Ruined dive trips

[Kalatin]

Hurricane Gustav is about to screw up a carefully planned, much anticipated trip to the Caymans with a friend I have not seen in a long time. I have been swearing and throwing a general temper tantrum all day. I plan on throwing the same tantrum tomorrow. I am mature like that.
Want to make me feel better? Tell me about your ruined dive trips. Food poisoning? Forgotten equipment? Earthquakes? What happened to ruin your carefully planned trip?

[enchantmentdivi]

As newly certified divers in 2000, my husband and I planned a liveaboard trip to the Flower Gardens in the Gulf. At the time, we lived in Albuquerque, NM so we planned to drive to Freeport, TX where we'd board the boat. We got as far as San Antonio when we found out that they cancelled the trip due to a hurricane moving into the Gulf. We were soooooooooooo bummed because we'd really been looking forward to the trip. We desperately starting calling around trying to find some diving somewhere. All charters going out to the oil rigs were also cancelled. We checked into a few lakes--sounded pretty grim. So, we packed it up and drove home.

We have still never made it out to the Flower Gardens. Someday....

[mattwave]

If it makes you feel any better, my Dad is supposed to be in the Caymans teaching CCR in two weeks and if he can't go, then there goes some significant income?

[Pez7378]

I had a great dive planned. Had all my gear set up, everything well thought out. I was so excited and I knew it was going to be the dive trip of a lifetime. I just needed a buddy. I called around and everyone was busy. The only person I could get to go out with me was Joe..................................

Yeah, that ruined my whole trip.

[Sounder]

I had a great dive planned. Had all my gear set up, everything well thought out. I was so excited and I knew it was going to be the dive trip of a lifetime. I just needed a buddy. I called around and everyone was busy. The only person I could get to go out with me was Joe..................................

Yeah, that ruined my whole trip.

Damn. Tough break dude.

[scottsax]

I had a great dive planned. Had all my gear set up, everything well thought out. I was so excited and I knew it was going to be the dive trip of a lifetime. I just needed a buddy. I called around and everyone was busy. The only person I could get to go out with me was Joe..................................

Yeah, that ruined my whole trip.

Damn. Tough break dude.

Poor Joe.... It must be tough to be everybody's whipping boy....

[60south]

If you dive long enough it's bound to happen...

Bonaire 1994: Rain. Not your little PNW drizzle or sprinkle, oh no, we're talking serious tropical rain for days on end. I was there alone, stuck in a miserable, sweltering hotel room with swarms of hungry mosquitos, watching days... and days... of hard sheets of rain. Much of the island was impassible. I'm still traumatized.

Thailand 2001: Ever been to Koa Tao? Beautiful island, nicely remote. I found a cabana for about $5 a night and arranged for a couple weeks of diving with a local shop. I wasn't feeling well on the first dive, I had stopped in the city of Chumpon (sp?) two days earlier for a local seafood festival and something wasn't sitting right. At 60ft it all came up. Again, and again, and again. Back on the boat the other divers were watching me disassemble and unclog both my second stages, scooping the vomit out. "What are you doing?" asked one girl. I told her. "Eeeeeeeew!!" I went back to the cabana and things got worse. I was there for three days, unable to hold anything in, and getting badly dehydrated. There was no doctor on the island and I knew if I waited another day I might not be able to move, so I took a jet boat to Koh Samui (a bigger island, with an airport). After two days there I was able to eat but still in bad shape, so I flew to Phuket. After two days in Phuket I still had awful diarrhea and nausea. They have a hospital but I didn't trust it, so I flew to Singapore -- good medical facilities there. ...And then I felt better...

I feel your pain.

glenn

[Sounder]

You couldn't even dive a house reef in Bonaire?! I guess I would have bene forced to dive into some fruity drinks. If I was in Bonaire, it would take a LOT to stop me from diving. That must have been some storm!

[60south]

I got in a few dives on that Bonaire trip, most of those at the house reef, so it wasn't a total loss. But the vis sucked. There was so much mud in the water it was like diving in soup. (What do you call it when the visibility clears under a layer of muddy water, a mudocline?) The day before I left the sun finally came out and I got a couple dives out near Red Slave, but that was about the best on that trip. I've been back twice since then and had good weather.

Three more!

Fiji 2001: Mosquito bites did it. Really. Overall this was a great trip, even after slicing my heel to the bone on a mangrove root, so I shouldn't complain. A few bites on my shinbone hadn't healed properly because I was diving so much, and in the last few days of the trip they blossomed into ugly, ulcerous sores. (Well hey, you asked!) So instead of diving I sought out a doctor and spent the last couple days trying hard not to lose my lower leg from infection.

