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The liveliest letters from the DIVER mailbag...
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While reading your feature on divers separated from their boats (Dead Calm, September), an alternative course of action sprang to my mind. If you do find yourself at the surface without support, it would be logical to try to stay near the dive site to make it easier for searchers to locate you.
A simple way of doing this would be to drop an anchor, and you probably have the two vital components with you, weight and line!
Dropping your weightbelt to increase your buoyancy does help at the surface, but why not attach it to a reel first, so that it acts as an anchor/mudweight, and limits your drift.
Assuming that you're carrying a DSMB reel long enough for the depth in which you're diving, this would reach the seabed and, we hope, hold. A bonus is that you have a fairly good chance of recovering your weightbelt even after ditching it - assuming that you are found!
The worst-case scenario is that either the reel jams or the weightbelt doesn't reach the seabed, in which case you would be in the same situation as before you dropped the weights, but with a more awkward attachment to your weightbelt (which you would probably be ditching anyway), and losing your reel (or at least the line).
Is there an obvious error in my cunning plan? If so, I've missed it!
Tim Stobart, Lancaster
After reading your news item Drifting Dozen Are Rescued After Red Sea Separation (October), I wondered why these people were in the water at all.I dived the Brother Islands in May, and though the weather wasn't that bad, it was a site you have to be very careful of and well prepared for.
As a PADI Instructor I have to stick to certain standards, and carry a whistle, compass, dive tool/knife and a delayed SMB. Why did none of these supposedly experienced divers at least have a whistle for attracting attention?
The liveaboard people are as much to blame, but the divers went chasing after sharks away from the reef without the correct emergency equipment. Divers should listen a bit more to briefings and not get all gung ho about getting wet. That said, I'm glad they're all safe.
May this serve as a lesson for them, and for those who read the article.
Mark Stafford, Ballycastle, Co. Antrim
I was present on mv Oyster when those divers went missing, and was among the group that did not get lost. I don't understand why the divers blame Oyster and its owner when many of the faults leading up to the incident were of their own making.
The initial briefing was good: a lot of currents, don't stray far from the reef and don't lose sight of it. Did they listen? They swam too far from the reef, lost sight of it and drifted away. Why all 11 played follow-the-leader and didn't exercise their own common sense is a mystery to me.
At this point they were only 200-300m from the boat, so why do a long safety stop after only a 15-minute dive, instead of going directly to the surface to signal the boat?
I know that on board every effort was made to find them. A lot of blame may be put at the door of the Egyptian government, which made no effort to search until the Oyster owner laid $14,000 on the table. Even then, only a single search plane was dispatched, and it flew over the divers without spotting them.
I have had many trips to the Red Sea and have no complaints about this one. Come on divers, admit that some responsibility lies with you. Our group did exactly the same dive, followed the briefing and had a great time.
Michael Hearn, Lebeke, Belgium
We read your news item with great interest. This incident was of great concern to all Red Sea officials and operators alike.
The Red Sea Association for Diving & Watersports, with personal directives from HE the Governor of the Red Sea, is working out a new set of guidelines and safety measures to try to ensure that such incidents do not happen, and that if they do, the search and rescue effort response time and methods are improved.
I would however refer to Richard Hallam, the dive guide with the group, stating in that he was cleared by the Red Sea Association. As chairman of the association, and having personally interviewed him, I would state the following:
Our initial investigation on the return of Oyster was primarily focused on establishing the circumstances leading to this incident to see how it could be prevented from happening again, rather than an inquest trying to pin blame on anybody.
Having said that, we didn't clear Mr Hallam any more than we blamed him. As he stated in the interview, he as dive guide must take responsibility for what happened.
Mr Hallam violated the well-established 30m depth limit for recreational divers in the Red Sea (not that this was a factor in the incident), as well as taking 11 divers in the group rather than the maximum eight per guide as set out for marine park liveaboards.
Thanks for an objective and balanced article.
Karim Helal, RSADW, Hurghada, Egypt
Louise Trewavas's article Like a Virgin (October) hit it right on the spot. After returning home to Sweden after 16 years in the Red Sea, and before that diving wrecks all over Europe, I realised that I was repeating myself and my motivation started to wane. Diving was my life, so the Big Melancholy came over me.
Then one day, after a routine dive on a spot I had visited many times at Oland on the Swedish south-east coast, a spirit handed me Aladin's lamp. An old fisherman came up to me and said: "Do you know that there are more wrecks out there that nobody has dived?"
At first I didn't see the lamp and, barely hiding my cynical smile, I told him: "I don't think so. Divers have been searching this coast for decades and I think we know them all by now."
"Well, if I were you I would talk to the guys on the big trawler over there. They know all about it," he said. When the trawler guys showed me their plotter, I couldn't believe my eyes. There were hundreds of wreck symbols over it, out in the deep open sea that nobody had thought of as a dive area before.
