Be careful in Coron: operator(s) taking non-wreck certified divers inside the shipwrecks

[Kharon]

They do that all the time on Grand Cayman. Penetration of the Kittywake - no cert required.

 

[caydiver]

Have to say we had to be wreck certified when we went down the funnel into the bottom. We were in totally darkness In the passageways on the lower decks. Once we were on the decks closer to the surface we could see all around and there were many places to exit from. Only two of us with one DM/instructor did that. The rest of the group were only on the shallower decks. That’s pretty much what we see happen across the board. I don’t think any of the spaces that are part of a typical Kittiwake dive are as confining as even the wheelhouse at the Doc Poulson. Maybe that makes a difference. That said I remember when I first started diving in Cayman I was a bit shocked when we went to 100 feet. That was well beyond my limit. It was thoughtfully explained that if your guide was an instructor deeper dives were allowed which is why the deep dive is guided and the second shallow dive can be a buddy team. Many things were “modified” to make the Kittiwake very diver friendly as opposed to a vessel that just sank. Perhaps it is in slightly a different category?

 

[bakodiver391]

Get used to it. They do that in most 3rd world dive sites. It is more the norm than you think. Did everyone have at least 2 lights, I suspect not. Was there only one dive guide at the front, probably so. Were there lines run, I bet not. All it needs is for a new diver to panic and it can all go to hell in a hand basket in a few seconds. If you dont have the experience, then you will have to be the one to make the yes/no decision.

An example I can give you is where I dived a wreck in Bikini. 4 divers to enter the wreck. A line was run most of the way in. The path was through a number of door ways, down a stair case, 180 degree turn and through more doors then into a small room. All heavily silted on the floor.

3 diver entered (2 OC and 1 CCR). I (one CCR, that was me) stayed outside, as I was concerned about the skill of one of the divers, the poor line laying, and the significant silt, and was cautious enough to prepare in case it all went bad. I waited at the entrance and had they not come out on time I was preparing to go in and find them.

After 15 min 1 OC diver came out, I asked where are the rest? Shrugged shoulders. He was low on air so I took him to the up line, then went back to the entrance and was deciding to run a line in and find them when the other 2 came out. Back on board it came about that one OC diver went into the room, the second OC diver silted out the whole area (including the CCR diver) and did a runner. The first OC diver was in the room waiting to die when the CCR diver (who was covered in the silt out) went in, looked and got him out before I went in. The first divers reason for doing a runner was, well I thought S....... was dead so I thought no use us both dying so he left. In his rush to get out he silted everything so badly the CCR diver didnt know who was where.

So much for dive buddies, friends.

My comment to the first OC diver who was trapped was, I would not have left you in there. I was coming to get you. He did the right thing and stayed there as he couldnt see the line, and had he guessed it, probably would have gone in a wrong direction and got lost and then out of gas.

Now that was supposedly (all) experienced technical divers. So how would a novice have coped in the same circumstance.

Peter I know where you were and there should have been an experienced dive guide with you and a maximum of 2 divers with the guide. I guess that's what happens when you go with an inexperienced operator. I'm glad you and your buddies came out all right but I don't have to tell you that there is zero room for error in those conditions. An incident like that could scar someone forever.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

https://www.scubaboard.com/communit...t-in-the-coron-area-of-the-philippines.551460

 

[lermontov]

as Peter69_56 said its actually pretty common and even if your comfortable the unknown 3rd party strarts stressing and kicks silt up and you have a serious issue on you hands - I had a similar situation in Truuk where we we're well past the light zone with no line and starting to feel uncomfortable.

 

[W W Meixner]

I'm traveling Philippines for a month and I'm having a blast, after I'm back home I'll post a complete dive report. But, in the meantime, I'd like to warn everyone about what happened to me in Coron just a few days ago.

I'm AOW certified with less than 40 logged dives and I decided to do fun dives with Reggae Dive Center because I saw some people on this forum recommending them and they're well ranked in TripAdvisor. They charge the highest price in Coron so I thought I would get premium service with them.

When we arrived at the first dive site (Kogyu Maru), my divemaster asked me if I wanted to go inside the ship. I said "only if it's a swim through and it's not narrow". When we got to the wreck, we entered through a narrow but OK door and we were inside a huge hall that had many holes on the hull, there was plenty of light inside and I felt I could get out whenever I wanted, so I felt comfortable during the dive.

On the second side site (Okikawa Maru), the divemaster asked me again if I wanted to enter the wreck and I said "only if it's like the first one", to which he said "yeah, it's pretty similar". Boy was he wrong.
As soon as we entered, it was pitch black inside and very narrow. There were many moments where the other fun divers and I were struggling to go through passageways, and we had to detangle our regulators hoses many times (I asked them about this after we were back on the boat). There was a moment I felt I was in a videogame, dodging a barrier on the left just to have another one on the right, and then another one on the left again, all without knowing if I was going up or down.
Overall, I would say we spent more than 10 minutes in complete darkness (apart from the flashlights), with very low visibility and, to me, no idea where I was going or where the exit was. I used way more air than my usual and I didn't feel comfortable at all, which didn't make me enjoy the experience.

I talked to some of the other divers on the boat and many of them also had no idea what they were getting into before the dive. I was so uneasy after the experience that I decided not to dive again in Coron.

Thankfully, no accidents happened, but I cannot think that the experience I had is OK or reflects what I learned during my OW and AOW courses. So, for the non-wreck divers out there, please be careful when going to Coron.

D...

Upon approaching the wreck...a tap on the DM's shoulder signalling ''NO'' should have been your response...entry into the wreck was as much your fault as is was the fault of the DM...

Any diver can call any dive at any time for any reason...YOUR RESPONSIBILITY...

Being thankful ''nothing'' happened after the event...is the wrong sequence as to how the dive should have went...I'm sure there would have been lots to see without penetrating the wreck...again...YOUR RESPONSIBILITY...

W.W...

 

[Tippytoes12]

We have been on Red Sea liveaboards where divers were taken into wrecks like the Thistlegorm and few if any were wreck certified. This is normal in many areas in the world and in ten years of diving I can honestly never remember a diver saying that he or she is wreck certified.

As the other posters have said, your OW certification means that you absolutely responsible for your own safety. There are many situations where you have to make a choice on whether or not to dive, a strong current, having to do negative entry, needing to use a reef hook, going on a dingy to a drop site in choppy conditions, diving with an instabuddy you have qualms about, terrible weather etc etc etc. The list is endless. When my husband and I learned to dive 10 years ago we promised each other that we would only every dive and keep diving of it was fun, anything scary we stayed on the boat. We have always abided by this little rule and it has served us very well, 1,200 doves between us later !

 

[runsongas]

@Peter69_56 I am surprised that bikini would be a problem. The only option is a fairly expensive liveaboard and usually that weeds people out who aren't suited for the diving there. it isn't like chuuk where you might get a significant amount of recreational divers.

 

[Ministryofgiraffes]

I can pretty much guarantee that 90% of the thousands of divers who penetrate Red Sea wrecks are not wreck certified...

 

[Glenn Williams]

Well I’ve dove the USS Kittywake twice and in the virgin island I was inside a couple of wrecks. I had a 32LED light on all my dives. No card but felt ok on all of them. On one in the Virgin Island we dove inside and entered an air pocket where we removed our masks and talked with one another, then departed. Pretty cool. I guess I need to get wreck certified now haha.