Northwest Dive Club

I witnessed a very disturbing incident at Cove 2 today that really brings home the importance of the boundary line....

We had finished a dive and were debriefing when I noticed a set of bubbles in the no dive area...frustrating, but not uncommon this time of year. The Water Taxi was at the dock. A few moments later I glanced back, only to see the bubbles about 2' off the stern of the taxi.

Just as I noticed this, a diver surfaced, literally hitting his head on the stern of the taxi. This guy had someone watching over him, as the taxi was delayed about 30 seconds due to 2 people running down the dock to catch it. Had the taxi not waited for those 2 individuals, the diver would've surfaced right into the prop. He needs to go buy a lottery ticket this evening...

A second diver surfaced about 3 minutes later, inside the no dive area, but about 50' from the boat.

There were new floats laid last week, and the line is clean and well marked right. There's a reason for the boundary line, and it seems every year around this time, there are a number of incidents of divers wandering into the no dive area. PLEASE pay attention to where you're at, watch for the line if you're on the north end of the cove, and DON'T CROSS THE BOUNDARY LINE!

Brian

Wow.

Did anyone talk to the diver? I know the boat captain is often quite vocal about such things, I once witnessed a tirade centered on the concept of "red bubbles."

Thanks for posting the reminder Brian.

dsteding wrote: Did anyone talk to the diver? I know the boat captain is often quite vocal about such things, I once witnessed a tirade centered on the concept of "red bubbles."

I didn't say anything to either diver. It was apparent that the one who surfaced at the boat knew he was very lucky. In addition, the captain gave them the strongest verbal lashing I've seen from her (justifiably so), so there was nothing I could say that hadn't been said or done.

BDub wrote: I didn't say anything to either diver. It was apparent that the one who surfaced at the boat knew he was very lucky. In addition, the captain gave them the strongest verbal lashing I've seen from her (justifiably so), so there was nothing I could say that hadn't been said or done.

I figured the captain would light into them. No sense piling on . . .

It amazes me that they ended up so far inside the boundary line, and didn't see or sense the boat in coming up . . .

How was the vis? The usual crap? I guess that could have added to the divers ending up so far off path.

There should be a sign stating that diving there is a privilege that could be removed at any time etc etc. because that's what will eventually happen if that kind of thing continues.

Actually, I DO think we need to pile on. It needs to be seen that divers are policing their own. We NEED to impress on people that if they are careless and stray inside the line, there's a price to pay.

It surprises me that the lady captain would be vocal ... she's the nicest one of the bunch, and has usually been pretty calm about incidents like this one. I would have to believe that she had visions of a diver coming up in the prop too ... and that's enough to give any responsible boat operator the shivverin' jeebies.

Sheesh ... the line was just cleaned recently and there's new buoys and chains out there. It won't get any more visible than it is right now. If it's this bad already, wait'll the salmon start running ... we can expect the return of tensions with the fishing community.

Seems like every year we've got to retrain divers to stay the hell out of the forbidden zone. Well, I think it's WE ... the dive community ... who needs to be vocal about it when a diver ends up in there.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I also think some "piling on" would be appropriate. I don't think it needs to be "shock & awe," but I do think a bit of a peer-lashing would go a long way.

Once you're actually inside the boundary there's little to notify people (other than the potentially strange surroundings) that they are inside the "no-go zone". Is there some way to mark this area as forbidden? Not sure the best or even a feasible way. Thoughts??

Richard

Maybe it needs some of those signs like they put at the entrance of caves telling you you're going to die if you keep going.


Of course that's assuming that folks can read......

Periodic signs would be a good thing, although then someone would need official permission to enter and clean them.

Better/more obvious than my cave diver thought of lines with arrows pointing "out".

The sign idea is also better than my idea of a Lost-like barrier that causes you to explode when you cross it (anyone that watches Lost knows what I am talking about).

Maybe some frickin' sharks with fricken' laser beams on their heads?

Seriously, it's a real problem, and anybody venturing in there needs to have it 'splained to them that it ain't cool-

How about signs pointing toward a Lost like barrier?

oh...that would be rude...sorry..

jackie

Obviously people are clueless enough to cross the 1" diameter rope. ](*,) Maybe a "gill net" suspended 6ft off the bottom. With just less than diver sized openings that let marine life through but catch the unwary...

How about littering the no dive zone with human skulls and bones, as a sign?

Nothing quite works like public embarrassment....

