Fire on safari boat Suzana in Egypt (Red Sea Aggressor)

[DanBMW]

Sure should work for that purpose.
However, diving with your passport (and green card and some cash) in such a waterproof pouch, even with all excess air squeezed out because you are diving from a cruise boat via self booked day dive trip and are to chicken to leave these items on the day boat is I'll advised as, even so it worked just fine a number of times, you might one daypend some time drying the items in the cruise cabin. You might even find out that older style passports (with the hard book binding kind of fabric coated covers) sort of have their cover structure delaminate a bit and that the thin covers (like in US passports (like in my sons) hold up much better. However, runny ink on some visa stamps (or stamped visa stickers) or on some entry / exit stamps also could be an issue if some day you find you have a reason to need to decipher something.
Ask me how I know...
Anyway a wet passport with you is oodles better than none!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keeping a copy of all important documents, on line, along with Passport, Drivers License, and any other thing necessary can be recreated at any embassy or hotel with a computer and printer. Copies are not legal but will help to recreate all documents.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I guess I I’d call myself an expert on liveaboard operations. I would expect that a lot of other folks would as well. Some absolutely detest me, and wouldn’t ever agree with me, but I’ve only had one person question my safety record.

Your expectation of Aggressor Fleet and the reality of what they actually do and offer are not quite miles apart, but they really don’t jibe either. Aggressor owns many Caribbean dive boats, including one I sold them. One of their owned boats (Carib Dancer, in the Bahamas) is the subject of much angst and many hundreds of posts regarding their terrible material condition, horrendous crew, and abysmal safety. That’s a boat they own, which I’m happy to say is doing much better now. Their franchised boats in the Pacific in Kona, Palau, etc. were their first boats franchised and Joe (the owner) has held a close relationship with the owner of Aggressor since the original owner of Aggressor (Wayne Brown is not the first owner, the man’s name was Paul Haines).

Although Aggressor Fleet owns some boats, with the requisite fleet captains and fleet engineers (friends of mine, and I was friends with the first fleet captain and operations manager), they also have either franchise or licensing agreements with other vessels. I am not privy to the specifics of those agreements, as I never wanted to be a part of Aggressor Fleet, and the feeling was mutual.

But that’s do know this. When you are a franchisee, you are spending 30% of your gross for 2 things. The first is access to the booking system, including office staff, and a network of travel agents. The second is the aggressor name and advertising. While I don’t know specifically if there are any requirements to maintain the boat in any specific condition, Aggressor sets a very low bar if so, considering the condition of some of their own owned vessels.

What you seem to expect is what you see in the slick presentation at your dive shop or in the full page ads on the back of your dive magazine. And it’s true that those pictures are taken when the boat looks its finest coming out of the yard, in real life the reality is quite different. When I saw the Belize Aggressor last month I was shocked at the shoddy condition and amazed that no one seemed to be doing anything about it. I, too, have an expectation. Soot on the side of the boat like they had a busted engine didn’t meet my expectation.

So, while you appear to think that Aggressor owes someone something, some standard of care or some standard of operation, I would suggest that the reality is that what the boat owner is actually buying is use of a name and access to a customer list and booking network, and Aggressor Fleet is collecting 30% of the revenue for those things, no more, no less.

But I could be way off base.

why you always beating yourself up lol. I like your posting here.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

10 days later and Aggressor website continues to have a vague statement about an “incident” with a loss of life, still no mention that the boat caught fire, a passenger was killed in the fire, the remaining passengers and crew had to jump overboard to save their lives, and the Red Sea Aggressor sank.

These are all FACTS, Mr Brown. Instead they remain in damage control, hoping people will continue book on their website by omitting these details.

While we all agree how bad the company handled this prior and post loss of life and ship I do not see any corporation putting a detailed report of something this horrific on their main website. Its just not done.

that said, right after the conception trajedy those owners put out statements immediately in multiple ways and on their site. Truth Aquatics though maybe fully responsible did care and obviously do care about its divers trajedy. Did truth fail us in not leaving a night watch? Yes they did. However with all this it is doubly damning to see how Aggressor has done the opposite and with forewarning in the Conception trajedy.

 

[NAUI Wowie]

People, slow down! We do not know that no one was on watch. Someone was on watch on my cruises. You don't always see the person on watch on a boat with multiple decks and areas you are not allowed to enter. Until we know what is what, please don't condemn anyone.

The crew of the Conception admitted no one was on watch. That is the foundation of the statement made by NTSB. Not something said by a person trying to escape a burning boat with their life. and all the trauma and stress that brings. I am NOT saying I don't believe all of their pain and trauma! Just saying they are in a difficult situation to be sure.

Egypt66 has a right to say what he wants, as we all do. It is called freedom of speech. Telling him to stop posting is not right just because you don't like what he says.

