Reading "No Safe Harbor"

[peterbj7]

Surely everyone was evacuated from the Agressor so even if it had turned over no lives would have been lost, whereas the Captain on Wavedancer insisted that everyone remain on board.

Or do I have it wrong?

 

[robint]

Surely everyone was evacuated from the Agressor so even if it had turned over no lives would have been lost, whereas the Captain on Wavedancer insisted that everyone remain on board.

Or do I have it wrong?

Nope, everyone on both boats stayed onboard as there was no place to really evac then to there in Placencia/Big Creek harbor. The Aggressor was properly tied at the dock with an adequate number of ropes and not tied too tightly so that when the storm surge came in, the boat was able to rise without snapping the ropes. The Aggressor also arrived at the dock hours ahead of the Wavedancer so there was time to prepare for the hurricane.
One of the big lessons I HOPE learned by the book is that when a hurricane is coming, all liveaboards should take all passengers to a safe area for evac immediately and don't wait until the last minute. It would have been better for everyone to miss 2 days of diving than stay on the boats and miss one day (this was what the divers were told).

 

[mike_s]

The Agressor boat also was "further back" on the dock and out of the incoming wind and current/storm surge.

The WaveDancer bow protruded past the dock and into the incoming wind/wave/storm-surge. There are diagrams of the tie up in the IMMARBE report (page 81)

from IMMARBE - International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize

IMMARBE Report on Wave Dancer



One of the things that I couldn't believe after all this happened was that Peter Hughes, Inc filed a lawsuit against the Agressor Fleet claiming that the Agressor boat is what caused them to break free from their moorings. I thought that was a pretty low blow....


EDIT. I found the pic online

 

[Desert_Diver]

The Agressor boat also was "further back" on the dock and out of the incoming wind and current/storm surge.

The WaveDancer bow protruded past the dock and into the incoming wind/wave/storm-surge. There are diagrams of the tie up in the IMMARBE report (page 81)

from IMMARBE - International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize

IMMARBE Report on Wave Dancer



One of the things that I couldn't believe after all this happened was that Peter Hughes, Inc filed a lawsuit against the Agressor Fleet claiming that the Agressor boat is what caused them to break free from their moorings. I thought that was a pretty low blow....


EDIT. I found the pic online

One of the criticisms I read about the IMMARBE report (this was on the net, not in the book) was that the government of Belize wanted to expand the dive business being done by out of country divers. They did not want alienate any live aboard companies. So they did something of a white wash job in their investigation/report and essentially blamed it all on the captain of the Wave Dancer. Some of the decisions the captain made (waiting to bring the boat into harbor, how to tie the boat up, advising crew and guests to stay aboard during the storm) he was clearly responsible for. He maintained however that he commnicated regularly with the Peter Hughes corporate organization and they gave overt and tacit blessing to his actions prior to the sinking. His relations with the crew did not appear to be good which may have caused him to discount their advice on how to handle the storm. He was new to the area and new to the job. He might have done better to take the crews consultation a little more seriously.

The one thing that everyone agrees on is that it was a tradgedy and there were lessons to be learned and guilt to be shared.

Art

 

[robint]

yeah, I thought that was pretty tacky myself. It said in the book that the lawsuit didn't go anywhere and that it was later dropped. It also said that the PH corp claimed that the Aggressor boat bumped the Wavedancer making it break its lines. No proof found of that.

From the book - After arriving at the dock and seeing that his boat wouldn't fit, the capt of the Wavedancer asked the Aggressor capt to swap positions on the docks, too. The Aggressor capt said no way, he got there earlier and got that spot. The Aggressor capt and others there at the dock suggested he run the Wavedancer up into the mangroves to hold it still during the hurricane as it would be better than tying off to the dock sticking halfway out into the channel. He said no. Then the Wavedancer capt asked for more ropes as he only had a few. The Aggressor had more ropes but didn't share them as they were PO'ed at the Wavedancer capt at that point. So, possibly, the lawsuit stems from all this interaction between the two boats as the hurricane was heading for them.

 

[mike_s]

I can't blame the Agressor captain.... I wouldn't have moved either.


I agree that IMMARBE report didn't want to hurt paying dive operations from operting there. It's a shame.

Check out Wave Dancer Tragedy page on IMMARBE Report . It's got some interesting references to how the Belize government agencies handled the investigation and handed off responsibility and some media cover reports (text of) that covered it.

 

[scubamickey]

I read this book a couple of years ago right before going on our first liveaboard. There's a member here on the board who isn't a regular poster--he was on the Wave Dancer. His take on the book is that it does have some errors, but as I recall from our PMs, his overall feelings of PH is the same as those of us who read the book with no first hand info. Maybe he will chime in again.

The way I visually inspect a liveaboard is highly influenced by what I read in this book. I'm fortunate to be married to a man with a lot of ship experience (Coast Guard and private use) who actually knows what he's looking at. He read the book as well and refuses to let me book us on a PH just on principle alone (because of the atrocious way PH treated the customers).

This type of a book is a double edged sword. It provides good information and a warning about complacency to divers, but it can also negatively influence your opinion about the company. Hence they never get a chance to redeem themselves or prove that they corrected their errors.

 

[Rick Patterson]

Sorry to tell you this Robint, but there are several errors I found in a brief skim of the book. I will admit I have not read the book in its entirety, maybe some day, but that day has not come yet. Besides I was there, and still have a very clear memory of the events that took place. I did write down what I recalled shortly after the incident and have kept that if I ever want to refresh my memory on any particular detail. Mr. Burnworth never interviewed me and I have seen reference to him interviewing ALL survivors. This is simply not a fact. I am glad that Mr. Burnworth wrote the book, because it is another source of information about the risks of scuba diving and traveling in general. Please remember the fact still remains that it is up to individuals to take responsibility for their own safety. I am not going to speak poorly of any operation in particular. That has been done enough and would serve no purpose. Be aware that you should not believe everything that you read, and use your own judgment when traveling and diving. There is nothing under the water that you HAVE to see today, and if your gut tells you something just is not right with the operation or the trip or just that dive make the necessary changes to protect your self and others. I have been on a few other liveaboard trips since the Wave Dancer trip and I am happy to say they went well. They were on Nekton boats in Cay Sal and Caymans. I have not had the courage, or the time to make it back to Belize yet, but it is in my plans. Robint if you have any specific questions, feel free to send me a message and I will respond. But I do not want to clog up the message board with people’s speculation on the facts.

Rick Patterson

 

[robint]

....I am glad that Mr. Burnworth wrote the book, because it is another source of information about the risks of scuba diving and traveling in general. Please remember the fact still remains that it is up to individuals to take responsibility for their own safety.

Rick Patterson

that is all I was trying to say. Everyone should read the book in order to learn from it. I never bashed Peter Hughes either... I said that they made a huge fubar in this Particular Incident and shoulder the blame (from the book and the official reports I have read.) I also said that I believe they should have learned much, as well as all other dive operators, from this incident and hopefully it won't happen again. This whole tragedy was a BIG learning experience for the dive industry. It is very sad that so many lives had to be lost in order to learn, but that is the way it is in most cases.

robin

 

[almitywife]

well i received my copy of the book last week and finished reading it and i gotta say, this book has 254 pages and of that, at least 180 pages are rubbish

with due respect to the survivors and the families of the victims, i feel this book was written for the surviving families and non divers and for me, as a diver, i wanted to see more research and details about the aftermath to this event and i was left very disappointed

i think in the hands of a actual writer and not a diver that decides to write the story, the wavedancer and its victims stories could be better told

cheers