Mozambique dive trip gone wrong

[Jan Kruger]

I am very sorry to hear about this sad ending to your first trip to Mozambique!

I have been diving in that area since 2000 and if conditions are good ,it can be some of the best diving you will ever experience.

By reading your account of what happened when you came in to land , i would guess that because of the relatively rough conditions , your skipper had to rush in to avoid being caught out by the waves , and therefor came in way way way too fast!

The fact that besides the 4 passengers , the skipper also flew off the boat when he could hold on to the steering column ! It is also a miracle your wife didn't hit her head on any of the diving gear stored on the boat!

This type of thing happened to us once also at Ponta Malongane but luckily it wan't that violent- only one guy flew off and we gave the skipper a good piece of our minds!

During all the time we have been launching from the beach that was the only such incident ever and we at the time realised that it was pure skipper error - this happened in 2002.

We regularly dive at Ponta Du Ouro and Sodwana and we know when the skipper is competent or not - like for instance how impatient they are to get out of the bay area when launching - or whether they are patiently waiting for the right wave to take them out etc.

I really hope you and your wife will be able to return to Mozambique and that you experience and enjoy the same wonderful dives there that we have !

You should actually name and shame this operator in the local divestyle to ensure we exclude these Kamakaze types from our happy dive times.

Best of luck to you guys.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Sorry to hear about your wife. I'm glad the injuries, while painful I'm sure, weren't more severe. It sounds like it could have been much worse. Wishing her a speedy recovery.

 

[DandyDon]

I doubt that beach landings are commonly done such that skippers or passengers often are ejected. Pilot error or a surprisingly large push from a wave? I wouldn't know - wasn't there.

Pity about your wife's experience. Hope it happened so fast she didn't have time to feel trapped, best wishes on her recovery, and bully for your "spoiling her" attitude. She may not want to go anywhere at all for a while...?

 

[Deefstes]

I sent a letter of complaint to the booking agent who in turn passed it on to the head honchos of the resort. Below is a section of his e-mail which explains what had happened. It's a little unwieldy as his paragraphing leaves much to be desired but you get the idea. I'm not sure I'm buying all of it and would love to know what others who know more about boating have to say about this. I mean, do waves really roll in to shore at varying speeds? I thought the speed of a wave is determined by the medium through which it moves. I'm sure at certain times there are more waves and more violent waves but as far as I understand they all move at the same speed. But I appreciate that they've taken the time to actually give me an explanation and an apology.

I do feel however that, if diving is so dangerous a sport that these type of incidents can not be avoided, then it shouldn't be done. I can't imagine a commercial airline pilot saying "sorry, this airport is one of the most difficult ones to land a plane and there was a cross wind and it was very cloudy so it's not unusual for the plane to have crashed".

At any rate, here is the guy's response for anyone who might be interested. I'd love to know what you think.

In regards to the boat incident the following; I arrived in the dive camp almost an hour after the incident and Derek, the dive camp manager explained to me what had happened. Being a skipper myself and launched from Malongane the past 5 years I can get you in contact with skipper-instructors that will verify for what I am going to explain now. Parque de Malongane’s launch site is the second most difficult launching site in the WHOLE OF MOZAMBIQUE. It is also the site where the most boats (fishing boats) has overturned this year alone in Mozambique taking in consideration the amount of boats that launches from here. The bay constantly changes and what makes it the most difficult is the sand banks that forms in the bay and thus intensifies the difficulty to launches from out the bay. Coming back from a launch especially when it is low tide in the Malongane bay a skipper needs to negotiate the waves in a “zig-zag” pattern to avoid cavitation from the props in the “white water” caused by the shallowness of the sand bank. However, this particular incident occurred whilst it was the aftermath of the equinox and it was busy getting low tide. Again, the sand bank in the bay still plays a vital role and it has a huge effect on the waves that washes out on the beach. When waves is as big and close on each other and the bay does not offer the usual “safe zone”, once a skipper committed to come into the bay there is no turning back. What had happened was that when the skipper committed to come in to beach, he was forced due to the size of the waves and the speed they came to stay committed, as the wave he followed in suddenly became much “smaller” when it hit the sand bank, it caused more than usual white water and his props cavitated, thus lost his speed to such an extent that when he actually managed to get through the white water patch the wave behind the boat was to big and to close for the skipper to do anything else than to stay ahead of the wave. This resulted in limited time for the skipper to scout for the most appropriate site to beach as the sand bank still played a huge factor in decision making. Taking all these factors in consideration, it so happened that once the skipper was committed to use the wave that just washed out on the beach to beach himself, the water retracted far quicker than he anticipated and eventually landed on a sand patch not far enough out to be cleared from the wave that was just behind the boat. The wave that was behind the boat immediately hit the boat with such force that the skipper did not even had time to warn anybody nor to switch off the engines. This actually shows how close the wave really was because of the boat losing momentum in the white water. Should the wave caught up with you in the white water the consequences could have been far more disastrous, under the circumstances the skipper was in he handled the situation appropriately. Your comment on the “kill switch wristband” that was not around his wrist can lead to huge debates in the marine world. It is not compulsory to wear the bands but it is a good practice for the recreational skipper. Being a commercial skipper where there is other divers on the boat it can be much worse and disastrous to have the band around your wrist. Let me just remind you that there is NOT ONE commercial or even recreational skipper that does wear them. Let me just explain one scenario for you why I am telling my skippers NOT to wear these wrist bands. Should a skipper launches in rough seas and it so happens that for some reason he needs to face and hit a big wave two things can happen:

