This was posted from the Pensacola Fishing Forum under their diving section.
Apparently it was tough out there. With Gustav headed their way it is only going to get worse and I assume the CG will be pulled off to assist in Gustav matters. About 125 miles southwest of the Pensacola pass is NOAA buoy 42040 and it is currently reporting 10 1/2 foot seas and sustained winds of 25 kts.
Bad situation.
Posted by:
craasch210 .....pensacolafishingforum.com/fishingforum/Forum38-1.aspx
We were out diving today and heard a distress call from a boat called the "pioneer" that was fishing green's hole. They had a diver that had failed to resurface. They stated that the last time they saw the diver, he was on his way up the anchor rope. He did not show any signs of distress. They were diving in 107 ft of water. He was not seen again after that. I cant say for sure if they were diving air or nitrox, but I believe they said it was their 4th dive of the day (I dont know if their earlier dives were shallow water, did not get that information).
We tied up to the distressed vessel and rolled two divers to try and find their guy. The current was unbelievable at the surface (i had to be towed to the anchor line to get down). The friend that I was diving with attempted to descend and get below the current, but was quickly swept away and was recovered by another boat in the area approx 1/4 mile away from the dive site (just to give you an idea of how bad the current was).
The water was completely calm on the surface with mostly sunny skies. The visibility was approx 40 ft on the top and less than 15ft on the bottom when we dove. I believe that the conditions had changed some since we got there, because the other boat reported that the current was weaker on the bottom when they were diving.
I made it to 96 ft on the anchor rope (they had a 3/1 scope on the anchor rope) and the current was still just as strong. I dont ever remember a time when I was diving with current that strong on the bottom.
Sadly, we were unable to locate any sign of the diver. There were multiple boats and a helocopter in the area performing a grid search in the area of the the drift/current. Coast guard boats in the area as well assisting in the search.
I dont know all of the details, but I do know that this is a 40 year old causasian male with know known health problems. He had been out diving on that boat 3-4 times, but was a fairly new diver per the captain. The "pioneer" is a small pro-line type boat that looked to be approx 21-23 ft long.
Thanks to Dalton (DKdiver, Kalusa 4) and the vessel "Albatross" for coming out and helping with the search.
I will say a prayer tonight that this guy is floating out to see somewhere and will be picked up by a helo or boat sometime. To my knowledge, the search is still ongoing.