Current sweeps group out to sea
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
MA'ALAEA, Maui — Eight members of a charter dive group were rescued yesterday afternoon after drifting for 5 1/2 hours in stormy seas off Maui.
Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
The divers were exhausted but unhurt when they were rescued more than 8 miles from where they had been begun their dive on the backside of Molokini islet, a popular spot for boat tours carrying divers and snorkelers.
Dive instructor Emiko Fukuda hugs friend Tobin Hood after returning safely to Ma'alaea Harbor late yesterday afternoon. Fukuda was part of a dive group that got caught up in fast currents and choppy seas off Maui.
A Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter spotted the group of divers at about 3:30 p.m., and they were picked up and brought to Ma'alaea Harbor by the Prince Kuhio tour boat and the Piper sportsfishing charter vessel.
The divers declined to comment on their ordeal, but John Clark, who was on the Piper, said they were in good spirits.
The group of two dive instructors and six divers set out from the harbor at about 7:15 a.m. aboard the Maui Diamond II. Since the ocean on the back wall of Molokini is 300 feet deep — too deep to drop anchor — the divers entered the water for a "drift dive," said Clark, whose girlfriend, Emiko Fukuda, was one of the dive instructors on the trip.
Fast currents, strong winds and choppy seas separated the Maui Diamond II from the divers, and after they were 20 minutes overdue, the boat captain reported the group missing at about 10 a.m., said Chief Boatswain Mate Tony Ochoa of the Coast Guard's Ma'alaea Station.
The Coast Guard dispatched rescue boats from Maui and a C-130 Hercules aircraft and the HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Barbers Point on O'ahu. A Maui fire rescue helicopter also joined the search.
Ochoa said word of the missing divers spread fast through the local boating community, and a number of commercial and private vessels joined in the search. "We were really pleased with the community and how they all take care of each other," he said.
Clark said the Piper and Prince Kuhio crews saw the Coast Guard helicopter hover over a spot in the ocean and drop a flare, indicating the location of the divers about 8 miles east of Molokini and almost 11 miles from the Kihei coast. The two boats were closest and brought the divers back to the harbor around 5 p.m.
"The first thing they wanted to do was drink beer," said Paul King, a crewman aboard the Piper.
Ochoa said the Maui Diamond II captain and the dive instructors were all highly experienced but it was the weather that prevailed yesterday. Conditions had deteriorated throughout the day, he said, with winds increasing from between 15 miles per hour to 30 mph earlier in the day to 45 mph, and ocean swells as high as 10 feet.
Correction: Tobin Hood was not part of a diving group that was missing off Maui for nearly six hours Saturday. The photo caption with a previous version of this story incorrectly included Hood in the diving group.
