Stuff they could've done

Old thread, but anyway.

OK for pity's sake, 1) Snorkeling is NOT scuba diving. Scuba requires using weights, true they could have been ditched, but diving takes a lot of energy, Snorkeling is nothing compared to diving.

2) yes they most likely would have been out of air by that point or surfacing with the safe air level of 500PSI so no they could not have used the tanks to propel them through the water.

3) Salt water crocs? Are you stupid? Think, ocean, salt water crocs in the ocean, they swim out in the sea. But no that did not kill the couple

4) The Great Barrier Reef is NOT right at the shoreline as you all are probably thinking. The reef is actually a 2-3 hour boat ride out, pending which reef you are diving on. It is NOT a short ride to the reef. And yes you do have many currents as come summer time you have the cyclone season and thus the weather is a lot more unpredictable here.

5) Yes they should have had whistles and safety sausage, but possibly they did not want to depict that to maybe replicate what happened to the original couple.

6) Yes even now charter companies, sadly enough in Australia, have made the same mistake of leaving divers. How it happened I do not know except for one couple. When I was working up in North Queensland for a sailing charter company one of the dive shops/companies was based out of the marina. Sure enough they did leave divers out in the water, and were found some hours later, but it still happens. Yes they also make you actually sign in and out. It depends on the company. Of the charters I have been diving on I had to sign in and out, which was fine by me. And yes the leaving divers have been recent. Another story happened of another couple just last year or so, however I found their story to be problematic and not believable of how they told it.

7) I've been a diver for 16 years on the rare occasion I have surfaced far from my dive boat, only happened maybe 1 time I can recall, and ugh it was a tiring swim just to get back to the boat. When you do surface far from your boat, if you have air left it is much easier to swim back to your boat under the surface you won't be battling surface conditions of swells, or whatever. if you do not have air, then you gotta swim, and it can be tiring as you have the weights especially, so imagine these two people trying to swim back to land, not gonna happen.

8) They had no water, no food, no sun protection, nada, you won't live very long, the currents would have pushed them anywhere and boats won't know where to begin aside from the last spot they dove, but after that is like a needle in a haystack.

9) Also frankly you are on holiday, you are overworked and you don't think when you get on holidays. You think you will be taken care no worries. You won't always think of the safety equipment. I have a whistle attached to my BC along with my knife, and I do carry a sausage in my BC, but pending how long you have been diving not everyone thinks of it. You are on holidays you expect the boat to take care of you, the crew to take care of you, they are being paid to do so. You don't so much expect to run into danger like this. It was a horrible mistake and sad it had to happen.

So for those who say something could have been done, no, not much could have been done.

[deleted]

How do you follow a boat?

That would be like chasing a car on a freeway.

What they could have done was return to the boat 5 mins before everyone else. If you have a watch and you're in the middle of the ocean and have to get back to the boat at a certain time, get there at least 5 mins earlier. You never want to be left in the ocean. Also bring some GLOW STICKS with you. The boat operator are suppose to do a count when people get ON and OFF the boat. When they got back to the dock, they should have know 2 people were missing if they did another head count when people left the boat. If your smart, you would have your own tether line and hook yourself to the boat. Even if the boat drags you all the way back to the dock, at least you'll be alive. lol!! One other thing. Always tell other people where you're going. If anything happens to you and police or friends are looking for you, someone else will know. They could have told their front desk that they were going scuba diving. So yes, there were a few things they could have done before leaving.

The most obvious thing they should have done was to stay put at the original diving place. Yes, it would require swimming against the current and constant checking if they were in the right place, but it was the first thing I thought when the guy said they were drifting. Swim back!
Their plane was to wait and be rescued by the boat that took them there. It is logical to stay in the same area you were left behind and not drift away. Not a good plane to let the currents take you away. Besides, they were in an area where sharks weren't frequent and by drifting away they ended up in an area filled with sharks. Why they didn't do that...? they probably thought the rescue would come sooner and didn't think too much about it.
Posts about eletronical gaggets are irrelevant and ridiculous since they didn't have any and they didn't foresee this happenning to them.
The OP's question was: what could they have done given their current situation: lost in the sea (not what they could have done TO PREVENT it from ever happenning).

"Stuff they could've done"

They could've played Marco Polo.

Really though, they did all they could do in their situation.

Son, you got a panty on your head.

This is one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. I've never dived, but I'm a great swimmer. All I can say is, when I saw the birds and the buoy, I think I would have dropped all that equipment and just swam like hell to the buoy. They can't swim with all that crap on them. Drop that stuff and swim to the buoy. If there's birds you're not far from shore. That much I know for sure.


A Dog's Life for Me

The first thing I thought was idk maybe both yell for the boat instead of waving your arms silently. Daniel kind of whistled once and that was it.