Lessons to be learned-Death in Palau

[pkrupela]

Had to weigh in on this one... I dove Blue Corner and Pelileu Cut in the 80's before reef hooks were even used there. A few thoughts: 1) the current can rip there, and inexperienced divers shouldn't put themselves into that kind of a situations, i.e., ripping currents and the use of unfamiliar equipment such as a reef hook, 2) Peter Hughes is no stranger to diving fatalities, and they should have not put inexperience divers in the water at Pelileu Cut when the current was that strong, 3) and this is a pet peeve - in today's world, you get certified when you paint a park bench - having a C card says nothing about your experience level, swimming ability, the conditions you're used to, etc., 4) what's a buddy? you need to be self-reliant, and what good does a buddy do in that kind of situation, especially if he/she is as inexperienced as you. Let's all make money by certifying people who can barely swim, but have enough money so we can sell them all sorts of gear and stick them on a fancy liveaboard off of Palau with no experience where they get dropped into a ripping current with little or no supervision and third world medical facilities. Why do you think so many Japanese divers die at Palau?

 

[cudachaser]

First, I am posting under my husbands' name. I am the wife, Cher, giving my opinion:

How fortunate she was to have you, the fast-acting, selfless nurse on the dive. You are a gem for caring and I applaud your actions.
The tragedy is greed, in my opinion two-fold. When you say hook in are you referring to physically and intentionally hooking into live coral? Or anything else growing underwater to stabelize oneself and compensate for current? So novices routinely are diving in these conditions? And encouraged to axe-murder coral?

A-They are adults but need to be briefed on consequences of their actions; the intensity and danger level. Dive operator, please a ratio of 1:17. Greed and exploition. Very unprofessional sounding.

B-Shame on everyone involved if I get the picture straight. Hooking into coral to avoid a ripping current? Routinely? SOP? Just so a human can attempt to stick around and gawk? If that's the case, greed rules once again but Mother Nature has the final say: Be warned air breathers, molest not my bounty, love with the eyes and heart. How can divers who profess to love the sea intentionally murder coral for ten minutes of possible pleasure? I hope I have this all wrong. Please tell me this is not standard operating procedure! I wanna be wrong.

My heart goes out to the innocent victims' family and loved ones.

 

[cudachaser]

http://home.swipnet.se/~w-42581/palau99_pics/reefhook2_b.jpg

http://www.samstours.com/kevin/hook2.jpg

http://www.samstours.com/kevin/hook1.jpg

Here's a pic of the likely CFs that happen when this stuff goes down..

http://users.rcn.com/clonk/bubbles1.jpg

Note: These are all from Palau

Edit: I just had to add this...this picture is one of the biggest CFs I have ever seen captured on film. It's kinda hard to tell what is what, so look at it for a second. Note the diver in pink clutching the reef with both hands hanging on for dear life. Then look at the jumble of fins and bodies all lying on the reef and grasping at hand holds. This is diving at its worst..

I just had to add this is sick. Hooking is wrong, selfish and intentional murder. posted by Cudachasers' Wife

 

[cudachaser]

Ok, I am going to change my viewpoint on this a little. For a couple reasons, one...having never dove in anything like you guys are talking about...unless you consider Bonaire to have strong current...hehehe, I have a better idea of what that must have been like for her.

The current had to be dreadful, but to be hooked onto something preventing you from doing anything constructful? WOW! Who knows if she was even strong enough to unhook herself. I'm trying to imagine how I would feel in that situation...horrible current, missing fin, mask flies off, I'm hooked onto this damn thing, now I have salt water in my eye or my eyes are shut..either way, vision is basically gone. Thats some pretty freaky stuff. I'll back off on the she should of done this, done that. blah blah crap. I'm sure alot of us would not be happy with that situation.

As far as liability goes, they were all given these devices before the dive to hook onto the reef or whatever the hell it is they do. Now, if I was given one of these, I'd be like...*** is this for? After the reasoning, I may have aborted, but I guess its how it was described to me. Another one of those variables we may not know.

