Mother and Her Sons Get Left at the Surface

Getting lost at the surface is the greatest hazard faced by scuba divers. The latest divers to discover that are Australians Justine Clark and her sons Felix (18) and Max (20). They surfaced in Fijian waters after a dive on August 14 only to find their dive boat was nowhere to be seen.

A diver with 30 years of experience, she was booked on an afternoon dive trip with her boys to an offshore site known as the "Supermarket," with Viti Water Sports, a company subcontracted to Captain Cook Cruises.

Despite deteriorating weather, they pushed on to the dive site about 15 miles from land, and after an uneventful drift they surfaced but no tender was visible. Their divemaster was next to surface and was shocked when the dive boat was not visible. He advised the divers to swim toward a distant island.

After nearly an hour of fruitless effort, a small boat approached. It was a garbage collector who had been busy picking up floating rubbish. The man aboard was able to call up their tender on his radio. Soon after, the dive tender located them.

Justine Clark later told reporters, "No tender boat was visible on surfacing, the swell was two meters, it was dark with gray clouds and high wind. Our dream holiday turned into a nightmare - I thought we'd be eaten by sharks."

Captain Cook Cruises explained that rough weather and the high wind had driven the tender away from the dive site and that surface conditions had made it impossible for the driver to identify and follow the bubbles of the divers.

There is no explanation why they didn't drop a permanent surface marker buoy. Or why the dive leader - or the divers - weren't carrying surface marker buoys to designate their location.

After all, they were miles from nowhere.