46 replies to this topic

[EbonyMermaid]

who could POSSIBLY leave YOU behind, doc???

Accidentally?

[glendivesalot]

A true story about being stranded. It happened to me. This was a post I had made on the scubadiving.com board in response to a question about diving in Palau on the Ocean Huner:

In September of 1994, my wife at the time (now my ex-wife) and I were on the Ocean Hunter in Palau. The captain was the owner, Navot, and a mate and a cook. No other passengers were on the boat, so my wife and I were the only passengers. Unfortuately, there was a typhoon in the area. I had arranged to go out one day early to get over the jet lag and stayed at the Palau Pacific. When we were there, it was news that six Japanese divers had been washed out to sea because of the large seas due to the typhoon. On our first dives of the trip, everything was fine. Then, the next morning, we are going to do our first 100' drift dive. In the water was the Captain, my wife and myself. I asked the Captain if we were going to drag a ball or a float on the surface so the boat could follow us in the heavy seas. He said that no, the boat could see us from the surface and would follow us. I told him the seas looked to rough for that, but he told me they had no float or ball. So we went in. The dive was great, with turtles, sharks, etc.
When we surfaced, no boat! We are in huge swells, going up and down and there is no boat. We inflate safety sausages, but what good did that do? There was no boat around, and the swells were too big to see them if there was one anyway. And Palau is deserted. You can go days without seeing any other humans. We hold on to each other's tank valves to keep together. My wife starts panicking, remembering the six Japanese divers and we look down and see the sharks below us. I reach over and dump the weights from my wife's BC so she could float easier. The Captain got mad at me for wasting his weights. I got really pissed and him and told him, no, yelled at him, that we weren't here for a survival course and I hold him 100% resonsible for unsafe drift diving practices. Our only choice to survive was to go up on the reef line. However, there was huge surf breaking on the reef line and we knew it was going to be hell to pay to go through that surf. We hit that surf line and I felt myself doing summersaults with the tank on my back. I felt my mask and fins get ripped off and myself getting cut on the coral. As soon as one wave would finish, another would slam into you and you would start summersaulting again. Finally, we were pushed up enough that we were in inches of water, sitting on the coral. We were cut, bleeding, missing and ripped equipment, but we were going to survive. We were finally found by another dive boat that had come when our dive boat had radioed for help. I had taken a lot of spare parts on the trip and Navot had some, so between us, we had enough for three of us to dive. We could not dive the outside walls, such as Blue Corner, but spent the rest of the week diving inside the lagoon. Still, great diving. However, that experience so tramatized my wife that after the Palau trip, she quit diving. And this is a woman that had her divemaster equivalent certification. She would tell everyone that I almost got her killed, and still tells that to my kids. I know it sounds like I am streching the truth, but that experience was the beginning of the end of our marriage. We grew so apart that we are now divorced. Oh, how I wish I had taken her to Grand Cayman again, which was where she had wanted to go in the first place. I know other people have had great trips on the Ocean Hunter, and I sincerely hope yours is one of those, instead of like the one I had.

[Sophia]

Dear GlenDivesSome,
That sounds scary. It wasn't your fault, though.

This story is second-hand, but a dive-master, who seemed like a good guy, said he got left several times in Jamaica. He worked as a dive master there. He would be in the water with some of the customers, and the boat driver would hear about a party on the radio and leave. He said the swim to shore wasn't bad. The walk into town, with angry customers, was miserable though. After the first time he carried cash for a taxi in his wetsuit. After a few more times he moved.

[ddierolf]

A boat we dove off of in SIngapore pulled anchor when a strong surrent came ripping through the channel we were at. They left an OWC of 5 or 6 students and there instructor stranded holding onto the anchor bouy in the current for about 1/2 hour. I have pics of it because I couldn't believe what I was seeing!

[triggerfish]

holy crap, glen....jeez!!!!! that's the scariest thing i've ever heard!

YOU WERE MARRIED!!!!!!?????????????


sorry. couldn't resist. what a terrible experience! you handled it very well. and i know that there are people here who are gonna say, 'well, maybe you shouldn't have gone in the first place cuz of XYZ'....whatever. you went. and you used your head and got out of it alive. i'm sorry your wife picked you to blame. i woulda skinned the captain.

