Liveaboard dive boat runs aground on Sandbar
(CNS): Aggressor Adventures, the owners of the liveaboard dive boat, the Cayman Aggressor IV, which ran aground in the North Sound on Thursday morning, have said it is no longer on the Sting Ray City sandbar and was being moved to her anchorage this evening. The owners said there were no injuries, everyone was safely off the vessel and they had expected the high tide to solve the issue.
The Department of Environment said its response teams were awaiting the all-clear from the Cayman Islands Coast Guard, who are monitoring the salvage operation, before entering the area to assess any potential environmental impacts.
“The DoE will work alongside local authorities to determine the next steps once investigations have concluded,” officials said in the wake of the incident.
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Category: Business, Local News, Tourism
This is incorrect… it was a REEF. My parents were on this boat.
Glad my good friend no longer owns it . I have been told they have tethered to morning balls that are not the right size for a ship like that and dive masters have had to dive for the line on different dive sites . I would love to do the Aggressor some day as diving in Cayman is like church for me . The situation seems like a cat trying to fit in a box it doesn’t fit in
Cayman Mermaid runs aground in the North Sound; Cayman Aggressor runs aground on the Sandbar!?
And these “captains” are who? Fresh from Iowa, Ireland, South Africa, Australia or Ukraine?? Where? NOT Cayman!!!
WTF is happening in water safety here??
Caymanian captain, best in the world.
Cayman Airways , you know the rest.
Cayman civil service #world class.
There is water safety?
A Captains license is only good if you have local knowledge of the waters you navigate in. If you remember the Rhapsody cruise line it went aground also. The French Captain knew how to navigate, read charts, had radar and many officers who could Captain smaller tonnage. All cruise ships use a pilot to place each ship on an anchorage. The pilot has local knowledge of the depth and the prevailing winds during different times of the year.
But our problem in Grand Cayman is they don’t maintain channel markers anywhere in the North Sound?? They maintain dive site moorings. Tidal highs and lows have charts you can find on the internet for the Cayman Islands. Most Cayman Captains use cross bearing when finding the channels around the island even in the dark of night.
Titanic sank in 1912 due to the ignorance of a minimum of 10 factors that, if any one of them was able to be altered, or avoided, would have prevented the ship from sinking.
Captain Smith had a stellar career with White Star, which ended on that night.
That “so called Captain” should be very embarrassed!! How about hiring a Captain that actually knows what he is doing and knows the reef, and remembers about the tide!!! Some people get lax in their jobs after a while and forget the important steps to take before turning the key on that engine!
Maybe you should find out the facts of what happened before you write out something like this and not knowing exactly who did it or what happened exactly. It’s not always the captain, I know they are responsible for the boat and crew but sometimes things happen that’s out of their hands but they still have to take responsibility. If you have a job, thank God for it but don’t be negative towards others
Well, I was on the trip and I know exactly what happened. the captain and crew were 100% culpable and broke multiple regulations, including having nobody in the pilot house while the vessel was underway. They relied on automation and the boat to give them an alarm if something was going wrong. Only one night watchman was on duty at the time.
Also, the response time was inexcusable (5 1/2 hours) and a mayday call to the coast guard was bever sent.
The guy in charge was the engineer whilst the captain was fishing with his friends, the staff don’t even have basic knowledge or experience working on boats. The chef cooks street food in Spain. The boat is an embarrassment
The captain of the vessel I believe is not Caymanian.
so , caymanian are the only person cab operate a vessel?.
Careless operation! Should not be allowed to anchor in the north sound!
Shame on the authorities for allowing a 100+ foot vessel to be moored in the vulnerable northsound.
But, Compass says it ran aground on the reef! Which is it? The reef or the sand bar?
The Cayman Aggressor Boat(s) has been poorly run for many, many years. Poor Captains, poor response to suggestions from occupants, poor response from the home office for such issues. It used to be a great experience, not anymore due to management protecting bad employees.
Dont forget to blame the weed.
Well, that’s one thing that hasn’t changed much since I was a child in Cayman well before CUC arrived. We still have about the same ratio of captains per head of population. The only difference being that most of them now have not been in charge of a boat outside of the North Sound.
Dive boat captains and tour boat captains are dime a dozen. The only qualification being “what is the minimum amount your are willing to accept for the job?”.
You’ve not been on it obviously
My captain was from New York…