diver from Orlando missing while diving the Eagle

[jake11]

Dry suit! Excellent!!! That is a glimmer of good news!

My understanding from a facebook post from a loved one of Matt is that he was wearing a dry suit.

---------- Post added November 5th, 2014 at 09:24 AM ----------

If it is the case that he has a dry suot and BC, there is still a good possibility that he has not succombed to Hypothermia.

---------- Post added November 5th, 2014 at 12:30 PM ----------

A post on Facebook today from Scuba Diving Magazine.
Scuba Diver | Missing | Florida Keys | Winter Springs | Scuba Diving

 

[Amie Branch]

It was very windy in the morning then the winds slacked back.

Many many people in the community are keeping an eye out for any possible sightings.
We as a family tend to dive as a group and have the boat tethered to a mooring buoy in the Keys.
We always have multiple smb and a radio with us for that one time a boat could be gone at the end of a dive. Nautilus lifeline GPS radio might have helped.

 

[DandyDon]

I guess the dry suit could be part of why he couldn't swim fast enough to catch the boat? A drifting boat is going to blow faster than many can swim tho.

It was very windy in the morning then the winds slacked back.

Many many people in the community are keeping an eye out for any possible sightings.
We as a family tend to dive as a group and have the boat tethered to a mooring buoy in the Keys.
We always have multiple smb and a radio with us for that one time a boat could be gone at the end of a dive. Nautilus lifeline GPS radio might have helped.

A Nautilus could have helped. I carry an ACR PLB in a canister on dives now, otherwise in my car anytime I leave the house. SMBs, inline whistles, and mirrors are good. Always having a capable pilot on the boat is best.

 

[oldschoolto]

A dive alert maybe / would have made the difference here.....

Jim...

 

[Learn It]

These cases certainly put a lot on insight on what you want to bring when doing boat dives, fair conditions or not.

 

[Steve_C]

I carry a rescue streamer in my pocket. DAN now has a a fancy electronic one with two chemical lights. I have an older one without the lights. They weigh almost nothing and fit in your BCD pocket. If deployed they create a 25-30 ft long bright orange streamer which greatly enhance visibility from above. Also have strobe in the pocket. Like having something as backup that does not use batteries.

 

[Wookie]

These cases certainly put a lot on insight on what you want to bring when doing boat dives, fair conditions or not.

Like someone on the boat?

 

[luscioman]

Are there any updates on the missing diver?

 

[DandyDon]

These cases certainly put a lot on insight on what you want to bring when doing boat dives, fair conditions or not.

Like someone on the boat?

Even for locals? Florida residents often seem to have their own rules?

It was very windy in the morning then the winds slacked back.

Many many people in the community are keeping an eye out for any possible sightings.
We as a family tend to dive as a group and have the boat tethered to a mooring buoy in the Keys.
We always have multiple smb and a radio with us for that one time a boat could be gone at the end of a dive. Nautilus lifeline GPS radio might have helped.

Entire families get wiped out everyday in car crashes, but for a whole family be drifting from a lost boat would be sad. One having a radio could be helpful if they all managed to stay together. I can think of a couple of groups lost at sea in recent years that I figured were goners after a few days, but surprisingly both were found alive - thirsty & ill, but surviving.

Excerpting from Eagle (ship) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Eagle lies approximately three miles north-east of the Alligator Reef Light, six miles off the coast of the Lower Matecumbe Key, in between 70–115 feet (21–35 m) of water

The currents can be strong in the Florida straits I know. As I recall, some skippers warned of drifting away to The Bahamas if we missed the boat. Maps of the North Atlantic Gyre generally show it turning north as the Gulf Stream just east of Florida, but some currents split off various directions, even south to rejoin the Gyre. I remember a found camera we discussed that must have circled around for another ride around the Caribbean.

The red marker shows where Google maps thinks that the Alligator Reef Light is...

.

 

[Neoteric James]

The search has been suspended.

http://m.local10.com/news/coast-guard-suspends-search-for-missing-keys-diver/29570414