Posted by Rich Kerr on July 18, 2004 at 19:03:58:
Just want to warn everyone, {especialy those private boat divers out there} that whoever the Skipper of the dive boat Bottomscratcher at Catalina Is. was on 7/18/04, he has no reguard for diver safety at all {at least not anyone not diving from his boat}. I'll explain, we are diving off my 28 ft. Silverton at Rippers reef. For those of you who don't know the area, this is the reef from Empire Landing east to Rippers Cove {about 3/4 of a mile long or so and about 200 feet wide to the sand, give or take}. Now we are anchored just east of Empire about 1/3 of the way down and 50 ft. off {in the sand} of this 3/4 mile reef, with 3 divers in the water, me on scuba {coming off thee reef back to the boat, Joe Freediving {with a bright yellow marker} and my daughter snorkling, and we are the only boat anchored for almost a mile. So I hear a big boat over head as I'm coming down to the sand, and I'm thinking what are they doing inside of my boat with a flag up and divers on the surface, when I see their anchor fall to the sand about 10 ft. from me {now I'm Pissed}so I blow a safty stop to see who this {explative} is, and he is anchored about 50 ft. from my boat. Well Joe had been freediving and they drove around him to get inside of my boat, so he had a few words with them from the water and they really did'nt give a $%&*. As I swim up between the boats asking who the dumb&$$ skipper is, one of the deckhands or dive master I'm not sure, basicly threatened to come over and kick my ass if I don't just shut up and let it go. Sorry about the long rant but I thought every should know about this {long list of explatives here}. OH and I have video and pictures too.