Tobago 2006: A week of live-aboard diving on the Peter Hughes boat. This trip had a lot of interesting misadventures, including the eruption of Montserrat which caused a total FUBAR of my airplane reservations. But the real irritation was a stomach bug in the middle of the week -- I was out of action for a couple days, and on an expensive trip with only 5.5 days of diving that's a lot. Grr.

New Zealand 2008: Doing some dives there was a small part of a larger trip, so this wasn't a disaster, but catching a three-day flu-like virus right when I wanted to dive was very poor timing. Kaikoura is the home of whale watching on the south island, and supposedly a good place to dive -- although I wouldn't know, I spent those days in bed. Next time.

glenn

[Sounder]

I got in a few dives on that Bonaire trip, most of those at the house reef, so it wasn't a total loss. But the vis sucked. There was so much mud in the water it was like diving in soup. (What do you call it when the visibility clears under a layer of muddy water, a mudocline?) The day before I left the sun finally came out and I got a couple dives out near Red Slave, but that was about the best on that trip. I've been back twice since then and had good weather.

Three more!

Fiji 2001: Mosquito bites did it. Really. Overall this was a great trip, even after slicing my heel to the bone on a mangrove root, so I shouldn't complain. A few bites on my shinbone hadn't healed properly because I was diving so much, and in the last few days of the trip they blossomed into ugly, ulcerous sores. (Well hey, you asked!) So instead of diving I sought out a doctor and spent the last couple days trying hard not to lose my lower leg from infection.

Tobago 2006: A week of live-aboard diving on the Peter Hughes boat. This trip had a lot of interesting misadventures, including the eruption of Montserrat which caused a total FUBAR of my airplane reservations. But the real irritation was a stomach bug in the middle of the week -- I was out of action for a couple days, and on an expensive trip with only 5.5 days of diving that's a lot. Grr.

New Zealand 2008: Doing some dives there was a small part of a larger trip, so this wasn't a disaster, but catching a three-day flu-like virus right when I wanted to dive was very poor timing. Kaikoura is the home of whale watching on the south island, and supposedly a good place to dive -- although I wouldn't know, I spent those days in bed. Next time.

glenn

Geez - remind me not to go on vacation with you!!

Sounds like you made the most of the trip - that's a long way to go not to dive. I bet the vis was still better than Puget Sound!!

[spatman]

glenn -

you have definitely had some diving adventures! but tell me, what percentage of your total trips do these ruined ones represent? hopefully a small %.

you have been to some great place in your messed up trips, and i hope you've been to many more that were good!

[60south]

Hi spatman, only about 1 in every 5 trips had something go wrong that prevented me from diving. Even then, in most cases only part of the trip was ruined. Every trip seems to have some weirdness to it, that's guaranteed!

I don't buy trip insurance, I figure I'll just have to eat the expense now and then.

[spatman]

you certainly travel to dive quite a bit.

if you ever need a dive caddy/sherpa/assistant, i have a very reasonable day rate: food and breathing gas!

[camerone]

Ooh. Good topic.

Socorro Island, Jan 2005 - going down on the Nautilus Explorer for a week with the giant mantas, and to move up/cross over my training to the Inspiration Rebreather, from SCR. It's an all-rebreather trip, with no bubble blowing allowed, which was very cool. Long bottom times, great marine encounters, etc, and something I was totally looking forward to. One of the guys on the trip got on the boat, not telling anyone he was suffering with some nasty flu/sinus/whatever and got the _entire_ boat sick. Myself, most of the guests, and the crew spent a good bit of time quarrantined in their cabins. I think I spent 4 days in a bathrobe with my head about to explode and my stomach following it out. Meanwhile, he recovers during the couple days it takes to chug out there, but I got just the bare minimum necessary water hours to finish my CCR training... good dives, but missed a LOT of chance for bottom time with the sharks and mantas. I had a few dives where I came up with blood in my mask from burst capillaries. Meanwhile, back at the ranch in Seattle, Heidi got appendicitis the day I left and had no way of telling me until I got home two weeks later.

Antarctica, March 2008 - got 270 lbs of checked luggage, 60 lbs of camera gear, and all my carry-ons safely down to Ushuaia. Got _onboard_ the boat. Had the crew tell us "there's mechanical problems, the boat's not seaworthy until the Russian authorities in St. Petersberg approve it to go back to sea, we've known for three weeks, and so we're not sailing. Go home." Had no choice but to turn around and come all the way back to Seattle, trucking all my gear home.

