No Safe Harbor: The Tragedy of the Dive Ship Wave Dancer

by Joe Burnworth

On October 8, 2001, the 120-foot luxury live-aboard dive yachts Wave Dancer and Aggressor III, both carrying members of the Richmond Dive Club, were secured to a concrete dock in southern Belize when Hurricane Iris struck. The last boat to slip into the harbor for safety, the Wave Dancer, stuck out halfway into the channel, unable to find more room at the crowded dock. The category four hurricane, with winds of 140 mph and a storm surge of fourteen feet, ripped the Wave Dancer from its cleats, tossing it like a toy across the lagoon. When the storm subsided an hour later, 20 of the boat’s 28 occupants were dead. The investigation into the tragedy — the worst in the history of recreational diving — revealed that the boat’s owner and captain had ignored storm warnings and needlessly endangered the lives of their passengers and crew.

In a vivid indictment of maritime irresponsibility, author Joe Burnworth — a passenger on the Aggressor III — dramatically recounts the events leading up to the Wave Dancer's capsizing, the rescue and recovery attempts, and the devastating aftermath.

Genres: Nonfiction, Adventure

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 20, 2005

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book to read especially knowing the outcome as the author writes about the good times being had by everyone when tragedy is just around the corner. This was a costly lesson is the scuba liveaboard industry and hopefully not one made in vain.

[Jennifer Entwistle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I blew through this book in 3 days, needing to know how such a bad outcome could have taken place. I have been on the boat that replaced this one in Belize, #StarDancerII and I had no idea about this tragedy. Now knowing that, I will never take a #PeterHughes boat ever again! It's bad enough how badly they messed up but, he was not liable for a penny to the families and the fact that he never even attempted to act like a human being to the survivors makes me sick!

This book was a good read for a diver. It gives a good account of what life is like on a live-aboard dive boat. He accurately gives imagery to the surroundings and details of the boat. I could have done without so many weather reports that a lay person can't make much of. I didn't care for the addition of some of the characters on land that had little impact on the story or even the other boats in Big Creek with them. I would have liked more of what was experienced on the Aggressor instead, which there was almost none of, where the author was during all of this. I wished there was more speculation about how each person died, there was a bit but, the book builds and builds to this defining moment that ends up passing pretty quickly. I know they want to keep an accurate account, but they certainly must have guessed on some people's experiences and not others.

[Laura Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't read this if you aren't already scuba certified because you will never willingly don a mask. I just like to read books like these to find out what NOT to do while diving. Author gave too many statistical details that detracted from the flow of the story.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was hard to read because I know former members of the Richmond Dive Club. Tragic.