Socorro Liveaboard Grounding

[melanie.]

Here's the layout. Based on water levels, looks like crew quarters and lower passenger quarters are fully flooded. Along with the dive deck and probably some of the lounge. Main/Upper deck passenger suites probably salvageable if it stays at that position. Hope some people can get their possessions back. Very sad all around but at least no bad injuries or loss of life.

I was on Socorro Aggressor a couple weeks ago. We saw the Vortex a few times, and it definitely already had bow damage.
Don't quote me if that is the exact same damage, but I remember us discussing it. Could be new but 98% certain unrelated.

 

[Penguins4ever]

I was on Socorro Aggressor a couple weeks ago. We saw the Vortex a few times, and it definitely already had bow damage.
Don't quote me if that is the exact same damage, but I remember us discussing it. Could be new but 98% certain unrelated.

Very interesting! Wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't related to the fuel dock ramming from a few years back, they were really on the move. That nasty bow damage would certainly be noteworthy if seen on a boat.
Hope you had a nice time on the Agressor! Certainly nicer than the unfortunate folk on this trip.

 

[Soloist]

I don’t know if this is true or not, but I read on FB that everyone was asleep and the boat was on autopilot.

I suppose anything is possible, but the volcanic formations surrounding the islands result in abrupt depth changes making navigation quite challenging. When we were there last May a major storm to the south delivered heavy winds seriously whipping up the seas around these masses sitting just below the surface. So it seems unlikely that BOTH the captain and mate were “asleep with the boat on autopilot”. Understand, I am not defending this inexcusable sh!tshow. Considering it ran aground in the middle of the night my initial thoughts focused on the anchoring of the craft, but we will have to wait and see. What was it like when you were there?

 

[Marie13]

@Soloist

I’ve never been there. Simply reported what I had read on FB.

 

[<*)))><]

Don't radar systems have audible alarms when objects (boats, land) gets when in a certain range?

The anchor dragging seems likely however I'm pretty clueless regarding seamanship

 

[Eric802]

Socorro is uninhabited except for a Mexican naval station. (A very lucky place to have run aground considering the remote location).
There are very strict controls on who can land on the island, so random looting highly unlikely.

Is there any more substantive info on the circumstances of the accident?

So it won't be "random looting", it'll just be government-sanctioned looting.

 

[Tracy]

Don't radar systems have audible alarms when objects (boats, land) gets when in a certain range?

The anchor dragging seems likely however I'm pretty clueless regarding seamanship

Some probably do. I have never seen or used one with audible alarms. The radar doesn't know what it is showing you, it is just painting the image it sees. You have to determine what it is.
Some nights when bugs are hatching, you can't see anything.

This is an image from last year during a mayfly hatching

 

[ABUnderwater]

Don't radar systems have audible alarms when objects (boats, land) gets when in a certain range?

The anchor dragging seems likely however I'm pretty clueless regarding seamanship

Most radars these days have a guard zone alarm that will alarm if it detects any significant returns inside that zone. I know lots of folks that don't use them, because (as Tracy said) there can be many different things that will trigger a return on a radar, like rain or waves, though I've never seen bugs before!

 

[wgw04024]

I would expect in this case, since the Island is a fixed item not moving, and considered permanent, it would certainly show up on the gps chart. You would not even need radar to see it. Whether it was an anchor or asleep at the wheel, this only happens when someone f's up.

 

[Tracy]

I would expect in this case, since the Island is a fixed item not moving, and considered permanent, it would certainly show up on the gps chart. You would not even need radar to see it. Whether it was an anchor or asleep at the wheel, this only happens when someone f's up.

Or you lose power. I have no idea what happened in this case. But I have seen vessels lose power in weather, emergency drop anchors and still blow directly into a shoal. Anchors don't always immediately bite, especially if you are getting into thin water when they get dropped.
You are most likely correct that somebody messed up, but it isn't definitive.