Divers Lost Off Lover Point (3-28-05)

[JustinW]

I heard there were a few accidents in monterey on sunday, wanted to confirm if anyone else had heard them.

First one, winds were bad enough on sunday that a kayaker got pushed out into the middle of the bay (very plausible with the weather down there yesterday)

Second one, 5 divers were diving off a RIB, upon surfacing it was gone. So I'm not sure if that meant it slipped anchor and floated out someplace, or if that meant that 5 divers were left, perhaps because weather might have caused the captain to not be able to stay in their spot. I called the dive shop I suspected this might have been today without asking and no mention was made of it, but I know there is a dive shop north of sacramento that does most of their OW certification dives off of a small inflatable.


Myth-busters here, please bust, confirm or otherwise respond

 

[MoonWrasse]

"Scuba diver rescued after hours in cold water

(03-28) 15:27 PST Monterey, Calif. (AP) --

The U.S. Coast Guard rescued a scuba diver who drifted six miles from her diving party and spent more than five hours in the frigid waters of Monterey Bay.

Jennifer Thomas, 32, of San Jose, was suffering from mild hypothermia when she was rescued at roughly 7:30 p.m. Sunday two miles south of Moss Landing, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement. Rescuers fought driving rain, wind and rough swells.

Thomas, who went out earlier in the day with four other divers, was taken to Community Hospital of Monterey Peninsula, Coast Guard officials said. On Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said Thomas had been released.

Thomas and four others were scuba diving off Lovers Point at about 2 p.m. Sunday when the weather turned rough and the group began to drift, Coast Guard officials said.

A witness on shore spotted four divers stranded about a half mile off the point at 4 p.m. The witness called a nearby kayak shop and was told to call 911.

Frank Knight and Brian Glaseur, who operate the Adventures by the Sea kayak shop, already were looking for a kayaker who rented a boat that afternoon when they spotted divers through their binoculars.

They pulled two divers into their motor boat and another two shortly after.

"We couldn't believe there was someone out there floating in the water," Knight said. "They were in pure panic mode. They were yelling and screaming, but they were so happy to see us. I was just at the right place at the right time."

The four divers were transferred to the Coast Guard in good condition.

Hours later, a Coast Guard crew found Thomas flashing a handheld beacon and plucked her out of the water.

The divers told rescuers they thought they had gone down at least 60 feet. But the sea was murky and the water deeper than they anticipated, so they came back up.

When they surfaced, their dive boat and its pilot had apparently drifted away in the high winds. None of the divers could be reached for comment on Monday.

The kayaker who got caught in the choppy seas later paddled ashore."

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/03/28/state/n152720S85.DTL

 

[CALI68]

Does anyone have any info on what happened? I read a little article in The Mercury News this morning but they didn't give much detail. I know they found everyone but what happened?

Anyone know?

Thanks
-Chris

*Article:
A San Jose woman who had been scuba diving survived for more than five hours in the chilly waters of Monterey Bay on Sunday night before the U.S. Coast Guard rescued her.

 

[BIGSAGE136]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/central_coast/11256203.htm

 

[Ben_ca]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/states/california/central_coast/11256203.htm

It's all over BA_diving inclding a report from the boat owner

also talked about in this post... maybe mods should merge these

http://www.scubaboard.com/t92232-accidents-in-monterey-on-easter.html

 

[clampinator]

Dove there many times its a cake walk what the hell was the problem. And to be in the water for 5 hours without being seen by anyone. Smething is strange about this story. Must be much more to it than meets the eye. Later Gator Clampinator

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Dove there many times its a cake walk what the hell was the problem. And to be in the water for 5 hours without being seen by anyone. Smething is strange about this story. Must be much more to it than meets the eye. Later Gator Clampinator

I dive Monterey most every Saturday and Sunday from my boat, including that day
(off a buddy's boat). It was absolutely the snottyest surface condtions I've been out in
and I have about 500 days on Monterey Bay. I was sitting on
the breakwater wall, scanning the ocean with binoculars for the missing diver and a
missing kayaker. No way I was getting back on the water.

As the earlier posters stated, there was a little discussion in another scubaboard
thread, and a LOT of discussion (including the involved boat owner) on ba_diving
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ba_diving/messages/24455?viscount=-30 would be a
good starting point. The discussion went on for several days.

It was NOT a cakewalk. Before you go saying "something is strange", do your
homework. Reading assignment above. ;-)

 

[jonnythan]

Before people start getting too bent out of shape, I'd like to point out that other than the last two posts this thread hasn't had any activity for over half a year