Missing Divers Controversy Continues

The controversy about the 2 divers who were picked up after 19 hours in the water after a dive on the Whitsundays continues. The people on the forums (fora?) seem to be busy “debating” the issue. On the one hand you’ve got those who know the couple emphasising how experienced and professional they are and how they could never make a mistake, and on the other you’ve got people referring to them as muppet divers and foreigners who are intent on destroying the reputation of the Queensland diving industry to cover up for their own stupidity. I have even seen suggestions that they deliberately planned it all to make some money because they were apparently carrying a bottle of water and wearing full wetsuits in 23C water. Well after 16 years of acclimatising to tropical water I wear a full wetsuit in Hong Kong when the temperature drops to 23C or below, and I have on occasions carried a bottle of water, so I’m not sure that proves anything. And anyone who considers setting themselves adrift for an unspecified amount of time with a high probability of drowning or dying of dehydration or exposure, in return for a low probability of finding someone to pay you for your story, has a very strange view of how to make a living.

Anyway we will take the moral high ground (or as divers, should that be the moral deep water?) and wait for the facts to emerge. Now there’s a novel concept!

And one final point, if it does turn out that the operator rather than the divers were at fault, then Queensland state Premier, Anna Bligh, is going to look as though she spoke prematurely when she said that the couple should pay for the cost of their rescue. When doing a giant stride entry, diving is a sport where you jump in with both feet. It looks as though the same may be true of politics.