shark?

[Cacia]

Bill, from Cataina heard about the diver from Maui believed to be killed by sharks and found by a kayaker. It shows up on Google now...

He was a freediver.

 

[redrover]

Thanks Catherine. From shark + maui on google:
“…about 9 a.m. Friday, a kayaker reportedly found body parts…” Yeck!

 

[Charlie99]

Front page story in the Maui News. Not online yet. I'll post a link later.

I wonder if it was the same shark that bumped and followed some Kayakers in that general area earlier this month. http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=16556

When I was out on Ed Robinson Friday morning we saw a helicopter hovering over near Makena Landing/5 Graves/5 Caves/Turtletown. There was another helicopter doing a search, along with a fixed wing (C130 ??) searching between Maui and Kahoolawe. They buzzed us a few times as we dove the 110' Battleship Rock formation a mile or two away. Then as we returned from 2nd and 3rd dives at Molokini and headed towards shore near the Maui Prince area to get a better ride on up to the boat ramp, a high speed Coast Guard boat intercepted us and told us there was a 1 mile exclusion zone along that section of S. Maui. Didn't tell us why! We just figured that some bigshot was in town and figured that maybe VP Cheney was in town and need an exclusion zone so he could go hunting again.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

They said on the news that he was an accomplished scuba diver who went out freediving and never returned. The autopsy is suppose to be today to make sure the body parts found are the same as the missing man's. Why did he go out by himself anyways? Maybe if he was from Maui, but not visiting.

 

[Cacia]

Charlie, how has your viz been since all the rain? Ours is creepy.

I use to say "oh, it was a freediver" and now, I have freedivers toting fish on most of my dives these days. Strikes a little closer to home, you know?

 

[Charlie99]

They said on the news that he was an accomplished scuba diver who went out freediving and never returned. The autopsy is suppose to be today to make sure the body parts found are the same as the missing man's. Why did he go out by himself anyways? Maybe if he was from Maui, but not visiting.

Reports such as http://khon.com/khon/display.cfm?storyID=11602&sid=1152 say he was visiting from San Jose and was snorkeling at Makena Landing.

 

[Charlie99]

Charlie, how has your viz been since all the rain? Ours is creepy.

I use to say "oh, it was a freediver" and now, I have freedivers toting fish on most of my dives these days. Strikes a little closer to home, you know?

It was surprisingly good all considering, on a shallow beach dive Polo beach, about a mile or two north of Makena Landing when I went out Wednesday morning, just after some pretty heavy rains the night before. Maybe 30 or 40'.

Yesterday, viz off in the 110' depths offshore due west of Makena, NW of Red Hill, were pretty good -- maybe 75'. (Molikini, of course, was outstanding 150+' as usual.).

One diver on our boat (30ish local guy in a camoflauge wetsuit and freediving fins, forget the name) had seen what he thought was a tiger shark down at La Perouse bay the day before (Thursday). The subject only came up because I asked him about the ugly looking ripped and torn skin on the back of his heel. He said that that was a result of how hard he finned away with his long carbon composite freediving fins once he saw the shark. Even after after hearing that we were still clueless as to why there was so much helicopter activity going on around us.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

Reports such as http://khon.com/khon/display.cfm?storyID=11602&sid=1152 say he was visiting from San Jose and was snorkeling at Makena Landing.

I didn't read the snorkeling part. I did read the first sentence that said he was free diving though. This is the 2nd attack since Dec. . This guy in December was snorkeling and looked down just in time to see the shark coming up at him then put his hand down to push the shark away (in which he was bitten on the hand) and made it back to shore.

 

[Shaka Doug]

I was at Makena Landing both Thursday afternoon when he went out and yesterday (Friday) morning when they found some of the evidence. Thursday was very nice for diving. I made two long dives there, finishing up around 5:00. I never saw the guy but apparently he snorkeled out around the point and never made it back. I cannot say enough how unfortunate this incident is, however, there are lessons to be learned (and most of us already know this), like: "Do Not Go Out ALONE!!!!!!!!!" No-one was there to assist him or witness anything and now everyone is going crazy with speculation of sharks, multiple sharks, GW's, boating accident, drowning, etc. This is a very isolated incident and I will continue to take divers out of this area. I'm not any more afraid of sharks today than I was last week. I still respect them and their world. People coming here (by that I mean Makena Landing, or Maui, or HI, or ANYWHERE IN THE OCEAN in general) really need to understand that accidents can and do happen sometimes. If you are not familiar with a new area, TAKE A LOCAL GUIDE. It's more fun, much safer, and it costs a lot less than your life.

