Dan Grenier lost at sea.

[jjoeldm]

This is very sad news. Dan is a great guy and Crystal Divers is an excellent operation. I met Dan in 1998 and dove with CD and stayed with he and Alisi and family on Nananu-I-Ra Island. A class guy and there is no question that if someone in his charge got in trouble that he would go after them. I hope that he and Danielle turn up alive and well.

Thanks for posting volunteer info.

JoeL

 

[mderousse]

This is very sad news. Dan is a great guy and Crystal Divers is an excellent operation. I met Dan in 1998 and dove with CD and stayed with he and Alisi and family on Nananu-I-Ra Island. A class guy and there is no question that if someone in his charge got in trouble that he would go after them. I hope that he and Danielle turn up alive and well.

Thanks for posting volunteer info.

JoeL

The extensive underwater search has so far turned up no sign of either, which in a strange way is good news, as it reinforces the theory that they were carried away in current. There are many islands in the general direction of that current and Dan knows the waters better than almost anyone. The Cousteau Resort folks have been involved in the search. The US Embassy appears to be about to help as Dan was a Vietnam vet. The weather has generally been cooperating with some glassy. Still hoping.

 

[Scubaroo]

What was the date that they were initially lost? I'm assuming they were somewhere in the Bligh Water (I'm not sure where the "Mary's Maytag" site referenced in one article is) - my wife and I are sincerely hoping that they're just sitting on a deserted beach somewhere awaiting pickup.

Do you know how long Danielle had been in Fiji, and whether she was actually learning to dive at the time? The girl we dived with back in July was from Australia as well, and told us she was going to be looking after and tutoring Dan's kids, but was quite a capable diver (better than most of the people on the trip!), and I thought she was a DM, or DM in training. Unfortunately we don't recall her name but we believe it to be the same person.

This really does drive home the benefits of safety gear for mid-ocean diving that many people wouldn't usually consider taking along due to the expense and hassle, like a rescue beacon. We are going to seriously consider one (possibly each) for our next big trip.

Praying for a happy ending!

 

[DewyDDS]

They went down on the dive August 31,2004 at 11:45 on the site refered in the Bligh Waters. The other side of this reef is "Pot Luck". The boat was anchored at Pot Luck and Dan and Danielle were going to do a current dive and drift around and meet the boat. Dan told us he was taking Danielle on a current dive so she could better explain it to others. That made it sound like she had not experienced heavy current before. We (guest's) were diving the pot luck side while Dan and Danielle went to dive "Maytag". I was one of the guest on the boat as well as my wife and one other couple. Surface conditions were rough on the Maytag side of the reef while the potluck side was in the lee and was calmer. The current was going the opposite way we expected for first part of the dive. It is a possibility that they also went the opposite way, in which case no one would have been looking for them in that direction and they could have been swept away. When they hadn't surfaced, we searched untill fuel became a issue and then Alisi had to bring us back in and refuel to go back out for a night search. Other boats were all ready out seaching into the night, No air support was available that day. The only Air support that we knew of was a sea plane the the resort rented the next morning.

Hind sight is always better and of course different decisions could have been made. In the future I will always make sure we have several signal devices when diving open waters for night and day. This might have saved them, We still hope and pray that by some miracle they will be found alive.

This also is a reminder that in some areas of the world that a coast guard like we have in the USA is not just a call away.

On way out that morning Dan was talking to me about his latest project which he seemed to have a great passion for. This was setting up a area where the sharks would be protected from fishing as they are being sold for thier fins and the population was dropping. He had not always agreed with feeding sharks, but had come to understand this was a way to protect them. He had already got an area set aside for that and was going to start feeding. I hope this is something that can be followed up on regardless of the outcome of the search.


Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected.

Duane & Bobbi

PS: The diving in this area was breath taking and so was the stay at Bamboo beach Resort.

 

[scubasean]

This really does drive home the benefits of safety gear for mid-ocean diving that many people wouldn't usually consider taking along due to the expense and hassle, like a rescue beacon. We are going to seriously consider one (possibly each) for our next big trip.

Ben,

Do you know if planes and helis in that area carry equipment to detect an electronic beacon? If so, what freqs do they operate on out there?

Based on a different thread you participated in, I was thinking about the merits of the beacon, but wonder if different parts of the world are equipped differently to detect them, so it may be necessary to have one for the part of the world you are traveling to....

 

[Scubaroo]

My understanding is that the 121.5/406Mhz frequencies are a global standard. 121.5Mhz is a homing signal for land/sea/air receivers (eg boats, SAR aircraft need a receiver), and 406Mhz is a distress signal picked up by a satellite network that has an embedded registered ID of the user in the signal, and once a search commences, the 121.5Mhz output of the same device is used to "home in" on the beacon.

A valid point someone made on the thread you're referring to is that someone in the area needs to be actually listening if you're just using 121.5Mhz - given the battery life of some of these devices is only 20-30 hours, you'd want to make sure someone is a) aware you're lost, and b) bloody listening, within those first 20 hours. I'm still looking into what would be a good one for diving use - the only submersible one I've seen for divers is a 121.5Mhz model only. Not much good if it take a day to get an aircraft in the air listening for you - your battery is half flat before they even start looking. Some of the fancier models use an internal or external GPS to transmit your location with the 406MhZ signal, but they all seem geared towards use from a vessel like a lifeboat.

