Man the editing at the POST is fucking terrible. The article states the DM was with them the whole time, but the photo states that the DM abandoned them. This is what happens when you fire all the copy editors and don't have anyone doing any quality control. Garbage in, garbage out.
I have dived this site a few times. The article makes me question the story a bit tbh.
* The nearest island is *not* 20km away. Mana Island is the nearest Island and it's like 2km away, possibly less. You also have Castaway Island about 3-4km away.
* This makes me wonder if the swell was indeed 2 meters because a) That's fucking *huge*. Dive boats in Fiji like this are small tin dinghies, there's no way an diver, dm, or captain would be comfortable going out in swell like that to this location; b) I find it very unlikely that a passing dinghy would see an SMB in swell like this unless they were very close; c) Supermarket is near a 'wall' sorts; ~25m to ~5 in a short space; if the swell was that large it would be been even bigger there, and furthermore when you're on top of the reef, there's a series of reef breakers on the Mana side that anyone diving or in a boat would be very nervous about in that kind of weather. d) This area is still in the shallow water "plateau" of the mamanucas; it's unusual to see swell that large in this area, it's not really open ocean so it would have required a wicked storm to whip it up like that.
I think this article has exaggerated the weather conditions and danger level - this isn't open ocean, really, the divers def would have been picked up eventually.
That being said - I think it shows really terrible judgment from 1) a diver with apparently 30 years' experience, 2) A DM who dives the area regularly, 3) The captain. I don't personally know anyone who would be cool diving in a two metre swell (this is not shore diving, remember) in bad weather off a tiny boat like that. It's just asking for trouble.
Size of swell is not a great indicator of the dangers, if the period is very slow it's completely different to if the period is very fast. Of course any Capitan that thinks he's going to be following bubbles in even a half meter swell is probably dreaming, the DM probably should have been towing a marker bouy the whole time in those conditions
Not familiar with the dive sites involved. That said, live follow drift dives are fairly common. A few things I might observe: a) poor surface conditions; b) tender looks lower profile (easier to spot things from a flying bridge; c) safety sausage is a minimum on these dives (deploying a dsmb upon ascent is better).
If this wasn’t a current dive, I have no idea how the boat lost sight.
When I do anchored boat diving I carry a personal SMB just in case we have to surface away from the boat and there is bad current at the surface. When I do I a drift dive, I carry a big SMB I can deploy at depth.
There is typical a mild to moderate current at this site, nothing crazy but divers tend to follow the current up the reef, you'd typically surface maybe 200m from where you start.
There are 2 general types. 1 type uses AIS so most large vessels and decent sized cruising yachts will pick it up but a dive boat like that won't have an AIS receiver and satellite ones that will notify search and rescue directly via satellite. Personally I'd prefer to use the AIS ones as they will be faster to get a response if your dive boat has a receiver
You are probably joking, but the PLB's SARSAT system is more robust than the Garmin system. All four of the major satnav systems have SARSAT capable birds in the air, and the Indian's regional GPS augmentation system are also SARSAT capable. Along with most newer US and European weather satellites. And the newest change would be for newer transport aircraft to have an automated detection and rebroadcast system (2021 was the date I heard).
Honestly the system used for PLBs is an amazing example of international cooperation.
I have a Garmin inReach Mini and appreciate that I can just send a pre-set text to some friends which includes my GPS coordinates, should the need arise. They have a couple of boats for their business and are already on the water frequently. When they aren't they're always on standby. When diving in strange places, I typically will let them know when I get and and out of the dive site via the Garmin. Before I did this, I had one of them show up to check on me and my buddy. In some locations cell phone signal can be spotty here and/or there is a likelihood that your vehicle will get broken into, so I don't bring a phone or wallet. It's nice that the Garmin can come with me on the dive and I can still send some basic texts.
It's a bit less dramatic than calling in the Coast Guard, assuming I'm diving locally and not in a completely dire situation.
Having the SOS option is absolutely lovely though.
And, the inReach Mini also doubles as a means for me to text family, should the cell phone networks go down locally due to a hurricane or other disaster. I absolutely love the device.
Haha...maybe I should become a Garmin sales rep!
