Anybody know anything about the dive boat that sunk this morning?

[chucksaul]

No one has put in a plug for DAN Trip Insurance. Besides the medical benefits, I believe it would cover lost equipment, etc. We get it every trip and it saved us when we were caught in a Hurricane on Turks. Well worth the $$$$.

As for drybags, we keep them packed on our sailboat and they have radios, food, clothes, etc and are completely waterproof intended to go overboard in an emergency and provide us dry equipment. Just make sure they seal with more than a zip lock...

 

[Christi]

I was even thinking that was done on purpose to get our stuff (like money, cell phone, boat insurance, etc).

I am sincerely very sorry you experienced this unfortunate accident, it can be a very scary and dangerous experience - but are you SERIOUS with this accusation????? I don't want to beat up on a "victim" of this incident, but do you get how utterly ridiculous that sounds? I can hear the crew dialogue now: "Yeh, let's sink this $100,000 boat, cause ourselves to lose our jobs (because with no boat we have no work), cause ourselves a lot of bad publicity and grief so we can take that guys $400, cell phone and personal belongings" Utterly absurd and shame on you. You lost some material items, the crew and dive shop lost MUCH more than your $400 or your cell phone.

This was terrible and could have absolutely been much worse - but NO ONE was hurt, the rescue effort was quick and organized and it was an accident! The crew and other rescuers handled a horrible incident in a professional and well trained manner They are also human.

The sand dollar’s (dive company) manager told us they are operating there for 25 years and that never happened before.

He was telling the truth, it's never happened to them - he didn't say it has never happened to ANYONE. Boats sink everywhere - doesn't make it "ok" - but it happens.

I am glad and relieved that there were no injuries and maybe some lessons learned from Captains and crews to be more conscientious and aware of boat condition and maintenance in the future.

 

[billt4sf]

To me the whole thread just shows how little we (at least I and my wife, and I bet most of us) know about boats and possible mishaps. Many (most?) day boats that I have dived on do not give a safety briefing, and when it is given it is usually with a smile and a laugh like "it will never happen but we are required to do this". We dive a lot in Indonesia, even with my most trusted operator I don't recall them ever giving a safety briefing. Not so for LOBs though.

Briefings aside, it goes to my assertion that our most important safety "device" is the skill and training of the operators we are going with - and I daresay most of us know little or nothing about them before we embark.

While in Indo we are more careful and only go with operators that are at least somewhat known quantities.

I have often thought that if I were in a boat having difficulty, the thing to do would be to grab mask and fins and go around and turn on all the tanks I could, inflate their BCDs, and possibly release them from their bungees holding them to the boat. Does this make any actual sense?

Dive (and boat!) safely!

Bill

 

[Liv2scuba]

Boats can sink even with the most skilled of boat captains. One of Blue Angel’s dive boats sank 3 or 4 years ago. A big wave came over and swamped the boat they had the divers jump in and captain gunned it for shore and got it into shallower water before it sunk. It’s all a matter of circumstance. I don’t think it was on purpose.

 

[Maverick17]

I don't want to beat up on a "victim" of this incident

Hmmm, quotation marks on "victim".....let me guess what word comes next.

...but....

 

[BrewingDiver]

Stumbled upon this article this morning while on Google Finance.

Cruise passenger recalls ‘shock’ as Mexican tour boat filled with water — then, chaos

 

[ggunn]

One thing that the interviewee (and yes, I know he is one of "us") reportedly said was that the reason that the cruise ship dive excursions are more expensive than a regular dive trip is that the participants are paying for more security. I don't think that's true; I believe that they pay more because the cruise line sets it up and charges them whatever they can get.

 

[BrewingDiver]

Definitely. Although, one could argue that the security is in the form of maybe transferring some or all of the liability to the cruise line, sort of a form of insurance. But in the context in the article I don't think that was what he meant. And as far as safety/track records, I just don't see any evidence of the dive ops that the cruise lines regularly use are better in that sense, although my knowledge is admittedly limited there.

 

[Christi]

Stumbled upon this article this morning while on Google Finance.

Cruise passenger recalls ‘shock’ as Mexican tour boat filled with water — then, chaos

So now it's his wedding ring and $500??? Again, unfortunate accident but so much of that article is BS media exaggeration.

There were no delays that morning and the seas were slightly choppy, but not even 1ft waves - the videos show how calm it was actually!

 

[Wookie]

So now it's his wedding ring and $500??? Again, unfortunate accident but so much of that article is BS media exaggeration.

There were no delays that morning and the seas were slightly choppy, but not even 1ft waves - the videos show how calm it was actually!

So, you're saying it was completely the captains fault for sinking his boat in calm water? What responsibility does the captain have in this case?