Bula from saildivers-Aid for lost divers in Fiji?

[saildiver]

My wife and I just joined this week.We mostly dive these days off our own sailboat Mana-Ni-Wai,a 23 footer that we trailer so we can explore different areas like the Sea of Cortez,the Bahamas and the Keys,though we have been all over the place -mostly to pristine areas.We love exploring hard-to-get-to places-which of course often have better, more divers diving. Although we have over 4500 dives between us, we're always trying to be safer-you gotta get back to the boat you know! Which brings me to how we found this wonderful website. Last week a friend emailed us about a topic on this site in which two divers became seprated from their dive boat and haven't been seen since Aug 31 2004. Dan Grenier,54, US Marine diver and long-time dive instructor and guide in Fiji was taking Danielle Gibbons,27, on a dive to help fulfill her own requirements to become a dive instructor.They were dropped off for a drift dive in a strong current. The boat took some less experiencd divers to a calmer spot. Unfortunately, the 2 divers were never seen again. A search was begun by the dive boat and a few hours later local boaters/friends joined the search. The Fijian gvernment, as well as friends and family, began a joint search the next day, but by then the area to cover was taxing the resources available. Dan happens to be one of my best friends, one of the best friends the ocean could have, and is the most skilled diver I have ever dived with. Unfortuatly, the search was officially called off last week. However, since no bodies have been found and no shred of dive suits or equipment has been discovered, we remain hopeful that they have survived. Those of us who know Dan, know that if anyone could survive a day or 2 of drifting in the current to possibly reach one of the many uninhabited islands-Dan could do it! He and Danielle may still be surviving as "Castaway"s. Ironically, these islands are the same islands where the movie "Castaway" with Tom Hanks was filmed. Dan gave technical support to the cast and crew during their filming and, for his assistance, was given the paddles Tom used to paddle his raft off the island. Also, he was given one of the duplicate "Wilson" soccer balls. We are helping Dan's family and friends keep the search going. The search effort needs boats, planes, and manpower if it is to continue to adequately cover such a large area of land and sea. All of this requires money! To raise the necessary money, we need public awareness. It is amazing to us that so little publicity has been given to this event. Despite the fact that Dan is a US citizen and a Marine Corps veteran who served in Viet Nam. there has been no national media coverage of this story. This is even more amazing when you consider that the movie "Open Water" premiered just prior to this event (we agree, it was a bad movie, but it is still putting a lot of people's attention on a serious issue in diving). If anyone has media contacts or is willing to contact news agencies (including your local news stations, newspapers, etc.) please do it!!!! Your contact may be the one that leads to finding our own real live "castaways". Also, if anyone knows of any crew or cast member of "Castaway", please let us know. They, too, may be willing to help.
Once we receive the bank account number where people can contribute to aid in the search, we will post it on this web site. Once again, thank you sooooo much for any help you can provide!!!
Bula
Russell England, M.D.
Christine England