Five scuba divers who spent two hours drifting off the coast of O’ahu, Hawaii were rescued after a yachting couple radioed their position to the Coast Guard – after their own dive boat failed to log their disappearance.
The divers were part of a group of six diving off Hawai’i Kai – a district of Honolulu on the island of OÊ»ahu, also known as Maunalua or Koko Marina – when they became separated from their dive boat.
Camila Storchi and her husband, Ryan, spotted the divers in the distance while sailing their yacht, the MV Holding Fast from Kaneohe to Honolulu through the same stretch of water.
‘We were passing Hanauma and going around China Walls,’ said Storchi. ‘[My husband] heard screaming for help and he started scanning the ocean and we saw five little dots.’
The couple dropped their sails and approached the five divers under power, and it soon became apparent that one of them was in severe distress, but rough seas made it impossible to remove the divers from the water onto the yacht.
‘It was stormy and the wind was blowing faster by the minute,’ wrote Storchi in an Instagram post. ‘One diver was in a critical situation; grey, hypothermia, throwing up.’
‘My husband tried to pull him out and he couldn’t even hold the ladder. We tried to pull them up but the boat was rocking back and forth.’
Unable to remove the divers from the water, the couple radioed the US Coast Guard while circling the divers, offering them reassurance and water, while Storchi said she ‘prohibited’ them from taking their gear off to make sure they would stay afloat.
A Coast Guard helicopter arrived on the scene after approximately 45 minutes, but just as it did so, the dive boat from which the five stranded divers had jumped arrived on the scene to pick them up.
‘When the helicopter was getting low, this boat came fast and scooped them up and left and we thought it was weird,’ Storchi told Hawaii News Now.
‘We found out there were six divers and one stayed on the boat and said the captain was not monitoring anything. The diver had to tell the captain “Look, there’s is a Coast Guard helicopter, maybe they are there.”‘
According to a statement from the US Coast Guard, the dive boat, MV Honey Ann, was alerted to the presence of the divers as Storchi and her husband communicated with the Coast Guard helicopter over the international emergency radio Channel 16.
On Nov 6 about 1 mile south of Hawaii Kai, the Honey Ann, a dive platform boat, had lost five divers and overheard the radio traffic (from crew of sail boat) on Ch 16 and contacted the Coast Guard Command Center to make the report.
The M/V Holding Fast crew was transiting the area when they spotted the five divers but were unable to bring them aboard. The crew of Holding Fast threw a line to the divers to keep them from drifting while the Coast Guard diverted an MH-65 helicopter from a training flight.
The helicopter arrived on scene and relayed the position to the Honey Ann (dive boat) who transited to the location and picked up the divers. No injuries were reported.
In the aftermath of the incident, a spokesperson owner of the Kailua-based dive company conducting the trip, Aaron’s Dive Shop, made a last-minute alteration to the dive plan made by the group’s divemaster and the dive boat’s captain.
A former employee of the dive centre said that the dive site they were visitng has two routes – a shallow 30-40ft (10-12m) dive and a deeper 90ft (27m) dive which ‘can get really currenty’.
Following the incident, Aaron’s Dive Shop – which has a five-star reputation for excellent service – released a statement explaining the circumstances which left the divers adrift.
We are grateful that all divers returned safely and without injury following last week’s incident. We extend our thanks to the good Samaritans who assisted in locating the missing divers.
Statements from both the captain and dive leader indicate a last minute decision was made to change the dive site; however, our documented protocol was not followed in executing this change.
The dive leader took responsible steps to maintain safety, including having proper surface marker buoys and keeping the group together while separated from the boat. We are currently reviewing what occurred and our current protocols with our dive and boat staff to prevent similar incidents in the future.
We have also submitted an incident report to our certifying agency in an effort to get outside critique and recommendations to improve our protocols and training.
Aaron’s Dive Shop is proud of our excellent safety record, and we remain fully committed to upholding our high standards through consistent training and rigorous oversight.