But now I was in the time of GPS, cheap but sophisticated depth-sounders, relatively cheap sonars and trimix diving. I realised that a wreck treasure was waiting to be unfolded.
We have since found 20 wrecks from 1782 to 1956, seven of them completely intact steamers. A hundred more positions are waiting to be investigated, and I am only sad that my second divelife is so short.
Erik Bjurstrom, Sweden
The lawn-mower mentioned in Paul Woolley's letter (Colour-Coding for the Short-Sighted, October) is indeed in Stoney Cove. I last dived this unique site on 6 May, 1994, and my log entry reads: "...from there (the helicopter), headed out into the centre of the Cove, coming across an old lawnmower standing upright on the bottom."
You are looking for a rather worse-for-wear cylinder mower, though I'm afraid I omitted to note the make or model. The lads in the dive club have always made fun of my logbook entries, but I know who's having the last laugh this time!
Mike Ward, Doncaster
I was on a dive boat recently when a group of three highly experienced divers entered the water for a post-wreck drift dive. They inflated an SMB at the surface and descended, and the rest of us followed suit.
After an excellent dive, we were picked up. Last to surface was that first group, which had become a pair. There was no sign of another SMB marking the position of the missing diver.
We all scanned the horizon, with no joy. The skipper was about to call the Coastguard when someone spotted a DSMB hit the surface in the distance, about a mile from where we were expecting and half an hour after everyone else was out of the water. It turned out that the diver had decided to hang back to take some photos, and lost the group.
He had decided to continue the dive solo, and not to send up his spare SMB as this could stop him getting the shots he was after.
He had also thought it a good idea to ignore the skipper's request that we end the dive after 45 minutes, preferring to push his computer right to the no-decompression limit.
Had the boat not overshot his position, the SMB would not have been seen in the sun's glare. Back on the boat, he and his mates had a joke about what a "nutter" he was, and set to deciding where to have a beer or 10 before the 90-minute drive home.
The rest of us were left wondering how this diver could be so reckless yet have his behaviour condoned by friends who had all dived regularly from dive boats in the UK for years.
Is it any wonder that rumours (true or false) about the Coastguard deciding to charge divers for a rescue are flying around, when "experienced" divers behave like this? Almost every weekend there is a "missing diver" call over the boat radio, and the £1000 per minute helicopter is launched.
When the diver heard us talking about this, he dismissed the rumours, saying that the Coastguard's problem wasn't divers, it was "them little rubber boat things".
There have been many incidents where divers need rescuing through no fault of their own, and I can't sympathise enough.
If a diver's tank cracked at depth and his only option was to swim up, he might display symptoms of DCS at the surface, so the Coastguard would be called and he would be taken to a chamber.
But what if this happened in a few years' time to an uninsured diver who couldn't afford £50,000 to be taken ashore by the chopper? The journey in by boat, then ambulance, could mean the difference between life and death.
The answer is simple: certain divers must behave more responsibly.
If the number of emergencies caused by sheer stupidity could be reduced, preferably to zero, the vast majority of us who wish to make safe and enjoyable dives could stop worrying about whether the Coastguard would rescue us if the unthinkable happened.
Chris Stafford, Tadworth, Surrey
I read the article about dives made by photographer Paul Naylor at Thurlestone, South Devon (All in the First 12 Metres, September). I work in a local dive shop and we recommend Hope Cove, near Thurlestone, to divers.
This area provides a much more scenic dive than the sandy shallows of Thurlestone, with rocky gullies heading away from the beach, covered in kelp and offering a wonderful habitat for the cove's abundant flora and fauna.
It's near-impossible to get more than 12m depth at high tide and it's best dived at slack high or low water. Its westerly aspect means that it is very sheltered, apart from when there is a westerly wind or large swell.
Anyone diving in the area should visit Outer Hope Cove in addition to Paul's suggestion.
Madie Steer, Diventure, Salcombe
In September's Medical Q&A item about preventing ear infections, Ian Sibley-Calder mentioned a mask that extends over the ears and that he had no experience of its use. This mask, the Oceanic Pro-Ear, is an under-promoted but excellent piece of kit.
I used one for the whole of the past season, and wholeheartedly recommend it. After a year of ear infections, I had no recurrence.
The mask incorporates ear-pieces connected to the front air space via small tubes with one-way valves. Equalisation is carried out as usual - breathing out through the nose pushes air through the valves and into the ear-pieces.
Correctly adjusted, the mask keeps your ears dry throughout a dive. Having got used to a different sensation while diving, I now rather like the feeling of having dry (and warm) ears!
Peter J Storey
John Rapley (No Excuses For O2-Free Skippers, Off-Gassing, October) needs to know that the Health & Safety Executive does not regulate charter boats. That falls to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and it excludes provision of activity-related equipment, such as O2 for diving.
