Near Miss on the Marissa Dive Boat (5/15/11) - San Diego

[DwayneJ]

A difficult call - If the mooring broke and the captain stated engines to reposition the vessel while divers were in the water, the results would have been disastrous.

If it was my vessel, I would allowed the vessel to drift away then stated engines and monitored the buoy for divers to return.

I would take "Diligently Watching" over "Chop Suey" any day.

Dwayne

 

[fisheater]

True. But neither the captain, DM nor other deckhand even noticed that the mooring line had parted and that they had drifted away from the dive site for quite some time.

No way to justify that lack of situational awareness.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ligersandtions]

A difficult call - If the mooring broke and the captain stated engines to reposition the vessel while divers were in the water, the results would have been disastrous.

If it was my vessel, I would allowed the vessel to drift away then stated engines and monitored the buoy for divers to return.

I would take "Diligently Watching" over "Chop Suey" any day.

Dwayne

FWIW, we were the only two not on the boat when the boat was drifting away. Apparently, one other person said he had to "kick his ass off" to get onto the boat after he surfaced, so it sounds like it broke right as he surfaced.

The issue, though, is that they didn't realize they were drifting. It was not a conscious decision to make sure people were safe by not starting the engine to stay near the dive site....they drifted (nearly a half a mile!!) for 27+ minutes before realizing there was an issue.

 

[Blackwood]

A difficult call - If the mooring broke and the captain stated engines to reposition the vessel while divers were in the water, the results would have been disastrous.

If it was my vessel, I would allowed the vessel to drift away then stated engines and monitored the buoy for divers to return.

I would take "Diligently Watching" over "Chop Suey" any day.

Dwayne

I can accept a good thought process (like yours), and I can accept a mistake when admitted to. But it's fairly clear from the 'If they’re going to do this long of a dive, they really should let us know beforehand' comment that ligersandtions' and xstephenx's experience wasn't the result of the former, and unfortunately the latter doesn't seem forthcoming.

Oh well, there are plenty of [-]fish[/-] boats in the sea.

 

[DwayneJ]

As a diver/passenger I cant imagine slipping a mooring/anchor and not noticing and not saying anything?

 

[Blackwood]

I'd not be surprised. After hearing about another friend's group having their anchor dragged for *miles* and eventually getting picked up by a passing fisherman because the captain was busy banging the deck hand, I'll believe anything.

 

[ajtoady]

You paid for a service wether gift certs or cash, and they did not fulfill their end of the transaction. I would black list them for sure. There are way to many good operations out there to be bothering with this one.

 

[ligersandtions]

If the situation occurred as written, then the captain needs a kick in the pants. As a diver/passenger I cant imagine slipping a mooring/anchor and not noticing and not saying anything. It would be interesting to know if everyone was chowing down at the time?

I can't say for sure if none of the other passengers noticed....but I do know for sure that no one said anything. When they finally came and picked us up, many of the other passengers (taking their wreck or deep specialties or something, iirc -- in a class, nonetheless) had looks of "holy hsit" on their faces.

You paid for a service wether gift certs or cash, and they did not fulfill their end of the transaction. I would black list them for sure. There are way to many good operations out there to be bothering with this one.

Fully agreed....I'm not sure there's anything they could do to get me to come back to their boat. If they had a major overhaul of policies, I'd consider....but in the back of my mind, I'd always wonder if they'd be upset for me making this public and want some type of retaliation. I'll stick with boats that have earned my trust instead

 

[Freezerbrn]

Hey Nichole, I was shocked when I heard this. I'm so sorry this happened to you guys. I am glad you two are alright. I hope you post this in LAUE and GUE forums as well. There should always be eyes on the water from a member of the crew. We all know the reasons for that so I'm not going to get into it. The fact that they didn't offer any apologies, or oops my bad! Say's to me that they don't have much concern for the safety of customers/divers.

27 min missing two divers is unacceptable, and nothing short of a refund and a sincere apology will do. I for one will post this on FB and tell all the divers I know think twice before diving from Marisa. Just because we sign a waiver doesn't mean, "Oh well, pay in advance please!" Or you're on your own once we take you out of the harbor good luck.

Once again, glad you two are alright.

 

[ligersandtions]

A difficult call - If the mooring broke and the captain stated engines to reposition the vessel while divers were in the water, the results would have been disastrous.

If it was my vessel, I would allowed the vessel to drift away then stated engines and monitored the buoy for divers to return.

Dwayne

I'm not entirely sure if you didn't read the original post thoroughly (sorry, I know it was incredibly long)....but we were the only two divers still in the water (they were, indeed, aware of this....so their mistake was not that they didn't realize we weren't on the boat, but they failed to realize that the boat was not where they thought it was) and they drifted for 27+ minutes without knowing.

It was not a conscious decision to make sure people were safe by not starting the engine to stay near the dive site....they drifted nearly a half a mile before even realizing there was an issue.