The next time it happens, someone could take a digital photo of the culprit/s on the surface within the boundary zone, (we could black out their eyes just like in the old detective magazines, but most divers' gear would be clearly recognizeable). We can then post the photo here and on Northwest Diver....maybe even on Scubaboard..... in a "Hall of Shame".

It's the same principle that businesses use when they publicly post bad checks at the check stands for everyone to see.

- John

I say DON'T black out their eyes... then have a "caption contest" to see who can come up with the best caption for the picture.

Nailer99 wrote

Maybe some frickin' sharks with fricken' laser beams on their heads?

"There are only two things I can't stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people's cultures... and the Dutch." Good movie quote Nailer.. I had me snort out loud.. (SOL) I think the sharks are a great idea..

But the Lost barrier is probably the most effective. We could be a little nicer than the "others" by posting signs and maybe even a warning siren, they'd have about 5 seconds to get their butts back over the line and then ZAP.

Oh and BTW I love the Dutch.. That was just another quote from the same movie... K? Don't anybody hate on me..

I think a lot of it depends on the situation.

These 2 knew they screwed up and were very very lucky. It was also obvious that they felt very bad and were very embarrassed.

I tend to learn from my own mistakes (at least I like to think I do). Had this happened to me, there's nothing anyone could say or do that would match the punishment I'd give myself, and it would be very obvious. If someone were to come up to me berating me for what I'd just done, it wouldn't make me want to avoid doing it again any more, I'd just think they were being a jerk. My impression was they were really beating themselves up for it and the experience itself and the captain taught them a valuable lesson. What could I say that they didn't already know? They knew 7 divers saw what happening as we yelled for them to get out of the area. To me, that was plenty.

Had they gotten out of the water laughing and joking about it, I would've gone over and said something right away. Then, I would've taken their picture and posted it here!

CaptnJack wrote:Obviously people are clueless enough to cross the 1" diameter rope. ](*,) Maybe a "gill net" suspended 6ft off the bottom. With just less than diver sized openings that let marine life through but catch the unwary...

I like the sign idea, though there'd have to be so many of them spread out over a large area that it'd be impractical.

Anyway, the line is clean and obvious. Vis wasn't very good yesterday....maybe 6'. Still, it's hard to miss the line even in 6' of viz. If your situational awareness is such that you can swim over the line and miss it, and continue to swim for another 100', not realizing that you still haven't seen the boundary line, I think it could be argued that you shouldn't be diving at a site with the kind of hazards Cove 2 presents.

I'll be the first to admit I've strayed into the no-dive area, but after about a minute at most of not seeing the line, knowing it had to be close by, and not recognizing any of the things I was seeing, I swam back, only to find that I had crossed it.

If we were to put up signs, they'd also have to have arrows pointing to the direction the divers need to swim to get out of the no dive area. But then we'd have guys like Doug Steding scootering in there just to turn the signs around so the arrows are pointing in the wrong direction.....

Yeah that Doug, he's trouble...

hey hey, I like Doug. You guys are way off base, he would never pull such a prank, and if he did, it couldn't be deep enough to matter.

BDub wrote:I think a lot of it depends on the situation.

These 2 knew they screwed up and were very very lucky. It was also obvious that they felt very bad and were very embarrassed.

So, how did this incident occur? What mistakes were made that led them to coming up right under the ferry prop? What did the divers self-report as mistakes that were made?

Without knowing why divers are crossing the boundary cable its difficult to figure out what to do about fixing the problem...

OK now this is just an low tech idea I would pass by anyone. I know it usually is followed by how many permits etc are needed to do anything. BUT..........

Some kind of slightly buried tubing (environmentally safe) with small wholes that would emit a wall of bubbles that a diver would be VERY obvious to see in any vis.Would require some kind of pump running for air but I am sure something could be fashioned. bubbles never hurt the fishy. Kinda like the air stone in fish tank YA KNOW. Sorry I am not an engineer but I know some of you smart people could think of something.

OK another idea. Is there a way to attach some kind of solar powered light and sound emitting device to those floating bottles at the boundary line? Just something low voltage but all connected together with a solar powered supply at the surface. Kinda like a christmas tree light deal and seal it inside the bottles for obvious shocking reasons. Like I said I am not an engineer but just thinking of ways.I wish I could post the picture I have in my mind of what I am thinking it would be much easier to explain.



As a new diver I can only think they were not using or had the wrong compass headings. I know I learned after diving with Eric on the 22nd that you have to look into the lower portion of the compass to get your degrees of heading. I felt really stupid and also glad that I was with someone experienced. BUT learning it this way I am sure now I will NEVER make that mistake again. ](*,)