Big wave throws dive boat captain overboard - Florida

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I didn't read it was stormy. Did anyone say it was stormy? Asking for a friend.

No storm but my trip in Clearwater got cancelled Sunday, 4' seas and 20kt winds in the GOM. Front moved through. Atlantic usually pgets it much worse .
 
I was on the boat when this happened. I’ve been diving on this boat for 10 years and have never had any incidents. In fact, one of the reasons I pretty much dive this boat exclusively is because of their emphasis on safety. They’re fun but they’re safe and responsible, which is important to me. The inlet was checked in the morning before we set out on the trip and the seas were nothing close to what they were when we pulled out. Another dive boat successfully exited the inlet just minutes before we did without issue. Other boats also successfully exited the inlet. The captain is a great captain, and the criticism of the captain and operation is misplaced. This was a freak accident. No one is to blame. I’m grateful no one was injured and I’m eager to get back on the water with Starfish as soon as possible!
 
That’s Adam and Maggie’s business.

I wouldn’t dive them again and that decision predates this video. Unlike many of the glowing reports on Facebook and other SM, my wife and I did not have a good experience with Starfish Scuba.

Adam assured me he had a pool scheduled for my wife and daughter’s OW pool sessions but in reality did not. The pool was undergoing scheduled service on one day and was closed on another day so we racked up two extra days‘ hotel costs while Adam worked out an agreement at the last second with another shop to use their habitual pool. I communicated and coordinated the schedule months in advance with Starfish Scuba with sustained communication along the way to keep the focus fresh. I think having a primary and alternate pool should be standard practice if you don’t own your own training pool, especially when the customer is flying in from out of the country specifically to patronize your business.

Adam told me his Newton (the one you see in the video above) would be the one we take out for OW dives but in reality it wasn’t. His boat had been hauled out for service and had been for weeks. We had to wait around in uncertainty while he sourced another boat. We hitchhiked on some crummy catamaran with a crew more interested in stoner talk and the nobleness of marijuana legalization battles than being a proficient crew. I think I give off plenty of indicators in my personal conduct and communication style that suddenly getting into the spirit of Spicoli while on vacation is not likely. So, I don’t think he read his customer very well and his idea of a suitable back up boat and crew was inconsistent with our communicated expectations.

What constituted a drift dive for Adam was hardly more current than what I get on the second half of a routine shore dive.

What constituted a “totally intense” wreck dive was nothing more than some odd timbers strewn about in shallow water. The only thing we penetrated on my dives was my wallet.

Maggie coached my daughter not to drink water in the morning or while on the boat so she wouldn’t have to urinate while diving. “You should never pee in your wetsuit.” I can’t make this stuff up.

In the end, we ran out of time and returned home without my wife and daughter getting certified. Rather than quibble with Adam over pro-rating the cost, something I knew would result in a fruitless expenditure of energy, I wrote off the course costs. However, what really, really irked me and put me in a posture to clobber them was the fact that Adam and Maggie wouldn’t respond to my formal requests to return my wife’s medical clearance form signed by a physician. Shame on us for providing the original (based on the assumption that we were going to get a first-rate experience) but to take a couple of months to send a medical form back to the customer so the customer can pursue a course closer to home is petty. When all it takes is an envelope and a cheap stamp to close out the customer’s experience, I concluded Adam and Maggie are more focused on dabbling in a lifestyle than running a business.

In contrast, my dives with Jupiter Dive Center were top shelf so it’s not like I’m one of those impossible customers that simply can’t be satisfied (although I probably seem that way to Adam and Maggie).

The video of the Starfish’s broadside roll and the captain falling overboard does not surprise me. That much said, I don’t wish people ill-will or hope their business fails. I hope Adam and Maggie can learn from the incident and sharpen their focus, procedures and practices.

I’m going to go ahead and call ******** on this post. First, there is zero chance that Maggie told your daughter not to drink water so she wouldn’t have to pee. I’ve been diving on starfish for 10 years and have been on the boat for dozens of trips since Adam and Maggie took ever. On literally every single one of the trips, they repeatedly emphasize the importance of hydration and constantly pass out water before each dive and during the surface interval. I’ve done several certifications with Maggie (from advanced to rescue) and she is a top notch instructor. As I’ve progressed from OW to DM, I’ve worked with and experienced many, many instructors and she is absolutely up there with the best of the best.

Second, to suggest that Maggie and Adam are more interested in some “lifestyle” than running a business could not be further from the truth. They’re incredibly responsible, passionate, and dedicated to the business, far more than I’d expect. They’ve built a fantastic business and they’re more than dedicated to providing safe dive experiences and customer satisfaction. I live in Utah but dive in south Florida 5-6 weeks a year during which I generally dive everyday. I basically dive exclusively with Starfish because of how phenomenal the operation is. Adam and Maggie have worked tirelessly to get Starfish to where it is today and you suggestion to the contrary is both baseless and completely incorrect.

Third, Adam couldn’t have promised to take you out on a Newton because he doesn’t have one. The boat in the video isn’t a Newton. Also, I can’t tell you how many times Adam and Maggie have bent over backwards and gone far out of their way to accommodate my needs and schedule. I know they would have done whatever it took to get those certifications done if it were possible, which leads me to believe there must be more to the story about why your wife and daughter didn’t complete their certifications.
 
Meh....

I don’t have the spare bandwidth to make up stories on the internet or go into defense litigation.

You’ve had your experiences, I’ve had mine.

Life goes on.

I wish Adam and Maggie the best of luck with their business.
 
Tell your friend if they can't understand the point they should probably stick to the arm chair. :wink:
Sure. Cuzza, please stick to your arm chair. :D :D :D
 
I was on the boat when this happened. I’ve been diving on this boat for 10 years and have never had any incidents. In fact, one of the reasons I pretty much dive this boat exclusively is because of their emphasis on safety. They’re fun but they’re safe and responsible, which is important to me. The inlet was checked in the morning before we set out on the trip and the seas were nothing close to what they were when we pulled out. Another dive boat successfully exited the inlet just minutes before we did without issue. Other boats also successfully exited the inlet. The captain is a great captain, and the criticism of the captain and operation is misplaced. This was a freak accident. No one is to blame. I’m grateful no one was injured and I’m eager to get back on the water with Starfish as soon as possible!

Curious as to why none of the passengers attempted to drive the boat after the MOB.
 
Curious as to why none of the passengers attempted to drive the boat after the MOB.

The DM took it.
 
Curious as to why none of the passengers attempted to drive the boat after the MOB.

a dive master immediately began driving the boat from the lower helm after the skipper went overboard. The surfer who jumped on board didn’t realize the boat had a lower helm and ran up to the fly bridge thinking that no one was driving the boat, which wasn’t the case. I was blown away by how well the crew handled the situation without any panic.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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