Still investigating. They seem a sensible idea. Given the number of divers we saw in Fiji that didn't even have a safety sausage, and were diving in conditions similar to those described above, I'm honestly surprised there's not more people lost in this fashion.

 

[medic_diver45]

My understanding is that the 121.5/406Mhz frequencies are a global standard. 121.5Mhz is a homing signal for land/sea/air receivers (eg boats, SAR aircraft need a receiver), and 406Mhz is a distress signal picked up by a satellite network that has an embedded registered ID of the user in the signal, and once a search commences, the 121.5Mhz output of the same device is used to "home in" on the beacon.

A valid point someone made on the thread you're referring to is that someone in the area needs to be actually listening if you're just using 121.5Mhz - given the battery life of some of these devices is only 20-30 hours, you'd want to make sure someone is a) aware you're lost, and b) bloody listening, within those first 20 hours. I'm still looking into what would be a good one for diving use - the only submersible one I've seen for divers is a 121.5Mhz model only. Not much good if it take a day to get an aircraft in the air listening for you - your battery is half flat before they even start looking. Some of the fancier models use an internal or external GPS to transmit your location with the 406MhZ signal, but they all seem geared towards use from a vessel like a lifeboat.

Still investigating. They seem a sensible idea. Given the number of divers we saw in Fiji that didn't even have a safety sausage, and were diving in conditions similar to those described above, I'm honestly surprised there's not more people lost in this fashion.

You're right about the delay in getting a plane being detrimental in having someone available to hear the signal, but these little buggers (the transponders) are quite powerful and (at least according to an airline pilot friend of mine) can be heard even from airliners. Gotta go....we have a fire call...

 

[drbill]

Was talking with friends of Dan's who were out on Catalina today to dive. They said the young woman was a DM in training.

Doc

 

[grahamsp]

In regards to the particular circumstances of the Fiji incident with which this thread started, I don't know enough about what actually happened to do anything other than speculate so I won't.

But FWIW I can share how one dive operator (the Big Blue Explorer of Palau) handled what is probably one of the most challenging drift dives I have ever done, the notorious Peleliu Express, the dive (we were told) from which a Japanese group and their dive guide were lost back in the early 1990's.

With the tide running strongly to the SW, the dive started as a drift along the SE facing wall of Peleliu, the idea being to hook on the plateau as you approach the drop-off into deep water at the southernmost point of the island. Here, with the right combination of currents and upwellings, you get an extraordinary explosion of life as every fish in the vicinity jostles to take advantage of the food on offer. But it wasn't our day - the waters off the wall were empty save for the odd grey reef shark so, without hooking on, we moved up off the wall and onto the reef plateau at about 18 metres; in a matter on minutes we were off the reef and out into blue water doing our safety stops.

As we waited on the surface for pickup, 24 minutes and at least 2 k's from where we started, the potential traps for the unwary became all too obvious. The southern tip of Peleliu Island was 1000 meters away and receding at a good 3+ knots and the sea, although not rough, was rough enough (SS 4 going on 5 from memory) to make spotting divers without SMB's difficult. Left to our own devices, we would have been past Angaur Island, 7 k's to the SW heading for God knows where in less than 2 hours. But the chase boat was close to hand and we were back onboard the BBE inside 10 minutes.

The lessons I learnt from this particular dive were as follows

1. Plan carefully. In particular, no assumptions about the actual currents on site can be made without being tested. These exposed reef walls are notorious for currents that do not do what they should be doing given the prevailing state of wind, weather and tide.

2. Brief in detail. The dive group must know precisely what to expect and how the dive is to be executed.

3. Competent dive guides are a must. Our group of 6 had two guides, each with considerable experience of the dive we were doing.

4. Group cohesion is important. We were briefed to stay together and we did.

5. Rock solid surface support is critical. We had one chase boat drifting with the dive group; a second stood off in reserve. As longstop, we had the mothership (the Big Blue Explorer) waiting down-current off the southernmost point of the island.

6. Carry backup safety equipment just in case it all goes to custard. SMB's are a must and deployment should be as soon as the group leaves bottom. An EPIRB is also a damn good idea (we had one).

Before the dive, you would have been excused for thinking that all of this was a bit over the top. But in retrospect, it was clearly how things needed to be done on that particular dive. So full credit to BBE's dive crew.

Whether or not any of the above is relevant to the two divers lost in Bligh Waters is not for me to say. I'll just pray that they turn up, sunburnt, thirsty but safe.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

First of all, I hope for the best outcome in this matter. My prayer go out to the searchers and the lost.

I am headed to Palau in about a year and a half. I found this of interest: http://www.seamarshall-us.com/diver.html Sounds like pretty cheap insurance. Would any boat be able to pick up the transponder signal or would it have to be a search and rescue vehicle with a specialized receiver?