Lost/Left at Sea!

[domino22]

OK I guess I can post this here? Utila dive trip back 5 day's and have made other post's but need to make this one. I went to Utila for nine day's, seven diving. Second day I went on the afternoon trip IE 1:30 pm. Was good only four divers including DM smaller boat but alot of room VS cattle boat in the morning dives. It was to be a "DRIFT DIVE" heard the DM tell the captian the dive plan and the OTHER bouy we would come up at, it was clear to me!!! Well it was not CLEAR to the "boat driver" I will not use the words Captian in this messed up deal! We went in and down had a good dive and the DM knew where we where at, good thing I was taking photos and HE WAS MY GUIDE and did a good job period! We came up did saftey stop and I saw a boat so I came up under it and grabbed the latter oop's wrong boat but hey it was a boat. My group was 20 to 30 yrds behind me I said hey where is our boat "OH it is over there" was what I heard. So I thought cool and LET GO Bad Mistake! As I drifted towards them we all could see the boat 200 to 300 yrds away. And the "driver" was in his chair looking out into real deep water away from us. I thought this dude is smoking a doobie or did not understand the DM I still think doobie! As we floated past a mooring yelling and signaling with no responce we see him get up walk to the back of the boat looking right at us and grab the water bottle and take a drink sit it down and go back to his perch. All the time we are waving and yelling " Hey Dumb ASS". At this point I am pissed big time. I access the whole dive gone wrong deal in my head. And I am not "THAT" far from land in a small current. I can make it but where will I land? At that point I was going to head to shore and one guy in the group said I have a sausage! The DM said use it. And he did! With two hands trying to get it "ERECT" in the wind without "VIAGRA" it was lame. So as the story goes Andre started to swim back to the mooring well beyond the boat I had tried to get on earlier. And grabbed it and I grabbed his tank valve and the video guy grabbed his BC and Andre looked like he was having sex with the bouy. And we where hanging on to him the DM was still solo in the water but with us good DM and said hey we may just have to let go and swim towards shore and hit the LIGHT HOUSE and sit on it!!!!!!!!! Ok folks I can do this but I am going to kick and beat the SH$T out of the boat driver if and when we get back all agreed.Cool my redneck texan is going to be used for good things.This story continues !! The boat I was going to board at the start of this FU^K &P saw and heard us he gets up on the top of his boat and waves a neon fin and the DUMb AS$ DRIVER finally see's him and we see the boat coming towards us. BUT we do not let go of the bouy till we make red eye to red eye contact with the driver! Now it even gets better, no ****,really. Tha sausage guy says to the DM give me my VIDEO CAMERA I GOT IT NOW... DM "YOU NEVER GAVE IT TO ME" uh oh!!! I got DEPP thought dude hope you do. At this point I am swiming to the boat going to kick some local a$$ and Andre was behind me. The DM and the video dude was talking about insurance none bought before trip. AS I boarded the boat ALL I COULD SAY WAS DUDE YOU FU%KED UPed MY HAPPY HOUR!!! To the "DRIVER" and he knew!!! Big time. Andre got on and the survivors looked for the video gear. Alas thet found it in 21 feet close to the bouy we first floated by. Man I was so glad to get on that boat I let the driver live. But he could never look me in the eye the rest of the week!!! Dm did good he keep his sh$t toghether and found the video setup. Any one want to drift dive in Utila?? domino22

 

[ScubaFriend]

Hi Domino

I agree with you some of the dive operations on the island are c**p but there are a couple that are good, my suggestion if you are going to Utila dont go with the dive shops that advertise by giving out fliers on the dock ....why do they need to do that, they need the business, dont dive with the ones that give dicount, dont dive with the ones that give free rooms, as been dicussed before you get what you pay for there are a 3 shops on Utila i would recommend, can you give me a clue to what shop it was or send me a peivate message i would be interested to know as i have dived with lots of the shops there, if anyone would like my reccomendation of shops just ask

 

[DandyDon]

Glad you survived. Saved a lot on tips, eh?

I often suggest every diver carry a sausage and Storm Whistle, and I also carry a Dive Alert whistle that works off of my tank air in case of something like that. Bet you'll get all three, huh?

Whistle: http://s1059kxm.leisurepro.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1862&prmenbr=946

Sausage:
http://s1059kxm.leisurepro.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1686&prmenbr=946

Dive alert: http://s1059kxm.leisurepro.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=1209&prmenbr=946

Horrible story, but glad you're okay. You'll be a better diver for the experience...

 

[RICHinNC]

My dive alert helped me out in Barbados....we surfaced about 200 yards from the boat and it was the only thing that could reach that far. I was surprised that the dm had never heard of one.
rich

 

[fgray1]

Not only is it good for when the boat "driver" is dead from the neck up and can't spot you. It also come in handy when they think the dive flag is a target to aim at.
Don't leave home with out it.
Fred

 

[captain]

Several years ago my long time buddy and I had gone to Cozumel with a group of about 12 other divers from another city. There were two boats and the divers from the other city wanted to be together so my buddy and I had a boat all to ourselves. The second dive was a shallow drift dive and when we entered the water the boats were about 30 yards apart. Once in the water we could not locate the other group or the DM from our boat so we started drifting along the reef. After about 30 minutes we surfaced to see the boats together about 600 or more yard away. We were only about 1/4 mile off the beach so we weren't to concerned if they wouldn,t see us, we would just swim to shore. Our wives were on the boat and they said the DM was frantic. They tried to calm him down by telling him we were exprerienced divers and would be OK. After about 5 minutes of blowing our whistles and waving they spotted us and came over. I can't blame the boat driver or DM, we took it apon ourselves to do what we did and besides we didn't want to be following the horde around the reef.

Captain

.

 

[domino22]

Sausage was in room along with my extra fin strap that broke when I jumped in to see the whale shark, caught a tank with my fin. Tank won! Final result was a good face plant in the water, my bad. Whistle left on other BC in closet at home. You know I always lay out all gear on the floor before a trip and go thru my "mental" list of every thing. Well I am getting old and my hard drive is full. Going to have a better packing plan next time. But still left the sausage on the back plate in the room went with the other BC that afternoon. My fault,but the driver never did see the sausage we had up so???? But good point!

 

[DandyDon]

Sausage was in room along with my extra fin strap that broke when I jumped in to see the whale shark, caught a tank with my fin. Tank won! Final result was a good face plant in the water, my bad. Whistle left on other BC in closet at home. You know I always lay out all gear on the floor before a trip and go thru my "mental" list of every thing. Well I am getting old and my hard drive is full. Going to have a better packing plan next time. But still left the sausage on the back plate in the room went with the other BC that afternoon. My fault,but the driver never did see the sausage we had up so???? But good point!

For my first dive trips, I'd just pack everything I owned. As my personal diver shop grew, I started using Divers Direct catlaogs to help me think. Now, after 3 years and a dozen trips, I finally have a check list to work with. I'm still grooming it some...

 

[Mortlock]

Nice list Don. I see you enjoy your coffee but you've now decided to leave the coffee maker at home!

 

[DandyDon]

Nice list Don. I see you enjoy your coffee but you've now decided to leave the coffee maker at home!

Only because the Group Leader assures me that our suites will have full size coffee makers, along with other kitchen stuff. That's why I crossed it out for this trip, but did not erase it for future trips... :dazzler1: And I'm still polishing the list.