Oh, and another lesson from the rule book....TAKE A DIVE FLAG!!!!!!!! If the victim had been towing a flag / float with him, (first of all) it would have been a lot easier to find him and possibly help him before he got into real trouble. These poor rescue people searched overnight, IN THE DARK, for many, many HOURS with no sign of him. I carry my Dive Flag every time I dive. It might be a pain in the butt sometimes but, I've never lost a diver in over 6,000 tours/dives. Several years ago, when I was in the Ahihi-Kinau Marine Reserve, I took out a group of beginner snorkelers for a lesson and tour. When I got back to shore, a DLNR Officer approached me and asked about my Dive Flag and why I wasn't diving with one. I told him I left it on shore because we were just snorkeling. He then proceeded to "educate" me on the dive flag laws in the state of Hawaii. I told him I always take one when SCUBA Diving and I showed it to him. He said that my 11" x 18" dive flag on a float wasn't legal (it is required to be 12" x 12"....uh, do the math) and that it must be present whenever anyone goes below the surface, including snorkeling or freediving.

Yesterdays incident will haunt me and many others for some time I'm sure. I watched, through my binoculars, the Life Guard team pulling body parts out of the water and putting them in bags on the jet ski and support boat. One of my friends is the kayak guide who made the first discovery. I have logged over 1,500 dives in the Makena Landing / Five Caves area. This hits close to home for me. I hope each and every one of you who reads this post uses the common sense rules I just talked about and persuades their diving friends to follow these rules too. If you're too lazy to drag a flag, get your BUDDY to drag it. This doesn't mean to drag it out into 15 feet and tie it off either. Drag it the whole dive. If you can't manage that, I'm available for hire. I'll keep you safe and bring you back alive. You'll have lots more fun when you don't have to "worry about stuff" too.

I can't tell you how many times I've been out to Makena Landing or Five Caves to dive that I've seen divers entering and exiting without a flag. I talk with most of them and tell them it's important, and required by law. It's kind of my duty as a professional dive guide. Sometimes people look at me like I'm trying to hassle them or they say they'll bring one next time or they say the shop that rented them the gear didn't tell them about the flag law. As a Certified Diver you're already supposed to know about this. It's line item # 10 in the Standard Safe Diviing Practices Statement of Understanding. (The Buddy Rule is # 5 in case you forgot.)

I don't mean to go on and on about this but it's all very fresh in my mind right now. I feel bad for the family of the 45 year old man who perished. I feel bad for the rescue team that had to endure the search. How would you like to be the guys in the water searching for human remains for hours in an area where you suspect a big tiger shark just ate someone? How would you like to be the guy who dove down 40 feet and recovered the leg still wearing a flipper? How would you like to be the Kayak Guide right now? He found a large piece of this guys torso floating next to his kayak. He has to try to take kayakers out there again tomorrow and the next day and the next day..... Does anyone have any idea how much this rescue effort will end up costing? There were people from the D.L.N.R., Aquatic Resources, M.P.D., M.F.D., U.S. Coast Guard, and the Life Guard / Water Safety Department. They used several boats, helicopters, airplanes, jet skis, rescue trucks, and other vehicles. They began the search Thursday night and didn't leave the area until after 1:00 pm on Friday. This isn't cheap or easy to accomplish!

Let's make sure we use common sense and follow the rules and we can avoid this type of thing from ever happening again.

I didn't read the snorkeling part. I did read the first sentence that said he was free diving though. This is the 2nd attack since Dec. . This guy in December was snorkeling and looked down just in time to see the shark coming up at him then put his hand down to push the shark away (in which he was bitten on the hand) and made it back to shore.

The most recent discussion about this previous incident is that there never was a shark at all. This guy went out for a long swim. He found a large sea turtle swimming by and he dove down and tried riding it by hanging on to the front flippers. The turtle, in it's attempt to escape, turned and bit two of the guys finger tips off. We've all seen these turtles scratch their heads on their front fins. This would be an easy explanation too. Imagine the guy, he gets bit by a turtle that he was riding ILLEGALLY. He's not gonna come back to shore and tell anyone that. He'll say it was a shark to protect himself from prosecution. Sounds better too. Can you explain why any shark would come up and just bite a finger and a half off of you and then just dissappear? Once again, out ALONE, No Witnesses or Dive Buddy, No Dive Flag.

Here are a few shots I took of the rescue efforts. Thank You to everyone who helped in the search and recovery. It's really nice to know you're out there but I hope I never have to call on you. My sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of the victim. Aloha.

 

[Charlie99]

The Maui News article: http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=17255