I'm going to Cozumel soon and was planning on doing an advanced dive, but now I am thinking twice. I'll see how my first couple drift dives go and how my comfort level is. Maybe this trip I'll skip on the advance ones, but we'll see. I'll definetly pay attention to the 'Trust Me' dive briefing...and I'm sure I'll remember this thread.

You go to Coz and pay attention. I know you will have a blast. But I will tell you in Mexico if you even THINK about hooking into a reef, you will be fined. ( However, the cruise ships can do about anything and get by with it. ) But at least no hooking. posted by cudachasers wife.

 

[MoonWrasse]

I just had to add this is sick. Hooking is wrong, selfish and intentional murder. posted by Cudachasers' Wife

Or a great way to feed the sharks ctopus:


(do you recall Jurasic Park 1, where the goat was chained to lure the T-rex?)

 

[cudachaser]

Unless you're trying to stay in one spot to observe the marine life feeding in the current.

Although it's an old thread, it's a good one to pop back up top for people to review. Like most tools, reef hooks have both advantages and disadvantages/dangers.

MAJOR SHAME is hooking (AKA DESTROYING) reef.
TOOL like a sawed off shotgun in a 7/11.
ADVANTAGE - puts $$ in someones pockets and smiles on the faces of selfish murderous morons.
DISADVANTAGE -hooking KILLS reefs, the very thing we divers LIVE for. Stop killing reefs. Go play on a mountain with your tools, big man. You are not a waterman so trade in your tanks for something more suitable to your mentality. You and your like give shame to all divers.

Posted by cudachasers wife, Cheryl.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Stop killing reefs. Go play on a mountain with your tools, big man. You are not a waterman so trade in your tanks for something more suitable to your mentality. You and your like give shame to all divers.
Posted by cudachasers wife, Cheryl.

Cheryl,

Welcome to ScubaBoard. You can sign on yourself, you needn't use someone elses access.

No one is advocating killing reefs. Take three deep breaths before going postal here.

Check the dates. This thread began in 2003. Reef hooking is pretty common, been going on for awhile. At least a decade or longer. Is it destructive? Sure. D'ya think that bringing boatloads of tourists to various reef spots on the morning and afternoon runs every single day so they can drop down and crawl around, break stuff, fin kick the living dog-doo out of whatever happens to be beneath them on the reef is a little bit destructive too? Reefs are being loved to death all over the planet.

By all means, advocate on behalf of the reefs, but chill with the personal attacks...no one on ScubaBoard is suggesting that wanton destruction is a good thing.

Regards,

Doc

 

[pilot fish]

I was wondering what I would have done differently in that type of current, if I had been clipped into the reef and lost a fin, turned to look after it and lost my mask too. I think I would have turned around, concentrating on breathing thru my reg/mouth, not dropped my weights, unclipped or broken free, and went to the surface. It might be she tried that, no one knows.

This is one reason that I occasionally, at least one time during my dive trip, take my mask off at depth, so that I can get a bit accustomed to that feeling. What do you think a diver should have done in her situation?

 

[detroit diver]

.............What do you think a diver should have done in her situation?

Not use a reef hook to start out with. Or, at minimum, don't clip it to yourself.

 

[lvignerot]

Not to mention what these hooks are doing to the reef.

I was there on the Ocean Hunter that week- we used reef hooks all the time. When we went to the Pelielue Cut, it was ripping- it was a full moon and they say the current gets worse. The reef hook was a lot less damaging than the Japanese that were mugging all the coral, breaking it off, and then tumbling backwards killing more coral on their way. They dont use reef hooks and they kill tons of coral everytime they go out. We, on the other hand, only hook to DEAD coral (inevitabley created by the Japanese). I am extremely careful to make sure I hook to dead coral- not live stuff. We were told on the OH to abort if we couldn't hook or if it got too bad- then it would be a drift dive over a plateau that would take us over blue water where we would do our safety stop at 15' and put up our sausage. We were not pressured to hook or to not abort. I would think PHD would have given the same briefing, but I wasn't there.
Lisa