Near Tragedy at Spanish Rocks today!

[Reef_Haven]

Around 11:00 AM there were at least 4 dive flags out from the Spanish Rocks.
Two groups were about 200 yards out and maybe 150 feet apart. When a speeding cigar boat drove right between both groups, going South about 30 miles an hour. I doubt he even saw their flags till the last second. at least two divers from the group to the West were on the surface!!! He came back North again around 1:00 PM speeding the other way. This boat had a very distinctive Blue and White paint job. I wish I could have got a photo and posted it. If anyone sees a similar boat around Anna Maria and can get a photo I can definitely ID it.

 

[CBulla]

Oh man, that makes my stomach knot up...

 

[K Mejean]

That is some scary crap. It would be nice if some of these idiot boaters out there would have some respect for the flags. The guy probably didn't even see them.

 

[dkramer]

That or he didn't have a clue what they meant.

 

[diver4life]

Unfortunately we had a boat come TO close to us on saturday just as we surfaced.

 

[Divergirl4U]

yes it seems boaters in the area do not know what dive flags are .... they think there channel markers or something ..... i had issues with boaters on this site as well ... someone should let the Water Saftey Patrol know to watch this area more closely
KP

 

[frogman_5]

Next time you plan on going out, call the sheriff's office and see if they might station a boat around. They have a couple of boats and some very good officers manning them.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office
Anna Maria Unit
(941) 708-8899

 

[diveman3]

That happend once..There some trolling fishing boats at tug orange once and we were ascending and had to wait a few for them to stop..Its is very loud underwater!

 

[rboozer]

I had a boat with twin screws go right over the top of me out there. I was on my way back in 9' of water as saw both props go right over me. My rule is, when I hear props I hug the bottom.

The driver of the boat had the nerve to blame me stating my regulation dive flag was not big enough. It's ashame brains are not a requirement for driving a boat. I was probably less than 100 yds from shore. Swimmers are sometimes out that far and they do not even have dive flags.

 

[ZenDiva]

That's really rather scary