sytech
Contributor
I was recently on Caye Caulker in Belize and experienced the following on my second dive of the morning as related to my friends by email:
"So there I am at about 15-20 or so feet just dangling in space waiting for the 3 minutes to finish my safety stop so that I can surface. There are several divers hanging a few feet above me also doing their safety stops. Suddenly I hear this roaring sound and I look up and see a shadow which was the outline of the dive boat which was cruising right above us. Had anyone lost control of their bouyancy they could have shot to the surface and cracked their head into the hull of the boat or much worse. The boat had a double prop engine which was running. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
For obvious safety reasons, the boat should have been nowhere near us but several hundred feet away and without his engines running. I gasped when I saw and heard the boat right above me and my gasp apparently added some buoyancy to my lungs and I started ascending a bit. I pulled on all 3 of my dump valves to make sure there were no residual air bubbles in my BC and I exhaled which allowed me to descend several feet and be out of range of the idiot who was operating the boat.
I swam laterally to make sure I was away from the boat and surfaced about 35 feet in back of it but the ocean was a bit rough and I didn't want to be anywhere near those propellers. One engine was still running though. I kept yelling to the crew to shut the engine off and they finally did. When I boarded the boat I forcefully asked the "captain" why he was cruising over a dive area and more importantly why did he not shut off his engine. He gave me some lame excuse but acknowledged that he had made a mistake.
He had made a very serious mistake which could have had tragic consequences, particularly for the 4 divers who were above me and closer to the hull of the boat. Strangely yet predictably no one on board mentioned anything about this incident. I am always amazed at how timid people can be in these situations".
When I got back to the dive shop I told the owners what had happened and they were appreciative that they were informed. Their boat operator was completely reckless and could have caused a disaster.
We ultimately have to be responsible for what happens to us when diving but we have to be alert to reckless fools like this boat operator and speak out when something like this happens.
Sy
"So there I am at about 15-20 or so feet just dangling in space waiting for the 3 minutes to finish my safety stop so that I can surface. There are several divers hanging a few feet above me also doing their safety stops. Suddenly I hear this roaring sound and I look up and see a shadow which was the outline of the dive boat which was cruising right above us. Had anyone lost control of their bouyancy they could have shot to the surface and cracked their head into the hull of the boat or much worse. The boat had a double prop engine which was running. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
For obvious safety reasons, the boat should have been nowhere near us but several hundred feet away and without his engines running. I gasped when I saw and heard the boat right above me and my gasp apparently added some buoyancy to my lungs and I started ascending a bit. I pulled on all 3 of my dump valves to make sure there were no residual air bubbles in my BC and I exhaled which allowed me to descend several feet and be out of range of the idiot who was operating the boat.
I swam laterally to make sure I was away from the boat and surfaced about 35 feet in back of it but the ocean was a bit rough and I didn't want to be anywhere near those propellers. One engine was still running though. I kept yelling to the crew to shut the engine off and they finally did. When I boarded the boat I forcefully asked the "captain" why he was cruising over a dive area and more importantly why did he not shut off his engine. He gave me some lame excuse but acknowledged that he had made a mistake.
He had made a very serious mistake which could have had tragic consequences, particularly for the 4 divers who were above me and closer to the hull of the boat. Strangely yet predictably no one on board mentioned anything about this incident. I am always amazed at how timid people can be in these situations".
When I got back to the dive shop I told the owners what had happened and they were appreciative that they were informed. Their boat operator was completely reckless and could have caused a disaster.
We ultimately have to be responsible for what happens to us when diving but we have to be alert to reckless fools like this boat operator and speak out when something like this happens.
Sy
