Rough conditions today down south: dive boat sank

[MMM]

We did a 3 tank dive today, all of them pretty far south since all the other divers were staying at a resort far south. We did our surface interval between dives 2 and 3 at Playa Palancar and I noticed that the wind from the south was REALLY picking up. When we surfaced from our 3rd dive, our captain told us that a boat had sunk very nearby about 30 minutes into our dive. We went past it on our way back and it was eerie seeing tanks floating in the water....someone's DAN card, water bottles and waterlogged bags of chips... We tried to at least grab and remove the floating garbage. I THINK all the divers were safe; that's a crappy thing to happen to anyone and especially to deal with the aftermath.

 

[Hawkwood]

Wow, closest I've come was on a dive off Vancouver Island.

We were working our way back to where the anchor line was, only to see the line, anchor, and a cloud of silt go zipping past our path. There was a heavy wind burst or something similar that hit the boat and dragged it. Until that point I really was not aware of how fast things can change.

Can't imagine the goings on when the boat you described went under.

 

[sharky60]

wow, any idea who's boat it was?

 

[MMM]

wow, any idea who's boat it was?

I have an idea but no confirmation.

 

[mmmbelows]

it was eerie

Imagine how eerie it would have been to see the boat come drifting past you all during your dive!

 

[El Graduado]

Once, I was working on an early Spanish wreck site off the tip of Cancun with Pilar Luna, my wife, an INAH crew of four other nautical archaeologists and a videographer. The small boat were using was anchored on the reef. My wife and the videographer were topside while the rest of us were down on the bottom. The wind picked up and unbeknownst to us down below, the boat swamped and turned turtle. It wasn’t until we saw video cameras, dive gear, and miscellaneous boat stuff come raining down on us that we understood what had happened. We went topside, helped gather up what was floating away and eventually flagged another boat that passing by. They helped us bail our boat out and towed us back to shore. Other than the video cameras, the only thing hurt was our pride.

 

[MMM]

it was eerie

Imagine how eerie it would have been to see the boat come drifting past you all during your dive!

Yeah. "Sank" wasn't quite the right word; it was capsized when I saw it on the surface. Kind of sideways. I sure hope they are able to recover everything that went down.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Most of the pangas are built with internal floatation, so they usually won't sink to the bottom unless overweighted or broken.

 

[The Chairman]

I hope everyone's alright. Gear can be replaced.

 

[cicopo]

There aren't that many ops who go far south so I'm guessing it's one that in general has groups of advanced divers vs a mix.