On the plus side - we're going back to Antarctica this upcoming spring. We got all our money back, eventually. Other than the time suck, and the frustration, it'll be okay.... and for the Socorros, I'm headed to Clipperton Island in 2010; we're stopping back in the Socorros along the way for a few days, so I'll get to play with the giant mantas again.

[60south]

Antarctica, March 2008 - got 270 lbs of checked luggage, 60 lbs of camera gear, and all my carry-ons safely down to Ushuaia. Got _onboard_ the boat. Had the crew tell us "there's mechanical problems, the boat's not seaworthy until the Russian authorities in St. Petersberg approve it to go back to sea, we've known for three weeks, and so we're not sailing. Go home." Had no choice but to turn around and come all the way back to Seattle, trucking all my gear home.

Ah geeze, that bites! I hear there's diving in Ushuaia, did you have a chance to hit the water there?

Your Socorro experience sounds almost like Norwalk virus. Awful, isn't it? It spreads like crazy. I had forgotten about that one... Vanuatu, 2007, the entire hotel where I was staying got it. I felt immune and somewhat smug, but then I got it last. I thought I was gonna die.

[camerone]

Ah geeze, that bites! I hear there's diving in Ushuaia, did you have a chance to hit the water there?

Your Socorro experience sounds almost like Norwalk virus. Awful, isn't it? It spreads like crazy. I had forgotten about that one... Vanuatu, 2007, the entire hotel where I was staying got it. I felt immune and somewhat smug, but then I got it last. I thought I was gonna die.

There's really only one dive op/guy in Ushuaia, and just about everyone who puts together trips is really a front for that guy. He sucks. It's like $100 (US) for a single dive, and, while I would expect that the Beagle Channel has some awesome sites, they're a bit further out.

The cameraman, doc "producer" and a couple of other friends stayed down there and grabbed a sailboat to head out to Tierra del Fuego for a couple of days, and said there was some decent stuff further out. They took this local guy with 'em, since that was the only way they could get a portable compressor and tanks, but said he was useless and more of an annoyance than a help...if you're at all a programmer - someone who understands assembly language - he's the person you'd refer to as a "nop" (pronounced "no op" - as in a completely, utterly worthless bit of code and just taking up space/wasting time.)

There's a LOT more to this trip that was screwed up, but you'll have to buy me a beer after diving to get the stories!

Ack - I forgot one more trip ruined and your Norwalk comment reminded me - Barkley Sound at the end of '03 (or early '04, I forget.) We took to calling it "Barf-ley Sound" after that trip. One guy on the trip brought his wife and newborn along, and the kid picked something up on the ferry. The rest of us were reeling on the dock at Rendevous for several days. It made an already mediocre experience - right after the handoff from Dave and Renate when things weren't dialed in - worse. I haven't been back since, although I'd like to go back and do some more diving up there... The sites had promise, although, at the time, I wasn't thrilled with the experience. Perhaps it's changed since? So many other places to go that I've not bothered researching more.

[Pez7378]

Summer '03----So there I was, in the middle of the jungle surrounded by pygmies.......... :rr:

Did I mention the time I had to dive with Joe?

[Tom Nic]

Great Topic Kate!!

I'm afraid I can't contribute to the ruined trip stories, and hopefully won't (knock on my wooden head!). I am however, learning from this thread. Some things are just unavoidable, and while trip insurance may help it's not always a guarantee.

Two recommends:

1) Bring drugs. (no, no, not that kind...) Seriously, I've traveled much (alas not for scuba) and have learned the hard way to take at a minimum amoxicillin or a flame thrower anti-biotic like Cipro. At the FIRST sign of "pick your dictator's revenge" I am medicating. It has saved many a trip, and I have a list of trips where I didn't bring medication and wasted 3 or 4 days of a 7 day trip with serious issues from just about every orifice in my body.

2) Go to Bonaire!! With the above report being an exception, Bonaire is South of the hurricane belt and rarely has a problem with hurricanes and storms. And if you're really concerned about rain, Bonaire also has a short, very specific rainy season that you can pretty well avoid as well. I know, I know, it's not a guarantee, but if I was going to hit the Cayman's or other Caribbean spot further north I'd do it when it was not hurricane season.

Again, great thread and great reponses.

