7 divers missing off Indonesian island

[gee13]

Gosh John C Ratliff did you have to quote such a long post by Iya?

Any news of any findings or has the search been calked off.

Either Shoko has passed on now or will there be some castaway story brewing?

Is it possible shes drifted to an uninhabitedisland.

 

[swamp diver]

IyaDiver,

This is probably the most useful post on this thread. It is so good that I am copying it into a Word document so I'll have it if I ever plan a dive vacation to that part of the world.

Thank you,

SeaRat

Ditto I did the same.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Gee13,

Sometimes, people go back and modify or shorten their posts. I wanted this one captured so the entire post was not lost in the future. Iya obviously has done a lot of research on current radio systems, and that information has to be passed on and available.

SeaRat

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Some of this may be a cultural thing as well. Indonesians are VERY polite people and saying "NO" is very difficult for them. It is important the when we travel to other areas that we also learn of any cultural tendencies. If you know how difficult it is for the locals to tell a diver something they consider impolite such as "You are not a competent diver for this site" you may understand that if they seem in the slightest bit reluctant you should take it very seriously!

Research is important not only in the dive sites, dive operations, accommodation etc but also legal and cultural issues.

 

[Jan Kruger]

My daughter, and the rest of her party, were floating for 8 hours. The search lasted barely one hour. In that time, another dive boat found them but refused to pick them up. The official search, such as it was, was in completely the wrong place. The divers were incredibly lucky to be picked up at one in the morning by a fishing boat as they drifted into the Southern Ocean. Despite the local police telling the divers that both boat drivers involved (their own plus the boat that refused to pick them up) would face charges and could expect a jail sentence, the official narrative, as conveyed to me by the British Foreign Office, was as follows:

“The investigating officer confirmed that no arrests were made regarding this incident and the report determined that “the case was an unfortunate event due to bad weather”. The police have stated that no further action will be taken in this matter.”
]

Internet Pawn - it must have been terrible to know your daughter is lost at sea....I am really glad she was found and was safe.
I also agree that the dive master in charge should make a more conservative decision about whether to dive or not when seeing a storm approaching . Surely locals know their areas of diving , the water conditions , wind pickup , stormy seas....common sense. Still , the boat leaving them to refuel....I shake my head....should be charged!

 

[boulderjohn]

I would arrest the dive shop owner for failing to instruct and provide proper training for his/her employees to deal with emergency!!

Still , the boat leaving them to refuel....I shake my head....should be charged!

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[zivva]

There's been a lot of comments about operator responsibility etc., but I think that's not all.
Blue Corner is one of the most notorious dive sites in Bali. As reported in news the divers were experienced having ~50 dives under their belts. 50 dives is far away from being experienced outside fun dives. The operator of course shouldn't have taken the group to such site.

Each news network trying to be the first to report something, they have a tiny tendency of reporting unverified informations.

- Divers were taken to Mangrove Point, one of the safest & easiest dive site in the area (hundreds of people learn to dive or even discover scuba on this dive site every year ...). Not Blue Corner. They surface drift to Blue Corner (which follow Mangrove Point) at the end of the dive as anybody would when not picked-up by their boat.
- As an expat instructor working in Bali, I guess at least the group leader had a bit more than just 50 dives.

Any news of any findings or has the search been calked off.

Search has been officially called off Thursday evening.

As the SAR chief stated : "Everyone in Bali is aware of this incident I am sure they will inform us if they find the missing person".

Nothing new since.

 

[Shasta_man]

The top incident of not researching I've come across was the guy who didn't know what a Komodo Dragon was or that they inhabit the specific part of the world we were in, as we sat on the Komodo liveaboard. I do wish I had his money to just go places I didn't know about. Same guy had the skinny wife who didn't like Asian food and was starving on the boat with top ramen and bananas, while there was lots of good pseudo Western/Asian food to be had on board. After leaving the boat, they were booked for two weeks in Vietnam. I wonder whether she survived that trip.

 

[Jan Kruger]

[QUOTE I do wish I had his money to just go places I didn't know about. Same guy had the skinny wife who didn't like Asian food and was starving on the boat with top ramen and bananas, while there was lots of good pseudo Western/Asian food to be had on board. After leaving the boat, they were booked for two weeks in Vietnam. I wonder whether she survived that trip. ][/QUOTE]

:cool2: Life is tough sometimes .....

 

[Peter69_56]

What a lot of us Caucasians fail to do is to understand the local culture. Sadly in doing this we often miss out on so much.

An example for me was an Arabic guy who worked for a company we used. In their culture they do not want to say no, as they don't wish to disappoint you. In understanding this culture difference, it then becomes possible to not hurt, disappoint or offend the person, yet develop a great working relationship.

Understand the country you are in and spend time to understand the culture, its to your and their benefit. If you are offensive enough to try and impose your culture on their people in their country, the results are very predictable and probably not to your wishing.

That's my opinion anyway.