Divers found off Lizard Island

[lemon]

Yup! Just got back from a Similans LA. Fantastic vis, but the highlight was a 4m across Manta at Tachia Pinnacle.

Oh yeah, tachai was one of my favorite dive sites. I did a 2week liveaboard in the similans and had a blast. The only leopard that i saw was when i briefly wandered off from the group to film a great baracuda (bad buddy skills, i know, am working on that) and just stumbled across a big fella sleeping on the bottom. Beautiful sharks!

 

[Arizona]

I got to see 3 on one dive. Timing and we were the only boat at the site Will go next Feb again for sure.

 

[openmindOW]

Let's not get into name-calling and speculating as to what happened on the Lizard Island trip. We don't what happened. So, let's not speculate prematurely.

And, before we start attacking the divers involved, let's remember something. Inexperienced divers lack substantial dive experience. (That's why they call them inexperienced.) Inexperienced divers might do what some of us would consider dumb things. It doesn't necessarily mean that they're bad people or deserve a Darwin Award - although they might.

So, in conclusion, I urge restraint in premature postings on what happened, etc.

 

[scubadada]

In case you don't know, that is a poor source for information, known for distorting stories, etc. It was long blocked from SB but the block actually created interest so now we just try to warn each other.

I take a look at CDNN occasionally, for the entertainment value, not the information

Good diving, Craig

 

[DandyDon]

I take a look at CDNN occasionally, for the entertainment value, not the information

Good diving, Craig

I might use that site to get the correct spelling of names for Google searches. Even the best quality news reporting yet exists to attract readership, but you can often do better than that electronic yellow rag.

 

[farsidefan1]

I was diving with them (Mike Ball's Spoilsport) last April. When divers were in the water they had a lookout on the top deck watching for them. WITHOUT exception! I felt extraordinarily well watched out for on the trip. This only goes to show that Forest Gump was right. It happens, even when all reasonable safety measures are taken. If conditions make for poor visibility and divers show up beyond where they are readily visible and don't deploy visible markers or utilize sound making devices (which may have been difficult to near impossible if the storm was making too much background noise)then yes, even a well run machine can lose divers. It will be interesting to hear what efforts the divers made to be spotted by the boat. We did have one couple pop up on the other side of the reef and they were low on air and tired. The dingy retrieved them in a heartbeat. No biggie. The spotter topside saw them immediately and dispatched the dingy.

 

[bfisher]

Guess it's time to post what I've found out from a friend who was part of the lost dovers' group and on the boat at the time.

First off the dive site is one usually calm with little or no current and used as a checkout site. On this particular day there was apparently pretty rough seas and a lot of current. Maybe they should have dove somewhere else that day. Even a few very healthy, very experienced divers had trouble reboarding the boat after the dive.

Dive briefing cautioned divers to go hand over hand down the mooring line because of the current till reaching the bottom as the current wasn't near as bad on the bottom. Upon entering the water the two divers in question did not use the mooring line as instructed and soon were carried away from the boat, continued their dive and surfaced approximately a mile downstream from the boat. Who's fault would this be?

Also, from what I gather neither had emergency signaling devices or didn't use what they had. Who's fault would this be?

The rest of the news story and rescue efforts are pretty well detailed except that what one of the helicopters spotted was not the woman's pink wesuit but her waving her pink fins.

There are some other disgusting details that I shouldn't even mention, but I can't help it. The boat that "rescued" them was one of thrill seekers. Upon getting to the divers, instead of getting them out of the water and tending to any health issues they were left floating in the water while people flashed away with their cameras. After they were brought aboard, after being in the water for over 7 hours, they were taken inside where the air conditioning was blasting away, and more picture taking was going on. Anybody ever hear of the term hypothermia?

I feel pretty sure some pictures will find their way onto the internet so if you should see any you'll know the whole story of just how much concern there was by the "rescuers" for the divers' well being.

OK, that's enough from me. I'm just relating what was told to me by one of the medical people who were finally taken to the rescue boat to tend to the divers' needs.

 

[scubasully]

This is a great lesson in the importance of paying attention to the briefing, following instructions, and being prepared in case of an emergency. Some sort of signaling device could have made this a non-event, or a much lesser event.

I'm glad it all ended well, and it sounds like from everything I read that Mike Ball's shop is an excellent one, that they took the proper precautions and followed the proper procedure. That's who I'll dive with when I get down there!

 

[spoolin01]

If the boat operator - the expert on conditions in that area - put divers in at a location where something as simple as not hanging on the line all the way to the bottom results in being swept miles away, esp under conditions where topside visibility is bad and bubbles can't be tracked, why didn't they put a dinghy in the water prior to the end of the dive, so they would be in a position to more readily see the errant divers when they first surfaced? There have been a couple of reports here that read similarly - nothing or little is done in anticipation of a problem, the crew reacts after the divers are overdue. The Monday AM quarterbacks rush to compliment the crew on doing 'everything right, everything they could'. Divers obsess reviewing and debating technical preparedness and scenario anticipation, yet when a lost diver report reveals little evidence of pro-action on the part of the crew, it passes as meeting expectations. It's entirely possible the reports leave out important details, but that's not so much my point here. Divers are merciless about outing bad diving, I don't understand why they don't employ the same hot lamp and blackjack when it comes to the dive operators and their equipment and protocols.

 

[Gen San Chris]

Ah, Maybe if the 2 unfortunate divers had taken the PADI SMB (Surface Marker Buoy) Specialty Course then this would not have happened!
What ever was the cause of this problem, the 2 divers were recovered safely and thats the main thing!
Maybe Mike Ball Expiditions should make sure that all divers carry SMB's, Whistles and Mirrors in the future, unfortunatly a good current can really move you away from your boat and there is nothing much you can do about it!
All's well that ends well!

SAVE THE ATLANTIC LION FISH!