The HSE becomes involved only if the boat provides any diving services such as rental equipment, a compressor or instruction, and then only to require that they are of adequate quality and fit for purpose.
The normal charter boat service of transport to and from a diving site is specifically excluded as a diving service in all legislation. I do agree that O2 should be available during any diving operations, but believe responsibility for its provision rests with the diving supervisor.
Think on the following if it were otherwise: it's Good Friday and someone uses my O2 set. Do I cancel the next three days' diving until I can get a replacement cylinder from the BOC depot?
During a diving accident, the O2 administrator should be familiar with the equipment. The person least suitable for the task is the skipper, who has many other priority tasks to carry out.
The vast majority of UK dive charter boats do carry O2, but it should be seen as a back-up for the divers' own equipment, not the prime source.
John's other point is that there should always be an assistant onboard. I insist on it on my own boat, but not in case I have a heart attack. On average once a year I have to recover an unconscious diver from the water, attempt resuscitation and arrange for medevac while recovering the other divers. That tango takes two to dance.
I arrange this by offering divers three choices - provide a non-diving, able-bodied adult to help me, pay £30 extra for me to provide one, or one diver stays onboard during each dive.
Most go for the first choice. Do both of John's club RIBs carry two crew?
John ended by inviting skippers to wise up: I will return the serve. So far this year, not yet over, I have had to pick up the bits from three diving accidents. Two required helicopter medevac, hyperbaric treatment and in one case hospitalisation as well. Two were uncontrolled ascents caused (probably) by misuse of equipment and the third loss of consciousness due to using the wrong gas during planned deco.
The cost to the taxpayer must have been many tens of thousands of pounds. Reasons, my guess: insufficient/poor training, going beyond personal envelope and overly complex equipment. Divers need to sort this out before Nanny makes them!
Mike Snelling, Skipper, Girl Gray, Brighton
I was surprised to read Mr Rapley's letter demanding that charter boats carry O2 and have crew. I note that he is the Chairman of Kingston and Elmbridge BSAC, which he appears to be representing. This club recently won BSAC's Heinke award, which comes with a £1000 prize.
Perhaps some of this should go towards their club-members attending one of BSAC's Dive Planning and Marshalling courses, where they will learn that you should never rely on a boat to have a working and well-maintained O2 set with enough O2 for every location and every type of diving being done.
Perhaps Mr Rapley would then feel it appropriate to use the remainder of the prize money to buy some additional O2 equipment.
They would also learn that the dive marshal should delegate someone to liaise with the skipper regarding how to use the radio and handle the vessel in an emergency, should the skipper be incapacitated.
Mr Rapley is right that divers are happy to spend money on safety, but it is their own O2 kit for which they are responsible.
Julian Moore, Surrey
Regarding Eric Albinsson's response on behalf of PADI to G Major's letter (Hard Lessons, September), I would suggest that any refusal to provide copies of a referral form and student record file to the person to whom they refer would be unlawful.
S7 of the Data Protection Act 1998 provides for the right of individuals to receive copies of their personal data following a written request.
Syan Tapp, Hennock, Devon
Eric Albinsson, Training, Quality Management and Memberships Manager at PADI International, comments: The referral form can indeed be withheld if the elements of the course completed have either not been paid for as agreed, or the performance requirements not successfully met.
It is true that an individual has rights to know what data an operation has on him or her, so it would most likely be the case that, if requested, the student could receive a copy of the student record file.
This would not, however, apply to the referral form, as this is in effect a certification document, albeit only for sections of a course.
I've just got back from my first diving in the sea, at Sharm el Sheikh. After a very enjoyable day's diving, we got a taxi from the outskirts of Na'ama Bay to the centre for an meal.
It was the most frightening part of the holiday. The driver drove ridiculously fast, continually swerving from lane to lane. I'm told accidents are frequent. Fortunately, after a couple of nights of this terror, I discovered that our hotel had a minibus service.
As many visitors to Sharm must be DIVER readers, perhaps if those catching taxis in Sharm could start a trend of telling drivers as they get in that they won't pay full fare unless the driving is reasonable, things may change.
Meanwhile, I urge anyone booking a holiday in Sharm to make sure they pick a hotel with a regular minibus service if they are not staying in the centre. It's the sea in which you want to spend your holiday - not the A&E unit.
Liz Youles, Mapperley, Nottingham
In Egypt this spring, my set of regulators went missing sometime between my last dive of one day and boarding the boat the next.
As is usual, if the boat is being used for another trip, my box was put into the dive company's store-room overnight.
The underwriters of my "specialist" dive insurance have refused to pay, as they state that my property was "left unattended in a pub".
It is an inherent part of diving holidays that gear often has to be stowed overnight in a storeroom, so I suggest that divers check the wording of their insurance policies carefully before leaving any equipment either on a boat or in a storeroom.
Mrs T Miller, Colchester, Essex
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