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

[Blackwood]

I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle of all this...I don't find 27 minutes terribly unreasonable if they were assisting the other divers already hanging on the line when the OP surfaced. …

You forgot the huge bold typeface for the word "if."

That scenario doesn't reconcile with either the OP or Lora's email. Unless both are lying (which makes little sense), the crew didn't know they were off the wreck. Furthermore, they admit to being unhappy with their performance, but are unwilling to examine the procedural breakdown.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Doesn't matter. Unless you have someone in distress one of the crew should always be in charge of the boat in any kind of heavy seas. Heavy being a relative term but I have yet to be on any boat where the helm was left unattended unless it was dead flat calm. If there were more than 2 crew somebody was on the helm and watching the area ALL AROUND the boat to pick out any divers that may not be noticed by those helping divers back on. Noticing that the formerly moored boat was drifting would not take more than few seconds. Maybe I just dive the right boats.

Class should have enough supervision from the instructor and his/her assistants to not require more than one of the boat crew to get student back on. Every class I've ever assisted on a boat let one assistant get on first to make sure students got seated and out of the way. The instructor got on last. Keeps things moving and makes sure every one is safe. If there were three crew members one is at the ladder, one helping divers sit and scanning for other divers, and the captain is watching the seas.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Rainier, did you guys talk of this incident while on your last trip, and if so what did that charter have to say about it.

I myself don't think brandon is a bad captain, but the boat was a drift.

In the san juans a huge boat was banging into mine, I woke and the first thing it was Dark and silent, not a word. I watched it for awhile, then the alarm went off they got up and went back to bay to anchor.

I would say Marissa alarm did not go off, yet did the mooring break or did the bow line come untied.

Brandon shed some light on this would ya.



Or how about captlora what do you have to say, anything to back this up.

 

[California Diver]

Wow... is about all I have to say to almost every post in this thread. Boat diving is a risky hobby, technical diving from a boat is a very risky hobby. Things like this will happen from time to time no matter what safety measures are in place. I fill in as divemaster on the Marissa and have crewed many trips in many places on many boats and I've seen it everywhere. Stick to your training and you must have faith the crew of the boat you are on will stick to the theirs. They brought you back in one piece.

-Tyler

 

[Jax]

Wow... is about all I have to say to almost every post in this thread. Boat diving is a risky hobby, technical diving from a boat is a very risky hobby. Things like this will happen from time to time no matter what safety measures are in place. I fill in as divemaster on the Marissa and have crewed many trips in many places on many boats and I've seen it everywhere. Stick to your training and you must have faith the crew of the boat you are on will stick to the theirs. They brought you back in one piece.

-Tyler

Tyler, borrowing your post -- sorry, nothing against it . . .

Nicole and Stephen were not technical diving, People!

Doubles is NOT technical diving!!!​

According to this board, technical diving starts when you have an overhead, virtual or otherwise . . . .

These silly statements are just mud in the water.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

First off voodoogasman gives JAX a LIKES to her few last post.

Steven and nicole, went with rainier dive trip a few days ago or so, Nicole posted the trip.

I think they all got jizzed up on the trip and are together with the dive charter they were on and decided to go public with this.

Now CaptLora you are a member, what is your position on this dive day. You apologized for there safety, and Nicole and Steven are certain you have no cocern for safety of your divers, is this true?

 

[Seraphimx]

sigh... I agree with DwayneJ.

Just to give a comparisson. On one dive there were 3 charters attaches to the same buoy.
The line broke. Charters can't approach the buoy in case a diver is surfacing and you could/potentially kill/hurt them with the boat. Two boats threw lines between them and picked up drifting divers, without starting their engine. It took a really long time to get all the divers.

Unless being present at the moment, it is very hard to make an objective conclusion.
Furthermore, I would understand the captain's lack of finesse.
Some customers may be shy into voicing their opinion and resort to backstabbing internet schemes (I'm not saying your case is one, but just maybe)

I'm out, and not comming back, this thread gave me an headache once.

 

[ligersandtions]

Rainier, did you guys talk of this incident while on your last trip, and if so what did that charter have to say about it.

I have talked to another DM from one of my favorite local boats about this incident. He said that his boat had had a similar incident (boat slipped anchor, they didn't realize it, divers were bobbing in the water for a while). The difference between that dive op and the Marissa? That dive op, after that particular incident, began setting a drift alarm on their GPS that will alert them if they drift from their site. A dive op that can admit fault and learn something from an incident is one I can respect.

Wow... is about all I have to say to almost every post in this thread. Boat diving is a risky hobby, technical diving from a boat is a very risky hobby. Things like this will happen from time to time no matter what safety measures are in place. I fill in as divemaster on the Marissa and have crewed many trips in many places on many boats and I've seen it everywhere. Stick to your training and you must have faith the crew of the boat you are on will stick to the theirs. They brought you back in one piece.

-Tyler

Again with the tech diving....we did an NDL dive and were underwater for 47 minutes.

No one was hurt and no one died....but a mistake was made and they don't seem to be willing to learn from them. All I want is for the dive ops I dive with to be safe and learn from their mistakes....if they're not willing to do that much, it's not a dive op I care to dive with anymore. Lesson learned.

 

[California Diver]

I have talked to another DM from one of my favorite local boats about this incident. He said that his boat had had a similar incident (boat slipped anchor, they didn't realize it, divers were bobbing in the water for a while). The difference between that dive op and the Marissa? That dive op, after that particular incident, began setting a drift alarm on their GPS that will alert them if they drift from their site. A dive op that can admit fault and learn something from an incident is one I can respect.




Again with the tech diving....we did an NDL dive and were underwater for 47 minutes.

No one was hurt and no one died....but a mistake was made and they don't seem to be willing to learn from them. All I want is for the dive ops I dive with to be safe and learn from their mistakes....if they're not willing to do that much, it's not a dive op I care to dive with anymore. Lesson learned.

Yes I know you were not on a tech dive... However you did say that you two are preparing for "bigger dives". My point is that if you stick with this hobby worse things will happen.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Tyler, thats what I was saying to Steven and Nicole, this incident was something all divers will encounter if you travel and charter.