The Case for a Chase Boat

With several divers in the water all likely to surface within minutes of each other, and maybe in different places around the dive site, the driver of a chase boat has to prioritize which divers he picks up first. When a dive boat has no chase boat, things can get more complicated.

Should an emergency occur for a diver returning to the main vessel, the skipper may face a difficult decision. He may have to abandon a mooring to go to the aid of a distressed diver who surfaced away from the mother boat. He faces a difficult and perhaps impossible decision if there are other divers still in the water and possibly under the boat.

This is exactly the problem Captain John Kreatsoulas faced on June 17. He and his wife operate a company in Alva, Florida, called Fossil Junkies, that takes up to six divers on the MV Fox to hunt for shark and megalodon teeth and Ice Age fossils off the Gulf Coast. On the third dive of the day, Guy Charles Kerby from Goodlettsville, TN, surfaced alone and in distress, about 500 feet from the boat. Kerby had inflated his SMB and waved his arms, indicating that he wanted to be picked up as quickly as possible in worsening sea conditions.

Kreatsoulas, hampered because he had five other divers still underwater, revved the Sea Fox's engines, hoping to draw the attention of the divers and quickly get them back onboard. By the time he had successfully recovered them and motored over to Kerby, the distressed diver was face down in the water and unresponsive.

Brought onboard the dive boat, Kerby was given CPR but remained unresponsive. One of the passengers phoned for help, and paramedics from Venice Fire & Rescue came aboard and took over resuscitation efforts. The 60-year-old Kerby passed away two days later.

Undercurrent has often promoted the use of chase boats to pick up divers because often they don't surface at the same time or place (Undercurrent September 2024). The additional safety afforded by a pick-up boat manned by a second crew member, cruising close to a dive site or at least ready to be quickly deployed, relieves the skipper of the dichotomy of whether to abandon a mooring and jeopardize divers still in the water, or go to the aid of another diver in distress.

If the captain has another crewmember aboard so that the vessel is not left unattended, it's conceivable one might swim a short way to rescue a distressed diver. But a crewed chase boat is far more effective and safer. However, for six-packs and even larger boats, having a second crew member is often not economically feasible, so a distressed diver may himself end up paying the price.

John Bantin