There is no excuse for that boat to have sunk.
Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers
Dave Dillehay
Aldora Divers
Dive Boat Sank???
- Thread starter BettyfromToronto
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Dave, can you clarify? Do you mean that a boat should never get overcome by waves and go partially underwater...or....the boat should have adequate internal buoyancy "stuff" such that it would never completely submerge and sink to the bottom? I am not a boat person so excuse my lack of boat people knowledge. That is left...that is right. The front of the boat is there and the back end is behind us.
gopbroek
Contributor
I am NOT a Boatwright but what I have observed in Mexico is that the average local built boats are simple glass over wood. This means they have no integral buoyancy. Which also means, that if they swamp, they will go down like a stone. Thank god no one was trapped in the head or galley. Backing down, against a swell is the most dangerous thing they can do. I personally prefer a boat that side loads the divers so that the boat is not ‘backing down’ to allow loading onto a rear platform or ladder.
Luckily no-one was hurt badly and my sympathy goes out to the captain as this event has already been replayed a thousand times in his mind. I agree with Dave and it shouldn’t have happened but that’s why they are called accidents. Most of the captains I have seen in Cozumel are very professional and the report of a swapping is not common. Does anyone know if it went down in shallow water, where it could be recovered, or did it go down off the wall into the abyss?
Luckily no-one was hurt badly and my sympathy goes out to the captain as this event has already been replayed a thousand times in his mind. I agree with Dave and it shouldn’t have happened but that’s why they are called accidents. Most of the captains I have seen in Cozumel are very professional and the report of a swapping is not common. Does anyone know if it went down in shallow water, where it could be recovered, or did it go down off the wall into the abyss?
A boat sinking is scary. So is a boat backing down on me while I am in the water.
lamarpaulski
Contributor
Doesn't look like anybody has posted about this incident yet...
We were spending out SI at Punta Palancar Beach Club yesterday when a boat came in fast and a couple of fellows headed to the water with a float and started moving a man from the boat to the float. I went to help them get him out of the water. Seems there is a shop here with no boats that has been hiring whatever boats they can. Not necessarily dive boats, and this seems to have been one of those. According to one person I spoke to, it sounds like they've rigged some racks to hold tanks on the outside of the boat and are packing the inside with divers. Too many, it sounds like.
The winds were fairly strong from the NNW yesterday (but not enough to close the port, obviously) and the seas were pretty choppy. Our ride back to the Palace was the roughest ride I've ever had off Cozumel.
It sounds like the boat swamped and sank. Something struck the captain on the left shoulder. Based on my admittedly rapid assessment, I'd say he might have either a distal clavicle fracture or an AC separation. This made swimming difficult and although he reportedly was able to help several of the boaters, he eventually was unable to stay above water. Everyone on the boat was rescued by dive boats in the area (Punta Sur) and this was apparently the only injury. This could have been a disaster.
We were spending out SI at Punta Palancar Beach Club yesterday when a boat came in fast and a couple of fellows headed to the water with a float and started moving a man from the boat to the float. I went to help them get him out of the water. Seems there is a shop here with no boats that has been hiring whatever boats they can. Not necessarily dive boats, and this seems to have been one of those. According to one person I spoke to, it sounds like they've rigged some racks to hold tanks on the outside of the boat and are packing the inside with divers. Too many, it sounds like.
The winds were fairly strong from the NNW yesterday (but not enough to close the port, obviously) and the seas were pretty choppy. Our ride back to the Palace was the roughest ride I've ever had off Cozumel.
It sounds like the boat swamped and sank. Something struck the captain on the left shoulder. Based on my admittedly rapid assessment, I'd say he might have either a distal clavicle fracture or an AC separation. This made swimming difficult and although he reportedly was able to help several of the boaters, he eventually was unable to stay above water. Everyone on the boat was rescued by dive boats in the area (Punta Sur) and this was apparently the only injury. This could have been a disaster.
Skittl1321
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I have seen several larger boats that have exit/entry points in the back.
Mike
Contributor
It's done a hundred times a day.
"Don't swim to the dive boat, the boat will come to you."
Skittl1321
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