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	SCUBA DIVING :: FORUMS :: EDITORIALS :: WAVE DANCER
	Death in Belize: The Lessons of the Wave Dancer Tragedy Powered by CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network Many questions, no answers, 20 dead people. The Wave Dancer tragedy raises disturbing questions about how Peter Hughes Diving Inc (and the Aggressor Fleet) conduct off-shore dive trips in regions that are prone to severe weather disturbances. Did the head office, which was in constant contact with the Wave Dancer captain, make all of the critically important decisions along the way? Why did Wave Dancer leave port after the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane warning for Belize? Why didn't Wave Dancer pull the hook on Sunday and return to Belize City where evacuation procedures were under way? Why did Wave Dancer wait until Monday morning to leave? Why did they go south to Big Creek with National Hurricane Center tracking models predicting that Iris would move in that direction? Why, after making all of the wrong decisions and placing the vessel and customers directly in the path of an oncoming Category 4 hurricane, did they ignore local officials who warned boat personnel to move everyone ashore to emergency shelters? Why did the boat captain threaten to fire crew who wanted to go ashore to emergency shelters? Why were the guests casually dining and drinking just before the hurricane slammed into Big Creek?  Why, after 20 people were killed aboard Wave Dancer, did Wayne Hasson of the Aggressor Fleet insist that liveaboards are safer than emergency shelters in Category 4 hurricanes? Go to full CDNN Editorial >>> Go to full CDNN Special Report >>> What our readers are saying about 'Death in Belize: The Lessons of the Wave Dancer Tragedy' 07-12-31 Teresa Mars - Wave Dancer tragedy not forgotten... 07-10-08 Chieffreeze - Another year — I have not forgotten... 06-10-07 Teresa Mars - Thanks for your suggestion... 06-09-07 Don - This is my last response... 06-09-07 Don - Rob Palmer you are way off base... 06-09-02 Rob Palmer - Peter Hughes learns from his mistakes but not you Don... 06-08-31 Holly Hill - Visiting Belize for a 5 year memorial... 06-08-31 Don - RE: Rule #1: Never stay on a boat during a hurricane... 06-08-10 Rob Palmer - Rule #1: Never stay on a boat during a hurricane... 06-08-07 Don - RE: Book writer?... 06-08-07 Don - RE: I agree with Ian. The dive club members were not careful... 06-01-14 Tim D - It's typical dive industry 'pocket the buck and pass the blame'... 05-11-15 Luis C - Three strikes you're out?... 05-11-01 Teresa Mars - Casualness of Wave Dancer passengers... 05-10-23 Kevin Short - No Safe Harbor by failed condo developer Joe Burnworth... 05-10-16 Mia - Never trust weather forecasts, especially hurricane predictions... 05-10-08 CW - Wave Dancer holiday turned into Death Dancer nightmare... 05-06-15 Teresa Mars - Wrong assumptions... 05-06-14 Peter J - Book writer?... 05-06-09 Gary M - I agree with Ian.  The dive club members were not careful... 05-06-06 Ian S - Your grandad was wrong Bill... 05-06-05 Bill - My grandad always told me every living thing needs a rectum... 05-06-03 Ian S - So you came back and ignored your friends... 05-05-31 Mary lou Hayden - No Safe Harbor... 05-05-30 Cynthia W - No Safe Harbor, The Tragedy of the Dive Ship Wave Dancer... 05-05-28 Miguel - Agree with Mark—it's about making diving safer... 05-05-19 Mark P - How can any comment related to diver safety be off topic?... 05-05-18 Milly - Aggressor passengers... 