Boat Captain Abandons Novice Divers InThe Ocean

[pdogg]

 

An East Valley couple vacationing to celebrate their first anniversary found themselves abandoned in the ocean, after a dive trip went wrong.

Lexa and Jake Mendenhall recently became certified scuba divers, and were looking forward to their first real dives in the blue waters off Thailand.

They made two one-hour dives, and all was well until they surfaced.  Their boat was gone.

The Mendenhalls were stranded with two dive instructors from the Thai diving company, and another couple of novice divers.

The sun was setting, and their minds were racing.

"I kept thinking, 'What if there's no boat?  It's evening.  What boat goes out in the evening?" Lexa wondered.

Her husband had a GoPro camera, and documented part of their dive.  Before the batteries died, his video shows nearby cliffs which were too steep to climb.  

A dive instructor waved an inflatable tube in an attempt to signal a boat they say passing by.  

"Thank goodness she had it.  The waves were five-feet, so without it I don't know if the other boat would have seen us at all," Jake said.

They spent 30 to 45 minutes bobbing in the open water.

"When we were bobbing, I knew there were sharks.  I saw them all around this reef, and here I am just bait on the top," Lexa remembers.

It was dark by the time they climbed onto another boat, which was full of snorkelers. 

Exhausted and freezing, Lexa collapsed and split her chin open.  The wound required stitches.

They later found out, their boat captain had engine trouble and chose to leave them all in the water while he went back to shore.

"The fact that he left is just insane to me," Jake said.

The couple says the dive company had good reviews online when they chose it.

http://www.khou.com/news/national/Boat-captain-abandons-novice-divers-in-middle-of-the-ocean-in-Thailand-232054861.html

[strocube]

Holy fuck, that's scary. Who is the dive company so I can avoid them?

[Rickshaw]

It's happened to me in the Similans - I surfaced to find that my boat was heading back to port; luckily someone had done a head count and they came back to find us (my buddy and me). However, to abandon novice divers like that is unforgiveable and I imagine that PADI (if they are PADI) will be all over them like a rash.

 

Along with Strocube, I would like to know who the company are.

[pdogg]

All I know is what's in the article.  I suppose some intensive googling might turn up a company though.

[Luung]

Weirdest thing, I was in the middle of designing some t'shirts for a company in Phuket named Scuby Scuba & the owner went off the radar & stopped answering my calls just at the same time as this happened & he's still not answering yet!!!

If it's not them, well I couldn't give a fuck & I won't apologise, becuase the blokes a shit tank... But other than that, I haven't found any info myself, but I think this could well be a good place to start looking???

[williethepimp]

'kin hell ,its like a scene from horror movie....divers deserted ...sharks circling..getting dark and no rescue in sight....i could only hope that the smell of  the  shite running down my legs would keep the sharks away....55

[pdogg]

In unrelated diving news..

 

RIP Nicholas.

 

 

A Brooklyn man has died while competing in a free diving competition off the coast of the Bahamas.

 

According to the AIDA, an international organization for the sport, Nicholas Mevoli was trying to break the event's record for deepest dive without fins or scuba gear.

 

He apparently reached a depth of 72 meters, or 236 feet.

 

However, he had trouble breathing after surfacing and then lost consciousness.

 

An autopsy will be performed.

 

Mevoli broke the U.S. constant weight record for free diving shortly after he started his competitive career.

http://www.ny1.com/content/news/198898/brooklyn-man-dies-during-free-diving-competition-off-coast-of-bahamas