Miami Dive Charter - read this before you book

[tuggers]

This made the local news here in Georgia so it was pretty bad. News date is 10/4/11:

MIAMI --

Two deep-sea divers say their charter boat stranded them three miles off Key Biscayne.

The divers told The Miami Herald the boat that dropped them off was gone when they resurfaced from a dive Sunday afternoon.

The men, 44-year-old Paul Kline and Fernando Garcia Puerta, a tourist from Spain, held onto a fishing buoy until passengers on a passing yacht spotted them.

Elie Trichet, captain of the "No Compromise," says he was heading back to Miami from Key Largo when they stopped to pick up the stranded divers.

The men were part of a group that went out with RJ Diving Ventures of Miami Beach. The boat's captain, Mike Beach, told the Herald he was happy "everyone was ok." It was unclear how they lost track of the men.

 

Everyone is very lucky that this did not turn into a tragedy! Just wanted to give a heads up to any divers out there. The spooky part is that the boat captain seemed clueless that anyone was missing!!!

[GaryfmCol]

This made the local news here in Georgia so it was pretty bad. News date is 10/4/11:

 

MIAMI --

Two deep-sea divers say their charter boat stranded them three miles off Key Biscayne.

The divers told The Miami Herald the boat that dropped them off was gone when they resurfaced from a dive Sunday afternoon.

The men, 44-year-old Paul Kline and Fernando Garcia Puerta, a tourist from Spain, held onto a fishing buoy until passengers on a passing yacht spotted them.

Elie Trichet, captain of the "No Compromise," says he was heading back to Miami from Key Largo when they stopped to pick up the stranded divers.

The men were part of a group that went out with RJ Diving Ventures of Miami Beach. The boat's captain, Mike Beach, told the Herald he was happy "everyone was ok." It was unclear how they lost track of the men.

 

Everyone is very lucky that this did not turn into a tragedy! Just wanted to give a heads up to any divers out there. The spooky part is that the boat captain seemed clueless that anyone was missing!!!

 

That EXACT same thing happened to me, in St. Maarten in 1989. We (6 of us)went out in a Boston Whaler for a 2 tank dive. This was about 10:30 A.M. We were at Man 'o War reef about 5 miles south of St.Maarten. Our first dive was routine (to 60 feet) The 2nd dive was to 120 feet. No one was on the Boston Whaler..we all went into the water. (This was a charter SCUBA trip.)

 

Upon our surfacing, the boat was GONE...It broke anchor and, floated away. In the Dutch Antilles, no one is required to stay on the boat. (In 1989, at least.) We were drifting to the S.W. of St.Maarten, away from the island..

I figured we would drift to Jamaica...Long story short..they found the boat by 1 P.M. with 6 missing divers. They found us that evening, still all hanging together. I remember looking up and, seeing a boat with a guy searching for us. They took us all back to St. Maarten to a hospital.Thankfully, they hadnotgiven up hope looking for us,even as it was getting dark.

 

All were OK except, for dehydration. There is alot more to this story, but, this is the gist of it...Anyway, that was my LAST SCUBA dive trip... We were lucky that there were NO SHARKS in that area at the time...

Anyone SCUBA diving make sure someone stays on the boat. I believe the U.S. Coast Guard REQUIRES it...

[tuggers]

Update about USCG investigation:

The US Coast Guard said Tuesday it was investigating a Florida tourism company that left behind two tourists while they were scuba diving.

The tourists -- Paul Kline and Fernando Garcia Puerta -- were rescued by a private yacht which found them clinging to a buoy in shark-infested waters.

"The incident is under investigation," Coast Guard spokeswoman Sabrina Elgammal told AFP.

"We got a call that the two people were picked up in the sea and there was no medical harm and they went back to port," she said.

RJ Diving Ventures of Miami Beach took a group of 30 people, including Kline and Garcia, in a boat to scuba dive in the open ocean, the Miami Herald reported.

When Kline and Garcia surfaced, however, they found that the boat had gone.

"We were in shock," Kline, 44, told the newspaper. "We could easily have died."

RJ Diving Ventures did not respond to requests for comment.

The two said they clung to a fishing buoy and around 6:00 pm as it was getting dark they were spotted by passengers on a yacht.

"We could see two divers with all their equipment and an inflated red tube," the yacht's capitan Elie Trichet told the Herald.

"You could notice a strong feeling of relief" Trichet said. "They had been clinging to that buoy for two hours hoping somebody would rescue them."

 

No comment yet from the company or the dive master but don't you think his liscense should at least be suspended for a while???

[mamasue]

That EXACT same thing happened to me, in St. Maarten in 1989. We (6 of us)went out in a Boston Whaler for a 2 tank dive. This was about 10:30 A.M. We were at Man 'o War reef about 5 miles south of St.Maarten. Our first dive was routine (to 60 feet) The 2nd dive was to 120 feet. quote]

 

 

This is gross mismanagement already.....the first dive should always be the deeper one....you risked decompression sickness with the second dive being twice as deep!!

 

Also, the dive boat shouldn't leave the dive site until there has been a name check and a head count. it's just basic dive management procedure!

 

I'm glad everyone was ok in both these incidents.....it could have had a completely different ending!!

[bplazo]

It reminds me of the movie "Open Waters".

[GaryfmCol]

It reminds me of the movie "Open Waters".

 

We went to see that movie..

and, you are right....bobbing around out there

not knowing IF anyone would find us...

We were so lucky because there were NO SHARKS and,

we were less than 5 miles from land..

The Austrailian people were waaaay out...over 20 miles,

I believe....alot further than we were.

 

Anyway, I never went again...

no desire to either.... :(

[bplazo]

We went to see that movie..

and, you are right....bobbing around out there

not knowing IF anyone would find us...

We were so lucky because there were NO SHARKS and,

we were less than 5 miles from land..

The Austrailian people were waaaay out...over 20 miles,

I believe....alot further than we were.

 

Anyway, I never went again...

no desire to either.... :(

 

I am so glad you were rescued. It must have been very scary to have that happen.