SY Oriental Siren - Sad News

[Allison Finch]

Wow, people are so quick to point fingers and judge. Can you imagine the pressure that LOB's are under to "satisfy" the customers? I have been on MANY LOB trips and have heard passengers grousing about this and that, demanding the next to impossible. LOB captains are under huge pressure to deliver. So, if they don't deliver the exceptional trip, people bash.....So, look at youselves, as passengers who demand value for their money, before you bash the crew who often put themselves at risks they would rather not accept, simply to keep everyone happy. ANY time you enter open water, you are at risk. And, weather reporting, in many of these areas, is often innaccurate.

Comes under the heading.."damned if you do...damned more if you don't".

I have dived with the siren boats and found them well run and professional. I will dive with them again, when given a chance.

 

[The Wolf]

Wow, people are so quick to point fingers and judge. Can you imagine the pressure that LOB's are under to "satisfy" the customers? I have been on MANY LOB trips and have heard passengers grousing about this and that, demanding the next to impossible. LOB captains are under huge pressure to deliver. So, if they don't deliver the exceptional trip, people bash.....So, look at youselves, as passengers who demand value for their money, before you bash the crew who often put themselves at risks they would rather not accept, simply to keep everyone happy. ANY time you enter open water, you are at risk. And, weather reporting, in many of these areas, is often innaccurate.

Comes under the heading.."damned if you do...damned more if you don't".

I have dived with the siren boats and found them well run and professional. I will dive with them again, when given a chance.

Sorry Allisson,

Some very bizzare comments/statements there.

Are you now stating with facts to back up your statement that the Malaysian meterological department weather reports are in-accurate?

Please, do share your data and statistics to back up that statement.

Because if you can't, the only thing I will add is "so bloody typical to think asian countries are that backward and unable to provide up to date and accurate weather reporting.

So bloody typical..

I rest my case.

 

[QBit]

Are you now stating with facts to back up your statement that the Malaysian meterological department weather reports are in-accurate?

Please, do share your data and statistics to back up that statement.

Because if you can't, the only thing I will add is "so bloody typical to think asian countries are that backward and unable to provide up to date and accurate weather reporting.

So bloody typical..

Honestly, the weather is so screwed up these day's out here (i have noticed the wet/dry seasons are not consistent anymore since 2004), it's hard to tell when the good seasons are anymore.

I don't think we have had an actual dry season/dry spell for anything longer than 2-3 weeks at the most this year....but yes, it was freakish weather last week though it had been hot and dry in Labuan though it was pissing with rain and strong winds in sabah and sarawak..winds were essentially blowing much of the storms away from the island the week the liveaboard docked in Labuan..things did change though I am not sure where the weather front came from that they got caught in and which also hit Labuan hard.

lolol

 

[Wookie]

Sorry Allisson,

Some very bizzare comments/statements there.

Are you now stating with facts to back up your statement that the Malaysian meterological department weather reports are in-accurate?

Please, do share your data and statistics to back up that statement.

Because if you can't, the only thing I will add is "so bloody typical to think asian countries are that backward and unable to provide up to date and accurate weather reporting.

So bloody typical..

I rest my case.

Pretty soft skinned to take offense where none is meant. Is this typical of all Hoots?

I am a liveaboard Captain, I run a liveaboard in the United States, where I have access to weather reports from NOAA, from numerous other public forecasting agencies, and from any number of private companies. I likely have access to more weather forecasts than anyone anywhere else on the planet.

Guess what? Weather forecasting isn't an exact science. Guess what more? They are often wrong. Guess what else? Sometimes I get caught out in bad weather. I have access to Sirius real time satellite weather, the internet if I want it, weatherfax, and weatherradio. I still get caught out in bad weather, weather I might not have left the dock in had I seen it coming. So, I would state that the Malaysian weather bureau sucks, just as badly as NOAA or any other weather bureau sucks.

I don't find it typical of Asians to be as rude as you were to Allison.

I think you owe her an apology.

