Dive boat capsizes in North Sound while divers underwater

A dive boat belonging to the Cayman Islands Divers British Sub-Aqua Club capsized in the North Sound on Easter Sunday while the boat’s divers were underwater.

The six divers surfaced after their dive to find their boat upside down.

No one was injured, and all the divers were returned to land safely, the Cayman Islands Coast Guard confirmed.

Crew and passengers on board two Captain Marvin’s Watersports boats, on their way to Stingray City shortly before 10am, spotted the vessel as it began to list to one side, and then capsize. They stopped and were in position to assist the divers as they came to the surface at the Ronnie’s Nemesis dive site.

‘Sugar Bear’ to the rescue

Divers on the boat commended Captain Marvin’s crew member James Segur Moore Jackson, known as ‘Sugar Bear’, for remaining in the water until all six divers made their way to safety.

“We were passing the main channel and one of our guests looked out and said, ‘That boat looks weird.’ We watched it for about three minutes, and in one sudden movement, the boat flipped right over,” Jackson told the Compass Sunday evening.

The Captain Marvin’s crew alerted the Cayman Islands Coast Guard as they made their way to the site.

Jackson said he jumped in the water with snorkel gear on and dived underneath the boat to check if there was anyone trapped on board, but saw no one. Then, far below him, he saw the scuba divers, who were unaware of what had happened to their boat.

“They were just scuba diving, at the bottom,” he said.

As he was looking underneath the upside boat, he said, he could see air tanks dropping out of the vessel and sinking to the seabed. “I was just hoping none of the tanks would hit the divers below,” he said.

Jackson said as the divers surfaced, he directed them to his boat.

Some had no idea the boat had capsized until they got to the surface. “The first guy who surfaced, he was about five feet away from the boat, and I could see his face and how he reacted,” Jackson said. “He was, like, ‘The boat is gone!'”

Four of the divers were taken by one of the Captain Marvin boats. In the meantime, the coast guard vessel had arrived, so the two remaining divers in the water were put on that boat. The other four were later transferred to the coast guard boat when they got to shallower water, Jackson said.

Although the surface of the sea was calm in the Sound, there was a strong current, he said. “I was pretty tired by the end,” he said, having helped each of the divers to a boat.

Meanwhile, Maurice Hunter – on the other Captain Marvin’s boat, captained by James Jeffrey Nickings Humphreys – started collecting bags and life jackets that were floating on the water, as well as a waterproof case containing the phone of one of the divers, and the vessel’s documents, which were inside a plastic container.

Cause of sinking unknown

Laura Brind, chair of Cayman Islands Divers, said the boat was towed back to shore on Sunday afternoon, “and we will work to establish exactly what caused the issue”.

She added, “All divers are fine and we were quickly assisted by Captain Marvin’s. The coast guard arrived in quick time and ensured all divers made it safely back to shore.”

She said Indepth Watersports also assisted in recovering some of the divers’ possessions that had been on board.

“We are incredibly grateful to the boating community and the coast guard for their support and help, and the rapid response of everyone involved. We truly appreciate how everyone on the water looks out for each other and are willing to assist in times of need,” Brind added.

The Compass understands there was no one on the boat while the divers, members of the private club, were underwater.

A police spokesperson told the Compass that the Cayman Islands Coast Guard had responded to a report of a vessel that had capsized in the North Sound on Sunday morning.

“They assisted the occupants back to shore. No injuries were reported,” the RCIPS spokesperson said.

Dan Schofield of Indepth Watersports was one of the professional divers who helped recover items from the capsized vessel.

He said the Indepth crew had been taking customers to dive on the North Wall, and were sent a video of the boat.

“We were heading back to dock, so we went by Ronnie’s Nemesis to have a look and to make sure everything was OK. By then … everyone had already been picked up. There was no one in distress and no actual emergency at that stage, but there was an upside down boat.

“We decided we’d drive by and that we’d jump in the water if there was anything floating in the water so we could salvage it. We pulled up next to the boat and a couple of us jumped in and went down the mooring line, and there were tanks and a couple of dive bags, so we brought the tanks up and the dive bags.”