Missing Divers - Komodo National Park

[MXGratefulDiver]

I guess you just use the Tables and leave the dive computers to us 'safe' divers

I use the dive table between my ears ... my dive computer has never been out of gauge mode.

But that's a discussion for a different thread ... don't you think?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

ha ha...I wish those waters were shark infested...I don't recall seeing any...and we LOOKED!!

Thanks Bora Horza...interesting stuff

Really? We saw several white-tip reef sharks at Batu Bolong ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

Really? We saw several white-tip reef sharks at Batu Bolong ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Not that I recall...We hung there and just watched everything move with the current...thousands of fish, big fleet of bump head parrotfish and some other BIG pelagic fish, but I don't recall seeing any sharks.

There were several sites that we were told that we may encounter them, but never saw any.

5 dives a day, 9 days...

 

[Rickg]

I don't think there are many practical electronic solutions to this problem. I believe a big ole SMB, your bin bag and some dye are the best solutions I've seen for a balance of size, practicality and effectiveness.

My safety kit consists of the following (all of which fits into a single small mess bag that is stuffed into my BCD pocket) except for the Dive Alert and Storm whistle.

• Dive Alert
• Signal strobe (advertised 18hr burn time [about 2 nights] with fresh batteries)
• Signal mirror
• Safety sausage (I've been thinking about adding some SOLAS reflective tape to both sides of the sausage to make it more visible at night)
• Storm whistle
• 15 ft of nylon line with caribiner clips at each end that can be used to rope people together to avoid becoming separated

I haven't included dye yet but that is probably worth considering.

 

[Scared Silly]

A news article with timeline details on the incident HERE

Once you parse the drama for the most part a descent article. Interesting about dropping the weight belts after 4+ hours of drifting. I would have thought to ditch them sooner.

 

[jkaterenchuk]

Dude, all I was saying was that it would be strange for a boat to only have a longer range radio and not something they could use for shorter range communication.

Just for your information (and others) HF frequencies can provide exceptionally good point to point communications. AM radio, CB Radio are all considered HF and can be heard many miles and 10's of miles from the source. VHF has several limitations regarding effective communication distance and its primary technical advantage is the antenna is much smaller than an HF antenna. In the order of 1 meter for a half wave VHF antenna compared to 6 meters for a similar CB antenna and 70+ meters for a AM antenna. Of course there are always ways to make the HF antenna physically shorter at the price of lower efficiency.

John

 

[bubba105]

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | How dangerous is a Komodo dragon?

Dragons are tough animals. Getting bitten by one while stranded would lead to a slow, painful death. Then they eat you. Doesn't sound like fun.

So with all this safety equipment I'm not going to need much weight. If I have to drop my weights it will consist of a GPS, VHF, SMB & EBIRP. When I get to the surface & the RIB isn't there I'm SOOL

 

[Valwood1]

A news article with timeline details on the incident HERE

Once you get past the hype of shark-infested waters and man-eating dragons, the fascinating -- and scary -- part of the tale in the above link is that the group surfaced 30 yards from the boat and wasn't spotted by the crew, despite using whistles. And the map outlining their drift shows just how lucky they were in reaching land before floating into open ocean; that seems like a pretty narrow escape to me. Glad they're all okay.

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | How dangerous is a Komodo dragon?

Dragons are tough animals. Getting bitten by one while stranded would lead to a slow, painful death. Then they eat you. Doesn't sound like fun.

So with all this safety equipment I'm not going to need much weight. If I have to drop my weights it will consist of a GPS, VHF, SMB & EBIRP. When I get to the surface & the RIB isn't there I'm SOOL

We spent 1/2 of one of the dive days hiking on the island and never felt scared or endangered...unless you count the GINORMOUS spider in the knee high grass, the wild pigs that were everywhere and the cobra that crossed our path more than once.

The dragons were the least of our worries...we were able to get quite close to them and never felt the least bit scared. They really didn't pay us any attention. I think we were more in awe than anything. It really is a living dinosaur.

We anchored in Horseshoe bay (Rinca) for about a day and a half. Both the monkies and the dragons would patrol the beach for food, and you could always tell when there was a dragon around because there would be NO monkies. It was kind of funny.

This is one of my most favorite pics that I took...

 

[DandyDon]

The dragons that frequent the tourist trails just might be easier to deal with than the ones on remote beaches. This one had the guys wetsuit in his mouth and went for a second one?

Once you parse the drama for the most a descent article. Interesting about dropping the weight belts after 4+ hours of drifting. I would have thought to ditch them sooner.

:dunce: Huh, yeah: Survival 101? What's with that? Duh. Ok, I wasn't there and it's easy to play critic from this comfy keyboard, but for those of us sharing this discussion - if you ever find yourself struggling to stay afloat or lost at sea and wanting to found drop the lead so you'll float higher!! But I've heard & read of lost divers found adrift who never thot of it. :silly:

Once you get past the hype of shark-infested waters and man-eating dragons, the fascinating -- and scary -- part of the tale in the above link is that the group surfaced 30 yards from the boat and wasn't spotted by the crew, despite using whistles. And the map outlining their drift shows just how lucky they were in reaching land before floating into open ocean; that seems like a pretty narrow escape to me. Glad they're all okay.

I know! That kinda' scream out from the story: "The party surface after 65 minutes, as arranged, 30 yards from the boat but the crew have their backs to the divers and do not see them. 'We blow whistles but still the crew don't respond, so we put up an inflatable 4fthigh orange marker buoy, again to no avail,' says Charlotte." Based on that side of the story alone, that's hard to forgive. We want our boat crews to be watching more than one direction for us. Damn!

Ok, I'm guessing these people are backpacking light on their adventures and using rental gear; good guess? My exposure to rental BCs and the pissy little whistles tied to them are why my huge Oceanic Probe BC always goes where I go to dive; I've seen divers struggle on the surface with those little BCs, often newbies who have to overweight to sink - have almost gone in to jerk weight belts off of some who struggled at times. I'm speaking loosely here as I was not there, don't know their equipment - speaking from my own observances of other rental BCs I have seen. And from her reference to "an inflatable 4fthigh orange marker buoy," I'm guessing that only the DM had one perhaps. And those pissy little whistles that come with them?! :11: The crew could not hear them 30 yards away?

May I suggest that even the backpacking, rental gear diver can own his/her own Sausage, Dive Alert Whistle, and in case you're out of air: Storm Whistle....

Dive Alert Whistles have come down. Get yours for less than I paid for mine years ago: $40 Dive Alert Signaling Device, Fits All Standard Power Inflators (DA1) from LeisurePro.com or ask your dive shop to match the price

Storm whistles are the loudest made: $8 Storm Whistle, Orange from LeisurePro.com

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Dying while diving would be unfortunate. Dying on the surface after floating for hours would surely be worse.