Hey Dive Shop Cowboy Owners: Get your act together

A lovely precent took place today in the US, where a court of law has decided to support the lawsuit towards a dive center that left a diver in the middle of the pacif ocean for hours. Well, it seems that if you are a dive center or a dive operator and you left your divers abandon you have to face the consequences of your lack of professionalism . So if you are a dive shop cowboy owner and you don’t really care about your divers: Be aware. Get your act together unless you want to pay $1.68 million award for neglicence.

The story is pretty dramatic, specially for Daniel Carlock, who was 45 at the time, became separated from his dive buddy and was subsequently left floating in the ocean until he was spotted by Boy Scouts who were passing by on another boat.

According to court documents, the Sundiver was carrying 20 divers, when they went out for dives that day by oil rig Eureka. Carlock apparently had problems equalizing the pressure in his ears and surfaced 400 feet from the vessel.

Although Carlock was floating 400 feet way, the dive master for Ocean Adventures marked him present on the dive roster. The vessel then drove 7 miles away because of strong currents, where Carlock was marked present for a second dive.

After being saved, Carlock filed a lawsuit against Venice-based Ocean Adventures Dive Co. and Long Beach-based Sundivers Charters alleging negligence, infliction of emotional distress and fraud.

Ocean Adentures Dive co is owned by Steve Ladd, and after reading his website … His passion is watching our local dive community flourish, as the dive club grows and the barbecues get bigger! Well, it seems that Steve needs to pay less attention tot he BBQ and more attention to the divers in his dive shop!