Freak occurrence or preventable?

[ScubaPink]

Ok. This post may get moved. I was unsure where to actually post it. This happened, I was not involved and did not hear about it until many months later. I will not say where or who or what or any of those identifying details in the interest of protecting anyone involved. ( I also only read news reports and they vary so I am going on 2nd hand information) What happened is this:

A dive charter took a group out diving. On the way back, a wave came in behind the boat and it flipped over. The result was one death and 3 or four injured. When I heard about it, I looked into the conditions on that day and I learned the waves were 5-7 ft and gusting 25mph plus winds. The winds caused "row waves" of 13ft.

Being a new diver, I recall a trip when the conditions were "less than favorable" for diving but we went anyway. Just my group and one other group were on the boat. (about 8 people ) (I learned not to use the head when the boat is in motion in rough seas....lol.....and that it isn't pretty smelling with your head on the floor in that cramped space and all you hear is the water in the bowl swishing and swishing and you cannot help but pray you do not wind up with a head full of yellow stuff) It was ROUGH on that boat. The waves were big that day and so were the winds. You could not navigate around the boat without doing a Tom Cruise in Risky Business slide all over the place. However, I never even considered it might be unsafe to be out on a boat. Yes- admittedly dumb but it just did not occur to me. I "guess" I assumed the charter would call it if conditions were not safe. If they are willing to go, though it may be unpleasant, (and it was) then it must be ok. This boat, was a big boat. (sorry I do not know boats enough to tell you what kind it was) The boat that flipped was not a big boat.

So, I am sure I will hear it is ultimately the divers responsibility to make sure conditions are safe but I am not a boat captain nor particularly knowledgeable about a boats capabilities in what conditions.

Anyone want to share any thoughts about this? Has anyone ever arrived for a dive and the trip was called for conditions? Does this happen or are they too far into the money at this point to call it?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I arrived for a dive out of Santa Barbara once, only to find an empty boat and waves crashing over the breakwall.
I was at Catalina on my 22 foot boat once when we had a windstorm pick up. We dragged anchor every time we tried to set it, so we turned around and high-tailed it for home. I surfed down a few waves on the way. It was the only time I've been scared on the water. The Great Escape and a Catalina Express boat had windows blown out that day, but the boat that got the worst of it was the Golden Eagle, aka the Rusty Chicken. They picked up a few divers who were swept away, only to have their dinghy flip, tossing everyone into the water. A lot of gear was lost, but no injuries. Other divers from the Golden Eagle were picked up by private boaters and even a couple of jetskis. Channel 16 was quite entertaining that day.

Weather predictions are much more accurate than they once were, but sometimes even the best Captains get caught out in some rough seas.

 

[chrpai]

Back around 2005, I had a buddy in Houston ( tech diver, spearfisher, SB member that some of you may know) who had a boat down in Matagorda. One day the weather was marginal and we thought if we could just get past the jetties we'd be ok.

Well before you know it we took a wave across the bow that swept the deck and ripped the cowling off the motor. It stalls out and now we are being tossed around like a rag down adrift with no power. It took a couple minutes but eventually we regained power and were able to negotiate our way back into the channel.

I never did tell my wife that story... I think we got really lucky that day.

 

[reefduffer]

Here's two, both in Key Largo, and both highly recommended ops.

Here's an excerpt from my trip report at http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/florida-diving/284167-trip-report-key-largo-4-23-09-4-24-09-a.html: edited down a to just what's relevant to your query:
...
The first day the seas were, in the words of Silent World's Capt. Bob, "2-3 feet with some 4's". The real problem apparently was the surge, although that's based on my wife's word, I noticed the surge but I'm very resistant to motion sickness, I can't remember ever actually having had it.

On the first dive of the day my wife fed the fishes twice. ... She scrubbed the second dive, along with another woman diver, a 13-year old girl doing a "Discover scuba" dive, and I heard her non-diving mom along as a passenger also got sick. I buddied with the husband of the other woman diver for the second dive.

The next day was predicted (correctly) to be just a little rougher, and my wife just turned in her rental gear. There was definitely very strong surge, but still two nice dives. ...

The third day, supposed to be the Spiegel Grove dive, the boat didn't go out. When I showed up at the dock, Capt Bob said the smallest seas would equal the biggest seas of yesterday, and it wasn't going to happen. Silent World was very gracious about refunding the difference between the 3-day package and the single days we actually went out. I would continue to recommend them.
...

And last year, we were with another op when weather came up, but diving with Conch Republic the next day. From my trip report at http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/fl...p-report-key-largo-looe-key-july-2012-a.html:
...
The third day, Saturday morning, there was some chop and surge on the site on Molasses reef, and my wife, who is prone to motion sickness, lost her breakfast. (Yes, she uses Bonine, and has tried numerous others). She decided to skip the second dive, which I did with the DM, Greg (KLDC).

We were booked with Conch Republic for Sunday and Monday. Saturday afternoon we called them and Brenda said they had cancelled that afternoon's trip, but thought Sunday would be better. But checking the internet weather, my wife decided that at best Sunday would be like Saturday AM, and said she wouldn't be diving, and offered a few options for me. I've been here before, and taking the long view, decided to just thumb the last two days of the trip. We called Brenda back, and she was nice enough to consider that enough notice. ...

