VANISHED!

[Natasha]

I watched the whole show last night. I have a lot to say about it.
I put myself in their situation. I know what happened. They had three long dives that day. I'm sure they were not hydrated enough. They floated or swam on very dehydrated bodies. How long can you go without water? Finally the woman died while her BCD and everything was still on her. Her husband unsnapped it from her and let her descend, dead. He was also almost dead, and did the same thing with his equipment, and let himself descend. The equipment floated the same way because the currents were going the same way. Their bodies were eaten up in time. But they were already dead when this happened.
Very sad. I do not think they wanted this, or planned this.
Besides the negligence of the boat, they were also at fault.
They were supposed to be experienced divers. They had no flares with them or a sausage. They also must have thought swimming or floating to possible land could save them. If they would have tried to stay in the area of the designated dive spot, a boat could have dropped divers off there or close to there, in 24 hours ( 3miles was the Quicksilver) but they left the spot.
My deepest sympathy goes out to the people that knew them.

 

[Mario S Caner]

Socaldiver, picture the stairs going down to the beach at La Jolla Cove. The large rock structure protruding from the water to your left if Alligator Head. Anything south of that rock is basically considered Boomer's Beach. Most of the year the sand is washed away, and all that's left there are moss covered slippery rocks. The huge waves roll all the way into shore where they hit the Cliff faces almost dead on at times. When the wave does hit, it creates a deafening "BOOM" sound. Hence the name Boomers Beach. It's a very treacherous place to dive at times, but the Lobster population is tempting. I've got plenty of great stories about Boomers... and eaten plenty of large Lobster from out of there.

If you plan on diving Boomers, do it with someone whom has done it a few times, and you should be fine. Otherwise, make sure you have a hunting license and remember that you cannot go North of Alligator Head or even tranit through there with hunting gear (bag, gauge etc) because it's a protected reserve.

I love diving there, so give me a buzz closer to Lobster season and we go get some grub.

***

Natasha, good theory... but I still don't buy it, because there were other boats around that could have been signaled. Further, I highly doubt that gear of varying bouyancy characteristics could have found there way onto a beach 70 miles away. It just sounds fishy that's all.

 

[socaldiver]

Mario,

You animal!!

Would love to go grab some grub when the season starts up but UNFORTUNATELY I will be diving off Maui when lobster season starts. However, I will take you up on it when I come back in October.

Never got wet off San Diego, going to Moss Cove (Laguna Beach) Sunday morn with the dive club.

I will let you know when I am coming south would like to try Boomers.

Socaldiver

 

[devjr]

That scenario is the exact conclusion that I settled on. I was about to type a post to that effect when I happened to read yours.

I don't know why all the locals jump to conclusions about sharks, or especially the bizarre speculation that the couple was alive (because their gear was undamaged). When all was lost, the man did what he had to do. The woman recorded their story for all. All this was in perfect evidence and the whole lot ignored it; just as the crew ignored direct evidence that two people were lost at sea.

People don't want to accept the simplest explanation. In this case, they defamed the couples good name by irresponsible statements and opinions. Takes one to know one I guess.

 

[BetterLateThannever]

Natasha and devjr,

You are right on the money on this one. I mean, give me a break. To begin with, if they were planning on suicide pact, how would they happen to know that that particular boat on that particular day would conveniently decide to leave them behind. Not to mention it was 2 days later before someone stumbled across their gear on the boat and put 2 and 2 together. It was more than 48 hours before anyone even knew they were missing.

Toadfish_aus, in fact, the operators of the boat including the captain were not found guilty. Nonetheless he lost everything, 3 of the 4 divemasters on the boat are no longer in the business as well.

As far as all the gear showing up on a beach much, much later, I did find that fishy, but suspect a plant in an attempt to defame the victims.

Just my $.02.

Jimbo

 

[seaangel]

I also watched this program and found it fascinating and frightening. It fasinates me on all the attempts to point fingers at the couple and make them look like nut cases. They obviously were a happy couple and enjoyed life together. Regardless of the journal entries, it sure did not look suicidal to me. It also fascinated me that no mention of a land search where the gear washed up., couldn't they have prehaps drifted and made it in to the shore, first thing I would do is take off the gear when on the beach. Another thought, if they made it there they would definitely be dehydrated and suffering from exposure. Surely if they went off into the what looked very jungle or outback like they could have wandered in and died there.
It frightened me to think that the dive crew and captain were not as concerned over assuring all were back on board before leaving. I like the idea of the signature logs, head counts can be difficult as divers are moving about, etc. Just my thoughts on this subject.

 

[socaldiver]

With every diveboat I have been on here in So Cal (only ones I have been on I might add) the DM checks you out b4 you go in the water and when you come out of the water. And then b4 the boat weighs anchor they take a roll call that you physically have to show your mug.

I like this practice and it was alarming to see the lackadasical approach used by that boat crew. I have also read other posts on different boards that was is practiced on the boats here aren't necessarily the norm elsewhere. Very Scary.

My thoughts,
Socaldiver

 

[toadfish_aus]

shows how good my memory is...... I agree that natasha's theory is the most logical and most likely. The media love a good story so im sure those are the motives behind all the different ideas being put forward by the press and i didnt say that i belived them nore do i remember them to well for that matter..=P

 

[greg somers]

I was reading in the local english paper this morning that there is a case pending in the U.S. in 1996 where 2 divers were left to die by the boat and an S.O.S. was written on a dive slate found afterwards.There are legal proceeding pending on the case.Unfortunately this problem occurs far more often then people realise.It happened to an instructor friend of mine.There is a new product out at the moment called 'Eye-sea' from Xios and it is a wrist worn recall digital system that also tells you the direction and distance to the boat.If charter operators would use this system then maybe more of these incidences could be avoided.
I think however that the lack of professionalism of the charter boat operators and their staff needs to be addressed.In N.Z. we have O.S.H. which is the dept. of Occupational Health and Safety as well as the Maritime Board.These 2 agencies are responsible to inspect and audit all charter boat operators and set minimum standard guidelines for operations.There will be some who slip through the cracks as long as the 'buck' takes precedent over safety.If any of us see unsafe practices,don't just moan and grumble.Report them.We owe it to ourselves and the industry.
Stay smart,stay safe and stay in the water.
This has been the korea report from the one and only...
Gasman

 

[Mario S Caner]

SoCal diver, I've been on SoCal boats to the tune of hundreds of times over the years. I do know of one diver whom was left out on the dive spot for a few hours before they realized he was gone. The gentleman in question is the Assitant Buyer for a scuba retailer chain in SoCal. He laughs about it, but there really isn't much to laugh about. Guess it could happen anywhere heh!