a. The momentum can knock the skipper off his feet for one second but the switches can be deactivated, where the skipper could have immediately acted further to get out of the situation he now needs to first reconnect the kill switch’s and unnecessary put the lives of the other divers in jeopardy, or

b. The wave does knock the skipper off the boat and now the top man cannot drive the boat further as the switch is killed and the skipper gone with it, also putting the lives of other divers unnecessary at risk.

I will challenge any authority to prove me wrong in this regard as the con’s of the wrist band is far greater than the pro’s in this regard. Our dive Camp personnel are trained and qualified as 1st aid response but only to stabilize a person and to get such person to the nearest hospital. In this incident there was both a dentist (trained in medical practices) and a paramedic that assisted your wife at the moment. As they are more qualified in the medical world they get preference to handle situations should they choose to do so. They also used our medical supplies to treat your wife, but as this is the first ever incident where as a guest has broken bones other than a nose I agree we were not geared for it – but we learned and will get such medical appliances needed in treated broken bones as well.



I will not be able to express my sympathy enough towards your wife because of this incident as I also have no idea what she is going through at the moment, but we all do know that diving is a dangerous sport with risks involved as most diving along the south coast of South Africa and Mozambique utilizes surf-launching practices, which is far more risky and dangerous as harbor launching. This does not implicate though that our skippers is ignorant of situations as I can promise you it also has a psychological effect on them as they always strive to begin and end a launch in the safest way possible to become the “hero” of the divers that dived from their boat. As a Company we also do not ignore incidents and behind the scenes as management we try to resolve issues to stay safe, and render a professional service towards our guests.

 

[DandyDon]

I dunno. It's going to take me a while to try to read that, but yes - rogue waves happen. Beach strollers have all too many times suddenly been plucked from the sand and sucked to sea by them, boats have been capsized, broken and/or sunk by them, they happen with some degree of unpredictability. Usually it involves two normal waves joining forces at an unforeseen time and place. The worst times of risk are right around a storm period like the one you described so that while the outing was deemed reasonably safe by experienced seamen, there will be no guarantees and an elevated risk the first day of resuming sea runs.

Bottom line: Yes it is a real sport, unlike bowling & golf - you can die from it. We do try to manage it safely and minimize the risks, but if you can't accept that there is some - either pick safer times and places, or a safer hobby.

 

[Deefstes]

fair enough

 

[ScubaSteve]

......rogue waves happen.......

I agree Don however there was no mention of a rogue wave. The problem seems to have been that the wave immediately behind the boat was closer to the boat than the captian thought. This sort of sounds like it myight have been an error in judgement on his part. Being a professional Captian as the letter writer "tooted", I do not think it fair that we call this a rogue wave when it is quite possibly Captain judgement error (which happens). Is it fair to think it is judgement error? I am not a captain so I cannot say for sure.

fair enough

Deefstes, did the captain go over in detail just how rough the re-entry could be before you left (or even got into the boat)? If this is that common (the bad conditions are according to the letter writer) to have conditions like this, I would think they would address that before you get into the boat. I then think it would only be prudent and responsible (maybe I am asking for too much here) of the captain to warn people that it was about to get very rough and hold on tight....keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times...etc. Did this happen or was it left to your jedgement to hold on tight? Sorry if this was in your original post but I have forgotten.