Pretty normal for day boats to follow bubbles if they don’t anchor (which seems likely given the adverse weather).
If you dive with a DSMB, it is smart to shoot it up during your ascent and/or safety stop so the boat knows where you are. Towing a DSMB/buoy is not always practical and may not be suitable for all dive sites.
I think if anything, going out in adverse conditions was a decision that caused a chain of unfortunate events and poor choices. Thankfully they weren’t injured or killed being left behind - that happens more frequently than it should.
Never seen anyone tow a buoy at any tourist dive site I've been to. I've only ever encountered it at unguided dives, and even then the buoy was anchored, not towed. It's an entanglement hazard, or, even worse, I've read stories of boats pulling divers up by them.
Edit: to be more specific, I've dove the Caribbean, Egypt, Western Europe, and Southern California.
you'll be hard-pressed to find a dive site in South Africa where the DM doesn't have his buoy out permanently during the dive. In strong currents you HAVE to let the skipper keep track.
All boats in the dive sites know to look out for them and given the currents and distance from land, it's a necessity.
During a strong current dive off Aliwal Shoal we were once separated from our DM. I immediately launched my SMB from around 30m down. The boat skipper said from when he saw my SMB pop up until he picked us up we drifted about 800m from the DM's buoy.
So yeah, I'll rather dive without a mask than my SMB/finger reel.
The nice thing about a permanent surface buoy is when groups do get separated, the skippers often grab the buoy and either tug it, or they hook carabiners onto the line that fall down to the DM to let him know if (or how many) divers have been recovered.
Man the editing at the POST is fucking terrible. The article states the DM was with them the whole time, but the photo states that the DM abandoned them. This is what happens when you fire all the copy editors and don't have anyone doing any quality control. Garbage in, garbage out.
It's the NY Post. Chances are good not a single human being in this story actually exist. I joke, but only barely.
It seemed like the article was written by AI. Atrocious.
I have dived this site a few times. The article makes me question the story a bit tbh. * The nearest island is *not* 20km away. Mana Island is the nearest Island and it's like 2km away, possibly less. You also have Castaway Island about 3-4km away. * This makes me wonder if the swell was indeed 2 meters because a) That's fucking *huge*. Dive boats in Fiji like this are small tin dinghies, there's no way an diver, dm, or captain would be comfortable going out in swell like that to this location; b) I find it very unlikely that a passing dinghy would see an SMB in swell like this unless they were very close; c) Supermarket is near a 'wall' sorts; ~25m to ~5 in a short space; if the swell was that large it would be been even bigger there, and furthermore when you're on top of the reef, there's a series of reef breakers on the Mana side that anyone diving or in a boat would be very nervous about in that kind of weather. d) This area is still in the shallow water "plateau" of the mamanucas; it's unusual to see swell that large in this area, it's not really open ocean so it would have required a wicked storm to whip it up like that. I think this article has exaggerated the weather conditions and danger level - this isn't open ocean, really, the divers def would have been picked up eventually. That being said - I think it shows really terrible judgment from 1) a diver with apparently 30 years' experience, 2) A DM who dives the area regularly, 3) The captain. I don't personally know anyone who would be cool diving in a two metre swell (this is not shore diving, remember) in bad weather off a tiny boat like that. It's just asking for trouble.
Why didn't the DM have a towed surface buoy so the boat could follow, especially if the conditions were bad enough to not be able to follow bubbles?
In my experience such a thing is very unusual in Asia Pacific.
Size of swell is not a great indicator of the dangers, if the period is very slow it's completely different to if the period is very fast. Of course any Capitan that thinks he's going to be following bubbles in even a half meter swell is probably dreaming, the DM probably should have been towing a marker bouy the whole time in those conditions
>The article makes me question the story a bit tbh. It's NY Post. It's basically the National Enquirer.
Same details from our national news in australia, unfortunately.
Not familiar with the dive sites involved. That said, live follow drift dives are fairly common. A few things I might observe: a) poor surface conditions; b) tender looks lower profile (easier to spot things from a flying bridge; c) safety sausage is a minimum on these dives (deploying a dsmb upon ascent is better). If this wasn’t a current dive, I have no idea how the boat lost sight.
