Diver left behind

Hi,

Not necessary where they can't spell Beer and use XXXX instead.

Consider the numbers going diving there, losing one or two is a fractional percentage of those who use the reef.

My wife and I had the experience of being left behind, sort of. We are amatuer photographers who often lag behind the dive group to get our shots. On one bouncy day of 4-5 footers off Palm Beach, which is a "drift dive" the boat couldn't find us for about 45 minutes. While you're floating out there, you start to imagine all kinds of things bumping into you even though you try to be rationale.

Our boat's particular search protocol was to turn the whole dive fleet around, about 5 other boats, to join in the search. My "protocol" was to fire off my camera strobe each time we came up out of the trough, which finally worked. and we flopped up on to the swim platform of one of the boats exhausted. We were only a couple of miles off shore and could see the Breakers Hotel, but Mrs Beau was not too happy!! We immediately purchased those orange sausages for the future.

I accidentally left one guy behind before, but that was at a RESTAURANT and we were on a tightly packed 40' Cabo and we figured it out within 100 yards from leaving the dock. I would think the dive boats would be a lot more careful with head counts.

Never even considered anything remotely extreme without a GPS/radio transmitter/locator. At least the most basic "big red button box". Used to have one playing airsoft in a woodland near Moscow almost 10 years ago - that's where you can just track for 2-3 hours on foot and find some road or village - worst case. And it was over 1k$ back then.
Now that those things go basically below a hundred bucks, I just can't imagine an excuse. In open seas, no less.
Heck, giving one away for free to each customer (assuming those people are nowhere near pricing their safety at $100 themselves) for years would still run cheaper then one full-fledged S&R deployment...

They use ERIBS in the Galapagos up by Wolf and Darwin islands and other strong current areas (5-6 knots) because if you get swept away there you're GONE. But generally, most Pacific and Carribean dives have a very low current. My situation was of my own making and we were recognized as missing as soon as they took the count. Most of the time you won't drift too far and your easy to spot on the surface, and when its rough you deploy that 5 foot orange sausage or like me hit your strobe. Its that single yo-yo staff member that can't get the count right and signals that captain that all are aboard and the boat pulls away that's the root of the problem - which really is small - unless you're the one as NYCAP123 says

Which is exactly what makes me wonder why anyone in his right mind would ever get off the board in the open without some kind of a BVR beacon/locator.

ArcanisX

I can not refute your logic....

**** happens...

I say "**** happens" facetiously...

Having worked/run a large, successful live-aboard dive vessel for over 4 years (160+ weeks charter in the 4 years), I empathize w/ whatever dive operation that happened to (I didn't read/watch the link in the OP).

It happened to us twice (neither my fault!). Once, having truly left divers behind at a dive site and another time guests were left on a beach while the boat sat at anchor out in the bay.

It's a numbers game: 160 weeks charter w/ average of 17 guests per charter averaging 12 dives per week comes to over 32,000 chances of missing someone...

For us, neither occurrence amounted to anything. For the Windjammer company...not so much...they regularly stopped off at a deserted island near St. Martin for a day of beach/BBQ, etc.

Back in the 90's they left a single woman behind on the island (off exploring) and, as she was on the boat alone and had no friends/family with her, no one noticed she hadn't returned. No fresh water on the island...she didn't make it.

Having been to Galapagos diving twice (about 30 days), with Wolf and Darwin on the itinerary both times, I can tell you that you better have that safety sausage ready!

Having scoffed at the idea of needing it, on one of our first dives up there my partner and I came to the surface and watched the panga disappear around the headland to look for other divers and floated a good 30 minutes until they came back around to where we were - the whole time we alternated w/ our faces in the water watching the sharks circling below!

Caribbean Explorer lost someone at Saba one time (don't quote me, it might have been one of the shore based dive companies but I think it was the Explorer) who got washed out with the current and was never found.

Realize this:

PADI's bar for becoming a dive instructor used to be ZERO. You could go to Pro Dive based in Bahia Mar (the "Dive College") for 6 weeks and walk out w/ an instructor's certificate having never done any other dive other than those required to pass the individual courses.

