Jewel Sea Rescue 12/21

Forgive me if this story has already been shared here. We were on the Jewel of the Seas last week (Dec 16-24)and had a wonderful time. On December 21 we were in Saint Lucia. A few hours (it was after sunset) after departing the island, some people eating at Izumi on Deck 13 heard voices in the water and reported it. The announcement "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar," came through the loudspeakers. I didn't know yet that it was the code for Overboard. The ship stopped (well, you know, it is a ship in water) and set out flares and smoke signals and threw life rings in. My wife and I were in our cabin after dinner and I heard a buzzing noise outside so I went to our balcony. A rescue (smaller motor boat) was zipping around in the water and a spotlight was sweeping the dark ocean surface from the bridge. It was a horrifying and surreal moment. The lady on the balcony below us said they had pulled someone from the water already. She said the ship's staff in the rescue boat hadn't been able to see the people in the water but had been calling to them to locate them by voice. The people in the water were safe and were pulled out. We assumed it was passengers from the ship (how did they get in there? we asked each other) but we were wrong. The captain announced the full story when everything was settled down. He said it was a couple of people from Saint Lucia who had been in the water all day. They had been scuba diving in the morning and when they came back to the surface their boat had lost its anchor and drifted away. Throughout the day, the men were pulled further away from Saint Lucia by the currents. It blows my mind, how many things came together for them to be pulled from the water. It's even hard for me to imagine that someone dining on deck 13 would have heard them from the water. All day they were probably thinking they had rotten luck and then found the best luck of their lives, if you want to call it luck. The action of the ship's crew was incredibly impressive. It was really something. Amazing.

I believe the divers got overnight medical attention on the ship and joined us all the way to Barbados, where they were able to find a way back home. At times I heard differing details of the story and what happened to the divers, but this is the best I can put it together from talking to a lot of people. We did a bridge tour on the last day and it was interesting hearing their point of view of how it all went down.

After our cruise we stuck around Puerto Rico for about a week. We spent much of our time in San Juan but we rented a car and drove around a lot of the island too. Feel free to ask me anything about that if you like and I'll do my best to answer.

Incredible story, and with a happy ending too!:D

The divers were lucky for being spotted in the water. Thanks for sharing.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Love a happy ending.

Your story is from 2013...

Sent from my ASUS_Z01HD using Forums mobile app

Your story is from 2013...

 

Sent from my ASUS_Z01HD using Forums mobile app

Sorry this was a couple weeks ago.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Love a happy ending.

I love a happy ending as well.

I love a happy ending as well.

Oh, yea, me too ! As often as possible! :evilsmile:

Your story is from 2013...

 

Sent from my ASUS_Z01HD using Forums mobile app

It was from December 21st 2017, 10 days ago.

It matches exactly to an event on October 13, 2013. Two events virtually identical I figured would have made the news...

Sent from my ASUS_Z01HD using Forums mobile app

Thank you for taking the time to share this story and I too am glad it had a happy ending.

Keith

It matches exactly to an event on October 13, 2013. Two events virtually identical I figured would have made the news...

 

Sent from my ASUS_Z01HD using Forums mobile app

While the stories are similar, they are not identical. I was a passenger on this 2017 cruise, and it did happen. Our rescue was off the coast of St Lucia, the story from 2013 was off St Maarten. Friends of mine were on deck 11 (Windjammer) and actually threw a life preserver with a light beacon to the divers and alerted cruise staff. I was on the front of the ship when they were using the search lights to find the divers. It was initially thought that only one person was in the water, but as we heard the voices, we recognized 2 distinct voices. I have a picture of the rescue boats en route to the divers. It's not great since it was using my iPhone in the dark.

I've been searching the news since then looking for the story, but apparently no-one reported it. The captain stated that the divers had been in the water adrift for about 12 hours before they were rescued. Once the man overboard announcement was made, the staff was quick. However, my friends did find fault with the lack of response before the ship's announcement was made as it took 15-20 minutes before that was done.

Wow! Amazing story--glad it ended well.

Once the man overboard announcement was made, the staff was quick. However, my friends did find fault with the lack of response before the ship's announcement was made as it took 15-20 minutes before that was done.

Well, was your friend on the bridge to know what was being done between the time he notified the crew and the time the Oscar code was announced? 15-20 minutes to me sounds like the typical response time to slow and turn the ship and return to the spot. Ship's radars have the ability to mark a spot using GPS, for just such instances, and then allow the ship to return to the exact spot. When a man overboard call is received on the bridge, the watch officer will mark the ship's location immediately. The code Oscar call is for the rescue boat crew, perhaps one or two designated lifeboat crew, and the medical staff. There is no need to call these folks out until needed, as the rescue boat cannot be launched with any "way" on the ship. I find it difficult to take when a non-maritime person finds fault with a procedure they know nothing about. The simple fact that the divers were rescued makes this a supremely successful operation, since the vast majority of these cases don't result in any retrieval, let alone live rescues.