I was reading a rather dramatic story in our local newspaper last Thursday. It gave me the creeps, what with my fear of being in deep water and getting slowly eaten by sharks.
A crew of local fishermen were out in one of those small fishing boats, about 21 miles off the shore of Isla Blanca, last Wednesday. (the shoreline you see across the bay from North Beach) They were diving for lobsters. (the paper said fish, but I know they were diving illegally for lobster) Somehow, a 27 year old became lost or separated from the group. This was about 2 PM. The crew circled around for a while, looking for bubble trails from his tank. After an hour of this, they decided they better call for help. Five fishermen boats arrived in the area to join in the search for him. Finally, a Navy Helicopter was dispatched, at the urging of our new Mayor.
The search expanded ever further away from the point where he was last known to be. Finally, about 8:40 PM, and just as they were going to give up for the night because of diminishing light, his inflatable flag was spotted on the horizon. He was rescued 6.5 hours after going missing and 17 miles from where last seen.
The diver reported that after about two hours of just floating, he made his piece with God and just let the current take him where it may. He had given up hope of being found. Gives me the creeps just to think about it.
Thankfully this story had a happy ending, especially since the diver is the eldest son of O, the woman who cleans our house!
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9 comments:
thank God for the happy ending! i hope they will take whatever precautions necessary so hopefully this won't happen again.
sharks are among my fears when i go in deep water and i have almost drowned twice, so i know how you feel, wayne.
have a great week!
teresa
Thank goodness he is OK, how lucky he is to have survived.
Wow, how scary, I'm glad he's ok!! I can't even bring myself to watch the movie "Open Water", in this area, it hits too close to home. I do love to snorkel, but when I raise my head and can't see the boat, I get a little upset. Not panicked, but nervous for sure!
Oh, jeez...he'd made his peace with god. That made me shudder. I'm so grateful he was saved!
I don't dive because of the movie "Open Water." I am so glad the diver/fisherman is safe!!
I have never seen the movie open water- just the trailer freaks me out WAY too much!
I'm ok snorkeling if I don't get to close to "stuff" lol. I am pretty terrified of the whole SCUBA thing, running out of air, getting trapped under water, coming up too fast and getting the bends- gads!
*takes a deep calming breath*
How did he get separated in the first place!?
Man, if I were his mom I'd hug him so tight and then kick the shit out of him!
I think I have seen every shark movie ever made! I watched "Open Water" and found it quite boring. The concept, of being lost at sea, adrift in the open water, was terrifying though. The movie doesn't get icky or scary even until just at the end. I still think about that ending. My recommendation...skip this movie. You will be bored silly until the end, not worth it.
aLobster - illegally fishing for lobster? I'm on the next plane to Isla.....couldn't find one of those things in Sayulita!......sorry to focus on food instead of the guy but you know......
Same thing happened to 2 of our friends here in Playa. The current took them fast and the boat simply lost track of their bubbles. They swam 2 the miles back to shore. Nice.
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