Lessons to be learned-Death in Palau

[srbsep]

Here is my two pence all the way on page 38...I think the argument that hooking does less damage to the reef than divers who "drape themselves over the coral" does not make sense. Both practices should be avoided. With GOOD BUOYANCY CONTROL such a dive could easily and safely been completed as a drift dive.
However, if the current is too strong to drift dive, then it definitely is TOO STRONG to hook, because what happens if you can't hook, or when you want to come up and have to unhook?
To recap:
1. BOTH hooking and careless divers with no bouyancy control damage coral.
2. If the current is too strong to drift dive then you shouldn't be in the water, period.


srbsep

 

[Hank49]

To recap:
1. BOTH hooking and careless divers with no bouyancy control damage coral.
2. If the current is too strong to drift dive then you shouldn't be in the water, period.


srbsep

Is there a current speed limit? How do you determine the speed and at what point is it too strong? Hank

 

[Damselfish]

Here is my two pence all the way on page 38...I think the argument that hooking does less damage to the reef than divers who "drape themselves over the coral" does not make sense. Both practices should be avoided. With GOOD BUOYANCY CONTROL such a dive could easily and safely been completed as a drift dive.
However, if the current is too strong to drift dive, then it definitely is TOO STRONG to hook, because what happens if you can't hook, or when you want to come up and have to unhook?
To recap:
1. BOTH hooking and careless divers with no bouyancy control damage coral.
2. If the current is too strong to drift dive then you shouldn't be in the water, period.


srbsep

I agree, obviously no one should damage the coral. But saying this should be done as a drift dive entirely misses the whole point of these dives. The critters you are there to see hang out in one place, so that's where you want to stay. It's not that it's too strong to drift - it's that you don't want to drift. The current isn't necessarily even running in a direction you would have any interest in going.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

Here is my two pence all the way on page 38...To recap:
1. BOTH hooking and careless divers with no bouyancy control damage coral.
2. If the current is too strong to drift dive then you shouldn't be in the water, period.


srbsep

You totally missed the point then, the discussion centered around skills, training, crews and events leading up to an avoidable diver death. The eco-line is a tangent.

 

[srbsep]

You totally missed the point then, the discussion centered around skills, training, crews and events leading up to an avoidable diver death. The eco-line is a tangent.

I did not miss the point. Sure the eco-line is a tangent but I made it the main point of my post by stating, at the beginning of my post, "...I think the argument that hooking the reef blah blah blah..."
Skills? Training? Even the nurse herself admitted that she could not initially hook into the reef, and could not unclip. Most, if not all the other divers all had difficulties on the dive. I think it goes without saying that almost all the divers were insufficiently trained and did not have the necessary skills to be doing that particular dive. This has already been mentioned numerous times in the fourty-odd pages of posts before this and I saw no reason in repeating it.


srbsep

 

[Cacia]

When I went to Palau after this happened, they had completely switched over to hand held hooks with little pvc "ski handles" on them. I never saw anyone hook into anything but a dead looking ledge. The reef hook from what I understood was invented by a photographer. Care should be taken when unhooked not to drag the hook along because it can get caught. I like to reel it up and stick it in my wetsuit sleeve.


I thought that lady had a heart attack. The stories get mixed up. I know one lady drowned because her reef hook got caught on a mooring line. With the new style, divers just let go.

 

[Dyvingluvly]

Here is my two pence all the way on page 38...I think the argument that hooking does less damage to the reef than divers who "drape themselves over the coral" does not make sense. Both practices should be avoided. With GOOD BUOYANCY CONTROL such a dive could easily and safely been completed as a drift dive.
However, if the current is too strong to drift dive, then it definitely is TOO STRONG to hook, because what happens if you can't hook, or when you want to come up and have to unhook?
To recap:
1. BOTH hooking and careless divers with no bouyancy control damage coral.
2. If the current is too strong to drift dive then you shouldn't be in the water, period.


srbsep

Hi there, I dove the Blue Corner, Uloong Channel and Pellieu in June 2005. I was concerned because at the time, I only had 75 dives under my belt and never heard of the reef hook. I posted a few of my concerns on this board and received quite a few responses. I scheduled a trip to Cozumel first to get used to the drift diving. So, I was pretty much prepared when I dove in Palau and the Truk Lagoon. I had an fantastic time with the reef hook. It was totally different that drift diving, but I am glad I acquired the experience. Had no problems the first I hooked on. After researching how to use the reef hook, I was told by some instructors and DM's that using the reef hook does less damage than holding on to the reef. You can't actually drift dive in some of these places because the whole point is to view the larger fish (i.e., White/Black Tip Sharks, Napoleon Wrasse, Sea Turtles etc.). I do agree with you regarding careless divers and controlling your Bouyancy, but disagree about the drift diving. Using the reef hook, you aren't actually drift diving. You are stationary holding onto a triangler plastic handgrip attached to a 5 foot rope with a hook on the end.

 

[Ilikeair]

In June I dove with the Aggressor II in Palau. The reef hooks have a release exactly like a dog leash which you may attach to yourself or just hold onto. Hand fatigue is an issue.

