Divers Missing in Bali

[Internet_Pawn]

Quero,

Thanks for the comments.

Do they lease a boat that lacks maintenance or is skippered by a captain who naps while the divers are submerged?

Nail. Head.

Clearly, some of these cost cutting measures, such as the guide's experience, are linked to the safe conduct of the excursion and some, such as the quality of the mid-day meal, are not.

Even this had a bearing on the outcome. My daughter didn't eat the meal, and she never takes on enough liquid before a dive. Consequently, after 8 hours in the water she had no more fuel to burn and was probably the closest to hypothermia when they were picked up. One of the many lessons learned was that she needs to pay attention to nutrition.

 

[Cheese Monkey]

Jesus this sets my heart racing. I did 9 dives with Dive Concepts about a month ago. Their pricing was excellent, and on a tight budget it was a real treat to be able to afford some more dives. Overall it was a positive experience but I was not impressed with the safety attitude of the manager. On one dive my buddy was unable to dive so I paired with him, not good. I dove alone with him on one dive and was not impressed again. Another dive my buddy forgot to put her weight belt on right hand release, he just rushed her saying 'next dive, next dive'. She ignored him. All the other DM's/DMT's/instructors were a pleasure to dive with, did a few dives led by Sara who as a DMT was really excellent, if nervous. I hope the rest of the staff don't follow his 'example'. There was never any mention of safety stops on any dive, however they were all shore dives so I can sort of understand...

Glad to hear they were all found. It seems the major issue was with the boat and not being familiar with the site. One DM with 7 divers is ridiculous, on her first drift dive, on a new site. Partly her fault, but for me the finger points majorly at the management on all points

 

[Internet_Pawn]

Cheese Monkey,

It would be good if you could put a review of your experiences with Dive Concepts on Trip Advisor. With safety standards being so variable around there, prospective divers need enough information to form a view about which operations are safe and which aren't. The more information the better.

I wouldn't be too hard on the DM, particularly as you have met the manager (who was also on the dive). The party of 12 stayed together throughout, until the DM plus 7 divers surfaced at the planned end of the dive, leaving the manager plus 3 others continuing further. That's a failing of the manager. If she didn't know the dive then it was a risk factor, but not one that had any bearing on the actual outcome.

The actual issue was all topside, and it was all about boats and boat captains. The Dive Concepts boat (My Darling), which failed to follow the divers and arrived late at the pick up point, and the Halloween (a boat used by other dive operations) which ignored the distress signals from the divers leaving them to drift for a further 7 or 8 hours.

For me, (my daughter was one of the 8) the Dive Concepts side of things was perhaps foreseeable: there were issues with the equipment and conduct of the dive (mainly things that wouldn't matter so much for a shorebased dive but which made their position worse when the boat didn't arrive). What I find hard to excuse is the Halloween ignoring distress signals. How does someone do that?

 

[pilz]

Sorry to bring up this discussion again, and thanks Internet_Pawn (I assume the DMTs father) for reacting.

I agree on most of what you say, particularly about the boat. However I believe you underestimate a very important part of the story, for what I believe is the start in the chain of mistakes. Other people also mentioned it already, but the first and most important mistakes (i.m.o.) had nothing to do with the boat or boat crew.

Diving Mangroves/Sakenan on the describe conditions, with only an Instructor and a DMt, that is where the first mistakes were made. In fact, the first mistakes imo where made by the DMt for taking a course which I believe does not provide the proper training. I know for a fact there a more expensive, but also much better training facilities in Bali. If you're serious about diving and a professional career, (unfortunately) money should not be an issue. Without knowing this company and the training in detail, I'm working in Bali diving for a bit already and I know what shops sometimes do to cut costs. That is, giving DMt too many responsibilities. In the company where I work, DMt, and even certified (non-local) DMs without enough experience, are never put in charge of a (part of a) group. They are in training and therefore they need direct supervision. In this situation, 10 divers, 1 DMt and 1 instructor (right?) I believe that the DMt was (maybe unconsciously put in charge of a part of the group... - only a few instructors can actually take care of 10 guests + 1 DMt...

That being said, I am very glad that all divers returned safely to the shore - but I do believe that the major mistakes leading to this event were made by the operator and the DMt (although the DMt might not have the right knowledge about her training and the dive shop: inform yourself!). I have made many trips with My Darling boats and never experienced any problems. However I agree in what you say about this particular event.

 

[zivva]

No DMT here : the 2 guides were both certified as Intructor & DM, not in training anymore.

Even if with no drift dive experience at all a certified DM in Bali can hardly be considered trained enought to lead guests on a drift but that's another matter ...

+ from what I have understood, Internet_Pawn is related to one of the guests, not to the DM.

 

[Internet_Pawn]

I have made many trips with My Darling boats and never experienced any problems. However I agree in what you say about this particular event.

I'm not a diver, so I can only go by what I have heard from those who are, but I think the issue with the My Darling boat would have been avoided if the dive operator had followed normal practice and had one of their own people topside during the drift dive. In any incident, the actions of the topside crew can be just as important as the actions of the underwater team (as we saw in my daughter's case) and it seems to be ludicrous to give that responsibility to an unqualified boat driver alone. When you used My Darling boats, did a diver remain topside during drift dives?

---------- Post Merged at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 06:23 PM ----------

Thanks to all of you for your interest in this.

I have now heard the results of the official police enquiry into the incident. We had originally heard that the police had arrested the skippers of the My Darling (their dive boat) and the Halloween (who found them in the water but failed to pick them up). We were later told that the skipper of the My Darling had been arrested, but was later released on payment of a fine. The official version is rather different - this from the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office:

"Consular officials have been in contact with the head of investigations at Nusa Penida Police Station who has informed them that an investigation was conducted on the diving company, Dive Concepts, along with the two boat companies involved, My Darling and Halloween. The investigation has now been concluded and the official report was sent directly to main Police Headquarters in Denpasar, Bali. 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."

Now, I can just about believe that the police might struggle to find evidence against the skipper of My Darling (as there were no witnesses to say what he was doing when he was not following the divers), but I can't see any reason not to proceed against the skipper of the Halloween, since he told everyone he had seen the divers in the water. Certainly, the 'bad weather' the police refer to couldn't have had any bearing on it. It troubles me to think that these two skippers are probably still ferrying you around and you may be putting your safety in their hands.

Caroline, by the way, seems to be completely fine after the incident, apart from losing fingernails (an effect of hypothermia).