Incident in West Palm Beach - May 18

[Superlyte27]

I would agree with you in most circumstances, but in this specific situation it was not an issue. Plus, you're making arguments or assumptions counter to what I have previously stated. The Captain of the other boat did not send out a random distress radio call and take off, hoping someone would happen to show up. He specifically contacted our boat - which he could see - and asked us to come over and assist. And as it is more or less stated, he did not leave his dive site until he had visual confirmation (and obviously a verbal response/confirmation from our Captain) that we were on our way to his position, which wasn't any great distance. Granted everyone was lucky all around that we just happened to be in a position to respond immediately.

Truly there was some risk no matter what. Obviously he made the judgement call that given our proximity, the greater danger and priority was to the man with the medical emergency. Could it have gone badly for the divers he left behind? Possibly. There was no perfect solution, and while I can't say that it was proper procedure or not, at the time the consensus was that it was the best course of action given the circumstances.

I did misunderstand somewhat. I'm not sure how I would have handled it with that info. I know in the Key's, the coast guard can usually get to us faster than we can get to shore. Since they have pretty good medical attention, I'd probably have contacted them and asked for instructions. But, I don't know.

 

[letterboy]

The triple 300's do help them a little bit ;-)

 

[debajo agua]

Two months ago, I dove the Speigal Grove, and with the current like none I have ever experienced, I found myself wondering on the post dive: What would the capt. do, if someone got swept away in the current, while his divers were down? A 20 - 25 minutes delay in those currents could put a diver well out of sight. If it hasn't happen yet, the potential for it to happen definitely exist.

 

[Superlyte27]

Two months ago, I dove the Speigal Grove, and with the current like none I have ever experienced, I found myself wondering on the post dive: What would the capt. do, if someone got swept away in the current, while his divers were down? A 20 - 25 minutes delay in those currents could put a diver well out of sight. If it hasn't happen yet, the potential for it to happen definitely exist.

Actually, it happens all the time. Guess what we do? We get our divers on the boat, then we go find the idiot who got swept away. HAHA>.. it's usually pretty easy to find him. We know where he's headed.

 

[debajo agua]

LoL... Thanks for the reply.

 

[DiverAmy]

It was a diver off Deep Obsession. Apparantly he surfaced but quit breathing. I was on Narcosis at the time.
[snip]

I, too, was on Narcosis that afternoon. I thought I was going to miss my dinner date in Boca because of the amount of time we spent sweeping around looking for our missing diver. Then, when we returned to the dock, with our missing diver safely aboard, I saw that other dive ops had bigger issues that afternoon.

 

[uncfnp]

I, too, was on Narcosis that afternoon. I thought I was going to miss my dinner date in Boca because of the amount of time we spent sweeping around looking for our missing diver. Then, when we returned to the dock, with our missing diver safely aboard, I saw that other dive ops had bigger issues that afternoon.

Hi Amy! I was up top during the radio conversation regarding the in water divers. I can tell everyone as well that Deep Obsession remained in contact with Little Deeper and confirmed that the remaining divers were picked up.


That was my first experience with a missing diver. I was also on the boat his first day diving with Narcosis when Capt Van told him his lift bag was not an adequate surface marker. Apparently, he did not agree. Bet he does now!

 

[DiverAmy]

Hi Amy! I was up top during the radio conversation regarding the in water divers. I can tell everyone as well that Deep Obsession remained in contact with Little Deeper and confirmed that the remaining divers were picked up.


That was my first experience with a missing diver. I was also on the boat his first day diving with Narcosis when Capt Van told him his lift bag was not an adequate surface marker. Apparently, he did not agree. Bet he does now!

I posted this on another thread in the Florida section, so not to be redundant, but I think this is important, as a result of Saturday afternoon I have decided to affix a florescent orange streamer to the top of my SMB, like the one Van has on his.

 

[Katch]

Just bought a Nautilus Lifeline a couple weeks ago. That'll be standard equipment on my dive gear.

 

[dytis-sm]

Just bought a Nautilus Lifeline a couple weeks ago. That'll be standard equipment on my dive gear.

That is probably the best safety device someone can carry. One of the boats I dive off offers them to one member of the diving group as an extra precaution. What a great idea. I would have loved to see more dive boats offer them.