Antigua: Dive boat leaves behind two scuba divers

[RS]

Maybe he was crying because he remembered how much the movie sucked?

BTW JimLap, I always tip. Good Karma.

 

[RS]

I'm quite shocked at the number of posts on here that are coming even remotely close to blaming the victims. I fail to see how any of this is their fault.

Media-Hysteria Backlash.

 

[SnakeRiverPirate]

My problem with C D N N eyebrow is that they seem to have had a history of lifting other journalist's stories and putting them on their server as if it were their own (sans attribution, or sometimes with the correct author but omitting the originating news source).

John[/quote]


Thanks, John. I am new to this board and new to diving. I want evidence to support the views that I am building. What you posted is something that I can explore and either verify or not.

 

[BTravlin]

c=Local

Sandals issues statement on diving incident
Thursday September 06 2007


....
In its statement on the incident, Sandals International said that it deeply regrets the events of 16 Aug., in which the two guests of Sandals Grande Antigua Resort & Spa who were part of scheduled diving trip “did not return with the rest of the group.”

....

I love how their PR department sugarcoats the irresponsible behavior of their employees;two guests... "did not return with the rest of the group!" Makes it sound as if their guests elected to take an extended dangerous swim about the open ocean. Also, no mention of instituting proper procedures to prevent such an incident from happening again. All in all, this statement does little to restore faith in their dive operations and, for me anyway, does just the opposite.

 

[RS]

Headcounts are proven to be unreliable, and that makes them dangerous. I refuse to dive with any charter that doesn't do roll calls.

John

Being able to read is way more advanced than the counting skill.

 

[deepstops]

Here's a batch of websites exposing c d n n for their biased reporting as well as proof they are spammers and a major copyright infringer:

http://www.scubaboard.com/archive/index.php/t-32179.html

http://www.modelminority.com/article961.html

http://shorterlink.com/?79IJ0A

http://www.divepoll.com/

http://www.underwatertimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=506

http://www.scubaboard.com/archive/index.php/t-1107.html

 

[OceanicRocks]

this is scary... I was vacationing in a sandals resort in the caribean during Hurricane dean and three days before the storm they stopped all dives. It was sunny and water was calm... Now I know why... This does not surprise me in the least... never been to thier antigua resort but know of thier lax behavior. horrible story.

 

[DandyDon]

...know of thier lax behavior.

Uh, that sounds like the norm for the Caribbean. Many find Ops, but you do have to watch your own safety...

 

[caseybird]

Uh, that sounds like the norm for the Caribbean. Many find Ops, but you do have to watch your own safety...

If there are many "fine" ops how can this be the "norm"? Please clarify. When do you not have to watch your own safety?

 

[DandyDon]

If there are many "fine" ops how can this be the "norm"? Please clarify. When do you not have to watch your own safety?

Oh, yeah - fine Ops, but then rules are really just suggestions in the Caribe. You can't turn anyone into the DoT for not doing their Vizes and Hydros, you can't complain to the USCoast Guard, and you can't readily sue. Padi requires quarterly air tests for example, but no enforcement. I asked a big Op in Cozumel recently if I could see the results - hadn't done them since before H.Wilma, may never have done them? So they generally keep their records clean enough to not be noticed and generally keep the customers happy enough to not be reported here on SB, etc - but even if they don't, no biggie. I gave a scathing report on an Op on Ambergris Cay Belize, just pathetic, but shops and clubs keep booking with them because their package is cheap.

So, maybe you learn to protect your own safety beyond what they taught you in classes, to go back and look at the compressor to see if it's clean at least and the air intake is safe, you taste your air and reject it if it tastes funny, you do your own buddy-team checks on the boat as mentioned above, you call a dive even when the DM is leading you deeper, etc. That sort of thing.

What do you do if you find a grease covered compressor? Start taking lots of pictures, of the compressor, the fill-guy, the shop manager, the resort manager - and tell them you're not diving ir from those tanks, but you are writing a story with pictures. "How do you spell your name." Same thing for sloppy boat manifest security, etc. When you take pic and ask them to spell their names, they'll want to know why. Yeah, I like to kick ***.

You're a DM with 100-200 dives, so I guess a lot of your diving has been in classes, and I'm sure you've learned a lot. You'll keep learning, whether you do more classes or not, and you can posssibly learn a lot on SB....