What No Chase Boat? A Basic Safety Precaution

In Undercurrent's August issue, we tell the harrowing account of Kim and Nathan Maker, the Oklahoma couple who survived 39 hours at sea after being separated from their diving liveaboard MV Fling, operated by Texas Caribbean Charters.

They were saved by the vigilance of the U.S. Coast Guard, thanks to the Makers carrying functioning dive lights that they used to signal a searching helicopter crew.

After being separated from the tagline of their boat when there was confusion among other divers during a sudden squall and the loss of surface visibility in rough seas, the current swept them away from the boat. The crew lost sight of them.

We have been unable to discuss the incident with anyone with first-hand knowledge of the incident. We have tried to contact the Makers but received no reply. We have attempted to reach people on the trip but unsuccessfully. No one at Texas Caribbean Charters, which operates the Fling, has responded to us. And we have found no news story that referred to the Fling by name. However, we saw much of the incident unfold in the waters below the Fling in a GoPro video one of its divers took and posted on the Internet https://tinyurl.com/mt5s3r75). Perhaps the specter of litigation keeps everyone quiet.

The Fling has a chase boat, but none of the stories we have read discuss it being deployed. Was it operable? Did the weather make it impossible to use? Was it in the water with the crew watching over divers as they surfaced? Was it deployed after the drifting divers had been spotted at a distance, but the crew couldn't see because of the weather and high seas? We've read that the Fling searched the area, but we've seen no description of its activities.

It is common worldwide for liveaboards to have a second boat in the water patrolling for divers swimming far from the mother boat in the open ocean or having difficulty making it back. Oddly, liveaboards in U.S and Caribbean waters seem to disregard that obvious safety measure.

Boats as large as the Fling are not easily maneuverable in currents and high seas and should never turn on their propellers when divers are in the water. A vigilant crew member in a chase boat ready to pick up divers is essential for diver safety.

The Fling, however, failed. As Kim Maker reported to Oklahoma's Channel 9 T.V.:

We "can't see the boat at all, but the whole time we were thinking they're going to send the dinghy, they're going to send the dinghy, but they had some different circumstances going on the boat."

"Kind of difficult to talk about. We weren't there so we're getting some different reports from different people. They never sent the dinghy."

They never sent the dinghy? Unconscionable. Was it in disrepair? Did the captain refuse to? "Would no one drive it because of the rough seas? Had they lost the direction of the Makers?

It's something we all deserve to know. In our article about diver mistakes in this issue, we explain that discussing errors openly is vital to helping others avoid the same mistakes. That is why we all deserve to know the whole story about the Fling's response to its missing divers.

We'll report again when we learn more. If you were aboard the Fling or know someone who was, please get in touch.

John Bantin