Diver’s Friends Left Him in a Sea of Trouble

After surviving hours treading water off Newport Beach and a subsequent media maelstrom, diver Dan Carlock has a refreshed outlook on life -- and some pained feelings for his scuba buddies.

Carlock, 45, had been diving Sunday morning when he surfaced from the 60-degree water to find himself left behind 12 miles off the coast.

Hours later, a troop of Boy Scouts who had been sailing for the weekend spotted him and pulled him aboard their boat. His ordeal has since been all over the news, including NBC’s “The Today Show.”

The Coast Guard is investigating why the Santa Monica resident was left behind by other divers on the boat Sundiver. Carlock and the more than 20 others on the boat were diving with Ocean Adventures Dive Co. of Venice, whose owner wouldn’t say much about the incident.

“There’s definitely some anger on my part,” Carlock said, but he will not seek legal action. “They’re kind of like family, and I don’t want to destroy that.”

Still, he finds the incident hard to believe. And he has been cooperating with the Coast Guard investigation to keep it from happening again.

Carlock boarded the Sundiver at Harbor Marine in Long Beach on that foggy Sunday morning and dived with the first group about 8:45 a.m., he said. He had trouble equalizing the pressure in his ears, which caused him to fall behind the others. When he felt ready to continue, he could see only their trail of bubbles. The fog even prevented him from seeing a nearby oil rig used as a reference point.

Carlock remembers being afloat for almost four hours, from about 9:15 a.m. He kept a log and took pictures of himself. With a pencil and slate that was attached to his suit, he marked the hours.

“I wanted to prove that I existed up to a certain point in time,” he said. “I penciled in the time just to say I made it to 12 noon and I’m looking forward to making the next entry at 1 o’clock. It gave me a short-term goal.”

During those four hours, Carlock said, there was only the fleeting thought that he might not make it ashore. “There certainly was the despair and the pleading in my prayer,” he said. “I said, ‘God’s going to take care of me. I don’t know how, but he’s going to take care of me.’ ”

Carlock was equipped with a tank, a flotation device and a fluorescent green emergency glow stick. Fears of hypothermia or the strong swell dragging him south crept through his mind, he said.

Then, about 12:45 p.m., soon after the fog opened to clear skies, San Diego Boy Scout Troop 681 and the Orange County Sea Scouts came to Carlock’s rescue.

Their ship, the Argus, had sailed from Newport Beach to Santa Catalina Island on Saturday and was on its return trip when Sea Scout Zack Mayberry spotted something in the water.

“I thought it was a piece of trash, but I wanted to make sure,” Zack, 15, said.

Zack, who lives in La Mesa, spotted Carlock through binoculars.

He said Carlock was frantically waving his hands and the glow stick to get their attention. Zack and a friend boarded a small motorboat and retrieved Carlock.

“I was elated. So elated,” Carlock said.

Before he dives again with Ocean Adventures, Carlock said, he wants to talk with the owner.

“I’m not going to quit because of this, and I can even see myself diving with them again,” Carlock said.