Divers rescued from rough waters by marine unit
(CNS): Two recreational divers who got into difficulties in rough waters off the coast of Sunset House were brought to safety by two RCIPS Marine Unit wave runners on Sunday evening. Police said that at around 5: 15pm the marine and air support units were informed that two divers were in distress in the water. When the helicopter arrived on scene the team saw a man and a woman on the sea surface in high waves. The marine unit launched the wave runners from the Lobster Pot dock and headed to their location where the divers taken aboard. They were then transported to South Sound where they were met by ambulance personnel and were found to be in good health and needed no further assistance.
RCIPS issued a reminder to everyone to act responsibly when engaging in recreational activities in the water, especially when there are signs or warnings of inclement weather.
Category: Local News
There should be a $1,500.00 fine plus a 4 month incarseration put into place that when there is bad weather no one absolutely no one not even citizens in marine vessels should be permitted to be at sea during bad weather.
And for the Spotts Dock anyone caught in that area swimming should also be fined a $2,000 fine maybe this will slap their heads into common sense mode … just saying!
Q: because who would honestly go swimming in rough weather? ….
A: only idiots!
Glad it all worked out but these divers should have known better.Its amazing how people can say things about Sunset House when they never left from that place anyway.S/Set Divers certainly WOULD not have let them go off shore there in the first place.Folks get your facts straight BEFORE you blame a dive shop.Glad alls well that ends well.Kudos to the RCIP Marine Unit.
Old dive saying, "If in doubt, don't."
New dive saying, "Don't let inexperieneced divers use scooters." The problem with toys like this is they take you way out of your comfort zone a heck of lot quicker than a pair of fins can.
These divers were scooter certified. The problem was simply their desire to use the ladders at Sunset House. The only thing they did not realize was that Sunset House is sufficiently around the corner facing north to have totally different wave action! If you have been underwater, you can understand that sometimes it is harder to mentally assemble all of your options and do the perfect thing. They obviously did not say to themselves, gee its getting rough here, lets go to an even rougher place.
Cathy Church
I am sick and tired of this type of thing happening here. The sea is strong and mighty cannot be controlled by man and is nothing to play with and people should know better than to take chances, no matter how smart they think they are,
We have senior citizens coming here and thinking they can do what the young and able can do. We have residents thinking they can just jump up at every whim and fancy and take a boat to neighbouring countries. They get in trouble and often loose their lives. People go in the sea at night and are never seen or heard from again. The latest thing now is swimming from Cayman Brac to Little Cayman, Have they not heard of the depth and danger of the water that spans that area?
Perhaps there needs to be more awareness and warnings about the strength and danger of the sea, While the monetary aspect should not be a factor it does cost the country a fair bit of money for these uncalled for rescues.If persons were more diligent with their own safety this could be minimized. Not to mention the risk to the lives of those carrying out the rescue missions.
You are urged to be sensible when going into the sea and do not take unnecessary chances, especially when other are also effected.
I agree with you, but the term you are searching for is called evolution.
The two divers did not dive from Sunset House and Sunset Divers had nothing to do with their entering the water. They entered from a calm cove around the corner to the south, but as the weather picked up a little, they mistakenly thought that they would be safer getting out at Sunset House. Since they were on fast underwater scooters, they had ample air to get to Sunset House. They made a few mistakes, but kept their cool when they realized that they would need help.
I saw the weather on that side and the conditions the wave runners were in, it wasn't good. All credit to the RCIP marine unit in getting out to them quickly and bringing them back to safety.
What kind of idiots go diving off Sunset during a Nor'Wester? More importantly, how did dive staff at Sunset allow them in the water?
The two divers did not dive from Sunset House and Sunset Divers had nothing to do with their entering the water. They entered from a calm cove around the corner to the south, closer to Grand Old House, but as the weather picked up a little, they mistakenly thought that they would be safer getting out at Sunset House even though their point of entry was still quite safe. Since they were on fast underwater scooters, they had ample air to get to Sunset House. One diver was uncomfortable at this point. They made a few mistakes, but kept their cool when they realized that they would need help. The important thing is that they did not do anything that actually cost them their lives. Congratulations to the resuers. Thank you all.
Cathy Church
Yes, well, on the entire South and West coasts of Grand Cayman it would have been quite noticeable that the weather was not good for any kind of recreational marine activities. It was so bad that it made the weather on the North side so terrible that I could not go fishing. the West and north sides was still so terrible that on Monday morning all the dive operators were using the south side for dive operations.
Great rescue or not, they put thier own lives and the lives of the rescue personnel in danger. And for what?
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Good Rescue to all concerned.
And you know it had to be pretty rough if it was better to go to South Sound than back to Lobster Pot.