05-05-18 Milly - Teresa & Heather, Wave Dancer family and friends... 05-05-15 Ian S - Teresa, so you endorse the IMMARBE report?... 05-05-07 Teresa Mars - Thank you Heather... 05-04-29 Heather Johnston - Moderators, please help clean up the sh*t... 05-04-22 Martina - What did the divers on the Belize Aggressor do... 05-03-21 Teresa Mars - Thank you Don... 05-03-21 Teresa Mars - Blame or not... 05-03-19 Jason - Teresa, why excuse those in the dive industry?... 05-03-18 Edwin M - I second the motion to delete David's sockpuppet post... 05-03-17 Don - This has gotten way off track... 05-03-17 Ian S - Sock Puppet Alert: There's some bad sh*t in the hay... 05-03-17 Teresa Mars - The dive shop posts are off-topic... 05-03-17 Maggie - Who needs / witch hunt... 05-03-17 David Hay - Forgive my last couple of posts... 05-03-17 Richard Lindsay - H'mmmmmm... 05-03-17 Tony - One of the Kinslers had their hands on the RDC purse strings... 05-03-16 Edwin M - To David Hay: It was an OT non-issue until you went nuclear... 05-03-16 BT - Somebody get a bucket of water... 05-03-15 David Hay - A blast from the past posts... 05-03-15 David Hay - Point 5. about his online store... 05-03-15 David Hay - Who needs facts we gota a good old witch hunt... 05-03-15 David Hay - Ian, try and make sense... 05-03-14 Margo N - Who was the Richmond Dive Club treasurer at the time?... 05-03-12 Richard Lindsay - Dive Expressions is NOT a good dive shop... 05-03-12 Ian S - The buddy system is pulling you down David... 05-03-09 David Hay - Thank you for the concern I will try and get more rest... 05-03-08 Ian S - Better hit the hay David—you need some rest... 05-03-08 Richard Lindsay - Read the IMMARBE report... 05-03-06 David Hay - Gary and Ellen Kinsler ruined the RDC... 05-03-06 Gino T - Didn't Peter Hughes hire an inexperienced captain... 05-03-05 Ex-RDC Member II - Dive Expressions also ripped me off... 05-02-28 Barry H - IMMARBE puts most of the blame on the captain... 05-02-28 David Hay - Gary and Ellen Kinsler - Dive Expressions - ruined the RDC... 05-02-27 Lyle S - IMMARBE - releases long-awaited Wave Dancer report... 05-02-19 Damien Waller - Divers don't care about the Wave Dancer or safety... 05-02-03 Lee Chamberlain - Wave Dancer, tsunami and comparison... 05-01-23 Dale Treadway - Money or an eye for an eye?... 05-01-21 Ian S - Apples, oranges, natural disasters and dead bodies... 05-01-03 Teresa Mars - My reaction to the horror of the tsunami tragedy... 04-11-10 William D - Give Peter Hughes the dive industry land lubber award... 04-11-08 Rafer - Probably they did not want to go to the third world... 04-10-30 Ian S - The burden is on each one of us to make the final call... 04-10-27 Richard Lindsay - I do agree with you Ian... 04-10-26 Ian S - C'mon Richard—the dumb divers put themselves in harm's way... 04-10-25 Richard Lindsay - The Captain and his greed put the dumb divers... 04-10-24 Ian S - No, with a bad captain AND stupid dive tourists... 04-10-24 Richard Lindsay - The bad boat left with a bad captain... 04-10-23 Ex-RDC Member - Dive Expressions ruined the Richmond Dive Club... 04-10-23 Ian S - Richard, today you'll learn about the Enter key... 04-10-22 Richard Lindsay - I'm so happy I've never been on a boat with you... 04-10-22 Travis O'Leary - Hey Richard, you're a groupie in the wrong group... 04-10-22 Janice J - Memorial plaques are a placebo... 04-10-22 Ben D - Most assinine comment of the forum so far... 04-10-22 Ben D - Dive industry whore award goes to Doug Pike... 04-10-21 Ian S - Go back to Mars Teresa and take your psycho-babble with you... 04-10-21 Rachel W - Houston Chronicle: Huh? Peter Hughes on dive safety!