Woman lost - Gili Lawa, Indonesia

[Pearlman]

My prayers for the missing diver. Hope they find her soon.

I've dived at Castle Rock - from what I was told and experienced, the entire North Komodo it can be "hell" around full moon. I recall the following from 2015 (without cross-checking my dive-log book, but reasonably confident from memory) :

1. We had to time our jump very carefully from the boat otherwise we risk overshooting the dive site with no chance of swimming towards it against the currents. Our boat infact went around once because we crossed the spot we should have jumped because a diver was not yet ready despite an early prep warning...
   
2. The jump was aborted after a steep negative entry - I recall sinking like a stone and I must have been at 25mtrs within the minute when the other diver panicked and signalled an abort. I had my eyes looking up all the time towards the DM who was "hand-holding" another diver because he expressed low confidence on that dive - they were sinking together but slower than me. So I managed to spot their hand signals and look in my direction in the turbulence and follow them back without too much separation. The steep negative entry was needed due to the stronger currents towards the surface that would have swept us away from the dive site again.
   
3. I have to check my log book if the experience underwater in point 3 was exactly Castle Rock or some other site around the North. But from what I remember - at least one entire dive was like a roller coaster ride, with us basically holding on to whatever and ducking for cover from the current and being swept (almost sideways) from rock to rock. In many places we had to keep our head and torso down to prevent the current from catching us and sending us away if our grip loosened by chance. We would signal and time our release together so we could stay together. When it came to propulsion, In many places 80% was about being swept in the direction we hoped to go with our fins and legs only 20% effective. I lost my pointer - I saw the loop slip from my wrist and by the time I turned around 360 and found it 10mtrs away was too much in the strong currents - I had no confidence or courage to retrieve it and unsure if I had the strength in my legs to swim back to the group if I spent even a few mins retrieving it... In fact we all agreed upon the futility of the dive 15 mins into it but it took us another 15 mins to find a spot from which to make a safe ascent to the surface. We overshot a school of grey reef sharks being 15m too high, during the entry and in the sweeping current, and I think overshot the main intended location as well with no chance of making it back there. The dive would have lasted 35 - 40 mins at most. In the end we spent most of our dive in a narrow zone hiding behind the big rock (mountain) that sheltered us from the current, and even there we had to fight to stay in the direction we wanted to go, careful not to relax too soon until we secured out next halt with a good grip. Then we surfaced in batches of two and I got quiet a furious and angry scolding from my DM for being 15 seconds behind in releasing my hold and following the DM up to the surface - she literally exploded all over me as soon as I had my dive mask off my face on the surface ... uhhh!

Remembering points 1 & 2, I would say it looks like a mistake for the DM to leave her at 5 ft to find the boat all by herself and make his way down. Actually unless the waters were really calm, I dont see how the DM could have made it back up gently to escort the diver and down again to join the group. But I only dived North Komodo one single day of my life. Other more experienced divers can provide insights that validate the LOBs story I hope.

What was the moon phase around Friday? We went North only on my insistence as the dive shop had originally told me they avoid North depending on Moon Phase. But there were only two divers (tourists) that day apart from the two DMs so they obliged when I expressed confidence in being able to manage myself. But honestly I would think twice going there again around full Moon - No more bravado, I was only being ignorant and naive I think. Thankfully there was never a panic moment although the entire dive was a fight to stay with the group.

Pearlman

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

My prayers for the missing diver. Hope they find her soon.

I've dived at Castle Rock - from what I was told and experienced, the entire North Komodo it can be "hell" around full moon. I recall the following from 2015 (without cross-checking my dive-log book, but reasonably confident from memory) :

1. We had to time our jump very carefully from the boat otherwise we risk overshooting the dive site with no chance of swimming towards it against the currents. Our boat infact went around once because we crossed the spot we should have jumped because a diver was not yet ready despite an early prep warning...
   
2. The jump was aborted after a steep negative entry - I recall sinking like a stone and I must have been at 25mtrs within the minute when the other diver panicked and signalled an abort. I had my eyes looking up all the time towards the DM who was "hand-holding" another diver because he expressed low confidence on that dive - they were sinking together but slower than me. So I managed to spot their hand signals and look in my direction in the turbulence and follow them back without too much separation. The steep negative entry was needed due to the stronger currents towards the surface that would have swept us away from the dive site again.
   
