TV shows about divers who are stranded on the ocean for days. Preventable?

[BallastBoy]

They're very preventable.

The TV or movie studio execs just have to say "NO!" in a loud and firm voice when confronted with someone trying to sell a drama based on this crap.

If they don't leave, then security should be called.


More to the point, a dive accident where divers are stranded or lost like this is not that different from an accident where someone unqualified does their own reg maintenance, or someone without the needed training does a deco dive, or divers pay a local fisherman to drive them out somewhere in a boat rather than spend a few more bucks on a real dive charter.  It all starts with someone being stupid, either as a way of life or the occasional attack of stupid we all get now and then.

I'm happy to say I've never been on a dive boat where the operator didn't do their best to track the customers.  At worst they just made sure they got out of the water the same number of people that went in, and at best they track your bubbles while you're in the water and check how you feel when you get out.  This is basic safety practice... it's like making sure you have enough fuel to make the trip, or packing life preservers.  If you don't do it you risk your life (liability) and your customers, and you shouldn't be in that business.

These TV "drama" shows would be even less interesting than they are if they told the truth about how the divers that got lost did so because they ignored safety rules, or hired an inept or shady charter boat operator to save money, or swam the opposite direction from the other divers out into the current because they didn't want to be crowded.  It's hard to empathize with the central characters in a drama if they got where they are by being complete idiots.

Oh, and the "encounter with sharks and barracuda" thing is more "drama".  When I'm on vacation I spend a lot of time on the surface of the water swimming, hoping to encounter sharks and barracuda.  I call it "snorkeling".

BB