Two divers missing Whitsunday Islands

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

I sincerely hope I'm wrong...but if I'm not...I think they need to put them right back where they found them...without all the extra accessories this time!!

 

[Louie]

I sincerely hope I'm wrong...but if I'm not...I think they need to put them right back where they found them...without all the extra accessories this time!!

I'm with you on this one.

Nothing would surprise me nowadays with our diet of puerile extreme survival documentaries on television and tabloid get rich instant celebrities. We've got kids making themselves famous by trashing their parents homes and bragging about it on Youtube and people surviving catastrophes of all kinds and rushing for an agent who'll find them the highest bidder!

If it transpires that these two story sellers were up to something fraudulent, I sincerely hope they get what they deserve. We shall stay tuned.

 

[jupitermermaid]

Wow....what was I thinking when I signaled a fishing boat to call the dive op that drove off without me after floating in the water for 10 minutes? I could have waited overnight and not have to work anymore! I would be able to go to Australia and dive!!!

 

[Arizona]

Aren’t rescue calls parts of the public record in Australia? You would think the details of the call or at least the time it was placed would have been reported. Maybe as a result of an investigation it is being kept quiet?

The SMB not being deployed prior to surfacing is just too odd! This is standard practice in these parts by instructors and DMs alike. Prior posts in this thread establish he was an instructor in Thailand and she did her DMT/IDC here as well.

Do you think after being paid so well either of the two rescued divers will make a real posting in their defense on SB? IMO, serious divers ought to be reading the board. He allegedly fits this description based on a previous post in this thread.

AZ

 

[Teamcasa]

No one can say for sure that they did it on purpose...My personal opinion FWIW...is that they did.

It's all a bit too strange for me...The extra exposure protection, the bottled water, the shark repellent, bet they even had some sort of snack too! Sounds like someone knew that they weren't coming back in an hour. But what bothers me most is that they IMMEDIATELY had an agent and were attempting to sell the story. I just don't think that is normal...but that is just my opinion

It is hard for me to believe that two reasonably successful people, long time and experienced divers made a plan to risk their lives in a scheme where their success depended too many unknown factors. Real currents, surface conditions, weather forecast, sharks and other sea life, exposure, starvation, search teams actually finding them in time and if everything went perfect, they get to sell a story on their arrogance, stupidity and lack of navigation skills? I doubt it.

It is more likely a situation where two skilled, overconfident but well prepared divers went off plan to see something the others divers did not, for the bragging rights and misjudged the currents and got swept away.

The fact they were able to sell their story is fortunate for them but ask yourself this, If I screwed up and ended up being rescued and a newspaper, tabloid or television network offered me a million dollars to tell them my story, would I take the money and run? You bet I would. It’s what I do with the money that would define my character.

 

[stoiclown]

Can anyone tell how far of shore the couple was were when picked up (I've been unable to locate)? I realize their team was several miles from their original location, but the articles do not indicate how far from the they were from land.

A few articles have mentioned that while recovering the American, the recovery team had to back off as a sea snake showed some interest. If my understanding is correct sea snakes do not venture more than a few miles from shorelines/coast/etc. Once outside the lagoon the team didn't attempt swim horizontal to the current, and make a break for land?

 

[SCUBAJENNIFER]

It is hard for me to believe that two reasonably successful people, long time and experienced divers made a plan to risk their lives in a scheme where their success depended too many unknown factors. Real currents, surface conditions, weather forecast, sharks and other sea life, exposure, starvation, search teams actually finding them in time and if everything went perfect, they get to sell a story on their arrogance, stupidity and lack of navigation skills? I doubt it.

It is more likely a situation where two skilled, overconfident but well prepared divers went off plan to see something the others divers did not, for the bragging rights and misjudged the currents and got swept away.

The fact they were able to sell their story is fortunate for them but ask yourself this, If I screwed up and ended up being rescued and a newspaper, tabloid or television network offered me a million dollars to tell them my story, would I take the money and run? You bet I would. It’s what I do with the money that would define my character.

Ahhh, but you are assuming they are reasonable people...Like I said, I hope I'm wrong, but these days nothing surprises me. I'm just saying that as a rule, if something smells bad, it's a pretty good bet that it is!

 

[Doc]

...and here we go again. A new sub topic. Wahoooooooooooo

 

[DandyDon]

A few articles have mentioned that while recovering the American, the recovery team had to back off as a sea snake showed some interest. If my understanding is correct sea snakes do not venture more than a few miles from shorelines/coast/etc. Once outside the lagoon the team didn't attempt swim horizontal to the current, and make a break for land?

An interesting read: Sea snake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - some are pelagic.

 

[stoiclown]

An interesting read: Sea snake - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - some are pelagic.

Paragraph three under "Distribution and Habitat" is what prompted my original comments.