Dive Boat Safety After the Conception Fire: What to Look For

Dive boats carry two kinds of risk at once. There is the ordinary risk of any passenger vessel: fire, weather, boarding, and navigation. And there is the added risk of people deliberately leaving the boat to go underwater, often in currents, sometimes at night, and needing to get back aboard safely.

The operational standards for dive boats grew out of hard lessons, some of them very public.

Accounting for every diver

The most basic duty on a dive boat is knowing who is in the water and who is back aboard. Roll calls before and after every dive, recorded in writing, are standard practice. Cases in which a diver was left behind almost always trace back to a count that was skipped, rushed, or done by someone who assumed another crew member had done it.

Handling the boat near divers

With divers in the water, the boat must be operated so that it does not endanger them. That means knowing where divers are likely to surface, displaying the proper dive flags, keeping propellers clear of swimmers, and being ready to pick up a diver in trouble. A skipper who repositions the boat while divers are down has taken on serious responsibility for knowing where every one of them is.

Overnight trips and fire

Liveaboard dive boats add the risks of people sleeping aboard. The 2019 fire aboard the dive boat Conception off Santa Cruz Island, in which 34 people died, brought national attention to that risk. Public findings from the NTSB focused on the absence of a required night roving patrol, the limits of escape routes from the sleeping area, and fire detection. Congress and the Coast Guard have since moved to strengthen requirements for small passenger vessels.

The operational lessons apply to every overnight passenger vessel: a crew member awake and making rounds, working smoke detection, safe charging of batteries and electronics, and escape routes that people can actually use in the dark.

Emergency planning

A dive boat needs plans for diving emergencies (decompression illness, near drowning, a lost diver) as well as vessel emergencies. That includes oxygen aboard, crew trained to use it, communication with emergency services, and knowledge of the nearest appropriate medical facilities.

Records to request

• Dive logs and roll call records
• Crew list, licenses, and training (including any dive and first aid certifications)
• Certificate of inspection and passenger counts
• Operations manual and emergency procedures
• Night watch and roving patrol logs for overnight trips
• Equipment inspection records (fire detection, oxygen, lifesaving gear)
• Weather and sea conditions for the dive site

Separating the issues

Diving medicine and dive equipment failures belong to other specialists. My work in these cases is the vessel side: navigation, boat handling, watchkeeping, crew practice, and emergency response.

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About the author

Captain Mitchell S. Stoller is a Master Mariner Unlimited, former Exxon tanker master, and former Los Angeles Harbor pilot. About Captain Stoller