[maninthesea]

Glen
Sorry to hear about your bad experence in Palau. A buddy of mine was diveing with the same company when a boad driver mad a VERY bad judgement call and ended up capsizing the boat. They too had to swim to shore. The worst thing was that fish-n-fins waited until their other dive boat returned so they would not have to hire someone elses boat to go get them.
Next time you are in Palau let me know I can ensure you get hooked up with someone that regards your saftey more than $
Jim

[ddierolf]

Glen
Sorry to hear about your bad experence in Palau. A buddy of mine was diveing with the same company when a boad driver mad a VERY bad judgement call and ended up capsizing the boat. They too had to swim to shore. The worst thing was that fish-n-fins waited until their other dive boat returned so they would not have to hire someone elses boat to go get them.
Next time you are in Palau let me know I can ensure you get hooked up with someone that regards your saftey more than $
Jim

My neighbor is going there in October. It is a trip sponsered by our LDS. After reading these posts, any other things I should tell hime to look out for????

Dennis

[glendivesalot]

I now know that the optimum time to dive there is April. Sept-Oct is Typhoon season. Have trip insurance. Inquire about drift diving practices before you go. Because when the tides change, it's nothing like drift diving in the Caribbean. It's hold on to your mask and watch out, you're going to fly. Still, I;m ready to go back.

[maninthesea]

Tell him not to push for Pelileu if the shops are hesitent. When its ruough is generally when accedents happen there. Also I would recomend EVERYONE who dives Palau to carry an orange sausage. Not the little tiney ones but the one that is about 5' tall and 5-6" in diameter with a check valve built into the bottom. DiveRite, OMS and Carter-Liftbags all make good ones although carters is yellow and harder to see when the sun is at a low angle. To this you should attach at least 20' of line so you can send this up before you surface and hang on it for your saftey stop. Sending up the bag does two things. 1 it lets your boat driver know where you are so he can be ready to pick you up when you surface. 2. it lets other boat drivers know where you are so you dont get propped. On a reall busy day at blue corner their may be as many as 20 boats and they are all doing drift dives. Some of those boat drivers are not experienced and only drive the boats when there is no experenced drivers left. However that said I think in general the shops in Palau keep more control and therefore better care of their divers than anywhere else in Micronesia(my little world)
BTW who is your friend diveing with in Palau?

[maninthesea]

I think I am being overly redundant again!

[ddierolf]

BTW who is your friend diveing with in Palau?

here is the trip info

Yap Portion (Oct. 15 - 20)

R/T Airfare Newark to Houston, Houston to Guam, Guam to Yap, Airport/hotel transfers in Yap, 4 nights at the Manta Ray Bay Resort in oceanview rooms, 3 full days of diving including boat, guide, 2 tanks each daily, weights, and belt, with Yap Divers (Manta Rays are Plentiful)



Palau Portion: (Oct. 20 - 27)

R/T airfare Yap to Koror, Palau, Palau to Guam, Guam to Honolulu, Honolulu to Newark, Airport/hotel transfers in Palau, 7 nights at the beautiful Palau Pacific Resort in a ocean view double room, 5 full days of diving, including boat, guide, two tanks each daily, weights & belt, Palau dive permit, and lunch with NECO Marine Dive Shop, taxes/service charges on all except for departure tax. Yap/Palau 2004 Shirt.

[maninthesea]

I now know that the optimum time to dive there is April. Sept-Oct is Typhoon season.

Unfortunatly Typhoons are not coperative to stay in their seasons! This year the begining of april was great in Palau then a Typhoon hit Yap which is the next groop of Islands north and now here in Guam we have just had 2 weeks of SHITTY weather culminating in over 17" of rain in the last day and a half.

For the best deals negotiate your trips for the summer months. The winter months are the busy season as all the Europeans and North Americans are escaping winter.
Jim

[glendivesalot]

I should have added that in addition to the safety sausage, he needs to make sure he has an air alert. I didn't have one in 1994. Not sure it would have helped, but I have an air alert on both by daughter's and my inflator now. We used our air alerts successfully when the two of us got stranded in Cozumel, but that's another story...

Edited by glendivesalot, 28 June 2004 - 07:44 AM.

[ddierolf]

Thanks for the info!! I will pass it along to him!

[maninthesea]

I should have added that in addition to the safety sausage, he needs to make sure he has an air alert. I didn't have one in 1994. Not sure it would have helped, but I have an air alert on both by daughter's and my inflator now. We used our air alerts successfully when the two of us got stranded in Cozumel, but that's another story

And I should have added that a Strobe or at least Chem Lights would be good to carry. Carry red if you want the best chance of being found. Green is the same color as bioluminecence(spell check?) and Blue is not as visible unless it is pretty dark.


Yap Divers and Neco Marine are both good companies. Tell him to be sure to do a night dive in Yap looking for Mandering fish and In Palau tell him to get Bert Yates to take him to the Bouy # 6 wreck for a night dive. It may be additional to the trip but it is spectacular.