FWIW, this exact same sequence happened with the Conception with a local California divers list. Some got really angry, saying everything must have been caused by greedy and incompetent boat owners, and anyone that said anything different should shut up and get out. How do we learn from that kind of attitude? And we all, divers and operators alike, need to learn and improve from these horrible events.

You are naive if you think any business entity is going to write something stating anything that in not a known and verified fact. Unlike you, everything they say goes into a court of law. This is unlike any of the victims (and yes, I do say victims) making statements that may be proven to not be true. No one is going to prosecute them because no one would want to, in any way! But it is a fact of business, particularly here in the litigious US. You can't be open and up front without knowing that every single thing you say is true.

I know this from first hand experience and I've always remembered it when I see a statement like this. Yes, an unscrupulous owner/operator can be hiding something. But we can hope that the truth will out with qualified investigations. From my own experience with a very small non-profit, we had to make very limited statements when we did not renew a man's contract. It made people angry because they couldn't understand why the board had done it. the man, his supporters, and the local paper made statements that were not true and we were all targets of hate mail and threats. But if we said why, we could have been sued and taken into court, in a million ways we could not afford even though we were completely in the right. How many of you can afford to pay legal bills of several million dollars? Insurance will only cover so much. So yes, lawyers do draft much of a statement that a business owner makes in a situation like this. They have no choice in the matter. I will always remember that experience and live with the scars that left me in my trust of people and newspapers.

I've been on boats all over the world, including some I'd never go on again. There is one large chain I will not name that has lost a boat almost every single year, up to 6 boats last I heard. Most had no loss of life, but I know of at least one that did. Did all of you hear about those? No? Yet given that company's safety record, I would never go on one of their boats, nor would I book a client on one. Knowing what I know, doing that would be unethical.

I don't always love Aggressors because they aren't very big and the cabins are can be tight, but the price is very competitive and the organization is good. I love the unlimited diving policy! Some of the boats, being a franchise, aren't up to my standards, but the Red Sea Aggressor I was a good, moderately priced boat. I would have gone on it again.

When you have a heart attack underwater, chances are you will not make it because it is a very bad place for things to go wrong. Fires on boats are extremely rare, as has been said on this thread already. But it can go bad fast, with so many flammable things onboard, small spaces, most sleeping quarters below decks, and out in the middle of the water. We all need to look at this constructively, and see how we can make it safer for all of us with information based on facts.

Are you sure you are not an executive at Aggessor?

 

[rongoodman]

Of all the liveaboards I've been on, I would have thought the RSA1 would have been most likely to have crew available to stand watch all night. The crew to guest ratio was higher than any other boat I've seen.

 

[Wookie]

Of all the liveaboards I've been on, I would have thought the RSA1 would have been most likely to have crew available to stand watch all night. The crew to guest ratio was higher than any other boat I've seen.

Stewards and chefs are not crew. They are stewards. Your crew are engineers, mates and captains, and deckhands. Most flag states will have some kind of requirements for minimum manning, maybe not so much on Coastwise voyages.

 

[scubadada]

Stewards and chefs are not crew. They are stewards. Your crew are engineers, mates and captains, and deckhands. Most flag states will have some kind of requirements for minimum manning, maybe not so much on Coastwise voyages.

The RSA I ran 8 or 9 crew, 2 chefs and 2 stewards. Up to 20 passengers

 

[dmaziuk]

Boats, like Californian houses, burn fast. Neither can be built from non-combustible materials.

Cement and metal come to mind. (Yes, both can burn.)

 

[Anthias]

Are you sure you are not an executive at Aggessor?

Yes, I am quite sure.

I have had 3 group members now say they say crew up and about during the night or very early morning. My groups are not people I collect off the internet, but people I know and trust and have no reason to lie. I also have another one who says he tried to find a crew member one night and was not successful. He did not look in the engine room, galley, or crew quarter, or up on the bridge deck. Take from that what you will.

So, yes it is hearsay, but a report I have no problem standing behind. We are all talking to each other and trying ourselves to figure it out.

Someone else commented that smoking was allowed on the boat. Yes, it was allowed, as it is on just about all boats, but only from the stern top deck.

Wish I'd paid more attention to the charging area. I have a vague memory or metal shelving with the blue mesh matting on it. Maybe someone else will have a current picture or memory.

 

[Schwob]

Wish I'd paid more attention to the charging area. I have a vague memory or metal shelving with the blue mesh matting on it. Maybe someone else will have a current picture or memory.

See link to Web pic of charging table (= camera table on RSA) in post #410 ?
That poster deemed it looks like wood.

I mentioned in post #398 that my possibly flawed recollection deemed it to be wood.

Maybe somebody does have a better picture...