Jay
Need to dive more!
This incident happened on my favourite ship wreck dive in OZ.
Swell was ~2m, wind 15knots, white caps, mild currents and no land in sight.
Conditions were worse than I had expected and forecast a few days prior, but before we left shore we all knew what it was going to be like (excluding the current, which was reasonably mild for this wreck).
During the briefing, how to handle the descent ropes; sequence, 2 hands on at all times, was clearly stated and repeated. Probable currents were discussed; surface current could be different than bottom current, where current shelter should be etc
Post dive #1 the last buddy pair to enter the water didn’t surface and no one had seen them on the ship wreck.
The skipper commenced a search grid and after half an hour+ of searching an eagle-eyed diver spotted a DSMB a km away. Meanwhile the marine police had been notified and a helicopter was en route.
Turns they decided not to hang on the descent ropes. They spent 30mins on the bottom searching for the shipwreck, then ascended (their admission).
They also said we had come close to them whilst searching but none of the dozen or so pairs of eyes on the boat had spotted them.
It’s flabbergasting that they ignored the descent rope instructions and that they didn’t quickly ascend to minimise damage. They should have known that after not running into the ship wreck after a few minutes that they probably weren’t going to, and they risked a serious amount of drift from the boat.
The icing on the cake of stupidity is that one of them is a qualified Dive Instructor. I kid you not!!
If it wasn’t for that eagled-eyed diver and a DSMB the whole scenario might have been in a different sub-forum. At the end of it I still didn’t see any sign from them about the seriousness of the situation.
Swell was ~2m, wind 15knots, white caps, mild currents and no land in sight.
Conditions were worse than I had expected and forecast a few days prior, but before we left shore we all knew what it was going to be like (excluding the current, which was reasonably mild for this wreck).
During the briefing, how to handle the descent ropes; sequence, 2 hands on at all times, was clearly stated and repeated. Probable currents were discussed; surface current could be different than bottom current, where current shelter should be etc
Post dive #1 the last buddy pair to enter the water didn’t surface and no one had seen them on the ship wreck.
The skipper commenced a search grid and after half an hour+ of searching an eagle-eyed diver spotted a DSMB a km away. Meanwhile the marine police had been notified and a helicopter was en route.
Turns they decided not to hang on the descent ropes. They spent 30mins on the bottom searching for the shipwreck, then ascended (their admission).
They also said we had come close to them whilst searching but none of the dozen or so pairs of eyes on the boat had spotted them.
It’s flabbergasting that they ignored the descent rope instructions and that they didn’t quickly ascend to minimise damage. They should have known that after not running into the ship wreck after a few minutes that they probably weren’t going to, and they risked a serious amount of drift from the boat.
The icing on the cake of stupidity is that one of them is a qualified Dive Instructor. I kid you not!!
If it wasn’t for that eagled-eyed diver and a DSMB the whole scenario might have been in a different sub-forum. At the end of it I still didn’t see any sign from them about the seriousness of the situation.
