Diver Dead in South Florida

[uwxplorer]

Growing up in Louisiana that seems like an odd way to get divers to the rig. We do a lot of rig diving. It doesn't require preauthorization as most captains know which rigs have lots of work traffic and which don't. We use something called rig hooks. It's a hook that usually is temporarily attached to a mooring pole. You get close to the rig and hook the hook to a piling, then pull off the pole, leaving the hook and mooring line attached to the rig piling. There is also a rope or a cable that allows you to detach the hook without pulling back up to the rig (in order to avoid bashing up against the structure in rough seas). In Louisiana most of the time the boats just use 1 hook, divers drop off the transom of the boat, and pull themselves up a line to the front of the boat and then swim to the rig. If the current is ripping or there's a reason to not allow the rear of the boat to be away from the rig, the captain can use two rig hooks, one to the front and one to the back of the boat. Then the back can stay closer to the rig and the divers don't have to swim over to it. We get some pretty bad currents going through the rigs, but I've still never seen a captain back up to one. Maybe the rigs are a little different there. We're allowed to dive on the outside of the rig structure, but asked to not stray off the rig.

It gets worse: from my experience, the boats always drop off divers on the same side of the rigs (again, most likely rig imposed rule). If the current pushes the boat towards the rig, call it a bad luck day.
Did I mention that these are considered advanced dives (some are essentially bottomless)?
But again, before the Conception tragedy, I was going to sleep in the bunk room without thinking about fire or flooding.
You don't know what you don't know...

 

[rddvet]

It gets worse: from my experience, the boats always drop off divers on the same side of the rigs (again, most likely rig imposed rule). If the current pushes the boat towards the rig, call it a bad luck day.
Did I mention that these are considered advanced dives (some are essentially bottomless)?
But again, before the Conception tragedy, I was going to sleep in the bunk room without thinking about fire or flooding.
You don't know what you don't know...

Rig dives out of Louisiana are considered advanced dives as well, though for a while there were some shops taking anybody. There's a weird murk layer phenomenon at many of the rigs. It'll be clear to 30 ft, pitch black in the murk till 50 or 60 ft, then the bluest water you've ever seen below. Alot of times the fact that the bottom is unknown and the murk layer is creepy, many less advanced divers jump right back on the boat.

 

[letterboy]

Or an hour or more. If you are in the Gulf diving the middle grounds, the best you can hope for is a medievac.

I was being generous... But yes, while diving it can be an hour or more.

And that's if you can get help as @Wookie points out, some places are in other countries.

This accident happened right up the road from me. Not accounting for how I feel about them even going out during this time... There isn't one thing that made this accident happen. It never is.

If we look at this objectively I am sure there is plenty of things that could have been done differently on both sides of the equation.

 

[hroark2112]

I think his former boat was a six pack. This one is supposed to be a lot bigger. Maybe @snowdog61 can clarify that as well.

His former boat was a smaller boat that he would jam full of divers. His current boat is a much bigger boat that he is (was) selling as a luxury six pack boat.

I’ve heard talk that he was having issues keeping his new boat in neutral. That would definitely contribute to something like this if the props engaged with a diver holding on to the platform.

 

[DogDiver]

I think the bottom line issue here is exiting the water with a live prop. In my 54 years of diving which included 36 years of Great Lakes wreck diving I’ve never gotten back on a dive boat with a live prop. Common sense and experience indicates it’s a bad idea. Too many things can go wrong.

 

[rjack321]

Maybe most of the time, but if someone comes up under the boat, there is no way for the Captain to prevent that. I'm not saying that happened in this situation, and most of the time, you are correct. Situations like this are a chain of events and untill all voices are heard, it's all just a guess.

Except there is - don't have the engine on in the first place unless you have to.
Since the victim here was already on the surface and was being picked up, that's not really applicable here. Ditto the SMB thing, there was no reason for that to still be in use when a diver is trying to reach out and climb a ladder.

I don't know this charter at all but for the vast majority of boats, maneuverability (and visibility) when backing is poor at best. Backing up to a diver in the water is the worst way to reach them in a controlled manner.

 

[rjack321]

I think the bottom line issue here is exiting the water with a live prop. In my 54 years of diving which included 36 years of Great Lakes wreck diving I’ve never gotten back on a dive boat with a live prop. Common sense and experience indicates it’s a bad idea. Too many things can go wrong.

There are certain times when you don't have a choice, although I would question the need here.​

I’ve heard talk that he was having issues keeping his new boat in neutral. That would definitely contribute to something like this if the props engaged with a diver holding on to the platform.

Why am I not surprised that these kinds of things come out after a major fatality?
Was this boat of his outboard powered?

 

[jadairiii]

This is the typical "farm animal stupid" behavior that is rampant in the dive boat industry. I have had "well respected" dive boats back over my buddies and I twice and had one take off on my at full throttle while on the dive platform.(each episode was the last time I used each of those operators) All because they (i) backed down on us (ii) failed to shut off the motors while divers were boarding.

Worse, a large majority of the diving community thinks this kind of behavior is normal. This is not rocket science, you dont back down on people in the water and you shut off the motors when people are boarding. But the freaking moronic excuses you get for why you cant do one or both would be funny if it wasn't so dangerous.

 

[Marie13]

Drift diving is not done where I dive (Great Lakes), so this thread has been quite the eye opener. My local boat doesn't recall divers by reving the engines, as some do. If divers are in the water, engines are off. Their recall signal is to hit a large pipe with a hammer. It's never been used when I've been diving. I'm told it's very easy to hear.

 

[Wookie]

Drift diving is not done where I dive (Great Lakes), so this thread has been quite the eye opener. My local boat doesn't recall divers by reving the engines, as some do. If divers are in the water, engines are off. Their recall signal is to hit a large pipe with a hammer. It's never been used when I've been diving. I'm told it's very easy to hear.

It is very easy to hear. It is hard to get someone’s attention. Most divers are somewhat focused on diving (a good thing) and really don’t pay attention to ambient noise. As an operator, you can’t just bang on the pipe, you have to bang on the pipe for a long time, which is why some rev the engines. That’s a noise instantly recognizable as “the boat is leaving”.