I know accidents happen.I firmly believe that. My dive boat captain stated we were going to the united caribbean today. Grant, i've never been diving at the UC, But I did tons of research on it before going.(History,videos, pictures, ect..) When I was down there, i realized that "this didn't seem right." Nothing looked like anything i researched.Upon ascending and getting back on the boat I asked the divemaster if we were really at the UC,and they swore up and down that it was. When I got home and did more research(primarily looking at videos), I found out that we really went to the Noula Exress. Has this happened to anyone else before?
Dive Boat brought us to the wrong wreck.
- Thread starter Protist
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Those wrecks are right next to each other. Like 100 feet apart?
I call it the same dive.
I call it the same dive.
DC53
Guest
Count yourself lucky. I was diving off South Carolina about two months ago and we were supposed to dive the BP25. Instead of a 160 foot tanker they hooked into subway car and the visibility was not good enough to stray from where they hooked in.
Was the DM in the water, or was he making a statement based on the belief that it should have been the right wreck? It might be an honest mistake that they themselves did not realize, or they might have realized they made a mistake and decided you would not know the difference.
A couple of years ago I was starting a Belize (Ambergris Caye) vacation and got a warning from someone who was concluding theirs. They had booked a trip with our operator to the Elbow on Turneffe Atoll. This is a big trip for which you pay extra, and you have to start very early in the morning. When they got to the dock, there was a problem--no DM. After a long delay, the operator located a DM, but not the one they had expected. They later learned that the night before had been some holiday, and the DMs had been celebrating into the wee hours. The scheduled DM was not to be found, and the one they found had been present throughout the celebration.
The boat headed out, and the DM lay on a bench half or fully asleep most of the way. The trip did not take anywhere near as long as they expected, and they got suspicious. The diver had a map, and he could clearly see that they were not at the Elbow. He challenged the DM on the spot, and they got into an argument. At one point the DM said they were at the "Little Elbow."
They did three shortened dives and got back to dock an hour earlier than expected, despite getting such a late start.
They raised Heck in the office and were eventually given their money back, but if the diver with the map had not been on his toes, they would have accepted the trip as it was presented to them. The boat crew clearly did not think the customers would know the difference.
A couple of years ago I was starting a Belize (Ambergris Caye) vacation and got a warning from someone who was concluding theirs. They had booked a trip with our operator to the Elbow on Turneffe Atoll. This is a big trip for which you pay extra, and you have to start very early in the morning. When they got to the dock, there was a problem--no DM. After a long delay, the operator located a DM, but not the one they had expected. They later learned that the night before had been some holiday, and the DMs had been celebrating into the wee hours. The scheduled DM was not to be found, and the one they found had been present throughout the celebration.
The boat headed out, and the DM lay on a bench half or fully asleep most of the way. The trip did not take anywhere near as long as they expected, and they got suspicious. The diver had a map, and he could clearly see that they were not at the Elbow. He challenged the DM on the spot, and they got into an argument. At one point the DM said they were at the "Little Elbow."
They did three shortened dives and got back to dock an hour earlier than expected, despite getting such a late start.
They raised Heck in the office and were eventually given their money back, but if the diver with the map had not been on his toes, they would have accepted the trip as it was presented to them. The boat crew clearly did not think the customers would know the difference.
Sas
Contributor
I've never been taken to the wrong wreck but I have done a dive over sand 
We only had one boat with a sounder and it was playing up. They had a GPS but if the viz isn't great (which it wasn't, you don't have to be that far off the wreck and you'll miss it entirely if the shot doesn't land on it). The other boat spend ages trying to find one of the local subs, had no luck so we went to find another wreck. Anyway, he dropped the shot over what he said were the boilers of this wreck. Descended to about 30m and it was just SAND :rof3: Swum around a bit looking for the wreck but no luck. Anyway, we did our dive just swimming around as it was better than no dive. We surfaced and the next two divers went down after they redid the shot over what was 'definitely the boilers' this time. They came up five minutes later - just sand again I'm pretty easy going and it was a private boat so I paid half nothing for the day so didn't really mind.
We only had one boat with a sounder and it was playing up. They had a GPS but if the viz isn't great (which it wasn't, you don't have to be that far off the wreck and you'll miss it entirely if the shot doesn't land on it). The other boat spend ages trying to find one of the local subs, had no luck so we went to find another wreck. Anyway, he dropped the shot over what he said were the boilers of this wreck. Descended to about 30m and it was just SAND :rof3: Swum around a bit looking for the wreck but no luck. Anyway, we did our dive just swimming around as it was better than no dive. We surfaced and the next two divers went down after they redid the shot over what was 'definitely the boilers' this time. They came up five minutes later - just sand again I'm pretty easy going and it was a private boat so I paid half nothing for the day so didn't really mind.
If the wrecks are indeed this close together, John makes a good point. It could have been an honest mistake, although I would expect a boat that makes regular excursions to the wrecks to know the difference.
I'm assuming these wrecks don't have permanent moorings?
They don't have permanent moorings. Most operators dive both at the same time. The United Caribbean has mostly been reduced to rubble, there is still the bridge area and superstructure. The Noula is small - very small. On a good day you can see one from the other.
Im sure it was just a mistake. But the DM (and owner of the boat) went down, and tied the mooring line himself. My only issue was they weren't willing to admit they made a silly mistake. No burn off my nose, it was the first time i'd be diving either one. On that note, viz was amazing. about 70-80 ft. Nothing big, other then an unusually large blow fish. And quiet of few lobster. Only issue, there was an east wind, so the waves were about 5-8 feet.
When were the waves 5-8 feet? The biggest seas I've seen in the last 2 weeks (by looking out my window in Lauderdale by the Sea) is the 2-4 we had today. Saturday was a bit choppy - also maybe 2-4.
So you dived the Noula, but you didn't swim over to the UC? They didn't tell you it was RIGHT there? I'm curious who you dived with. If you don't want to say here... Would you PM it to me?
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