Marie, sorry. I am officially telling everyone NOT to cancel their trip. It is the experience of a lifetime. It is absolutely incredible and magical, especially the Mantas. As long as you listen to the dive briefings and follow safety advice, it is very safe. I don't think that telling the truth and warning people about what they need to do to be safe there is wrong and I don't think I should be accused of "scaring" people.
I had no intention of scaring anyone but I think information is good. I wish I had known more about it before I went. I think that knowing what you need to do and what to expect makes divers safer. When I wrote it, I did not intend for it to be on scubabaord. I wrote this story to a few close friends and emailed it. My husband gets on scuba board a lot but I never have. I don't have a face book page or anything like that and have never blogged or anything before. He asked me if he could post it. At first I did think it might scare some people but my hubby said he didn't think so. He said most people on scuba board are avid divers (scuba addicts?) and are experienced and he thought it might encourage people to go there because he thought my story sounded more exciting than his trip report. Besides that, they are going to hear the exact same warnings when they get there so if it scares them now, it will scare them when they get there. I would not have let him post it if I had known it would upset people.
I am not sure what scared your friend. If it was the vortex, that can happen anywhere that water currents hit a rock or wall and I have only ever heard about it happening there one time. If someone who has read my post recognizes it and avoids an accident, that is a good thing. If that couple had been told about it ahead of time they would not have approached it and Sten would not have had to save them. I thought this was a forum for sharing information like this and I don't think I should be apologizing for telling others about this.
If it was the diver that died, I did not bring that up. Good luck finding many dive sites where no one has ever died. There aren't many freeways where no one has ever died and we keep driving. Since there is a chance that this diver got nitrox instead of air, I think it would be a good idea for divers on liveaboard to analyze their tanks even if they are diving air, if they are planning a deep dive and if the boat has nitrox aboard. If you don't know how to use the analyzer, ask the divemaster. It takes about 2 minutes to show you how.
If it was the sharks that scared him/her, most divers know that it would be extremely rare for sharks to bother divers. I have never heard of an adverse shark situation in that area. Whatever it was, I apologize. I will keep my mouth (fingers?) shut in the future.
p.s. (Jack- notice the paragraph breaks)
