Hey guys,
Actually the news report is erroneous as most rural reporting goes. The divers were reported missing by their boat 30mins after their scheduled time of surface pick up. To further understand the situation, the protocols are in place because the ticao pass is probably the hairiest place to dive in the philippines... I know it is for me! currents can be anywhere from nothing to 4 knots or so. waves can be quite big and squalls can happen at any given time. Boat captains know where they need to be after exactly 45 minutes of dropping their divers off and when 30 mins elapses and they still have not located their divers they inform both Fun Dive Asia Dive centers on Ticao Island and in donsol as well as the fishing communities in the san miguel group of islands on the north end of ticao island.
These safeguards are in place because the story of the discovery of Manta Bowl is not far from this most recent missing diver report. Where it was Fun Dive Asia's founder Rico Calleja who found himself floating in the pass after he had discovered manta bowl over a decade ago. For those of you that are interested. Here is a report written by Fun Dive Asia with the inputs of both Australian Divers and the staff involved in the search and rescue.
2 AUSTRALIANS + 1 DIVE MASTER MISSING IN SORSOGON SAFE & SOUND : THE REAL STORY OF A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
On 20 January 2013, honeymoon couple Lance and Nicole Macdonald went for a dive trip to Manta Bowl in Masbate. Manta Bowl is known for the whale sharks, manta rays, thresher sharks, and other pelagic. With all these pelagics, Manta Bowl is also known for the strong currents averaging around 5 knots. At 8:30AM, Lance, Nicole, and their dive master Bobby Adrao, left Donsol for Manta Bowl. They started their dive at about 10:30 AM and the weather was still reasonable. Prior to the dive, Bobby briefed Nicole and Lance thoroughly so they would know what to do and what to expect. Ten minutes into the dive, Lance had a difficult time equalizing and there was a sudden surge of currents reaching about 12 knots, the group decided to abort dive. Bobby followed protocol and deployed a balloon to alert the boat. Upon reaching the surface, the waves were already at 3 to 4 meters and the surface current continued to push hard. The boat men did not see the balloon even with Bobby’s full effort to try to get the balloon to stand still in the waves and the wind. The currents and waves kept on pushing the group further off course. The divers were expected to surface at around 11:30 AM. When the dive boat couldn’t find the divers at 11:30 AM, they started standard search procedures. At 1:00 PM the boat men alerted the dive shop that the divers have past the expected dive time and that the divers could not be located. The dive shop immediately contacted their affiliate resort, Ticao Island Resort which is located only 20 minutes away from Manta Bowl, to inform the manager about the missing divers. Two boats together with resident dive masters and dive crew were out within 5 minutes from the call. They were instructed to follow the emergency search pattern and to start their search at the danger zones around Manta Bowl. At 3:30 PM, the Donsol dive shop was contacted again to say that the divers could still not be located. Operations manager of Fun Dive Asia, Rico Calleja, instructed for the boat on standby from the Donsol dive shop to be sent out to area between San Miguel and Pilar because the water conditions were suggesting that the divers would be drifted towards this area and the area between San Miguel and Pilar for that time period was considered the danger zone in the search patter. The whole time, Mr Calleja, kept on assuring everybody “I know that Bobby is good and he knows the protocol, he will direct the guests to safety. He will bring the group to the Haleya area.” True enough at 6PM, the divers made it to Haleya after swimming and drifting for 20 Kilometers and having been in the water for 8 hours. The waves and winds were very strong and Bobby felt it not safe to get on shore without help to avoid them from getting cuts and bruises. For several minutes, Bobby kept on shouting for Rene, the caretaker at Haleya. Rene is well known to Bobby and the rest of the dive shop staff, as protocol of the dive shop is for Haleya to be the last defence point in case of emergency. Rene heard Bobby who got a small fishing boat to assist them to shore. Rene so kindly fixed up dinner of chicken and rice as well as a warm comfortable bed for the couple. Bobby chose to stay out on shore just in case a boat passes by Haleya. At this time though, rescue boats of the dive shop, the province of Sorsogon, the province of Masbate, the Coast Guard, and the Philippine Navy were all being deployed from different areas and municipalities. The different boats were strategically located and all kept in coordination with each other as they searched for the missing divers. All boats were directed to keep watch around the danger zones as the safety zones would be searched by some of the boats in the morning. The couple and Bobby saw so many lights out in the ocean and they knew these were boats searching for them. There was no way for them to make contact with anyone since they didn’t have a mobile phone or radio andalthough Rene had a cellphone, there was no mobile phone signal in Haleya. Lance and Nicole did feel a little bit of guilt as they had the chance to have a good night’s rest while everyone was out worried and searching for them. Throughout the evening, there were 16 boats searching the vicinity.
At about 6AM, a small fishing boat was moving towards Ticao Island Resort. Upon seeing Bobby, Vicky and the rest of the Ticao Island Resort team were ecstatic and had food and rooms ready for the group. Vicky then informed all affected persons that the divers were safe in the resort. The municipality of San Jacinto had a doctor ready at the resort to check on the divers. They all cleared medical tests. After a few hours of rest and interviews, the coast guard’s boat took the divers back to Donsol, where a doctor from Donsol was waiting to do further medical examinations. More interviews and discussions were held at Elysia Beach Resort. The couple and Bobby are all ok. Bobby is back home with this family and ready to dive another day. Nicole and Lance will be meeting with their family on the 22nd of January.
In Nicole’s words, “Everything still feels so surreal. I feel like it never happened and we were just watching a movie. No one is to blame, it is just an unfortunate situation. We really owe our lives to Bobby and Rene. Bobby never let us give up hope and just kept us heading towards Haleya. Rene heard Bobby calling his name for help, and came to pick us up in a small fishing boat. He gave us drinking water, dry clothes, cooked us dinner, gave us a warm bed to sleep and took us to Ticao in the morning. We wouldn’t be here without them. We are also so thankful to the numerous people that spent so much time looking for us, and to fantastic staff of Fun Dive Asia, Donsol Eco Tour, and Ticao Island Resort who gave us the warmest welcome to land imaginable! Although we are happy to have our feet on dry land we will definitely get back in the water again”.
Rico Calleja is happy that his entire team followed protocol and that everyone was on top of the situation, reassuring him that the entire operations team have been well trained. “We all know that scuba diving has its dangers. The moment you sign the waiver form, you are reminded of the risks of scuba diving. Every time you jump into the ocean, you know that nature is in command. In diving, you learn to respect the ocean. The important thing when you dive is that you know you are with a facility that has safety first in mind and has the all precautionary measures and the right plans should the worse happen.” Despite this, Mr Calleja is looking on how to better improve standard protocol and will be working with the local government on how the private and government sectors can support each other to be ready for events like this.
Fun Dive Asia dive shop is thankful to Kagawad Dong Adrao who facilitated contact with the necessary government agencies. The immediate response and all out support of the Department of Tourism Region V through Director Maria Ravanilla, the Province of Sorsogon through Mr Raden Dimaano, the Province of Masbate through Mr Ilyo Natural, the Philippine National Police, the Coast Guard and the Navy is very much appreciated. A special thanks is given to Dancalan Beach Resort and Elysia Beach Resort who warmly opened up their resorts complete with free flowing food and drinks to all those involved in the rescue mission.
This article has been read, checked, and approved by Lance and Nicole Macdonald to ensure accuracy and to have their real feelings documented. Nicole personally typed in her quote on this article.