3. I have to check my log book if the experience underwater in point 3 was exactly Castle Rock or some other site around the North. But from what I remember - at least one entire dive was like a roller coaster ride, with us basically holding on to whatever and ducking for cover from the current and being swept (almost sideways) from rock to rock. In many places we had to keep our head and torso down to prevent the current from catching us and sending us away if our grip loosened by chance. We would signal and time our release together so we could stay together. When it came to propulsion, In many places 80% was about being swept in the direction we hoped to go with our fins and legs only 20% effective. I lost my pointer - I saw the loop slip from my wrist and by the time I turned around 360 and found it 10mtrs away was too much in the strong currents - I had no confidence or courage to retrieve it and unsure if I had the strength in my legs to swim back to the group if I spent even a few mins retrieving it... In fact we all agreed upon the futility of the dive 15 mins into it but it took us another 15 mins to find a spot from which to make a safe ascent to the surface. We overshot a school of grey reef sharks being 15m too high, during the entry and in the sweeping current, and I think overshot the main intended location as well with no chance of making it back there. The dive would have lasted 35 - 40 mins at most. In the end we spent most of our dive in a narrow zone hiding behind the big rock (mountain) that sheltered us from the current, and even there we had to fight to stay in the direction we wanted to go, careful not to relax too soon until we secured out next halt with a good grip. Then we surfaced in batches of two and I got quiet a furious and angry scolding from my DM for being 15 seconds behind in releasing my hold and following the DM up to the surface - she literally exploded all over me as soon as I had my dive mask off my face on the surface ... uhhh!

Remembering points 1 & 2, I would say it looks like a mistake for the DM to leave her at 5 ft to find the boat all by herself and make his way down. Actually unless the waters were really calm, I dont see how the DM could have made it back up gently to escort the diver and down again to join the group. But I only dived North Komodo one single day of my life. Other more experienced divers can provide insights that validate the LOBs story I hope.

What was the moon phase around Friday? We went North only on my insistence as the dive shop had originally told me they avoid North depending on Moon Phase. But there were only two divers (tourists) that day apart from the two DMs so they obliged when I expressed confidence in being able to manage myself. But honestly I would think twice going there again around full Moon - No more bravado, I was only being ignorant and naive I think. Thankfully there was never a panic moment although the entire dive was a fight to stay with the group.

Pearlman

Gee. For me that does not seem fun at all. I'm way to old for that stuff. Maybe if I was in my 20's or 30's I could build up to being skilled and strong enough for something like that. Take care everyone, and dive safe!!

 

[Drone076]

Remembering points 1 & 2, I would say it looks like a mistake for the DM to leave her at 5 ft to find the boat all by herself and make his way down.

IMHO, it wasn't DM mistake, cause he need to stay with the group anyway, but dive operator mistake, who not checked SMB/whistle existence in every single diver's equipment before they allow to drop in such a rough weather conditions (((

PS: In Komodo currents could be strong

 

[Altamira]

My prayers for the missing diver. Hope they find her soon.

I've dived at Castle Rock - from what I was told and experienced, the entire North Komodo it can be "hell" around full moon. I recall the following from 2015 (without cross-checking my dive-log book, but reasonably confident from memory) :

1. We had to time our jump very carefully from the boat otherwise we risk overshooting the dive site with no chance of swimming towards it against the currents. Our boat infact went around once because we crossed the spot we should have jumped because a diver was not yet ready despite an early prep warning...
   
2. The jump was aborted after a steep negative entry - I recall sinking like a stone and I must have been at 25mtrs within the minute when the other diver panicked and signalled an abort. I had my eyes looking up all the time towards the DM who was "hand-holding" another diver because he expressed low confidence on that dive - they were sinking together but slower than me. So I managed to spot their hand signals and look in my direction in the turbulence and follow them back without too much separation. The steep negative entry was needed due to the stronger currents towards the surface that would have swept us away from the dive site again.
   
3. I have to check my log book if the experience underwater in point 3 was exactly Castle Rock or some other site around the North. But from what I remember - at least one entire dive was like a roller coaster ride, with us basically holding on to whatever and ducking for cover from the current and being swept (almost sideways) from rock to rock. In many places we had to keep our head and torso down to prevent the current from catching us and sending us away if our grip loosened by chance. We would signal and time our release together so we could stay together. When it came to propulsion, In many places 80% was about being swept in the direction we hoped to go with our fins and legs only 20% effective. I lost my pointer - I saw the loop slip from my wrist and by the time I turned around 360 and found it 10mtrs away was too much in the strong currents - I had no confidence or courage to retrieve it and unsure if I had the strength in my legs to swim back to the group if I spent even a few mins retrieving it... In fact we all agreed upon the futility of the dive 15 mins into it but it took us another 15 mins to find a spot from which to make a safe ascent to the surface. We overshot a school of grey reef sharks being 15m too high, during the entry and in the sweeping current, and I think overshot the main intended location as well with no chance of making it back there. The dive would have lasted 35 - 40 mins at most. In the end we spent most of our dive in a narrow zone hiding behind the big rock (mountain) that sheltered us from the current, and even there we had to fight to stay in the direction we wanted to go, careful not to relax too soon until we secured out next halt with a good grip. Then we surfaced in batches of two and I got quiet a furious and angry scolding from my DM for being 15 seconds behind in releasing my hold and following the DM up to the surface - she literally exploded all over me as soon as I had my dive mask off my face on the surface ... uhhh!

