Scary boat experiences

I had my first experience with my new diving club on Saturday, got up at 6 AM first shock,
second shock was I didn't quite realise how wet you get on a small inflatable Rib, it was like somebody constantly throwing buckets of water in my face, I'm glad I had my dry suit on!
The first dive was through a kelp forest at 15 m, which was not very interesting, but gave me a chance to play with my buoyancy in my new dry suit.
The second dive was 20 m exploring a very large and intact Second World War shipwreck which was excellent, along with very good visibility(which was surprising considering rough seas),
after everyone had dived, the sun was going down, and the seas had picked up even more , now in a force 6 wind and the skipper decided that we must quickly get back to base before it gets dark.
Well it started off as good fun as we headed back at full throttle jumping over the waves and watching the red sky, then it became damn right scary as the waves became bigger and the boat spent most of the time flying out of the water then crashing back down in the dips the engines roaring in protest out of the water.
The skipper all in black looked like a demon possessed and I asked his wife whether he drove his car like this !
I really started to feel that we wasn't going to make it , as the waves became bigger, I thought surely it is only a matter of time before the boat flips over, we was holding on so tight that the rope around the rib was being pulled off its attachments, luckily we was also holding on to a centre rail .
Everyone else on the rib looked reasonably calm, I'm not sure whether they was just putting on a brave face or not.
After about 40 minutes as we flew around the headland (quite literally) the seas became calmer and I realised that we were safe .
It was an excellent adventure although very scary but I can't wait to go with them again.
Anybody else have any scary boat experiences?

during a squall...conditions were too rough to board the 31' boat at its usual dockside location as the deck was heaving 5-8' with each set of incoming waves. The crew moved the boat and we were herded on foot across the island in driving rain to board in calmer water of a leeside lagoon.

Weather only worsened as we left the atoll and 30 minutes into our ride back to the mainland, waves were 12-15', winds 45+ knots, and most of the 15 passengers were retching violently...

The boat driver, Mr. Hamm, was a huge , muscular man, but was almost washed from the helm several times by oncoming waves. Constant bailing with a 5-gallon bucket was necessary as sheets of green water poured over the bow and overwhelmed the bilge pumps. There were no life jackets onboard and all dive gear was locked 'safely' in a forward compartment.

The driver demonstrated that he was an expert seaman, positioning the boat into each building wave, deftly using the throttles to motor up the wave face without flying over the crest, and then repeating the process again and again...we encountered large following waves several times...only his skill at avoiding these kept the boat from being swamped or capsizing.

Some pax became completely unnerved and their actions were those from some made-for-tv movie...shrieking, crying, and generally being hysterical. This helped nothing and only added to the growing fear that we possibly might not survive the situation.

The 50 minute ride out in calm weather required over 4 hours in this storm. We finally arrived at the harbor in Belize City and one of the hotels there graciously offered us the use of several rooms to shower and regroup after our ordeal...two hours later, several of us were in the bar sipping Belikin beer and recounting our war story. Sometimes it really is 'adventure' travel...

Any good offshore boat will handle worse conditions than the majority of people who will ever board her.

The people who drive these boats for a living generally get very good at it. Some of us have been known to go out in conditions that no passengers would ever want to be, just for the practice.

My scary boat ride was on RV Hero on the way from Chile to Antarctica. This is the Drake Passage that is so imfamous. Standard summer conditions are 30-40+ knots wind with seas averaging 20-30 feet. On the scary trip the winds were up to 50kts+, seas were 30'+ with lots of rogue waves. The Hero was a 125' diesel, sail aux, vessel of the north sea trawler design. We were to short to span the waves and to long to ride them individually. So we would get slammed regularly. Bow up! ROLL
BOW down, SLAM, roll back, bow up. .....
On one wave we start forward and a rogue wave stands up right in front of the bow. With my face right up to the pilot house window I could not see the top of the wave. It was BIG! The ship slams to a stop as the bow and part of the well deck dissappear into green water and then the wave falls down on top of the ship.
Green water everywhere!
The ship slowly rises out of the water and the wave runs off of the decks. The flat spot left by the falling wave gives us just enough room to get stearage way on and then it was back to the same old, gut wrenching ride.
When we were in calmer waters and could check out the ship we found that the sea had taken several outboard motor fuel tanks and a couple of my radio antennas.

Just another day in paradise.

If you're not used to inflatables, I could see how you might be unnerved by a rough trip in one. I've been on them where some people look like they're just about to die and right beside them the guy looks like hes having so much fun riding the bronco. I guess it depends how you look at them. I think people might tend to not be used to the water that they can handle over a similar sized full hard hulled boat.

steve

The first dive was through a kelp forest at 15 m, which was not very interesting, but gave me a chance to play with my buoyancy in my new dry suit.
The second dive was 20 m [...]

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Scary indeed. I was taught that the deepest dive of the day should be the first dive, with the rest being progressively shallower. So why was your second dive to deeper water?

Or am I mistaken, and it really doesn't matter what order your dives are in?

We were sitting across the inlet from Pensacola NAS on beautiful sunny day. My wife and I were going to mind the boat (a 19' Sea Ox) while a friend and his son went diving. I had noticed the sky darkening in the distance earlier but didn't think to much about it. As they were gearing up it became apparent that circumstances were changing rapidly, the air temp dropped 20 degrees in less than 5min. and the winds picked up to around 30 knots +/- (estimated).

Needless to say they bailed on the dive and the anchor came in. As we started back the seas kept building to about 6-8' by my and my friends estimation. Those seas were way more than I ever wanted ot see while in that boat. It was the first time I have ever been scared on the water or ever wanted to be wearing a life jacket for that matter. The worst part had to be trying to keep the spear gun out of my ass each time I landed from my ass leaving the deck between swells.

I'm not proud of this infact I'm very embarraced but I'm going to post this anyway...maybe some one can learn by the mistake I made in 1978.
I was 18 years old and owned a POS 36' salmon boat .
In the dence fog with a broken radar I went between the first and second barge of a large tug boat.
I heard the loud horns and saw what a stupid thing I did as the fog some what lifted.
I'm not sure how we survived.
Location was about 4 miles NW of the GG bridge.
I have no excuse for my stupid (negligent) mistake even at 18 I should have known better.

Oh man....I was almost puking my guts out just reading some of your posts.....Mech, that sounded insane!! lol

I'm afraid I'm one of those that does not do well...in swell...even on calm days I make sure I take my motion tabs so that there are no unwelcome surprises. I forgot to take them one time on a trip just outside Akumal (Mexico) and I was green until we went fins up....felt great the whole dive....then when waiting for pick-up I started feeling green again!! lol

Oh well....I guess we can't all have constitutions of iron.

ScubaJeep once bubbled...


Scary indeed. I was taught that the deepest dive of the day should be the first dive, with the rest being progressively shallower. So why was your second dive to deeper water?

Or am I mistaken, and it really doesn't matter what order your dives are in?

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If you play with your tables you'll find one reason to avoid them, but it's hardly a blanket prohibition.

Were you given a reason why you shouldn't do them?

cornfed once bubbled...


If you play with your tables you'll find one reason to avoid them, but it's hardly a blanket prohibition.

Were you given a reason why you shouldn't do them?

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Now that I think of it, no I wasn't. Further investigation into my textbook finds no reason either. Online sources tend to sway either way, with one Article saying they are no big deal.

I think I will continue this conversation on the Medicine board, so that I can cease hijacking this thread.