Oh no! Another accident at Molokini this morning!

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I know for a fact most operators that morning did the right thing and canceled their boat trips as we all had advanced over publicized news of a tropical depression approaching our island. From my understanding the winds were a lot higher and had shifted directions but this should of never been an issue if the cavalier Owner/Captain made the right call and canceled the trip. I was not on the boat so of course do not know the exact circumstances but as a DM myself, I have never heard of tying myself to a rope prior to jumping in to recover a victim. I am sure things happened very quickly and she was following direction of the Owner/Captain. It is also my understanding that this operator has had a history of being a somewhat reckless operator. There is some personal liability for the average vacationer to make their own decision but in all fairness they are relying on the boat operator that has access to advance weather notifications to make the right decision. I would just hope that this Dive Master recovers over time and can continue her life with no complications.
 
Are you responsible for your own actions? Yes or No?

Analogy - Captain says don't worry about the chum in the water the Great Whites already ate lunch - do you jump in? I say no - in my experience with Great White sharks (which is zero) I can not make that decision on my own even if someone says go for it - but chumming and jumping in with the sharks would be a bad idea in my opinion due to my experience level - I am sitting this one out.

So are people responsible for their own personal welfare or is it a Trust Me Dive or did they spend $200+ on a dive and want their monies worth since the Captain did not cancel the trip, or did the weather just blow up and no one is at fault just a tragic set of events? Don't know but people need to have some sense of is this in the realm of what I can handle... If not - does not matter who you blame - you still get hurt or worse.

I agree with being responsible for your own actions, but we are talking about what are often folks who may never have snorkeled in their lives, are on vacation, may or may not be strong swimmers, and may have no "ocean savvy". In this situation they would be trusting the captain, and if he said "Pool's Open!" may have trusted that it was safe to enter the water.

They do not have the same knowledge base that you or most divers have regarding the hazards involved in swimming in marginal conditions.

I grew up in Hawaii. I've witnessed otherwise intelligent people, when here on vacation with their "guard down", do incredibly stupid things in and near the ocean. I've had to rescue a few. They really, truly did not understand the danger the ocean can present, and did not recognize that they were doing something dumb until they got into trouble.

Given the weather conditions this past weekend (it was snotty here on the Big Island as well), the captain will have some explaining to do about his/her judgement and actions.

Very sad situation. I hope the DM recovers fully.

Best wishes.
 
we are talking about what are often folks who may never have snorkeled in their lives, are on vacation, may or may not be strong swimmers, and may have no "ocean savvy". In this situation they would be trusting the captain, and if he said "Pool's Open!" may have trusted that it was safe to enter the water.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. It's not about what some poor, dumb tourist deserves or doesn't deserve...it's just about physics and free will.

But legally-speaking, yeah, this guy is probably toast.
 
From the Owner of Scuba Shack; Hot off the press, His words;

MOLOKINI FATAL UPDATE: Statement from Scuba Shack on the tragedy that occurred at sea near Molokini yesterday.

So... Everyone wants to know what happened yesterday.

I owe an explanation

I have been boating since I was 7. I have owned boats since I was 16.
Yesterday was pretty much like any other day, a dissipating storm had supposedly passed, I checked the radar and it looked like it had passed to the north and had been downgraded. The weather report called for trades, 10-15 mph. When we got to the ha...rbor at 5 am it was dead calm, cloudy, and a little misty.
When we dropped the boat in the water at 615, there was a light wind, 5-10 mph, light chop, a foot and under.

We went to Molokini, dropped in the divers, and 6 snorkelers hopped in the water and floated about, all had wetsuits on, which I insist on for safety under the guise of comfort.

After about 30 minutes what I would call a "freak storm" rolled in and hit like a wall, 40-60MPH winds, rain, and the ensuing 8-12 foot breaking waves, I recalled the snorkelers that were pretty much all together, three gals came right in, three did not. The father and young son swam to the island, the boy climbed right up on it. The divers surfaced after I recalled them and we went to get the three. The third gal was trying to get on the island, my crew Jeff went in, swam in and got her out of the water, we went to find the dad, and unfortunately found him face down, unresponsive near shore. He was wearing a full wetsuit.
Immediately our brave Alana grabbed a rope, tied it around her waist and dove in. Unfortunately the rope got caught in the jet and sucked her under the boat, the rope constricted her horribly before (thank god) it snapped, but the severe squeeze caused internal injuries. I had some very brave customers and friends that got her back in the boat, but she was incapacitated. Thank you Bob, Nancy and Kayla Kilpatrick for steeping forward and being true heros. They have been friends and customers for 17 years.

The Coast Guard' 45' boat arrived along with the fire department on a huge jet ski.

The coast guard recovered the victim as the jet ski was assisting the others off of the rock and transporting them to the Coast Guard boat, all this in the insanely raging seas, near shore with on shore winds. At one point, the jet ski even rolled over on one of the huge crashing waves, with a rescue passenger on the sled. It was horrible.
I have owned Scuba Shack for 17 years, taken out over 68,000 passengers, and this is my first serious incident, ever.
I would never put anyone's safety in jeopardy, ever. It was a normal day and a freak storm. We still dont know what caused the victim to expire, but hopefully we will soon. He had a "medical" issue but also had a doctor's clearance to dive. And again, he was just snorkeling with full floatation.

Alana is at the Maui Memorial Hospital if you'd like to send a note or flowers, she is expected to make a full recovery and we hope to have her back with us at Scuba Shack very soon. We are flying her sister out today.
Our sympathy and prayers go out to the family, the father was onboard with his with his wife, daughter and son. it was a terribly sad occurrence, and I feel we did everything we possibly could.
There have been several hate mails, threats, phone calls, emails and posts on FB coming to us about greed and stupidity, none of which is right, appropriate or appreciated.

It was by far and away the worst day of my life. But it was far worse for others involved.

Today we had the exact same weather report, 5-10 MPH winds with flash flood warnings till 6pm.

It was sunny, hot, calm and glassy as far as you could see.
 
Prayers for the family!
 
The Captain of a ship, boat, or plane has a pretty unique position of authority in our fairly democratic society. The Captain has the ultimate authority and responsibility for the safety of all passengers and crew in all phases of the operation. As such, he is the dictator (hopefully a benevolent, knowledgable and professional one) of all things that happen on his vessel. With regard to what is safe or not, nobody else on the boat gets a vote other than to thumb your own dive if you don't like the conditions. Divers on this board tend to have a far more in-depth knowledge and sophistication as to what might be questionable water/diving conditions, but often forget that most inexperienced divers and snorkelers do not have the knowledge required to make an informed decision for their own safety. Therefore, they rely on the boat Captain to determine whether it is safe to dive or snorkel, much like you rely on an airline Captain to decide whether it is safe to take off in marginal weather conditions. The big difference there is that you are not getting off the airplane even if you are scared to death. Unfortunately, sometimes the crap hits the fan despite the best intentions and planning, and that is when the Captain is going to be on the hot seat for all decisions, good or bad. I can't comment on the specifics of this tragedy because I was not there, but I can feel sorry for the Captain because that day will haunt him forever.
 

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