$%?... 04-10-19 Teresa Mars - Blaming the dead... 04-10-15 Heather Johnston - Memorial plaques... 04-10-15 Heather Johnston - Please, please do not blame the dead... 04-10-15 Ian S - Boat owner greed and poorly trained crew?... 04-10-13 Richard Lindsay - Boat owner greed and poorly trained crew... 04-10-12 Teresa Mars - Bottom line? Martin and Hughes killed my husband... 04-10-11 Ian S - I agree with Travis, most tourist divers are just stupid consumers... 04-10-11 Teresa Mars - My problem is with Peter Hughes and IMMARBE in Belize... 04-10-11 Travis O'Leary - Got a heart, got a life, got 3,000+ dives... 04-10-10 Richard Lindsay - To Travis: get a heart and a life while you're at it... 04-10-09 Teresa Mars - Another year and still nothing... 04-09-22 Ben D - So whatever happened to the 'investigation'... 04-07-20 Teresa Mars - Dancer groupies, sexy dive boats?... 04-07-19 Teresa Mars - Better things to do?... 04-07-17 Michael M - Many of us have quietly made up our minds... 04-07-17 Margaret Walkky - I'll never set foot aboard one of their boats again... 04-07-16 Travis O'Leary - Can't get the Hughes monkey off my back... 04-07-14 Teresa Mars - Disgusted and disappointed... 04-03-21 Teresa Mars - "Inexperienced boat captain endangers lives"... 04-03-01 Colin - I'm waiting (to decide if I ever want to dive with Hughes... 04-03-01 Teresa Mars - It is not a matter of time... 04-03-01 Ben D - Why does it take years to get "all of the information"... 04-02-29 Teresa Mars - What problems???... 04-02-28 David S - Micro-management? So Hughes called all the shots... 04-02-27 David Rembry - Wait until you have all of the information... 04-02-25 Sea Bee - Comments from a former Wave Dancer captain... 04-02-09 Teresa Mars - Please listen to Jeremy Robinson... 04-01-30 Jeremy Robinson - Act prudently—don't book with Peter Hughes... 04-01-08 Teresa Mars - To David Sifre... 03-12-27 David Sifre - Re: Lawyer's threatening letter to Teresa Mars... 03-12-07 Teresa Mars - Thank you Richard Lindsay!... 03-11-30 Richard Lindsay - We will never forget... 03-10-10 Alan Soriano - People think divers are foolhardy, reckless daredevils... 03-09-24 Teresa Mars - As always the family members are the last to know... 03-09-23 Heather Johnston - "Into Harm's Way"... 03-09-23 Greg Storey - The Peter Hughes Hurricane "Guarantee"... 03-09-18 Faye - Sad story about greed & stupidity of an irresponsible company... 03-09-16 Elizabeth P - Read "In Harm's Way" for details about the tragedy... 03-09-16 Nina - I agree with Captain Norwalk—Hughes did everything wrong... 03-09-16 Tim - Who is really at fault?... 03-09-10 Capt J Norwalk - Peter Hughes is incapable of running a safe boat... 03-09-09 Peter M - Captain in the lifeboat?... 03-09-04 Gerald Moore - Attempts to blame guests for Hughes' mistakes... 03-08-08 Teresa Mars - To Dale Treadway... 03-08-05 Dale Treadway - To Heather Johnston... 03-07-31 Heather Johnston - To Hughes/Aggressor supporters... 03-07-26 Teresa Mars - Re: Lawsuit against Hughes... 03-07-25 Nick - Lawsuit against Hughes... 03-07-21 Teresa Mars - Forced to stay... 03-07-21 Teresa Mars - Rich yuppies? You don't know what you're talking about... 03-07-11 Holly Hill - Peter Hughes caused the death of 20 good people... 03-07-07 Vascuba - I couldn't agree with you more Buck... 03-06-29 Bruce - Chumming vs feeding... 03-06-22 Buck Evans - Whose fault is it that the divers trusted Peter Hughes?... 03-06-22 Dale Treadway - Peter Hughes/Aggressor bad guys... 03-06-15 Dan W - Criticism, not negligence is what's "ruining your favorite sport"?... 