[Previous entry: "LITTLE SEAL ROCK ...... adult female grey nurse shark"] [Next entry: "UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPH AT 25 METERS with flash 1991"]
27/07/2007: "BOB WEBB ...... an inspiration to all who dive"
Bob Webb spent 17 hours lost at sea. The strong current at Point Lookout swept Bob so far out to sea he lost sight of the lighthouse. When the tide turned, it brought him back toward land. He struggled ashore at 3AM several kilometers down the southern beach, found by fisherman Peter Bristow.
Bristow told me "the skin was worn down to the ankle bone from his swim fins/flippers".
Bob Webb had spent 17 hours in the sea at a time when the ocean off Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island was alive with dangerous bull sharks - tigers and pointers. He did very well to survive the hazards. His diving partner was never seen again.
As I remember the story told local fishermen, the three were working from a 14 foot dive boat with a 40 HP outboard. They were spearing off Flat Rock using scuba. Two in the water, the other following their bubbles with the boat.
The outboard developed trouble and stopped. The boat lost sight of the divers. It was a windy morning with a chop on the surface making spotting the divers when and where they surfaced, impossible.
Eventually the stalled outboard started again. A search failed to find any trace of the two divers who, by this time had surfaced.
The divers remained together as the strong current swept them eastward - out to sea.
During the night they lost sight of each other. Bob Webb made it back to shore - his companion vanished.
I'd been diving once at Flat Rock and appreciated the hazards these guys faced. In those days there were lots of big sharks in those waters. Unlike sharks seen today these were not accustomed to divers and behaved quite different - more agitated.
This divers with the sea story has remained one of the great all-time survival stories. How valuable a wet suit, mask and snorkel can be.
Bob Webb later opened a boat and marine shop near Brisbane. I met him just once, many years ago. He would have many fascinating stories of his life around the sea.
Several weeks after his well publicized ordeal, a similar event occurred nearby off Cape Moreton.
It was later learned to be a hoax.
The diver involved did not do sufficient research to back the claim he'd been swept out to sea and survived a similar long swim.
The tide was incoming when he claimed to have been swept out to sea.
Soon after, a law was introduced by the State government enabling search costs to be charged in future.