 

[Lorenzoid]

I suspect most of us have had the disappointment of a dive op calling a dive on account of weather. Sometimes conditions are downright dangerous.

I recall being taken out along with a couple of other divers on a small boat in Belize--basically a skiff with an outboard. The weather was rough, and they had a bigger boat available to them, but with just three (or was it four?) divers, they decided to economize on fuel by using the small boat. Well, the boat nearly swamped a few times before the skipper decided to turn back. If I recall, we also had engine trouble on the way back but somehow made it in. They just called the dive at that point. That experience taught me to use my own judgment; I may not be as experienced as the skipper, but in the future if my instinct says something doesn't feel safe, I will decline to go out, even if I forfeit my payment for the dive.

 

[TSandM]

I've had it go both ways. Back in 2006 or so, I took a wreck class, and we were supposed to go out for a day of "experience dives". Weather was HORRIBLE, with high wind, chop, swell, and atrocious visibility. (The Sound was the color of chocolate milk.) I was sure the operator would cancel, but he didn't. We got on the boat and went to the dive site, where I looked at the prevailing conditions and thought about what would be involved in reboarding, and I called the dive for myself, and told my buddies to go on without me. All three of them immediately backed up and said, "No, we aren't going to go, either." We all paid for the charter, which I suspect was the point of having the operator go out. He figured he could get the boat out there and back without killing anybody, and we'd have to pay for the day, even though it was likely none of us would dive.

On the other hand, the same year, we had a HUGE event in Seattle, with divers here from San Diego to Vancouver. I had chartered two boats for a day in the San Juans. Wind forecasts were moderately bad, and the night before, one of the boats canceled on me. A frantic scramble ensued to contact all the local divers and tell them they were out, because we weren't going to leave out-of-town guests on shore. The one boat that was willing to go took the remaining divers, and we had a lovely day with mild winds, because the weatherguessers of the Sound, as so often happens, were not quite spot-on.

 

[elmer fudd]

Sometimes things will pop up that you aren't expecting.

I remember a trip once that I made with a 12' aluminum boat on Puget Sound. The water was calm on the 4 mile trip there. When I finished my dive however I noticed the wind had picked up. As I made my way back it really got blustery and the swells and chop must have been over 3'. Now that's not much for a big boat on the ocean, but in a 12 footer with a few miles ahead of you it seems huge. What's more, they weren't those rolling kind of swells that you find on the ocean, but short choppy waves that wanted to go over the bow and gunwale.

I wore my wetsuit all the way back just in case.

 

[Steve_C]

As noted conditions change. We've all had an interesting climb back into the boat on a day when the wind picked up a lot more than expected.

However, different operators have different philosophies. Some will go if they think it might possibly be divable and you may pay for an unpleasant ride. Others are more conservative. Research your operator.

I do a lot of diving with a particular operator because they tend to be conservative and have a reasonable cancelation policy. They believe it should be fun. They also try to cancel, if possible the evening before to save you a drive. Once in a while they miss a good day of diving. But they miss a lot of bad days of diving. I am 2hr and 20 minutes from the boat. I can always dive on a nicer day. Couple times I have gotten the call that morning on my way down. No problem. I'll go practice in the quarry.

It also differs by area. My experience in Key Largo has been that they are more conservative than the NC boats especially the Morehead and Hatteras boats, but that could just be the Largo operators I usually use.

If some experienced divers want to go in rough but divable weather that is one thing.

Personally I have some problems with operators taking discover scuba divers out in anything but good weather and water conditions.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

It went like this...
I was back in the states, from Okinawa, attending a training class in NC. I secured a dive trip for an extended day trip (one dive deep and one in shore but shallow) as well as tanks. Tthat night the winds were gaining speed as well as the rain and waves. I showed up at the shop ready to dive thinking that it will be blown out. Fishermen are coming back saying that it is too rough. But it appears that we are still going out. there was also another large group of PA divers that were down here for some positive dives. We left the dock...only one boat...and several of the PA divers were left behind in that the other boat did not go out. Once away from the dock and with rough seas the Captain asked the somewhat sick crew if we would like to do one shallow dive. Several agreeded as expected! I did the dive but several did not as they were puking. Being the last back on the boat I had the ride of my life in that I could see the entrance to the cabin as well as the prop between swells. The shop did give back the difference in price but, I'll never dive with the shop again. Care to know which shop? PM me.

 

[farsidefan1]

A few yrs ago my wife and daughter went to Grand Bahama for dive vacation. I had been in the Bahamas diving in Sept before adn conditions were perfect.Naturally I though, "What could go wrong?" Well duh, HURRICANES YOU IDIOT. There were 4 hurricanes in the area just lined up. None hit us directly but conditions were such that the boat we had chartered said something to the effect of "Are you an idiot?" He took us out in the canal behind his shop. After an hour or so of begging he agreed to take us out front. Within moments I was ready to fly for shore. The boat captain laughed his head off and said"told you so." I about kissed the dock upon our return, probably would have but my wife and daughter beat me to it. Then back to the canal