Today, it's not much more than that. Now, to become a PADI dive INSTRUCTOR you have to have been certified for at least a year and have at least 100 dives...

When I sat for my instructor's course, I had 1,100 dives...I have another 3,000 since.

The problem in the dive industry is that there's no money in it for experienced, older divers - the kind of people who take the job seriously and are in it b/c they love it.

As recently as the winter of 2007/2008, my wife and I worked in the BVI as dive instructors and were getting paid $75/day. The year before, I did a private charter aboard the 120' sail boat "Whisper" and we visited Saba where the dive instructor who accompanied us was making $45/day...

Add it all up: the sheer numbers of divers diving, the likelihood of there being relatively inexperienced dive guides and it's a miracle there aren't more "incidents".

Xxxx

The XXXX is a bit rough on us, even for a New Zealander! Is it that cricket/rugby fail making you so ....harsh, Mate?
C’mon, maybe this world cup the All Blacks won't choke...again

Seriously: I don't see any excuse for this. The Marine Park Authorities have come out PROTECTING the operator saying they have just passed a safety audit and this has never happened to these guys before.
Quote "nothing more than being left at a beach."
These guys should be fined big time! It was a French backpacker doing the head count.
As for PADI = JOKE!!!
I wanted to become a PADI instructor years ago, after getting to Rescue level with many, varied dives. Then realised they were handing the instructor licences out basically for revenue, no fail policy. They are a monopoly operation after getting ahead of NADI and destroying them. Becoming a PADI Instructor is easier than getting a drivers licence. Then add the fact that now most divers get their “100” dives in calm tropical waters.
I am surprised more people don’t die each year. And NO it is not a numbers game, would you accept this if it was aircraft falling out the sky every 3000 flights?
If so, QANTAS is in for some big losses!

Sorry, but you're wrong - it most definitely IS a numbers game. EVERYTHING is a numbers game. That's what risk assessment is all about, that's what insurance is all about.

If it WEREN'T a numbers game, you wouldn't be able to get insurance for anything.

And people DO accept a certain number of crashes/fatalities per flight or per 1,000 flights - planes crash every year and people still fly...and they still go diving...

So flying Aeroflot or Air Congo is the same as Delta or QANTAS?
Get your point, but mine was not just numbers but risk aversion.
If it was all numbers, then lets all just treat the roads, airways and waterways like those idiot jet ski drivers and just do what/when we like.
Would you cross an inlet anytime because it was about numbers or about your assesing the situation or having the right crew? I certainly would not put my life in the hands of a backpacker on a dive.

Gentlemen,

I think the OP was pointing out the negligence of the event, not the statistical probability. Doesn't reducing the incidents of negligence, reduce the probably of the event recurring?

Hi,

One would certainly hope so.

Kinda reminds me of what high-altitude climbing had became over the last decade. Pretty much the same - what once was an extreme pasttime for serious few had became akin to beach resort in terms of audience and attention to detail.

I know a guy who climbed 4 eight-thousanders, he says he wouldn't want to even try Everest and K2 for what a... strange places those are, with the whole "get 10 sherpas to carry you to the top on their shoulders" business.

And don't even get me started on mountain skiing - i do that myself. Every now and then, people fall off slope in cellphone range and can't get help in time cuz the phone they took with themselves is not shock-proof! Or worse yet because they never bothered to look up local numbers and it takes their wives/friends hours to relay distress to rescue stations on field.

Poor souls are not even to blame, I figure, because they've never been told better, but honestly, if you pay thousands of dollars for a diving/snorkeling trip, there is no reason to cheap out on your own safety - even if your operators are doing exactly that. I keep missing the points why oh so many "recreational extreme sportsmen" could wear triple-price brand suits, Oakley sunglasses and whatnot, yet never bother to equip themselves with the most basic beacons/transmitters/radios/sat phones for any emergency.

After all, the best way to ensure a sunny day is to take your god**** umbrella with you!

Very true .. it simply boils down to lack of basic common sense and sheer ingnorance

And not taking into hindsight of the expect the unexpected .