“I had to reach the island”: Aussie mum recalls terrifying turn on cruising scuba dive
A NSW woman has said a cruise company should have been better prepared for adverse weather after a holiday scuba dive nearly went horribly wrong.
Justine Clark and her sons, 18-year-old Felix and 20-year-old Max, resurfaced from an offshore dive in Fiji to find that their boat was nowhere to be seen.
The trio were on a seven-day cruise in Fiji when they went on an afternoon dive at an offshore site called The Supermarket with another cruise-goer and the divemaster, who worked for a company subcontracted by Captain Cook Cruises Fiji.
Though the weather began to worsen as they travelled to the dive site, the party pushed on.
"We travelled into an approaching storm and out into open waters in what appeared to be a large channel about 20 kilometres from any island," Ms Clark told the ABC.
When she resurfaced with her eldest son after a dive of about 40 minutes, she said the boat was nowhere to be seen and the weather conditions were rough.
A tender boat took Justine Clark, her two sons, and others in their diving party to the dive site. Image: Justine Clark
"No tender boat was visible on surfacing, the swell was 2 metres, it was dark with grey clouds and high wind," she said.
Ms Clark, who has over 30 years of diving experience, said their divemaster was the next to surface and realise what had happened.
"He was shocked at the events and stated this had never happened in his 27 years of diving," she recalled.
When the divemaster then advised the group to start swimming for an island they could see in the distance, Ms Clark said she was determined to stay calm.
"I can't impress how concerned I was for everyone's health, sharks and the sense of determination I had to reach the island in a calm manner," she continued.
"The maternal drive in me was something I had not felt since the birth of my first son."
After about 50 minutes, a small boat was spotted travelling towards the group, with the divemaster telling them to inflate their surface marker buoys so they could be seen more easily.
The boat’s operator, a garbage collector who had been picking up ocean rubbish, noticed the tip of one of the buoys.
"We were all smiles and I was blowing a kiss to the Fijian who saved us," Ms Clark said.
They were quickly found by the tender boat driver.
"He apologised and told me he was so scared and he had radioed the captain that he lost us," Ms Clark said.
In a written response shared with the outlet, Captain Cook Cruises Fiji explained that the tender boat had blown away from the site, with the surface conditions making it difficult for the operator to find and follow the divers’ bubbles.
The cruise operator said the situation was unprecedented and that changes were made to the “already tight” safety procedures following an internal review.
Though rare, Ms Clark said cruise companies should still be prepared.
"I think it's really important that operators are prepared for those situations that may be rare but can still occur," she said.
It isn’t the first time bad weather has caused strife for cruise ships this year, after wild weather prevented the Coral Princess and other 20 other vessels from docking in Brisbane for several days in July, prompting 2,000 cruise passengers to be stranded onboard.
Images: Justine Clark