 

[mynamehere]

Man - i am so sorry to hear about your wife!

I went there in May (Ponto Molongane) - when some of my stuff was stolen off of the deck - they told me it must have been monkeys that carried my stuff off into the trees.

Can you believe that? A hat - and in it was a dive watch, tank top, pair of hand carved horn earings, and a surgical steel ring for my septum.

I never did see a monkey with its septum pierced rockin' my hat, tank top, watch and earings.

Next time i spend a ***** ton of cash getting from florida to Mozambique - i am diving at ponto do ouro or tofo.

I have a few other complaints about that place - they almost wouldnt take us out because there weren't enough divers. And when they did - they always kept us close to the resort. So we never went anywhere to see mantas or sharks. 8( But everyday was a battle - 'can we please go diving - i have paid for four dives and come all this way. PLEASE. PLEASE. I will pay extra.' ...sorry. not sure. we will let you know later.

And one one occasion - when the boat hit the shore - i flew forward. landed on the deck with my feet still in the straps. I was the only one - and quite embarassed. The only injury was to my ego. I figured it was my own fault.

Honestly - the entire thing wasn't a horrible experience. It was just so dissapointing at times.

 

[Theunis]

Hi Deefstes, sorry to hear about your wife's injuries. Please send my regards.

I have read the explanation and it sounds rather feasible to me if I can put it that way.

I'm not an expert on boating and reading the waves to make a safe beach landing but from experience it can be a challenge for any skipper to do it right and safe during rough seas.

I did about 21 dives at Protea Banks, KwaZulu Natal (SA) and all dives at Protea Banks are beach launched through the surf. I never had a bad experience like you had but from experience I tend to brace myself and hold on for dear life the moment I think the beaching will take place. During all of those beachings the skipper went for the beach at full speed and when the boat hit the beach it always came to an abrupt stop. You have to be ready for it.

If a boat hit a shallow sand bank or patch before the beach the skipper and divers may not be ready for it. What did your boat hit, the beach or a sand bank prior to the beach?

 

[Deefstes]

ScubaSteve, the skipper did tell us to hold tight as the launch would be rough but I don't believe he stressed the point any more than I've heard on any other launch. To me that doesn't really matter. I guess I'm just a little disillusioned to find out just how dangerous these beachings really are and how "normal" accidents such as these seem to be considered to be.

I mean, from the very first OW class the matter of safety was drilled in and we really try to be safe divers. In fact, judged from what I see amongst other divers here locally, I think my wife and I are putting in more effort than many others to be safe. We practice safety drills at the local quarry when we have time and we try not to let a dive pass without us practicing at least one safety skill, albeit just regulator recovery.

But now it seems that you can be as safe as you want to, during the boat launch and beaching, you're still at the mercy of whatever random elements may happen to play havoc with the boat on that particular day and that's just it, get used to it. Hmmm, I really want to believe that the safety of boating should be commensurate with the safety of diving.

Mynamehere, I find it interesting to read your comments. I can relate to what you're saying but I'm not sure it's unique to Ponta Malongane. I rather get the impression that its typical to most of southern African diving ops. It seems to me there are two typical scenarios that you will most likely find yourself in:

1. You're diving during a busy period when the place is swamped with divers and you're constantly jockying for position and you have to grovel and kiss butt to get what you want. Dives are short and getting more than 2 dives per day would be like a miracle.

2. You're diving during a quiet period when the dive op can't fill the boats to full capacity and consequently wouldn't take you out or wouldn't take you to the reefs that are further out. Again you have to grovel and kiss butt to get what you want

I have limited experience but this does seem to be a recurring theme. I don't know what its like in other parts of the world but according to friends of mine who dived in Thailand, they'd be taken out on a dive even if they were the only two divers on the boat. In fact, there was one dive where only one of them wanted to go out and the boat launched for him alone with the DM pairing up with him as buddy. I'd like to see one of our local dive ops do that! No chance.