Lost in the Red Sea

[lottie]

Having just returned from a rather eventful week aboard the MV Bella out of Sharm, I thought I would share with you the story of a dive that didn’t go quite as planned…sorry, it’s quite long – bear with me…

On the second day of diving we planned to dive the back of Jackson reef, looking for hammerheads. We had been moored up overnight in the shelter of the reef and the sea was fairly choppy on the other side but el capitano was happy enough to do a zodiac drop off and pick up.

We entered the water in two groups of 8, each with one dive guide, at about 7am. As planned we descended by the reef then swam 20 metres or so into the blue keeping the reef in sight. We hung around at 20-25m for the allotted 20 minutes but didn’t see any hammerheads (if only we had, the whole experience to come would have been worthwhile). The plan had been to return to the reef at this point and finish the dive swimming back along the wall towards the boat.

What we didn’t realise however, was that we had actually drifted the entire length of the reef in 20 minutes and as we were about to return the wall we entered the infamous “washing machine” between Jackson and Woodhouse reefs. Cue much beeping of computers as the group were caught in rip-roaring up and down currents, with some ascending almost 20m in a matter of seconds. Once through the other side, we regrouped at 15m only to find that unsurprisingly the rapid ascents and descents had pushed most of the group into deco and we found ourselves in the uncomfortable position of having a deep stop of a few minutes to carry out with no reference point visible.

Once all stops completed we surfaced as a group after 43m total dive time and checked everyone was ok. Then we looked around….

Over the top of the swell we could just about make out our boat on the horizon and a couple of minutes later it was gone. Judging by the speed Tiran island passed us by, we were drifting extremely fast.

3 sausages were inflated but only one was self sealing….soon realised the others were next to useless in their floppy state. We all hung onto each other and managed to stay together as a group. The next problem was to be the huge tanker that looked like it was heading straight towards us. 5 minutes of extreme finning and we were out of immediate danger.

Someone then produced a CD from their BCD pocket and started signalling with it – the direction of the sun meant we were actually signalling towards the boat that we had thought was going to hit us! A few minutes later and the tanker started to slow down but we all realised that these sorts of boats do not stop quickly and worried that it would lose sight of us before it could slow enough. We then noticed a small fishing boat heading right for us….we were saved! The tanker had seen us and sent out a radio call. Just under 2 hours from surfacing we were hauled aboard the fishing boat much to our relief. The fishermen were lovely – they had been out at sea for quite a while and I think having 5 women aboard their boat made their day! They ceremoniously lit an entire packet of cigarettes and handed them out to everyone, whether they smoked or not. About half an hour later we were reunited with our boat and the other group who had had a similar experience but were picked up by another dive boat quite quickly as they hadn’t drifted too far.
So lessons learnt…

• Buy a self sealing sausage
• Carry a CD when diving in sunny places – I can’t believe Shania Twain saved my life!
• Do a current check – not sure why this wasn’t done
• Wearing a wetsuit would have been a good idea – I was in rash vest and boardies and was bloody freezing by the time we were picked up
• Going looking for hammerheads is destined to end in disaster

As far as we know the captain had not put out any sort of radio call to other boats to look out for us – he didn’t want to get a bad reputation. Our crew were still searching round Jackson in the zodiacs!

The rest of the week was far from uneventful, culminating in a 30 hour delay to our flight home…

[Mal Bridgeman]

Originally Posted by lottie

[*]Going looking for hammerheads is destined to end in disaster

Hi Lotte

Fantastic story and just goes to show how things can go pear shaped very quickly.

I would say I disagree with the statement above but the rest serves as a really good learning example

Thanks
Mal

[Scubee]

Blimey. Good story, thanks for sharing it. I am glad you all managed to stick together. The currents can be so unpredictable there. I was recently further south, and the day after we moved to Daedelus, a pair were swept off the Brothers, and found a couple of hours later 10 miles away.

It does make you wonder whether hanging in the blue looking for the big stuff is such a good idea.

[MAKING BUBBLES]

good story...nice to hear you all kept your nerve and dealt with the situation.

[MarkyBish]

My god, what an experience, if only there'd been sharks first

As has been said on these boards before. In this day and age, I'm amazed divers (or at least the guides) aren't given some sort of tracking device to make getting lost at sea impossible.

Thanx for sharing, be funny to see how many YD'ers now lob CD's in their kit-bag when abroad

Mark.

PS: How on earth do you keep buoyancy in a 20m swell? heheh

[BJ]

Diver Magazine offered safety flags as a subscription offer but it seems safety equipment is not sexy enough. People preferred a rucksack or a watch. My flag has been tested over 6 miles at Cocos (after a long CCR dive) and across the width of the lagoon at Aldabra. I have used it in earnest in many places where there are strong currents. Available from your LDS for about £15, I recommend everyone to take one strapped to their tank. It's low tech and it works!

[telsa]

I read somewhere that a cd reflects radar extremely well too! Apparently it shows up on screens as big as a small boat.

[Woz]

Top Tip:

SOLAS tape, 3m for about a tenner off eBay. Stick a piece to the top of each side of your DSMBs (make sure the DSMB is spotless then pile a load of books on top for at least 24 hours). Makes your DSMB stand out on a radar and also very reflective at night.

[stick_slinger]

I must remember to keep an old CD in my kit bag. And I'm off to eBay to get some SOLAS tape.

I think that a balloon that could be launched from the surface of the water would be really good.


Glad to know that you came out of the situation in one piece.


J

[Dave Crampton]

Flags are good. I have one and have used it a few times to attract the skippers attention, to great effect. I also carry a mirror in a pouch.

These are also a good idea for launching from the sea in a mild breeze:

Sea Survival #2 - The Skystreme - South West Mafia