Wrong Place, Right time? Some Lessons Learned.
By Nancy Cohagan, NAUI 39015

Our Panama city Beach certification weekend last July began with overcast skies, winds, and predications of two to four foot seas. Our Friday dives proved the predictions were correct, but by dive number two everyone seemed to be getting the hang of things-those at least who were not out of action due to seasickness. this was one of those rare trips where neither I nor my dive buddy were needed for our teaching skills, so we elected to accompany the certified divers on a dive while the students were doing skills under the card of another instructor.

Our site was one that we have not seen previously. Due to steadily worsening seas, we were cautioned to make sure we used the anchor line for our ascent. We found the site to be an old section of bridge roadway scattered over a large area. Moving from section to section our group of four came across a large sea turtle lying on the bottom. The turtle appeared to be lying on a section of line with the section behind the turtle having been pulled taut. My buddy, Donnie, slipped in quietly and cut the rope in order to free the turtle.

As Donnie and the others moved off I noticed the turtle was still not making any attempt to swim. I paused, touching the turtle's flipper, but still got no response. Finally I tried flipping the turtle's shell but got no movement. Fearing the turtle was dead I turned him completely over and noticed some movement of his head. It was then that i saw that all of his flipper had become entangled in the line, and the turtle was unable to swim at all.

My buddies circled back around to me at that point, and we began to cut away the line. One of our group had a pair of shears which we were able to slip through the tightest sections without cutting the turtle's skin. Freed, the turtle was still too weak to swim, venting only the smallest amount of air. My buddy and i each took a side of the shell and swam the turtle to the surface holding him while he caught a breath. We found him still too weak to swim so we brought him back to our boat to the astonishment of our crew who thought we were all losing our minds in those conditions!

We were able to call Gulf world in Panama City to let them know we had an injured sea turtle we were bringing in for treatment. The turtle's shell and skin, which had been turning white when we found him, began to regain its color as we returned back to port. We kept him moist, and he even began trying to move by the time we returned.

Folks at Gulf World checked our new buddy over and pronounced him to be an approximately six year old turtle and one of the fittest ever brought in for care. They would put him on antibiotics for the cuts the ropes caused in his flippers but felt he would make a full recovery and be returned to the Gulf soon.

Saturday morning we were still feeling good about our turtle. But we now had a large group of students coming in for their certification dives, and the seas had not laid down at all overnight. We had four instructors on the boat so we were able to break our groups into small numbers to allow for extra supervision due to the rough seas.

Again the divers were champs with a few succumbing to motion sickness though most were able to complete all their dives. Our trip was scheduled for 7 a.m.-11a.m. We were out of the water by 10:15 and ready to head back in when we were given word that one of the local dive charters had lost sight of two divers and was asking for assistance in the search. Our boat joined in, and the divers were finally spotted around 2:00 p.m. by a Coast Guard plane nearly six miles from their initial entry into the water. Both were o.k. Seas were now up to six feet at times, so we made our way slowly back to port.

Suddenly I noticed a diver off the port side of our boat. There was one boat nearby but a considerable distance away considering the seas. Once more we brought our boat to a halt as the boat radioed that it had a diver missing and did we see anyone. We were able to radio that we had him in sight and were heading to pick him up. We brought him on board and were heading over to his vessel when three more divers from the same boat popped up next to us. Picking these up as well we brought them back to their boat, finally reaching port ourselves at 2:45 p.m.

Sunday fount the weather getting worse so we decided to head to the springs, to the delight of the seasick crowd. i must admit I had had enough adventure to last me for quite a while myself.

Lessons learned: Be aware of the marine life around you, and be careful of leaving rope, lines and other trash that could kill an unknowing creature. Plan for the possibility of rough seas and take prevention accordingly. It is better to take it and not need it than need it and not take it. Always watch your student rations because there is safety in low ratios. Safety sausages will be mandatory for students from no on-just in case the worst does happen, and a diver gets caught in current. Oh yes-diver shear: Don't be caught without them!

Sources - Fourth Quarter 2004 copyright 1996 NAUI. All rights reserved.

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