North Carolina Diver Rescued

Adrift 24 miles off North Carolina's coast on August 14, 54-year-old scuba charter captain and owner of Wetu Scuba in Carolina Beach Steve Oatman survived his two-and- a-half-hour ordeal. He had been diving alone, although his wife and others were on his boat.

Oatman, a former director of the United States Army Electronic Warfare School, was wearing a wetsuit and carrying a surface marker and a personal locator beacon, east of Bald Head Island.

His wife became concerned when he never resurfaced from a dive to 100 feet. A Coast Guard official said, "He was diving alone and only supposed to dive for an hour, but 30 minutes after his resurfacing time had passed, his wife called the [Coast Guard]." Air and boat crews were launched to find Oatman, who was spotted from the air around 2:00 p.m. "waving his arms," officials said. A boat was directed to the location to pick him up.

Oatman told Daniella Hankey of WECT News that he had surfaced after realizing something about his boat above was amiss.

"I was hunting for Megalodon shark teeth, the chain was slack on the bottom, and then within a few seconds, I realized something wasn't connected to the boat."

The end of the anchor line was broken, but instead of panicking, he came up with a solution.

"I grabbed that piece of the anchor line, tied a knot on it just to give me a loop to attach to, and then started to get to the surface like I normally do," said Oatman.

At the surface, the seas were high, the current rough, and his boat was nowhere to be seen. It had drifted away with the current.

While he had enough gear and knew how to survive, he was met with another challenge: his GPS locator broke.

"Somehow, and I don't know how, but when I pulled it out of my pocket, the clip to the Garmin broke, and it dropped. It was the worst possible thing that could have happened, losing that personal locator beacon at that point," said Oatman.

Just when Oatman was giving up hope, "I saw a boat on the horizon, and I realized it was my boat. I knew my wife was on the boat and would be looking for me because I was long overdue to surface," said Oatman.

A helicopter appeared overhead, and Oatman waved. "As soon as I saw the nose of the helicopter shift, that was a wave of relief," said Oatman. A Coast Guard boat soon arrived to pluck him from the water, three miles from his original location.

A Coast Guard spokesman said, "This diver's preparedness and experience played a major factor in his rescue. Having the right safety gear, filing a float plan, and staying calm under pressure can help any diver or mariner in danger."