Missing Diver found ALIVE

[Alan Wheeler]

To many of you, this will be of no interest. But Pete, if you are reading this. I don't know if you heard, but on Sunday a Mayday was put out for a missing Diver at Mana Island. It was Rob Hewitt, Norms Brother. (To others, Norm is a Kiwi Icon, being a Famouse Allblack and good all round Kiwi bloke.)
Anyway's, no one had found him and they were basicaly in a body search mode. Well today Wednesday at around 4PM, they found him. ALIVE!!! He has floated around the Cook straight Mana area since Sunday. And mate has it been ruff out there. He is suffereing from severe hypothermea, but is OK. He was in a wet suit and being an Ex Navy diver, was well trained in survival.
Great new's and for those that don't know these waters, nothing short of a flamin Miricle.

[CaptainK]

Now that's what I call a miracle!!

If I recall from another thread, you mentioned the water temp there is comparable to where I'm at. Low 50's f. That is unbelievable. If I were him, I would buy a ticket for the next lottery.

[NoTies]

Hi there, Mum just rung to tell me this about 3 minutes ago. Absolutley amazing, he sure is from hardy stock. Apparently he was living on crayfish (lobster) from his catch bag!! Gotta have some comforts I guess.

Without butter? That would never do

[CaptainK]

Now that's a true survivalist?

3 days!! So did he dive from a boat. Or started out from ashore?

[Alan Wheeler]

Not sure of the whole story. In would presume they dived from a boat as Mana Island is a wildlife reserve off the coast.so no one lives there to my knowledge. So they would have boated across. It's not far. But we had some big blows the last few days. Darryl, you reading this?? what's it been like over the ditch?? We got 40knt Southerlies and it was supposed to be 50knts through the straight and very ruff seas. It was thew turning to 30knt Westerlies Tuesday and today it went to cold rainy Nor-east. On the news, the weather looked miserable over there.
Somehow he got seperated from his Dive buddy and they never found him. I guess some more of the story will come out when he can be interviewd. By the way, this guyis also a prominant NZ'er. He is verywell versed in Maori Language and protocole and usually represents Maori in their welcoming ceremonies for official high level ranking visitors to NZ etc.
Yep he had Kina and cray in his catch bag, but he had no fresh water.

[GordMay]

What is Kina?

[NoTies]

Hi Gord,
Kina is what we call sea urchin. It is the Maori word. Not to be confused with the Papua Niu Guinea currency which is also the Kina.

[Talbot]

That is one lucky diver.

News report made a fuss about making sure he was lifted and kept horizontal when pulled out of the water. This is so important but little known/understood. its all to do with blood flow, and if you dont keep them horizontal (even getting them out of the water if possible), there is a very high probability of onset of shock and possibly even death.

[NoTies]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3566269a10,00.html
Link

[Alan Wheeler]

I knew if I waited long enough....here's a dig.
Rob was found just 300m of the shore. He obviousely was not far from the area for three days, with hundreds of people searching for him. He had on a wetsuit AND a flotation device, yet could not be seen.
Now why the hell would ANYONE want to paint their MOB pole Grey
Yeah OK, I'll go stand in the corner and count to ten.

[GordMay]

Wheels:
My disappointment grows.
Not only might you be unprepared (/w chilled beer) for unexpected company, but you have no sense of decorating style. Obviously, the accouterments (ie: MOB pole) should either match or contrast with the interior appointments. I certainly hope your settee isn’t upholstered in International Orange!
Happy to hear that you can count as high as ten.
Gord

PS: A very illuminating illustration of the difficulty in spotting anything in rough(er) water.

[southernman]

The weather has not been too bad here - not the wind Allan has been talking about - we live in Plimmerton not far from Kapiti Island. We just had lots of rain. The water temp has also been about 2 degs warmer than normal as well. These factors no doubt gave him the edge for survival. We were out looking yesterday while fishing. It's good they found him because yesterday the weather did change for the worse although overnight was good. I believe it was not hypothermia that was the problem but dehydration. In an interview this morning he said he didn't think he had another night in him.

When will you guys quit on the MOB pole? Please Please Please leave the Bums alone! We purchased an inflatable fold away type so it would match our yacht and would have not nasty bright colours to get in the way! HEHE.

[seafox]

Another diver went missing off a boat in the Cook Strait a few days ago. He spent 12 hours floating around in the dark and then hailed the Cargo ship The Kent, on it's way to Wellington. One of the crew heard him calling. Another lucky bugger.