| Wave
Dancer Tragedy
by Don Mackay
The October 2001 edition of Update published
by Sharkey's Scuba Supply carried a short
article that I wrote about diving in Belize
on the live aboard Wave Dancer. As many
will be aware, Hurricane Iris hit the coast
of Belize on October 8, causing extensive
damage to that poor country.
Among the victims was the Wave Dancer.
She was moored up some 70 miles south of
Belize City along with one of the Aggressor
boats in an area where local operators had
safely ridden out Hurricane Mitch a few
years ago. Iris proved more potent. While
the two boats were moored up and battened
down, the Wave Dancer was torn from the
pier and capsized. When she went down she
had 28 people aboard. Eighteen are confirmed
drowned, eight are confirmed to have survived
and 2 persons are missing (believed to be
trapped in the sunken wreckage). She carried
a crew of 8 (three of whom are known to
have died) and had been chartered by a dive
club out of Richmond Va.
We who are "divers" share our
passion for this wonderful sport with each
and every member of the "dive community".
We all smile inwardly and feel a kinship
with that stranger in the car ahead on the
highway when we spot that dive flag affixed
to his or her bumper or rear window. And
each of us pauses for a moment of reflection
when we hear of an accident in which a diver
has lost their life. Eighteen and possibly
twenty people of our community died on October
8. I met and knew the crewmembers but my
sense of loss and grief is no less for those
I didn't know. But they were all our bothers
and sisters and we are all saddened by their
passing. More detailed information is posted
on the Peter Hughes web site at: http://www.peterhughes.com/phwave/Iris.htm
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