Scuba Shack's Boat Get Wet Sinks in Key Largo

[VooDooGasMan]

Japan thats right where I am lying on this one, like I say as long Inst/DM is lagit, any wrong doing and they get hung to dry also.

 

[highflier]

I tend to agree with Japan-diver, Of course there could be other info that would reverse that line of thought, Like the instructer being a regular on the boat, working with/ for boat and captain, Being aware of a issue in previous trips etc....

All that said, Legal action does not heal the hurt, It only stops/ discurages people that are risking injury to others. I would be a fan of legal action that stoped the owners of the Get Wet from continuing or opening another dive operation.



Highflier

If greed and lust were removed from life, would evil still exist?

Not as lawyer but I think the instructor would not be directly liable for this accident (assuming he is not also the captain). A boat sinking and any injuries sustained from that would be the "fault" of the captain of the vessel not the dive instructor who happened to be riding on the vessel. The instructor would be responsible for conducting the dive. Since the accident happened after the dive was finished the instructor would not be liable for this accident.
The captain and the vessels insurance would be the ones on the hook for this one. Although I am sure the lawyers will be naming everyone on board in the lawsuits that are sure to follow. Since in this case the instructor was working for the dive shop which owned the boat also the insurance company is probably one in the same for instruction and boat operations.

 

[ahava]

On Discover scuba the instructor is responsible if you live or not and should go to prison and if amit was a discover that is two students he did not take care of. Also it might have been a divemaster, and if not current on insurance or certified they will be held guilty right along with dive op.
.

If a teacher takes a class full of students on a class trip and the bus catches fire and crashes and kids are injured, is it the teachers fault?? Lets send her to prison. What are you kidding me?? Unless this instructor is personally responsible for the the condition of the boat and knowingly does nothing about it how can they be at fault. Just like the teacher putting trust that the bus is in good condition. I'm not saying that they wont get involved it the suit, but to say they should go to prison is absurd.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

you are an Instructor and your saying you are not responsible for a discover scuba student. In this instance I bet all are guilty. And yes when you murder a diver you should go to prison and when I say murder it means you did not help your discover scuba student get out of the boat when sinking. More or less any Instructor or D/M being paid should have made sure they were out of the boat before themselves got out, plus they know the area and the dive site. The captain retrieved aimee and amit, why did the Inst/DM not help the captain, let alone any other experienced diver that was on the boat.

 

[mike_s]

helped me better understand how the boat could have sank so quickly. And I thought it spoke volumes when it re-sank after the salvage crew brought it back to the surface.

it sinking after it came back to the surface can mean so many things. The news media most likely left out a lot of the details as they weren't there nor were experts in this.

Chances are it was not pumped dry yet when it sank again and this was just the news media feeding the story.

it could be as simple as the boat was at the surface, but was not floating on its own yet and an air bag used to add buoyancy slipped,

Or the bildge was still somewhat full of water and some someone on the recovery team walked aft and cased the boat to shift and lower the stern deck below the water again, allowing water to rush in.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Agreed mike in the picture it looked poorly secured with lift bags, and not very much of them either from what I saw but it is tricky until you have made cradles for lift bags and learn to tow to port.

 

[mike_s]

Agreed mike in the picture it looked poorly secured with lift bags, and not very much of them either from what I saw but it is tricky until you have made cradles for lift bags and learn to tow to port.

there weren't many pictures to be for sure, but it looked to me that they were starting to try to tow it back into port still partially full of water.



The first thing I noticed was the lift bag placement. They weren't cradled along side the hull to provide lift at the surface. But tied into the gunwales/davits. so that they don't provide lift or stabilization at the surface when the bags are out of the water.


I mean, it doesn't do any good to have lift bags floating on the surface above a boat that's gunwales are below the waterline. It's kinda pointless.... especially when you've got two tow-boats trying to pump water out when the gunwales and transom are below the water line.


note pumps running in pic.

In this pic, I guess they gave up with trying to place the lift bags better and tried to tow the hull back in partially submerged. (if you look, you can see a yellow tow ling going to the front boat as he's attempting to tow it.

 

[Jax]

Mike, it sounds like they brought it up thinking that once it was pumped out it would float itself? (that reserve buoyancy thing)

But it sank again due to some unknown way of water intake, perhaps?

 

[ahava]

you are an Instructor and your saying you are not responsible for a discover scuba student. In this instance I bet all are guilty. And yes when you murder a diver you should go to prison and when I say murder it means you did not help your discover scuba student get out of the boat when sinking. More or less any Instructor or D/M being paid should have made sure they were out of the boat before themselves got out, plus they know the area and the dive site. The captain retrieved aimee and amit, why did the Inst/DM not help the captain, let alone any other experienced diver that was on the boat.

I never said that, I said the instructor is not responsible for the boat. He is responsible for the students safety during the dive and training. Just like when a diver is injured or dies during a dive and they try to blame it on the captain. The response is, that the captain and the boat are there just for the ride to and from the dive site. The captain is responsible for the safety of crew and passsangers whileon the boat. The instructor has no authority on this vessel. He is just a passenger on the boat just like the students. I guess if someone slips or falls on the deck the Instructor is responsible also. We weren't there and have know idea what the instructor did or didn't do. Its this kind of, sue everyone mentality that will be our downfall.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

On big yachts we have towed in partial submerged, like I say it is on a cradle of lift bags, and we put lift bags in bow once it is to the surface in case wave action, plus less water to pump from bag displacement. I wonder if towboat on bow is secured to it while towing, from wake it looks but bow to bow and maybe it is in reverse, I have seen crazier stunts.