here is my post from the Vero Beach Scuba Club Facebook page
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Let me weigh in here for a moment. Lots of comments...many negative. First and foremost....lets be happy that there was a happy ending. The last thing the dive community needs are bad endings.
Now for my 2 cents. We do not really know the circumstances. If the divers strayed from the planned/expected path and were riding a current they easily can be taken far from the boat. for the moment, I do not know how experienced the divers were but Emerald tends to cater to hardcore divers.
It is not easy to keep track of divers, especially when they wander afar. Working on various boats, I've seen various procedures to keep the divers safe and found.
1) we put a DM and a flag in the water for EVERY dive. Not every diver will stay with the DM. However, the boat will track that flag and generally divers will be in line with it throughout the drift.
2) The training of the captain and crew is critical. The captain has the ultimate responsibility. Watching the flag, knowing current, watching for bubbles and keeping an eye out for markers.
3) setting limits for divers is key. Let divers know their maximum dive time. In general, your max time will be 55 minutes with your head on the surface no more than 60 minutes (yes....your gas plan and profile may differ). No exception to this except on tec only and rebreather only trips
there is more but this is a start. And it is still not enough. There are lots of variables in the ocean.
Now one more thing. It's been a long while since I've been diving with Emerald. In my experience, they always ran a good, safe operation. I stopped diving with them because of the shark feeding thing. Incidents like this one can happen to ANY of us at any time. Emerald has had an unfortunate chain of events plague them. Those of us in the local dive industry need to respect and support each other for the betterment of our local industry.
Dive often and dive safe
--pgs
