Following a discussion on another board, I did a bit of scratching around on the net for more info on the Wave Dancer disaster and came across a few disturbing items:
Iris was a hurricane before the Wave Dancer even left the dock. According to
http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/at200109.asp Iris was upgraded to a hurricane at 4pm local time. The Wave Dancer was scheduled to leave at 5pm.
One other item to note is the storms track and when the decision to head to port was made (Map
http://www.scubabelize.com/images/maprad_large.jpg). According to Peter Hughes Diving Inc., on 10/8 at 6:30am the Wave Dancer was anchored at Lighthouse Reef80 miles East of Belize City. At 9am, the decision was made to continue on to Big Creek. By 3pm the Wave Dancer was at Big Creekmore than 120 miles to the South East. PHDI says, they were too far south to turn around and head for Belize City.
However, this doesnt make any sense. First PHDI claim that the boat moved 120 miles in 6 hours or 20 mph when the boats maximum speed is closer to 10 mph (considering the ocean conditions). Furthermore, the entire coast of Belize (and the northern part of Honduras) was under a hurricane warning before they even pulled the hook. Why not just return to Belize City?
Have a look at this and stop on frame 16. This is one hour before the Wave Dancer pulled up the anchor:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/2001/IRIS_graphics.html
From an interview with Tom Stark (the father of a crewmember): We know that the Wave Dancer did not weigh anchor until the arrival of a helicopter sent by the police and military authorities of Belize dragging a banner stating words to the effect "hurricane coming-return to port at once". We know that this helicopter was sent because Captain Philip Martin at the direct orders of Peter Hughes had disconnected, terminated or allowed to become inoperable the normal communication equipment.
Also, according to an interview with the husband of another crewmember Those girls had no contact with the Aggressor, their sister ship, which was moored alongside, because the captain had removed the VHF radio from the dive deck and the one from Eloisa's kitchen" (Belize Reporter).
The local mayor repeatedly urged people to come ashore (
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/hurricane/2001/atlantic/iris/2001-10-11-controversy.htm). I guess either this offer wasnt passed along to the Wave Dancer or it was ignored.
Nearly $1 million of the insurance money has been spent refloating the Wave Dancer and moving it. The money from the sale of the adventure boat - perhaps $200,000 or more - will be added to the settlement account. (
http://www.realestateva.com). The Wave Dancer was only worth $2.5 million before it sunk. (
http://salvagesale.com/ShowOffer.asp?OfferID=10230)
Lastly, where is the report from the Belizean Maritime folks? Wasnt this report supposed to be released back in February?