Here are the main safety issues I observed:

1. This is a complex dive requiring a potentially new skill. Fast current, higher than normal exertion level, maintaining buddy proximity and monitoring (rarely happened), attempting to find a "dead" piece of coral or rock to hook into and peer pressure are just some of the factors that could lead to a hazardous dive. Obviously, there is no way for me to be sure but it sounds like the woman who died for some reason paniced. The one fact that her weight belt was dropped (she was taking some action) instead of simply releasing the reef hook (Which it sounds like would have been possible since the current was not too strong) could be fatal. The process once you are hooked in is to inflate your BCD. If she dropped weights and inflated her BCD further, she would not have been able to remove her reef hook without cutting the line. Not an easy skill to find your knife with no mask on, cut the line - with no buddy assitance while panicing.

The problem is that this is an advanced dive and panicing while hooked in to a reef hook is simply not an option. Divers should be very confident before going to Palau.

As far as damage from reef hooks goes, make no mistake about it the REEF HOOKS ARE KILLING THE REEF. I was supposedly with a boat full of very experienced divers. Many had over 1000 dives. I personally saw substantial damage occur. Divers with camera rigs as big as my car in fast current trying to get to the perfect spot for the perfect photo. I left my monster rig at home and went with the small one. Blue Corner, the famed Palau dive spot which has probably 100 divers visit it each day, looks nothing like the other less frequented dive spots. The coral is mostly dead. It will all be dead in 15 years. Guaranteed. The problem is not so much the reef hook, it is the line coming from the reef hook. After you hook in the surge is moving you all around and you basically become a coral lawn mower. It is horrible. Plus, when you have that many people that close to a reef the amount of contact is significant. I saw fins hitting coral, stressed divers wearing gloves holding on, divemasters with hooks swimming around and instead of finning just hooking in every few feet and pulling themselves along, dive masters and others using hand holds. You get the idea. Basically the REEF IS ALREADY DEAD. That said, I guarantee you that nobody on the boat believed they caused any damage...but they did...a lot of damage. And somebody else is causing damage today.

As far as the Palau Aggressor II goes, I was unimpressed. The boat is beautiful, the above water operation is professional, the people are very nice, the food is great, the protection of the enviornment and the diving practices are the worst I have ever seen on any liveaboard. First of all, they do not reinforce the buddy system. To the contrary. On my first dive I saw someone swimming alone in poor visibility who I knew entered the water with a buddy. I approached her signaling, "Where is your buddy?" and she just pointed off into zero viz and gave me the shrug. She was an "Advanced Diver" with about 35 dives. This happened on every single dive all week. On our boat there were only 3 buddy teams that maintained proximity. This is no exageration when I say there were buddy teams surfacing more than 10 minutes apart from each other every single time they went diving. No, they did not have pony kegs or training for this. I ended up knowing these people fairly well. In my opinion, it was CRAZY! These were challenging dives. We went into overhead environments, used reef hooks and had some serious current. The Aggressor staff would not even make a comment. Not at the dive briefings, NEVER! They would only say something if you stayed down for over 60 minutes. If you were down 61 minutes they would make a comment but if you came up at 59 minutes and your buddy came up at 49 minutes - maybe 300 meters away - not one word.

One smaller point. The Aggressor staff creates shark feeding frenzies for the entertainment of their guests by throwing turkey carcasses, ribs whatever overboard. Once they did it the guests started doing it. I have never seen this level of environmental disregard from the crew of a dive operation.

The procedure on the Aggressor is that three divemasters go on each dive. One leads, one in the middle and one at the end. So, don't think a dive master was with these non-buddy groups. Lastly, they put individual EPIRB GPS locators on the divers in case you get swept to sea which has happened several times in Palau. One buddy team within the past year was out drifting for 10 hours or so (not from the Aggressor). Here is the kicker... They did not have enough EPIRBS so a few buddy teams had to share. But there were no buddy teams. Get your own EPIRB if you go!!! God knows you paid for it.

Side note: Many on the boat had sinus issues. I don't know anything about anything but there was literally 1/2 inch of mold in the stateroom bathrooms. Only in certain areas like the fan and behind the poles next to the showers where the maid cannot reach but it smelled like mold and you could see large areas of it. If you have a mold allergy, you cannot go on the Aggressor.

 

[Diver Dennis]

Perhaps you could fill out your profile? The reason I ask is that many times we have folks come on and say a lot of bad things about a particular dive operation or boat just to start rumors. Not to say that is what you are doing but most of the time they don't have their profile filled out either. Letting us know who you are will give your report some credibility. After all, this is the internet...

 

[Cacia]

yes, I am having a little trouble with this report, 388.

sorry, I just find when people go from death and destruction right into mold allergies...you strike me as a malcontent.

You are correct, these dives are not for everyone. I would even agree they are for thrill seekers. People who don't want a certain level of danger should not go.
The problem I see, is there are people who want these types of exciting dangerous drifts, and then there are people who want to go, say they did it, get the T-shirt, and then complain that it was not Disney-land.

Look, get real. A "buddy" or even your mommy can not save you from certain things. Peleiu is notorious for eating divers alive. That's why the T-shirt says "I survived". This is a dive you do when you want danger...why else? People want to dive with sharks and wicked currents, because it is dangerous and unpredictable. But if one bites you....you cannot blame the operator. Frankly, if a new diver is paying any attention to what is said about this dive and still decides to go, without building their skills and confidence in a sound and solid way...well...they will have survival problems that trancend scuba.