03-06-05 Michael P Bryant - Still in a state of shock over Wave Dancer disaster... 03-06-05 Capt J Norwalk - If Elkins is not a whore, why is he in bed with Hughes? 03-06-02 Ken Elkins - I am not a "whore"... 03-06-01 Teresa Mars - Wayne Hasson is heartbroken???... 03-05-26 Capt J Norwalk - Ken, let me recap—the buddy system was not a factor... 03-05-26 Teresa Mars - Sea Dancer crew were shark feeding to attract sharks... 03-05-26 Ken Elkins - Steve, let me recap—where was her buddy?... 03-05-25 David S - Families want thorough investigation of Aggressor accident... 03-05-25 Teresa Mars - There is a cover-up of criminal negligence... 03-05-25 Steve - Ken, let me recap—You must have missed it... 03-05-24 Ken Elkins - Why "whore" in the subject line?... 03-05-24 Ken Elkins - Why don't I believe you?... 03-05-21 Ben D - So why no investigation of the Wave Dancer killings?... 03-05-21 Naim Kahler - Ken Elkins is a dive industry apologist-whore... 03-05-20 Captain J Norwalk - Fed? Chummed? Does the Hughes victim care?... 03-05-19 Bob Goodman - More finger pointing please (aka accident investigation)... 03-05-19 Holly Hill - Why am I not surprised at another needless 'Dancer' death... 03-05-15 Ken Elkins - The sharks are fed but not "chummed"... 03-05-15 Ken Elkins - Name calling... 03-05-14 S Kelley - The killer has struck again... 03-05-12 Nathan - CDNN news report about Star Dancer reef hook death in Palau... 03-05-10 Teresa Mars - Elkins is wrong again—Hughes feeds sharks... 03-05-08 Ken Elkins - What happened in Palau—How did Star Dancer diver die?... 03-05-05 Scott Kelly - Contact the Belizean government... 03-04-30 Tom - Another dead Dancer customer, this time in Palau... 03-04-12 Ken Elkins - Shark bite... 03-04-02 Roy - Hughes is the McDonalds of live-aboard diving... 03-03-30 Warren - It's the dishonesty of Peter Hughes that turns me off... 03-03-29 Teresa Mars - Holly Hill is exactly right... 03-03-18 Holly Hill - Get all the facts first... 03-03-13 Ben D - One 'advantage' of no regulations is that it's OK to kill people... 03-02-07 Tony S - I will never take a Peter Hughes live-aboard... 03-01-25 Aaron Valenski - Roscoe is correct... 03-01-25 Roscoe Ortiz - The Dancer boats are unseaworthy... 03-01-23 J Davis - I will never board a Hughes boat... 02-12-12 Aggressor III ex-Customer - Don't go on the Aggressor boats either... 02-12-10 Someone who cares - I can't believe the Richmond Dive Club... 02-11-22 David Goldberg - There are better, safer, more responsible live-aboards... 02-11-21 Holly Hill - My husband and I will never dive with Peter Hughes... 02-11-20 Teresa Mars - I completely agree with you Bob... 02-11-16 Bob R. - Suffered through two horrible Dancer trips before I quit dancing... 02-11-15 Tim Griffith - Don't ask for sympathy if you die on a Hughes boat... 02-11-12 Roscoe Ortiz - Hughes should be charged with criminal negligence... 02-10-22 Dale Treadway - Choice and self-responsibility... 02-10-20 Donald Bates - Safer on land—it's a no-brainer... 02-10-20 Teresa Mars - We still don't know why innocent people were left to die... 02-10-19 J J - Why did Wave Dancer go straight into the path of the hurricane?... 02-10-19 Roscoe Ortiz - Any boat would be better than one operated by Hughes... 02-10-14 Dale Treadway - I don't agree with "it's someone else's fault"... 02-10-13 Greg Storey - Hughes is an irresponsible boat operator... 02-10-12 Jon Schneiderman - Sad and angry... 02-10-11 Dale Treadway - Think positive, few bad experiences will happen... 02-10-08 Roscoe O - Peter Hughes is one of the most dangerous dive operators... 