Socorro Liveaboard Grounding

[Dan]

A few weeks ago Pacific Fleet was offering 30% off on a Solmar V trip to Socorro (14 spots open, would have been this week); kind of happy I didn't bite on that.

I've done Guadalupe Island off the Solmar V and had no complaints or observations that made me uneasy; then again that was almost a year before the Conception fire made everyone take a harder look at liveaboard vessels and operating procedures.

What’s wrong with Solmar V?

 

[HalcyonDaze]

What’s wrong with Solmar V?

As stated, nothing I noticed on my Guadalupe Island trip almost four years ago; I thought Solmar V and its crew were exceptional. But Vortex is also a Pacific Fleet vessel, and smacking into an island on autopilot is the sort of thing where you have to ask if the problems are confined to one boat or if the fish is rotting from the head down.

 

[DogDiver]

Hey, the good news is…we have a new wreck site to dive.

 

[jadairiii]

Arriving at your destination at 2;30 am is just farm animal stupid.

Especially if the whole crew is asleep.

 

[Doc Ben]

I heard the Mexican Navy has set up a restricted zone around Isla Socorro, meaning no dive vessels can go there right now. Anyone else heard this?

Got this from a friend down in Baja...

 

[Doc Ben]

This was her comment:"I PRAY none of you never have to go through the traumatic experience we had to go through. Crashing into rock at full speed, being thrown from your bed, seeing all your belongings floating away, jumping into a life raft from a sinking ship at 2 am as it tosses you back and fourth, then waiting in a life raft while you’re being bashed into rocks, being told you may have to abandon said life raft, and thinking to yourself well this is the end I’m going to die. "

Here's another comment from her that I just seen - that is an OMG statement: "I know the news articles said grounding. But that is really inaccurate we crashed straight into a rock wall cliff going 8-9 knots at 2am"

That is Marissa, pretty well known cave instructor that was on the boat

Another diver on board was Pete Mesley who had a groups with him. He told me regarding the weather..."It was ****. Sw 10-15"...Pete also woken at 2 am by the crash into the rocks.

It seems to me that these divers, as a group, need to sue the operator. There will likely be many attempts to cover up facts that will be damaging in court. I flash back to the sinking of the Eric fishing boat in July 2001 around Gonzaga Bay, upper Sea of Cortez...No accountability for negligence. Mexican and US Navy did squat to recover the 2 bodies and it took a private party to get them.

 

[AZTinman]

While I've never seen anything official, I've heard there were some lawsuits associated with the sinking of the Poseidon's Mistress liveaboard in the gulf near Kino Bay years ago. I think the owner(s) were from Arizona.

And, there's not much information available about any legal action after the sinking of the Santa Barbara Liveaboard out of San Carlos, Sonora. Only one individual survived the Santa Barbara incident and he passed away a few years ago. His account of the incident and of watching others, who initially survived after the boat capsized and sank, gradually succumb to the cold and die is gut wrenching.

Someone once told me that it's not easy to do lawsuits in Mexico.

-AZTinman

 

[Shasta_man]

Whoever was monitoring the boat must have fallen asleep. Does any boat anywhere set the boat on autopilot and go to sleep? That doesn't ever seem reasonable.

Gee, have to abandon the life raft too?!

 

[rmorgan]

It seems to me that these divers, as a group, need to sue the operator.

Someone once told me that it's not easy to do lawsuits in Mexico.

There won't be any winners, but not particularly because of Mexican law. Lawsuits for maritime casualties are subject to a doctrine (or statute) called "limitation of liability," which generally limits liability of a vessel owner (to all claimants) to the post-casualty (i.e., salvage, less salvage costs) value of the vessel. This is accepted by treaty worldwide, as far as I know. Limitation is not available if the owner or master was actually aware of the condition which caused the casualty, but negligence is not excepted. Folks following the Conception tragedy just three years ago remember that the owners filed suit against all the passengers' survivors; this seemed callous but is how a "limitations proceeding" is initiated. A major difference may be that because the Conception burned inside U.S. waters, U.S. criminal law applies; the owner and master is set to be tried on 34 counts of "Seaman's Manslaughter" in October.

 

[Belzelbub]

Does any boat anywhere set the boat on autopilot and go to sleep? That doesn't ever seem reasonable.

Not reasonable at all, but it happens all the time.

There was a video I saw from a dive boat a couple months ago. Divers in the water. Operator noticed a boat heading toward the divers. Tries hailing, and moves to block, horn etc. Shrimp boat continues. Dive boat had to move to avoid collision. No one at the helm

You can spend a lot of time watching near miss videos on YouTube. It should never happen, but apparently happens all the time.