Long swim ashore for scuba divers

TWO divers, Brent Vinnicombe (39) from Cape Town and Michael Whitcombe (26) from Margate, surfaced after a dive yesterday only to find they had to swim ashore at Uvongo.

They were unable to reach their support vessel, about 100 metres away,  due to the strong winds. The grueling swim back to shore took them about an hour and a half.

Thank goodness this story had a  happy ending, unlike the film ‘Open Water’ which is loosely based on the true story of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, who in 1998 went out with a scuba diving group on the Great Barrier Reef, and were accidentally left behind because the dive-boat crew failed to take an accurate headcount.

Jeremiah Jackson, National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Shelly Beach station commander, said the duty crew was alerted following reports from anglers on the shoreline at Orange Rocks who could see what looked like two scuba divers swimming towards shore.

NSRI Shelly Beach responded but upon arrival, found the two divers were already safely ashore.

This is what transpired:

* The divers reported that they had surfaced from a dive at Deep Salmon Reef, about a nautical mile off-shore of Shelly Beach, to find their support boat about a hundred metres away.

* The divers marker buoy had been blown flat by the wind so the suspicion was that the skipper on their support boat, a 5.5 metre rigid inflatable, Splice of Life, could not see them and efforts to shout towards the boat were hampered by the strong wind.

* They tried to swim towards the support boat but they were unable to because of strong winds.

* Meanwhile the support boat had suffered motor failure and, unaware that the skipper was trying to fix the motors, NSRI alerted Shelly Beach boat tower control.  The support boat was radioed and the skipper reported that the boat had suffered one motor failure and battery power failure. The skipper also said he was having difficulty starting the second motor and had subsequently lost sight of the dive buoy.

* The divers then realised they could swim towards the shoreline with the currents and with a lull in the wind. They decided to make the dash for shore, where they would raise the alarm.

* NSRI Shelly Beach launched the sea rescue craft Spirit of Dawn and found Splice of Life in the vicinity of Deep Salmon Reef. The  NSRI crew was able to get one of the motors started and then escorted Splice of Life to shore where the divers were reunited with their skipper.

IMPORTANT WARNING:

The NSRI is urging extreme caution this weekend.

Storm conditions, strong gale force winds, rough seas, heavy swells and big surf coupled with the full moon spring tide will cause dangerous sea, surf and shoreline conditions over the weekend and into the first part of next week.

This full moon spring tide peaks today, Friday, April 22 and will add to the dangerous sea, surf and shoreline conditions.

Spring tide conditions will last into the early part of next week.

Spring tide happens twice every month of the year, at full moon and at new moon, and bring higher than normal high tides, lower than normal low tide, and stronger than normal rip currents.

NSRI urges boaters, paddle boarders, bathers, sailors and anglers to be extremely cautious during this time.

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