[Tom Nic]

Summer '03----So there I was, in the middle of the jungle surrounded by pygmies.......... :rr:

Did I mention the time I had to dive with Joe?

Joe is a pygmy?!

[divernick]

Here's my story, the quick version anyway. Back in '99, I think, I was signed up for a trip to either Port Hardy or Campbell River (it was a long time ago, i can't remember which it was) on a liveaboard, the Nautilus 7. This was just after the boat had been sold to some new owners while Mike Lever was having the Nautilus Explorer built. The new owners were some young folks, but everything seemed ok at first. The first day, we got one so-so dive in, and then the problems started. The Nautilus 7 had a skiff they towed behind the main boat that we all dived off of. It broke loose 3 times that afternoon. On the 3rd try at gettng it back, one of the crew got swept off the back of the boat. She didn't get picked up till around 11pm that evening when someone on a cruise ship heard her yelling from the water. The boat pulled into a marina somewhere (I forget where now) and we pretty much all got off the boat for a couple hours, keep in mind it was midnight when we pulled in there. The weather had been pretty bad while we were searching for the lost crew member, so things got banged around on the boat quite a bit. We spent the next day cleaning up the boat, and the remaining crew pulled a bunch of rope off the screw. The following day we all went home. And since the skiff was never recovered, turns out the lost crew member saw it sink, we all lost some dive gear; mainly masks, fins, gloves, hoods, lights, small stuff like that. I kept hearing bad stories about that boat for a couple years after that. I think finally the Canadian Coast Guard impounded it.

[BASSMAN]

Here's my story, the quick version anyway. Back in '99, I think, I was signed up for a trip to either Port Hardy or Campbell River (it was a long time ago, i can't remember which it was) on a liveaboard, the Nautilus 7. This was just after the boat had been sold to some new owners while Mike Lever was having the Nautilus Explorer built. The new owners were some young folks, but everything seemed ok at first. The first day, we got one so-so dive in, and then the problems started. The Nautilus 7 had a skiff they towed behind the main boat that we all dived off of. It broke loose 3 times that afternoon. On the 3rd try at gettng it back, one of the crew got swept off the back of the boat. She didn't get picked up till around 11pm that evening when someone on a cruise ship heard her yelling from the water. The boat pulled into a marina somewhere (I forget where now) and we pretty much all got off the boat for a couple hours, keep in mind it was midnight when we pulled in there. The weather had been pretty bad while we were searching for the lost crew member, so things got banged around on the boat quite a bit. We spent the next day cleaning up the boat, and the remaining crew pulled a bunch of rope off the screw. The following day we all went home. And since the skiff was never recovered, turns out the lost crew member saw it sink, we all lost some dive gear; mainly masks, fins, gloves, hoods, lights, small stuff like that. I kept hearing bad stories about that boat for a couple years after that. I think finally the Canadian Coast Guard impounded it.

Now that's a Story!

[spatman]

Here's my story, the quick version anyway. Back in '99, I think, I was signed up for a trip to either Port Hardy or Campbell River (it was a long time ago, i can't remember which it was) on a liveaboard, the Nautilus 7. This was just after the boat had been sold to some new owners while Mike Lever was having the Nautilus Explorer built. The new owners were some young folks, but everything seemed ok at first. The first day, we got one so-so dive in, and then the problems started. The Nautilus 7 had a skiff they towed behind the main boat that we all dived off of. It broke loose 3 times that afternoon. On the 3rd try at gettng it back, one of the crew got swept off the back of the boat. She didn't get picked up till around 11pm that evening when someone on a cruise ship heard her yelling from the water. The boat pulled into a marina somewhere (I forget where now) and we pretty much all got off the boat for a couple hours, keep in mind it was midnight when we pulled in there. The weather had been pretty bad while we were searching for the lost crew member, so things got banged around on the boat quite a bit. We spent the next day cleaning up the boat, and the remaining crew pulled a bunch of rope off the screw. The following day we all went home. And since the skiff was never recovered, turns out the lost crew member saw it sink, we all lost some dive gear; mainly masks, fins, gloves, hoods, lights, small stuff like that. I kept hearing bad stories about that boat for a couple years after that. I think finally the Canadian Coast Guard impounded it.

whoa, that is NUTS. how long was that crew member missing? did you get your money back for that trip and reimbursed for the lost gear?

[divernick]

She was in the water for about 8 hours or so. She had been wearing her drysuit when she was swept off, so she had some thermal protection, but not what she really should have been wearing. And yes, we did get our money back, and replacement gear.