 

[Uli Kunkel]

It would be really helpful if someone who was actually on this trip could chime in and give us an idea about what really happened. I think until then there's no real point in all of us who weren't there to speculate on what happened/could have happened/ or should have happened. These type of threads have a habit of quickly spiraling into hysteria and flaming otherwise.

 

[Searcaigh]

Hi Searcaigh, I don't think I was clear enough. I certainly understand that the emergency life rafts separated. In fact, in heavy seas, I would expect that. I could be wrong, but I don't think the life rafts had engines or navigation equipment. How is it possible that they managed to get to Layang Layang, 12nm away in heavy seas, without the help of the Malaysian navy? If that letter really says that the navy did nothing and the life rafts made it to LL by themselves, I doubt it is a real or accurate account.

Also - and again I am only speculating but with some knowledge of the industry - I would guess that the captain is Thai and may speak little English. In an emergency, I can easily believe that he would be actively involved or leading the evacuation and safety procedures without actually saying much if anything directly to the customers. On most liveaboards, the cruise director is usually the primary point of contact with the customers, even in an emergency.

Hi Zippsy,

Slight error on my interpretation from the letter I was copied on, they used motorized dinghies of some sort as lifeboats

 

[Zippsy]

Thanks Searcaigh. That makes a little more sense although I'd still be very impressed as anything if those dinghies could navigate seas that caused a much larger boat to be lost. Then again, I have no direct knowledge so mine is just an educated guess. I was caught in 1.5 meter seas there a week or two before this incident and our dinghy took an extrememly long time to move a few hundred meters. That was with clear skies in bright sunshine too. But as someone else said, unless someone who was there shows up, we're all guessing (and giggling at Hootie).

 

[Worldwide Dive and Sail]

Hi all

We'd like to thank you for your patience and understanding in regards to the incident of the S/Y Oriental Siren. We understand there has been some confusion surrounding the incident and the varied reports that have come in.

You may read the final update on the Worldwide Dive and Sail website The best diving in Thailand on liveaboard S/Y Oriental Siren

We have also received, what we consider to be, an honest albeit emotional report of incident from two guests who were on board during this time. Their story has also been posted on our website along with some photos taken during the incident. S/Y Oriental Siren Liveaboard incident

We hope that this information goes some way to clarify the events for you,

With best wishes from the Siren Fleet team

 

[DandyDon]

Hi Searcaigh, I don't think I was clear enough. I certainly understand that the emergency life rafts separated. In fact, in heavy seas, I would expect that. I could be wrong, but I don't think the life rafts had engines or navigation equipment. How is it possible that they managed to get to Layang Layang, 12nm away in heavy seas, without the help of the Malaysian navy? If that letter really says that the navy did nothing and the life rafts made it to LL by themselves, I doubt it is a real or accurate account.

Also - and again I am only speculating but with some knowledge of the industry - I would guess that the captain is Thai and may speak little English. In an emergency, I can easily believe that he would be actively involved or leading the evacuation and safety procedures without actually saying much if anything directly to the customers. On most liveaboards, the cruise director is usually the primary point of contact with the customers, even in an emergency.

See this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...e-share-malaysia-boat-sinking-experience.html

 

[Zippsy]

Yes, I stand (sit?) corrected. I had based my understanding on the original statement from WWDS who said the customers & crew evacuated to the emergency life rafts. It turns out that this was not the whole story. Also, as pointed out on the other thread, there seems to be not as much chop as I imagined for 2-3m seas. It is definitely easier motoring in those dinghies with wider periods between wave heights. The waves we had two weeks earlier were smaller but tossing the dinghies around like corks. There was no way to go 10nm in 90 minutes in those seas we had.

Finally, the point of my doubt about the authenticity of the letter though was that I was not believing the part about the captain not helping in the evacuation. I still think this was just that the customers did not see the work that he was doing. This still makes more sense to me as the cruise director would be the principal contact with the customers and the captain should have been in the wheelhouse doing other things.