Mayday Mayday Mayday... This is Scout About

So I'll start by saying that everyone is ok and no one got hurt.
It all started on Saturday morning the 25th of July 2009. I was getting ready to take my certification crew out on Scout About, a 26 foot Dusky, with Capt Ted with Divemaster Paul as my assistant. We checked the radar and decided to go to a site called Labyrinth. The ocean was literally like a lake, the water was so calm I could see my reflection perfectly. We did Open Water Training dive 1 which was just a tour and returned to the boat with no incident. We raced another Dusky back to base and got back with plenty of time to change our gear over before lunch. After lunch we met back at the boat at 12:45, did one last radar check and went out to a site called Pillars of Atlantis. The water was still calm but there was some thunderstorms in the distance. We did training dive 2 and when we came up the large black clouds were between us and land so we decided to take our time and let the storm pass. So we did a few surface skills and Capt Ted got a call on his cell from Capt Alex about the radar and which way we should go. We got back on the boat as the wind picked up and the storm started towards us. We pulled anchor and headed towards Tennessee Lighthouse. On the way the wind and waves picked up nothing out of the ordinary, the kids were laughing and having fun. Paul, Ted and I put our masks and snorkels on because of the waves splashing in but no big deal. There was a break in the storm and I pulled out my cell to check the radar and it wasn't looking good. We started going again and the waves increased in both frequency and intensity at first it was not bad, I had seen more water in a Dusky. Then Ted pulled out the bilge pump and I started pumping and the participants were using their water bottles and our staff mugs to bail the boat. Over several minutes the water level kept rising with more waves and we weren't making much headway. The boat was listing over to the starboard side and the waves just kept coming. I asked Capt Ted if we should put on lifejackets and he said yes. So I opened the hatches which were full of water and began pulling the jackets out and giving them to the kids. They all had them on and I looked back at Paul who was pointing at himself. I had one jacket left which was a child size and most of the foam appeared to be gone. I gave it to him and he put it on and then realized that there was one more adult sized on the deck of the boat. He put that one on. It turns out that one was for Ted and there was one more in the hatch that I didn't see. Within about a minute of everyone putting on the jackets the boat capsized. Paul's gear bag got caught in the propeller as we went over and we were floating. Gear everywhere. We huddled near the boat and started gathering some gear. Ted got the backpacks of the adult leaders, Paul's BCD and tank and mine as well. We sang a couple songs at first and then I started to use my Dive Alert Plus which is an airhorn attached to my gear. Between that and our waving signaling devices we got the attention of a fishing boat and we saw the Coast Guard go by in the distance. The fishing boat came and we got 4 or 5 of the scouts onto their boat and then Coast Guard boat came up. The rest of us were hauled up onto the CG boat and we transfered the kids from the fishing boat over. At that point two of the big dive boats from Sea Base were on the scene and helping to pick up floating gear. We were transfered over to one of the Sea Base dive boats because the CG got a call of another boat in the area needing help. We stayed in the area looking for gear and collecting floating items. The other dive boat put some divers in the water to pull out gear and electronics still on the boat. All of the tanks and BCDs were recovered and most of the snorkel gear but not all of it. Several pairs of sunglasses and some other small items including my cell phone were water logged or missing. One of our other boat captains works for Sea Tow as well and he came out and after a few attempts flipped the boat back over and it was towed back to base. The cost for Sea Tow to come out like that is about $7000. The motor on the boat isn't usable and the electronics are in various states of disrepair, the canvas top is ripped but the hull is fine. We had alot of paperwork to fill out and Ted, Paul and I had to get alcohol swabs and urine drug tests but all in all not too bad. I have a sweet bruise on my right thigh that is lots of pretty colors. Well, life goes on. It was a very interesting experience and I'm proud of my participants and how well they listened and we all worked together. Thank you to everyone for their love, support, and well wishes.

Scuba Certifications

So this is week 5 of my teaching scuba here at Sea Base and all is going well. This week my crew already watched all the videos before they came, finished the knowledge reviews, and learned how to use the dive tables so we are flying. Today we only have to do 3 pool dives which won't take long but I'll find stuff for them to do. It has been extremely hot with temps around 90 and the heat index regularly over 105. We haven't had the massive rain fall in a few weeks that caused flooding. No hurricanes yet(knock on wood!). I've met more friends and am having a blast. I think that I might take a week off from certifications and just Divemaster otherwise it's the same routine until mid August. Well, gotta go check to see if the dorms are clean then to the pool.