Remembering points 1 & 2, I would say it looks like a mistake for the DM to leave her at 5 ft to find the boat all by herself and make his way down. Actually unless the waters were really calm, I dont see how the DM could have made it back up gently to escort the diver and down again to join the group. But I only dived North Komodo one single day of my life. Other more experienced divers can provide insights that validate the LOBs story I hope.

What was the moon phase around Friday? We went North only on my insistence as the dive shop had originally told me they avoid North depending on Moon Phase. But there were only two divers (tourists) that day apart from the two DMs so they obliged when I expressed confidence in being able to manage myself. But honestly I would think twice going there again around full Moon - No more bravado, I was only being ignorant and naive I think. Thankfully there was never a panic moment although the entire dive was a fight to stay with the group.

Pearlman

This dive site sounds like a place waiting for an accident to happen. From your description of your dive, with just a little bit of bad luck, you could easily have been a statistic also. I have just put this dive site on my "don't go there list."

 

[runsongas]

it is a great site and with appropriate planning should not be missed. drop in behind the pinnacle and work your way in the lee side. hook in on the edges and watch for stuff in the blue.

 

[outofofficebrb]

This dive site sounds like a place waiting for an accident to happen. From your description of your dive, with just a little bit of bad luck, you could easily have been a statistic also. I have just put this dive site on my "don't go there list."

This site does not have to be as challenging. Time and conditions will vary. The DM and the operator needs to be familiar with it and know the tides and current. I dove this site when I only had 40 dives and I was completely comfortable. We had a really good DM and operator who knew it and the rest of the park very well. There will obviously be times when the conditions and weather do not make it ideal - that is when it can become an issue. Obviously, besides conditions, everyone's perception of an experience is different so it is fair to say it is relative and will be very subjective.

Our group did not have any issues at Castle Rock and we had the exact opposite experience of @Pearlman. It was a great dive. I noted that we saw white tipped reef shark, giant trevalis, tons of bannerfish, harlequin and banded sweet lips, yellow snapper, reef octopus, napoleon wrasse, and pygmy seahorses.

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

deleted

 

[Dizzi Lizzi]

You are right, my apologies.

 

[Centrals]

1. Negative entry is not a good idea to those who always have difficulty in equalizing!
2. If the "assigned" buddy refused to accompany the "distressed" diver to the surface because he/she did not want to abort a dive. What can the DM do?
3. If the DM accompanied the "diver" to the surface and watched him/her boarding the boat safely. Who would get the blame if something happened to the divers that the DM had left behind?
4. When something happened, the DM is usually being single out or partly for fault!!! There is no way that the DM can cover two places at the same time.
5. No easy solution in this case.

Many divers are still not carrying any signaling device!!!!!! This is incredible.

 

[KeithG]

As this IS the AI thread this makes me think of 2 items:
- way too many divers pay lip sevice to the buddy dive concept
- not enough divers have PLBs when needed (or adequate surface signalling devices)

My experience is that vacation divers tend to default to group dives. Everyone thinks the DM is their buddy. In reality the DM is nobody's buddy. In this case due to the lack of onfo I do understand that we can not claim a proper buddy would have helped. But maybe? On our last LOB trip there was a minor pause prior to the first dive while the 2 single divers figured out that they were dive buddy's - but not really... We have several times accepted a third to our buddy team - we always made sure we observed them climbing the boat ladder. What is the normal expectation of a "buddy" in a group dive?

If you think there is a chance that you may drift away, carry a PLB (thanks Don). Do we know the minimum level of signalling devices required by the dive Op? And what makes sense for this type of dive? We use LOBs in the Caribbean, very benign high viz low current dives, nothing close to the described dive. They all require at least a safety sausage. And they will give you one. We also carry a whistle, mirror and light, but no PLB since currents are not an issue. For this type of dive I think it would make sense to carry a PLB.