02-10-08 Josh & Rosalyn Stein - It is not over... 02-10-08 Deborah Estes - Please do not forget the grief... 02-10-06 Teresa Mars - It's sad that divers blame those who died... 02-10-04 Dale Treadway - Diving in a hurricane area during hurricane season?... 02-09-29 Jane Scott-Andrews - Peter Hughes—are you listening?... 02-09-29 W Morton - My dive club voted not to book trips on Peter Hughes's boats... 02-09-28 Richard Lindsay - Boycott Peter Hughes Diving Inc... 02-09-27 Jennifer Sands - Peter Hughes is a disgrace to the human race... 02-09-26 Ron Estes - Why aren't divers boycotting Peter Hughes?... 02-08-22 Holly Hill - Peter Hughes, Wave Dancer captain did not act prudently... 02-08-17 Jaime A - I'm disgusted with Belize's government & will dive elsewhere... 02-08-11 Greg Storey - Look beyond ad hype—look at how the operation is run... 02-08-16 Dana T - Peter Hughes and PADI's Sport Diver magazine are disgusting... 02-07-01 Teresa Mars - The guests are not the ones with the expertise... 02-06-24 Michael L - According to law, Hughes and the captain are responsible... 02-06-17 Ted Mossman - Are the guests responsible in any way?... 02-06-11 Mie S - Hughes is betting most divers don't care—he's probably right... 02-05-17 Tim Darby - How could a responsible boat operator act like Hughes?... 02-04-27 Cheryl L - It's not cold-blooded murder but it is criminal negligence... 02-03-19 Darrel F - The CDNN Interview with Tom Stark is a 'call to arms'... 02-03-18 Tim Price - Wallowing in mawkish sentiment, blaming big business... 02-02-05 Richmond Dive Club Member - Trust me, there is a smoking gun... 02-01-28 Mary Eastman - Hughes is no better than Enron—maybe worse... 02-01-28 Capt Nigel - The Peter Hughes office don't have a clue... 02-01-20 M Gomez - The Wave Dancer & Aggressor as holiday platforms?... 02-01-12 Arnold Parker - Why help rich boat owners kill innocent people?... 01-12-14 Dick - Why help lawyers get rich?... 01-11-09 Edwin Martell - Bottom line? The Hughes/DAN fund is a PR move... 01-11-09 Michael L - Overwhelmed by support of dive industry professionals?$%... 01-11-09 Carol Hayashi - Donna, you can't see the forest for the trees... 01-11-09 Brian Whitfield - Peter Hughes gambled and lost—he should pay big... 01-11-08 Robert Nelson - WRONG—DAN's fund is also for Peter Hughes... 01-11-08 Donna - DAN's fund is for the families... 01-11-07 Parker Johnson - Let's not ruin the holiday over a little cat 4 hurricane... 01-11-07 Michael Fleming - Why did the dive club book with Peter Hughes... 01-11-07 Eddie Rose - The insurance company invented the tornado theory... 01-11-07 Dennis Foley - Add the Aggressor Fleet to the list... 01-11-07 Sarah Eckstein - I just can't believe this... 01-11-07 Clive Middleton - Not to worry—it was just a freak tornado... 01-11-07 Craig Guinasso - Drowning on a dive boat... 01-10-23 Marcia Pfister - How about a fund for the Belizeans... 01-10-22 Tim Griffith - No surprise that Hughes wants to cuddle up to DAN... 01-10-22 Ron Taylor - Where are you getting your information... 01-10-21 Tim Griffith - Remind me to cancel my DAN membership... 01-10-21 Alexi Portillo - It's always a gamble to be in the water during a storm... 01-10-21 Donald Jacobs - Hughes gambled with customer lives and lost... 01-10-20 Kate Marchetti - So what are they going to do next time... 01-10-20 Michael Norwalk - Responsible dive operators lay down the law... 01-10-20 Robert Lang - They never should have left port... 01-10-20 Nigel Benson - Same old dive industry spin...   CDNN NEWS HEADLINES
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