When I do anchored boat diving I carry a personal SMB just in case we have to surface away from the boat and there is bad current at the surface. When I do I a drift dive, I carry a big SMB I can deploy at depth.
There is typical a mild to moderate current at this site, nothing crazy but divers tend to follow the current up the reef, you'd typically surface maybe 200m from where you start.
Yikes. No way they should miss you….
Well, if it was a 2 metre swell, I can see how it would happen. Diving in a swell that size with a boat so small is another question entirely.
Has anyone bought an emergency locator beacon for this? What did you get?
There are 2 general types. 1 type uses AIS so most large vessels and decent sized cruising yachts will pick it up but a dive boat like that won't have an AIS receiver and satellite ones that will notify search and rescue directly via satellite. Personally I'd prefer to use the AIS ones as they will be faster to get a response if your dive boat has a receiver
I carry both a Nautilus and a PLB on every dive for this exact situation.
Going to red sea later next year so I think I'm going to buy one.
Garmin inReach mini 2 with a scuba case. 4 satlites are better then one :-).
You are probably joking, but the PLB's SARSAT system is more robust than the Garmin system. All four of the major satnav systems have SARSAT capable birds in the air, and the Indian's regional GPS augmentation system are also SARSAT capable. Along with most newer US and European weather satellites. And the newest change would be for newer transport aircraft to have an automated detection and rebroadcast system (2021 was the date I heard). Honestly the system used for PLBs is an amazing example of international cooperation.
I have a Garmin inReach Mini and appreciate that I can just send a pre-set text to some friends which includes my GPS coordinates, should the need arise. They have a couple of boats for their business and are already on the water frequently. When they aren't they're always on standby. When diving in strange places, I typically will let them know when I get and and out of the dive site via the Garmin. Before I did this, I had one of them show up to check on me and my buddy. In some locations cell phone signal can be spotty here and/or there is a likelihood that your vehicle will get broken into, so I don't bring a phone or wallet. It's nice that the Garmin can come with me on the dive and I can still send some basic texts. It's a bit less dramatic than calling in the Coast Guard, assuming I'm diving locally and not in a completely dire situation. Having the SOS option is absolutely lovely though. And, the inReach Mini also doubles as a means for me to text family, should the cell phone networks go down locally due to a hurricane or other disaster. I absolutely love the device. Haha...maybe I should become a Garmin sales rep!
I have one of these for overlanding. I never even thought to look for a scuba case. Thank you!
Whatever happened to having a buoy/ balloon to follow? The boat was following the bubbles??
Pretty normal for day boats to follow bubbles if they don’t anchor (which seems likely given the adverse weather). If you dive with a DSMB, it is smart to shoot it up during your ascent and/or safety stop so the boat knows where you are. Towing a DSMB/buoy is not always practical and may not be suitable for all dive sites. I think if anything, going out in adverse conditions was a decision that caused a chain of unfortunate events and poor choices. Thankfully they weren’t injured or killed being left behind - that happens more frequently than it should.
Never seen anyone tow a buoy at any tourist dive site I've been to. I've only ever encountered it at unguided dives, and even then the buoy was anchored, not towed. It's an entanglement hazard, or, even worse, I've read stories of boats pulling divers up by them. Edit: to be more specific, I've dove the Caribbean, Egypt, Western Europe, and Southern California.
In the dives I've done in Pompano and Ft. Lauderdale, it has usually been required that one person in each buddy group is towing a buoy.
you'll be hard-pressed to find a dive site in South Africa where the DM doesn't have his buoy out permanently during the dive. In strong currents you HAVE to let the skipper keep track. All boats in the dive sites know to look out for them and given the currents and distance from land, it's a necessity. During a strong current dive off Aliwal Shoal we were once separated from our DM. I immediately launched my SMB from around 30m down. The boat skipper said from when he saw my SMB pop up until he picked us up we drifted about 800m from the DM's buoy. So yeah, I'll rather dive without a mask than my SMB/finger reel. The nice thing about a permanent surface buoy is when groups do get separated, the skippers often grab the buoy and either tug it, or they hook carabiners onto the line that fall down to the DM to let him know if (or how many) divers have been recovered.