Two divers missing Whitsunday Islands

[DandyDon]

One good lesson I did pick up here is the importance of staying together to support each other. It could have been even much worse over night out there alone and it is all too easy to drift apart in currents. Lose sight of the other and shouting to find each other won't cut it; they'd swim toward each other and miss. I had to think: What do I already carry that I could use to tie together?I don't use weight belts. My 10 ft John line rides in a small pocket on my BC; it'd work if I used good knots.

 

[Puffer Fish]

One good lesson I did pick up here is the importance of staying together to support each other. It could have been even much worse over night out there alone and it is all too easy to drift apart in currents. Lose sight of the other and shouting to find each other won't cut it; they'd swim toward each other and miss. I had to think: What do I already carry that I could use to tie together?I don't use weight belts. My 10 ft John line rides in a small pocket on my BC; it'd work if I used good knots.

Having done the float in the ocean over night thing... almost everyone has stuff that can tie people together. I have a reel...which would work nice. A stainless steel retracter for my spg...another nice thing. Interlock your Octo... tie your inflators together. However, the first night, you will tend to be very awake. Never done a two day thing, so maybe at some point you would get sleepy...

 

[Geoff_H]

A correction - there is a report disputing the 3 hour thing - I missed it earlier. It quotes a Matt Cauldwell who was on the liveaboard. Interestingly he doesn't say when the alarm was raised, just that it wasn't after 6pm (they entered the water at 2pm)

I had to think: What do I already carry that I could use to tie together?I don't use weight belts. My 10 ft John line rides in a small pocket on my BC; it'd work if I used good knots.

No reel with your SMB? You don't deploy from depth then I guess?

It has emerged the rescued divers took a water bottle and shark repellent device with them on the underwater dive and wore full-length thick wetsuits with hoods in the tropical 23C waters of the Great Barrier Reef.

Did anyone else get the impression that one of the earlier articles was subtlely hinting this could have been a setup, because they were wearing thick wetsuits and had a bottle of water?

If so I think that is a completely fallacious suggestion to be honest - who is honestly going to cut themselves adrift in the ocean, overnight and hope they get rescued? 23 degrees C water is not tropical by any stretch - I know plenty of people who are cold in this water, especially on multiple dives on the same day (liveaboard diving).

My instructor in the Phillipines often wore a hood, to keep her hair under control and to keep her water during multiple dives.

I think you would have to be pretty deparate to purposely get lost in the ocean and hope to sell your story after being rescued.

 

[Geoff_H]

What time is sunset in that region? Aorund 6pm I guess.

I would suggest that, on a 2pm dive to 12 metres it could easily last an hour - especially with experienced divers. I think that boat would give them an extra half an hour before starting to get worried.

Add in some boat searching time (to make sure they didn't sneak aboard), decision time, extra water scanning time and you can easily get to around 4pm. At that point they would have been in the water two hours - had not surfaced or had surfaced out of sight of the boat.

Will be interesting to see what time the emergency call was placed.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

Is it my imagination, or does this sort of thing (divers missing/divers left behind) seem to happen more frequently in and around Australia, more than any other place?

Maybe other places are better at keeping it quiet?

 

[diver 85]

Super! "The search was expanded at first light with seven helicopters and three fixed wing aircraft looking for the pair." Have to wonder what a search like that costs? Worth it, but curious.

Glad they found them.......I'm quite sure the cost is ALOT less than the amount of money US divers have spent over the last few years in & around Australia....Kinda like you scratch my back(I'll spend megabucks here) & I'll scratch yours(you come find me if I get lost)......

 

[trehoret]

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to add my 2 pence to the story, I just saw the "exclusive" interview on ITV UK news at 10 tonight, and realised that the girl Ally, is the girl my girlfriend and I took our DM course with in Phuket, Thailand in January 2008.

On our first meeting with Ally, we went for an easy beach dive which was a recon for our mapping project which we were told to do as a group.
Once in the water, Ally told us that she dived alone, and was going to do her project alone, and descended underwater by herself for her dive before we had time to say anything.
This was the first of a long list of what I consider diving misconduct and dangerous methods throughout our DM course.

It was a scary idea that she was going to take her IDC straight afterwards and that she would be teaching students.

After seeing the report on TV tonight, I would not be surprised at all if it is found out that they were at fault, and behaved dangerously, putting themselves in this situation.

This is my own opinion after spending a couple of weeks with Ally. I just hope it is not her miscalibrated D9 which caused the trouble.
My girlfriend would have a lot to say about her, but then they didn't get on together at all, mainly due to Ally's behaviour.

I believe they said that they would be happy to make a donation to the life guards who saved them... After all the money they are getting from that story, this is the least they could do ... and again, I kow for a fact that they do not need this money as she has a perfectly fine business in the States.

Jim.

 

[almitywife]

Is it my imagination, or does this sort of thing (divers missing/divers left behind) seem to happen more frequently in and around Australia, more than any other place?

Maybe other places are better at keeping it quiet?

thats because we dont like you

actually, its a game we like to play here....

we get 5 points for ever lost american, 3 points for every lost new zealander, 25 points for every japanese person 100 points for every pom

 

[Diver Dennis]

Did anyone else get the impression that one of the earlier articles was subtlely hinting this could have been a setup, because they were wearing thick wetsuits and had a bottle of water?

If so I think that is a completely fallacious suggestion to be honest - who is honestly going to cut themselves adrift in the ocean, overnight and hope they get rescued? 23 degrees C water is not tropical by any stretch - I know plenty of people who are cold in this water, especially on multiple dives on the same day (liveaboard diving).

My instructor in the Phillipines often wore a hood, to keep her hair under control and to keep her water during multiple dives.

I think you would have to be pretty deparate to purposely get lost in the ocean and hope to sell your story after being rescued.

I do see the subtle spin you mentioned but it helps to sell newspapers.

You are exactly right when you point out that just wearing heavy wetsuits and hoods means little more than they get cold easily. I live in the Philippines and even with 28C water you see divers who get cold with full suits and hoods. I know one instructor who wears a 7mm in tropical waters and he is a Canadian like me but lives and dives in tropical waters. I wear a 3mm full all the time now and I can get cold after multiple dives, so yes, I think it's just speculation.

 

[Valwood1]

thats because we dont like you
we get 5 points for ever lost american, 3 points for every lost new zealander, 25 points for every japanese person 100 points for every pom

Well, based on my dinner experience with an Aussie and a Kiwi, and their rather pointed remarks about sheep and such, I would have thought that a Kiwi was worth a lot more points than a Yank.