Here's my dive flag story.
Last August my wife and I were vacationing in the Cayman Islands. We were scheduled to be there a week. On the third day everyone at the resort was told that we would have to leave the island because of a hurricane. We were evacuated to Miami.
Not wanting to cut our week short, my wife and I rented a car and drove to Key Largo. We found a dive ship and signed up for a couple of trips.
The next morning we went out from Key Largo. One the boat was my wife, an instructor and four student divers, and I. We proceeded out on the reef and tied to a mooring ball. This was an extremely shallow dive (I guess because of the trainees). The point where we were moored was only 20 feet. My wife and I went one way while the instructor and his group went another. After about 30 minutes, my wife and I became kind of bored, after all, we had just dove Cayman two days before and this dive did not impress us, to say the least. We were right under the stern of the boat, contemplating whether to end the dive or to make another circle around. Suddenly, we heard boat engines and they were getting closer very quickly. I was right under the boarding ladder and I saw a boat plow right by in front of our boat. It was obvious that the boat was very close, but of course it's hard to judge distance underwater. After the prop wash cleared, I saw the mooring rope, which was no more that 15 feet long, floating free in the water. The boat had actually cut our mooring line. This means that the prop on that boat had come within 15 feet of our boat. I decided "Time to get out!" I got out and found the two-man crew on the radio. They were trying to contact the other boat. They said that the boat just came straight at us. They blew their horns, yelled on the radio and did all they could but the boat never turned or slowed. There were prop cuts in the mooring ball itself. The crew radioed the Coast Guard. The CG said that since no one was injured, they were not going to investigate. Oh, I left out one part. The instructor and his students, they were under the mooring ball when the boat crossed. Bear in mind that this water was only 20 feet deep!
This was perhaps the scariest dive I have been on. The boat was a very large, (about 70-ft) expensive cruiser equipped with radar, sonar, loran, and all the goodies but somehow the pilot was unable to see a 46-foot dive boat or its flag. Considering that our mooring line was 15 ft and their prop cut the mooring ball, this means that they missed hitting our boat by mere inches! It is a miracle that none of the student divers was injured. Had the boat actually hit our boat, my wife and I, too, could have been seriously injured, as we were only inches from the boarding ladder. The crew could also have been seriously injured. It was infuriating that the CG refused to investigate. We all theorized that the driver of the other boat was either drunk or on drugs, or both, but weÃÍl never know. The boat did finally stop and talk on the radio. The driver stated that he was ÅÓeading charts and did not see us. Ours was not a small boat. We were five miles off shore but we could still see land. IÃÎ sure our boat was visible for at least two miles. There was no reason for him to cruise at high speed across the reef in shallow water; thereÃÔ plenty of deeper water just a little further out off the reef.
Needless to say, I have become more aware of boats operating in the vicinity of divers. Unfortunately in this case, the driver could not see the boat, much less our dive flag! The reason I began this story telling of our interrupted Cayman trip was this, my wife and I now joke that we escaped being killed by a major hurricane only to be run over by a darned boat.:blinking:
Last August my wife and I were vacationing in the Cayman Islands. We were scheduled to be there a week. On the third day everyone at the resort was told that we would have to leave the island because of a hurricane. We were evacuated to Miami.
Not wanting to cut our week short, my wife and I rented a car and drove to Key Largo. We found a dive ship and signed up for a couple of trips.
The next morning we went out from Key Largo. One the boat was my wife, an instructor and four student divers, and I. We proceeded out on the reef and tied to a mooring ball. This was an extremely shallow dive (I guess because of the trainees). The point where we were moored was only 20 feet. My wife and I went one way while the instructor and his group went another. After about 30 minutes, my wife and I became kind of bored, after all, we had just dove Cayman two days before and this dive did not impress us, to say the least. We were right under the stern of the boat, contemplating whether to end the dive or to make another circle around. Suddenly, we heard boat engines and they were getting closer very quickly. I was right under the boarding ladder and I saw a boat plow right by in front of our boat. It was obvious that the boat was very close, but of course it's hard to judge distance underwater. After the prop wash cleared, I saw the mooring rope, which was no more that 15 feet long, floating free in the water. The boat had actually cut our mooring line. This means that the prop on that boat had come within 15 feet of our boat. I decided "Time to get out!" I got out and found the two-man crew on the radio. They were trying to contact the other boat. They said that the boat just came straight at us. They blew their horns, yelled on the radio and did all they could but the boat never turned or slowed. There were prop cuts in the mooring ball itself. The crew radioed the Coast Guard. The CG said that since no one was injured, they were not going to investigate. Oh, I left out one part. The instructor and his students, they were under the mooring ball when the boat crossed. Bear in mind that this water was only 20 feet deep!
This was perhaps the scariest dive I have been on. The boat was a very large, (about 70-ft) expensive cruiser equipped with radar, sonar, loran, and all the goodies but somehow the pilot was unable to see a 46-foot dive boat or its flag. Considering that our mooring line was 15 ft and their prop cut the mooring ball, this means that they missed hitting our boat by mere inches! It is a miracle that none of the student divers was injured. Had the boat actually hit our boat, my wife and I, too, could have been seriously injured, as we were only inches from the boarding ladder. The crew could also have been seriously injured. It was infuriating that the CG refused to investigate. We all theorized that the driver of the other boat was either drunk or on drugs, or both, but weÃÍl never know. The boat did finally stop and talk on the radio. The driver stated that he was ÅÓeading charts and did not see us. Ours was not a small boat. We were five miles off shore but we could still see land. IÃÎ sure our boat was visible for at least two miles. There was no reason for him to cruise at high speed across the reef in shallow water; thereÃÔ plenty of deeper water just a little further out off the reef.
Needless to say, I have become more aware of boats operating in the vicinity of divers. Unfortunately in this case, the driver could not see the boat, much less our dive flag! The reason I began this story telling of our interrupted Cayman trip was this, my wife and I now joke that we escaped being killed by a major hurricane only to be run over by a darned boat.:blinking:
