Missing swimmer Manasquan Inlet...

Shortly after 7 pm on Saturday, July 17, 2010, while we were still cleaning up from the Wooden Boat Festival, an emergency call came in for a submerged swimmer right off Manasquan Inlet jetty. (The normal lifeguard crew is off the beach by 5:30 pm, and red flags had been posted on the beach, but with such a hot day, hundreds of people were still in and near the water at the time of the incident.) As it had been a busy day, many squad members were already at the squad building and immediately responded to Jenkinson's Beach at its closest access point. First Aid Captain Jerry Meany, a first aid crew, and a dive crew got on scene within 4-5 minutes (the time it takes to get across town) and discovered one man being assisted out of the rocks by a Jenkinson's security officer and bystander. The crowd indicated that a second man had gone down right off the south tip of the jetty minutes before.

Sue had responded to the beach in exposure suit, mask, fins, and snorkel, so she surface swam to the point of last contact and searched the outside of the jetty. With several breathhold dives, she also dipped down to look for the victim, but with ZERO vis and heavy surge, all she could do was feel the bottom and avoid getting smashed into the jetty herself. Within a few more minutes, Chet and Tom C also made it to the beach in full scuba gear and entered to conduct a more thorough search at the base of the rocks and concrete. They had no more success than the surface swimmer and found themselves totally enveloped in sea lettuce and in even more risk of being swept with the surge into the jetty. One of them described the experience as "being in a washing machine" and one of the worst dives he's ever had to do.

In the meantime, several first aiders and volunteer fire fighters were also posted around the jetty to help with spotting. The US Coast Guard, State Police, Point Pleasant Boro FD, and Budget Towing also had boats on the water to provide eyes and possible assistance from offshore. With increasing surf and surge and fading light, we pulled our divers from the water, and the USCG helicopter conducted a search with a thermal imaging camera, with negative results. Deteriorating water conditions and darkness led all parties to suspend the search for the night by 9:30 pm.

We returned to the beach Sunday morning to resume our in-water search under better conditions, recognizing that this had become a recovery operation. Our Rescue 34 boat (Doug, Paul, Tom T, and Tom C) and the private vessel of one of our first aid squad members (Jonathan, with Megan and Tom G) ran patterns up and down the beach to look for the victim from the surface. Simultaneously, two divers repeated last night's search of the tip of the jetty, but the sea lettuce and low tide surge still resulted in this pattern being conducted solely by feel. Due to the still-dangerous conditions, these divers exited the water.

In the meantime, the State Police returned with their boat and ran a pattern using side scan sonar. By mid-tide, water conditions and visibility had improved significantly, so we sent another three divers back in. Chet was finally able to conduct a systematic check of all the crevices around the tip of the jetty. Sue and Milton drifted with the incoming tide around the jetty tip and into the inlet proper to to investigate potential snag locations. After over an hour of searching with negative results, the search was called off until further sightings or information becomes available.

Our condolences go out to the family of the victim.

Asbury Park Press article

UPDATE: On Friday, July 23, 2010, the victim's body was spotted floating about one mile offshore outside of Manasquan Inlet and subsequently recovered by United States Coast Guard Station Manasquan.

Response to Reported Missing Swimmer...

This summer has quickly proven to be incredibly busy for the Point Pleasant Beach First Aid Squad and its Dive Team. Over the long Fourth of July holiday weekend alone, we responded to nearly 100 emergency calls, many of which were heat- and/or beach-related. Off the beach, water temperatures have shot up over 10 degrees in the last two weeks, so it is suddenly very comfortable to be in the ocean (we normally don’t experience these water temperatures consistently until well-into August). Check out http://www.thecoolroom.org/swimmers/swim_sst.htm for satellite imagery of local sea surface temps.

Although we’ve been missing some dive time to help cover all the land-based first aid calls, we’ve managed a few dives in the warm water. Shark River Inlet, in Avon , is out of our normal coverage area, but is only accessible for diving from 5pm – 8am during the summer, so we took advantage of the opportunity to do night dives there the last two weekends.

On Friday, 7/10, the night dive session was a little challenging with a quick tide change and low visibility. Immediately upon exiting the water, we were notified that a call for a possible missing swimmer was in progress back in Point Pleasant . Assistant Chief Melo had assumed command of Beach Operations and was already on scene with Brandon, Tom T, and Paul, and a first aid crew. When the still-wet dive crew arrived, that added 5 more sets (Chet, Milton, Sue, Andy, and Dave) of eyes on the beach. Also present were the Ocean FDs #1 and #2 and the Point Pleasant Boro FD and FA. With very rough surf and no confirmed victim, we conducted our primary search from shore with lights. The USCG, State Police, and Budget Towing (captained by Tom Hurst and crewed by our divers Tom C and Doug) participated in the search off shore, taking great caution to stay out of the rough conditions by the beach. At some point, a white object which could have been a t-shirt was spotted, so two rescue swimmers were sent to make contact - Milton got a rough lesson in rough surf entries, but he wisely extracted himself, while Chief Nesley went out to the object; once there he could only describe debris and lots of sticky sea foam, which could have been mistaken for a solid object. The USCG vessel even deployed two flares to help illuminate the night surf, and we could still find no victim. Upon further communication, it was revealed that the original emergency call from a bystander did not clearly describe an actual human body in the surf, and at least one experienced fisherman relayed that ocean sunfish (Mola mola) had been spotted around Manasquan Inlet and close to shore earlier in the day. Based on direct observations and the fact that still no one had been reported missing, we determined that this was a false alarm.

The following day, the first aid calls (almost all on the beach and boardwalk) just kept piling up on top of each other, and ANOTHER dive call came in - boat on fire, people in water. Four rescue divers got fully suited-up for a surface rescue while bouncing around in the back of 347 in the time it took to drive to the call. What the crew didn't know was that the USCG canceled us on the way there, so when we jumped out the back of the truck on arrival, we were very surprised to discover that we'd been re-routed to a first aid call on the beach. (Unless someone in the cabin tells you, you really have no idea what's going on outside when you're in the back of the dive rescue truck.)



It's going to be a loooong summer....

Dolphin Recovery Assist ~Marine Mammal Stranding Center~

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The Dive Team was about to conduct a training dive in the Manasquan inlet when they heard a call to the Coast Guard station from a private vessel reporting a dead Bottlenose Dolphin outside of the inlet.

The dive team responded to the reported location with the use of a TowBoat US unit that was donated by the local operator along with a boat captain. The dolphin was located 1/2 mile North of Manasquan Inlet and 1/2 mile offshore. Divers Tom Conroy and Tom Trafer entered the water and strapped the body onto a backboard. Chief Diver Nesley, Flo Melo, and TowBoat US Captain Rick then pulled the 350lb dolphin onto the boat.

The Dolphin was then taken to the Manasquan Coast Guard station where Coast Guard personnel assisted in loading the dolphin for transportation to the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, N.J.

MMSC personnel staff believed that the numerous scratches along the body could have been bite marks from other dolphins, but they were mostly superficial and unlikely the cause of death. The stranding center is still very busy but the dive team had the opportunity to visit the two Seals that were recoverd by the Dive Team back on Easter weekend...

Asbury Park Press article here...

The Long Lost Tank...

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While operating 20 miles offshore the fishing vessel “Muros” pulled up this scuba tank in one of its nets and brought it back to their dock. Members of the Muros turned the tank over to team member Tom Hurst who is owner\operator of Towboat U.S. and has been involved in prior operations of the team.

Tom retrieved the tank and contacted Team Captain Chet Nesley who went to work identifying the tank and locate the original owner. Nesley posted messages on numerous ‘Scuba” related message boards as well as searching VIP records.

Nesley was contacted by Rick Maxwell who recalled that one of his instructors had lost a tank overboard during rough seas while on a dive at the Stolt Dagali wreck site. The dive was conducted from the dive boat Venture 3... Nesley then emailed a photo of the lost tank to Maxwell who passed it on to Ronnie who was the instructor and possible owner of the lost tank. Ronnie immediately emailed back that the lost tank was in fact the tank that she lost during the Stolt Dagali dive…

80 Feet Down...

July 2006 (Click on photos to enlarge)

Members of the Point Pleasant Beach Rescue Dive team responded to a call from the U.S. Coast Guard regarding a commercial fishing boat that was struck Tug boat pulling a barge resulting in the fishing vessel sinking with four crewmembers on board... Below is a story that appeared in the Asbury Park Press...

80 FEET DOWN - Divers survey sunken boat for pollutants
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/2/06
BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDETOMS RIVER BUREAU

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Divers visited the Alex Mac on the ocean floor a third time to survey damage and prevent the engine from leaking pollutants.
A 16-year-old boy and his 39-year-old uncle died Thursday after the vessel sank about 8 p.m. following an incident involving a tugboat towing a barge with a cable.

Members of the Point Pleasant Beach Dive Team, under the direction of chief diver Chet Nesley, 53, of Dover Township, on Saturday visited the wreckage, which was 80-feet down. Nesley and Brandon Cadalzo, 26, of Point Pleasant, dove to the wreckage of the Alex Mac at the request from the Coast Guard and the insurance company that was insuring the boat and "to do a hull survey and plug the vents on the fuel tanks so there would be no pollution," Nesley said. "There was quite a bit of damage below the water line of the boat."

A tugboat called authorities to report a problem at sea Thursday and Tom Hurst, owner of Tow Boat US, which regularly donates its services in rescue operations, called Nesley and his crew at first word of the incident, Nesley said.

The party boat, the Gambler, rescued two crew members who were on a piece of wreckage from the boat. Nesley said they had hoped Thursday night when they first got to the wreckage that the two fishermen inside could be alive in an air pocket. Once he saw the severe damage to the hull, he knew there was no chance, he said.

Nesley located Mike Lantman, 16, in the engine room near the door Thursday night, he said. The team returned Friday morning to take him off the boat.

The State Police deep-water dive team went down Friday morning but could not locate the uncle. But when Nesley's team returned with Sue Lewicki, a dive team member from Old Bridge, she was able to find Tommy Lantman, 39, because she is small-framed and able to fit through a small hole in the boat.

"Sue is a good diver," Nesley said. "She thinks smart, is strong, and has tremendous courage."

"Everybody said a prayer over the bodies when we brought them on board," he said. "We feel the family can have some closure."

"This is a pretty tight community, the fishing community. We went out and wanted to recover these bodies for these people," Nesley said...