While diving the northern Red Sea aboard the Lady Shakira out of Hurghada, we attempted to dive the Rosalie Moller when winds and seas prevented us from reaching the Thistlegorm. The crew of that dive boat was one of the worst I've ever experienced in first, second or third world countries. They tied up far too tight to the mooring line and the ship was pounding up and down with the swells until it broke the mooring line. The tag line was on the exposed side of the vessel and divers hanging onto it were swept under the hull which kept coming down on us.
While hanging on the tag line, the ship's hell came down on my left arm and literally ripped the Dive Rite Nitek Trio computer off my wrist. Fortunately my other computer (Uwatec 2G) remained in place. If anyone recovers the computer, be very careful... you'll have a LOT of deco obligation (if the battery is still functioning).
The bozos that run that vessel appeared to have little training from the captain down to the crew. Tying up tight to a mooring line in a decent swell was stupid. On top of that, the captain apparently needed many smoking and cell phone breaks during our voyage out and put a kid on the wheel. The kid kept over-correcting with the wheel as he had little clue how to operate a boat in such conditions.
As for the divers, all returned safely to the boat, including a few newly certified divers... a tribute to them that they did not panic under these conditions.
While hanging on the tag line, the ship's hell came down on my left arm and literally ripped the Dive Rite Nitek Trio computer off my wrist. Fortunately my other computer (Uwatec 2G) remained in place. If anyone recovers the computer, be very careful... you'll have a LOT of deco obligation (if the battery is still functioning).
The bozos that run that vessel appeared to have little training from the captain down to the crew. Tying up tight to a mooring line in a decent swell was stupid. On top of that, the captain apparently needed many smoking and cell phone breaks during our voyage out and put a kid on the wheel. The kid kept over-correcting with the wheel as he had little clue how to operate a boat in such conditions.
As for the divers, all returned safely to the boat, including a few newly certified divers... a tribute to them that they did not panic under these conditions.
