Scuba Shack's Boat Get Wet Sinks in Key Largo

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All,

Sad news indeed.

I try to learn from sad events like this one. I had one learning exprience of my own about 12 years ago.

I was on a boat that a person fell off and drowed, verfy sad event. It was a head boat and the crew was worthless, A guy flipping burgers at McDonolds could have responded better. It was a night trip and there was a noreaster so it was rough but nowhere near to rough for the boat, 75'. When the guy fell off the back while at anchor ppl threw bread bags, coolers and what ever would float at the guy. No life vest ever hit the water during the entire event. Since the seas were 8+ foot and night time I was going to go up top so that I could keep my eyes on him as he was floating away in the current. A crew member stoped me. Then I stood back and watched as they were trying to untie the anchor, They did not want to loose it, After a minute or so the captain yelled just cut the line. The crew did not have and could not find a knife, I passanger then offered a small pocket knife to cut the line. 2 more minutes of time to cut the line. By this time he was already out of sight. I was amazed when we spoted him about 100 yards off the boat, This is like another 5 minutes. As we dirfted closer and closer i was able to see that he was still keeping his head above water. (not swimming but more like treading water). As fate had it I had been fishing on the side of the boat where he would eventually end up. As he floated to within 20-30 feet I started to get out of the way for the crew to do there thing. WTF the crew was not around. I quickly took my rod, (reel side into the water via leaning over the rail as far as I could. He reached for the rod and missed it, Under the boat he went, ( will never forget the look in his eyes) I screemed he is under the bow, 10-15 seconds later the motors roared to life and capt hit reverse. 10 min later they saw him floating face down in the water (by this time another head boat a joined the search.) Well the crew could not figure out how to get him on the boat, They ended up Gaffing him, yes I said gaffing him. In the leg and had his head underwater for another 2 min while a group of ppl tryed to haul him up, Once on the boat a few passangers were EMT's The preformed CPR on the deck while the rest of us where in the lower cabin, The captain pegged the throttle toward shore (cross current and all) that was the first time I almost got sea sick on a boat, about 80% of the boat was puking, there was a river running down the center of the boat. The captain orderd the crew up into the Helm. We never saw one of them on the whole ride back. I am sure they were getting their story fixed up. My wife was handing out trashbags for pukers, I was turning off the Grill so ppl would not be burned etc. Others where searching for First add kit, The emt's wanted a flash light, and what ever medical supplys they could get there hands on. Eventually somebody found a First aid kit that was almost empty all except a few small bandages. After 30 min of motoring back, we heard a heli, They lowered a basket/rescue person on the boat, 5 min later they lifed off the victim, and away they went. The captain took a reasonble speed back to dock, 3 more hours as we where heading north to land not south to our port until te heli came. The crew did not appear until we hit the dock Boat was tied up and all left, No names, no reports, no police nothing. As a result my wife will not go out on a head boat anymore, I will always inform ppl on my boat where vest are kept, And ask on others where they are kept. I think if I ever got a response that they were not needed, or They would get them and I should not worry about it, I would walk off the boat, freind or not.

Treat the boat experience as you do diving, Assume that you are responsible for your own safety. They crew might be Minimum wage kids that have no training at all. Without a doubt the boat passed a CG inspection, but that does not mean **** if the Crew prevents or even does not know how to use or where saftey equipment is, FWIW I think there was ~ 50-75 ppl on the boat that night + a crew of 5-6.

Highflier

PS. FWIW I doubt any boat op is going to let you look around in the engine box to verify that bildges are working, hoses below the water line are double clamped etc.... lets be honest a boats sea worthiness in mostly down and out of site, Above the water line is just flush and stuff to use if there is already a problem.
 
To add insult to injury I just found out that Scuba Shack went ahead and charged the dive to the families account of the deceased woman. I am friends so my information is correct. How can a company do that? Your negligence kills someone and oh by the way we're still going to charge you for the dive. That's just wrong.
 
To add insult to injury I just found out that Scuba Shack went ahead and charged the dive to the families account of the deceased woman. I am friends so my information is correct. How can a company do that? Your negligence kills someone and oh by the way we're still going to charge you for the dive. That's just wrong.



Wow, that says it all. I happen to own the rescue boat Visibility, We made a complete refund to our divers. We had just finished the first dive when we witnessed this tragic incident.

Interestingly, we tried to give a progress report to both the shop and motel but neither would speak to us. And they haven't yet.
 
That takes a lot of gall, doesn't it?

What is the status of the owners opening up their shop in Bimini? I would hope this might persuade them to get out of the SCUBA business all together, but I suspect they'll open up a shop with a new name and we'll be none the wiser for it.
 
Actually i would keep an EYE on your account if you previously did any transactions with a card, they might be charging again and then go bankrupt and call it a mistake.
 
Actually i would keep an EYE on your account if you previously did any transactions with a card, they might be charging again and then go bankrupt and call it a mistake.
It might be a good idea to contact the credit card company and get a new card with a new number.
 
That takes a lot of gall, doesn't it?

I don't know how they do it in FL but any worldwide charter I have been on charged my card before the boat left the dock the first time. So I do not think we should hang them for that unless we know for fact they rang it through after the accident.....and often times it takes a day or two for the weekend charges to officially hit an account. Just food for thought.
 
To add insult to injury I just found out that Scuba Shack went ahead and charged the dive to the families account of the deceased woman. I am friends so my information is correct. How can a company do that? Your negligence kills someone and oh by the way we're still going to charge you for the dive. That's just wrong.

Please call your friends and tell them to simply dispute the charge. As ScubaSteve said, it was probably transacted the day they left the dock. Try not to let the automatic clearing house stuff prey on your mind; it's just a computer.
 
I was just wondering where you found the info on the 2010 Coast Guard inspection. (This is not a case of the confusion we went over in posts 88, 94, and 95, is it? Where we determined that this "Get Wet" is an uninspected vessel and that there is *another* "Get Wet" in the Keys that IS an inspected vessel.)

I'm not writing this to contest your info; I would just like to see the 2010 CG inspection report, and to feel confident that the two vessels are not (continuing to be) mixed up.

Thanks,
Blue Sparkle



The inspection summary for the boat is on the USCG website. It's public information. I think it was August 2010, but not 100% sure off the top of my head. There is a link posted earlier in this thread. (by Wookie I think).

To my knowledge, this wasn't for the "Get Wet" by another dive shop. Scuba Shack was apparently operating this as an inspected vessel until 2010 and then as an uninspected "six pack" afterwards. (someone correct me if I'm wrong....)
 
The inspection summary for the boat is on the USCG website. It's public information. I think it was August 2010, but not 100% sure off the top of my head. There is a link posted earlier in this thread. (by Wookie I think).

To my knowledge, this wasn't for the "Get Wet" by another dive shop. Scuba Shack was apparently operating this as an inspected vessel until 2010 and then as an uninspected "six pack" afterwards. (someone correct me if I'm wrong....)


Correct, this from the USCG.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/
https://xf2.scubaboard.com/community/forums/cave-diving.45/

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