Empty boat sinks during dive

[DandyDon]

Charter captain rescues two tropical-fish collectors whose boat capsized | News | KeysNet

Tropical-fish collector Alec Getman says he knew something was wrong Friday afternoon when he and fellow diver Colin Haley noticed tools that were supposed to be on their boat on the bottom of the ocean.
Getman, 19, and Haley, 26, were diving about three miles east of Sombrero Key Lighthouse when, unbeknownst to them, their boat, the Tropical Hunter, took on water and capsized.
"It was kind of surreal," Getman said, noting the pair was diving at around 50 feet with subpar visibility. "As we were coming up, you could see the silhouette but couldn't tell it was capsized until we got up closer."
Lucky for Getman and Haley, local charter boat captain Kevin Johnsen was in the area noticed something was wrong.
"I was out with some clients and local friends. We were coming in and I saw a boat," Johnsen said. "We approached and saw it was taking on water."
Within two minutes, Johnsen said, the boat was underwater.
"They came up probably 10 to 15 minutes after the boat sank. Obviously, they were trying to figure out what happened. I could see their backpacks [on the boat], so I knew they were down below," he said.
Johnsen said he told the divers to check their oxygen and, provided they had enough left, to salvage what they could from the boat.
"They got spear guns, dive equipment and all that," he said. "Two tanks floated away that we picked up before they even showed up."
Johnson, along with passengers Tim Green and Tom Zajac, helped Getman and Haley aboard their boat and eventually handed the pair off to authorities. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Sheriff's Office and U.S. Coast Guard all eventually responded.
Getman said he was thankful to see Johnsen when he finally surfaced and saw what had happened. "If he wasn't there -- we didn't see anyone else anywhere around us so it would have been a while," he said.
Getman said the boat was retrieved later that day and could be back on the water in short order.
"We got the engines running [Monday] so nothing terrible happened to it. A lot of the wiring is shot, but other than that, it should be operational soon," he said.
FWC spokesman Bobby Dube said the Getman and Haley work for Tropical Warehouse, a licensed collection company.

 

[emoreira]

Boats should not be left alone while diving. There should always be a tender in the boat while divers are diving.

 

[Tigerman]

In a perfect world and on charter boats, that may be the case - in real life, not so much.. Evidently..

 

[kerrycorcoran]

Any indication of 'why' she took on water?

 

[rhuntley]

Boats should not be left alone while diving. There should always be a tender in the boat while divers are diving.

As said by Tiger, in the real world, such redundancy is not always possible, and in most cases; unneeded. While it is arguable that a tender may have been able to keep the boat afloat by pumping the water out, the cause of this doesn't seem preventable in the case of who is on board. But regardless, they are lucky to have gotten a ride home.

 

[Shasta_man]

<<doesn't seem preventable>> Being aboard a sinking boat gives a lot of incentive to figure out why...

 

[flots am]

As said by Tiger, in the real world, such redundancy is not always possible, and in most cases; unneeded. While it is arguable that a tender may have been able to keep the boat afloat by pumping the water out, the cause of this doesn't seem preventable in the case of who is on board. But regardless, they are lucky to have gotten a ride home.

Around here if you leave the boat empty, there's a really good chance the Sheriff or Border Patrol will be next to it when you get back and they'll want to have a chat.

 

[OkByMe]

Looks like the boat was trailer-able, so they probably left the drain plug out... As long as you are running, any water in the bilge should gravity drain with the plug out. Once they stopped though, the water came in. They must have slapped on their gear and exited before they saw any water. I usually dive alone and leave my boat unattended. I also check, check, check the drain plug even though I have one manual and one automatic bilge pump. I check the auto pump once in a while because you never know it will work until you need it to.

 

[eeel]

Around here if you leave the boat empty, there's a really good chance the Sheriff or Border Patrol will be next to it when you get back and they'll want to have a chat.

Flots,

Where is around here? Is there a local law that forbids people from leaving a boat unattended?

 

[rhuntley]

<<doesn't seem preventable>> Being aboard a sinking boat gives a lot of incentive to figure out why...

Indeed, and that person likely could make a difference if they are familiar with the vessel. Perhaps it was something as simple as the drain plug being left out, who knows.

Flots,

Where is around here? Is there a local law that forbids people from leaving a boat unattended?

Can't imagine that it applies to leaving a boat unattended in general, it would be impossible to enforce that. If such a local law does exist, It would have to be requiring a person on board to supervise the diving operation.