as a roll call is beyond the reach of a boat captain and crew, I don't want to be around when the real stuff starts flying!

 

[miketsp]

HEAD COUNTS ARE NOT SUFFICIENT. They gotta call names and make eye contact.

If you are ever on a boat where they just do a head count, never go back, and tell your
friends.

Fully agree. The only time head counts are useful is when they are done as an additional final check just after moving off location. Quite often I dive sites where the DM will do a proper roll call by name after divers are back on board, but sometimes divers will jump back in for a quick dip or to rinse off their wet-suits.
It's then normal practice for the DM to look at the water around the boat before moving off and then do a final head count after moving off.