Pompano Beach Fatality Sunday April 16th

[boulderjohn]

I tuned into this thread for the first time in a while because I heard Ken had posted the cause of death, and I want to thank him for doing it. All who knew Joe are just crushed by his passing.

While catching up on the thread, I saw some references to past SFDH accidents, and I thought I would take a moment and give some details of those two incidents.

1. Quite a while ago (10 years maybe?) the Black Pearl was named the Coral Princess. It is a twin hulled Corinthian, a large, wide, flatbottomed boat. It was coming in through the Hillsboro inlet when it was hit diagonally from behind by a massive rogue wave. It picked up one back corner, causing gear and people to tumble to the other front corner. I think this is called a pitchpole (or something like that), with the new weight on the front pushing that corner into the water while the opposite side is rising up rapidly. It flipped the boat. A passenger was killed.

2. A couple years ago, another of their boats, the Safari Diver, was doing a wreck dive. This was a single hulled wooden boat, very rocky, with an open back covered by a transom when in motion. It followed the normal practice of all such boats in that area of dropping the DM into the water to secure the line. The DM then ascends and the line is temporarily tied off to the stern. The DM then gives the briefing, the divers jump in, and the line is retied to the bow. I hated this boat and did all I could do to avoid it in part because during the phase before jumping in, the transom was removed and water always washed over the stern and onto the deck. On this occasion, that washing was apparently greater than normal, probably because of a strong current, and the boat took on water and sank rapidly.

 

[boulderjohn]

I wanted to make a comment on the use of split drops, which I have seen with SFDH. The reason for it, in least in the times I am there (winters), is a sharp reduction in diving activity in that region. They have three boats, and they advertise three dives. People sign up for those dives. When the total numbers are in and there aren't a lot of divers, they combine the people who signed up for the dives onto one boat and do the split dive.

I agree it is not a safe practice, but the problem is there is not a lot of choice for local divers. It is nearly that or nothing. There used to be more boats in the area, and there were more divers to go on them. A few years ago, Joe would have probably done that dive off of the Sea Siren with Pompano Dive Center, and he would have gone down a line to the Lowrance, with the boat staying there on the surface. (I did exactly such a dive with him years ago.) Pompano Dive center is gone now, and there are so little tech diving going on there that I have decided I won't even bring my tech gear next winter.

 

[Nick_Radov]

I agree it is not a safe practice, but the problem is there is not a lot of choice for local divers. It is nearly that or nothing.

While I haven't dived in that area recently, I am skeptical about the lack of choice. My understanding is that there are a number of 6-pack charter boats in the area which typically cater to fishermen but will also take divers out on request. Just get together with a few buddies and hire one of those for the day, they'll take you anywhere you like. Is that no longer an option?

 

[Divin'Papaw]

While I haven't dived in that area recently, I am skeptical about the lack of choice. My understanding is that there are a number of 6-pack charter boats in the area which typically cater to fishermen but will also take divers out on request. Just get together with a few buddies and hire one of those for the day, they'll take you anywhere you like. Is that no longer an option?

John is correct. There are definitely fewer choices in Pompano, especially fewer choices that many of us consider acceptable. Yes, a group can charter one of the few 6-packs in the area. But diving off of a fishing boat is not the most comfortable, and there are only a few 6-pack dive boats. The vast majority of us used to jump on Sea Siren or Sea Dog. They were by far the top choice for tech and advanced divers. They are no more. Well actually, I dive on Sea Siren and Sea Dog all the time (including this coming weekend), but they are now called Aurelia and Marin and they live up in Lake Park Marina. They are fantastic boats.

 

[Dan G]

I wanted to make a comment on the use of split drops, which I have seen with SFDH. The reason for it, in least in the times I am there (winters), is a sharp reduction in diving activity in that region. They have three boats, and they advertise three dives. People sign up for those dives. When the total numbers are in and there aren't a lot of divers, they combine the people who signed up for the dives onto one boat and do the split dive.

I agree it is not a safe practice, but the problem is there is not a lot of choice for local divers. It is nearly that or nothing. There used to be more boats in the area, and there were more divers to go on them. A few years ago, Joe would have probably done that dive off of the Sea Siren with Pompano Dive Center, and he would have gone down a line to the Lowrance, with the boat staying there on the surface. (I did exactly such a dive with him years ago.) Pompano Dive center is gone now, and there are so little tech diving going on there that I have decided I won't even bring my tech gear next winter.

I wonder if this practice has changed recently. I dove with SFDH twice last week out of Pompano and one day we had only 6 divers on the Aqua View to go to Lady Luck. Maybe that's enough to make a trip cost effective or maybe the fact that the Black Pearl had plenty of people on it that day made a small group on Aqua View viable. I have no insight into SFDH innerworkings, so I am just wondering aloud in response.

 

[boulderjohn]

While I haven't dived in that area recently, I am skeptical about the lack of choice. My understanding is that there are a number of 6-pack charter boats in the area which typically cater to fishermen but will also take divers out on request. Just get together with a few buddies and hire one of those for the day, they'll take you anywhere you like. Is that no longer an option?

In order to make something like that work, you have to have a large enough group wanting to dive on the same day. For people diving as individuals, pairs, or threesomes, the cost is prohibitive.