Just before the sun set Sunday, June 23, on Pensacola
Pass, which separates mainland Florida from Santa
Rosa Island in the Gulf of Mexico, a charter boat rescued
a Pensacola scuba diver who had been lost for
nearly eight hours.
"I never intended anything like this to ever happen in
my life," Mike Ozburn told the Pensacola News Journal two
days later. A network systems engineer for the Pensacola
Police Department, Ozburn picked up scuba diving back
in November as a way to enjoy his free time. That Sunday
had marked Ozburn's 35th dive -- this time, among the
roughest waters he has descended in yet.
Ozburn and a group of friends piled into a boat and
began their dive around noon Sunday, 16 miles offshore
in Pensacola Pass. While gearing up, Ozburn's elbow
hit the inflator hose, letting air into his BC. Not thinking
anything of it, he descended but quickly realized
the excess air was keeping him from going any farther.
Ozburn vented the BC and descended into the murky
waters once more.
Due to his error and the lack of visibility, Ozburn
couldn't find his buddy. Swimming deeper, he reached a
flat level of sand, instead of the pyramid-shaped surface
the divers initially descended upon. After 10 minutes
of unsuccessful searching, Ozburn went up for a threeminute
safety stop, finding himself about 150 yards away
from the boat and out of sight.
"I inflated my safety buoy and waved my arms, blew
my whistle," he said. "They didn't see it, they didn't hear
it." Another five to ten minutes later, he had officially
lost sight of the dive boat. Ozburn's crew began a search
pattern, and after about an hour, they notified the Coast
Guard. A little while later, dive charters volunteered to
join the mission.
As time dragged on, helicopters and boats passed by
-- none of them noticing Ozburn's calls for help. Lost in
the water, Ozburn maneuvered his gear to keep him alive and afloat. Using a dive watch and safety buoy, he lined
up with the edge of the clouds and kicked toward the
direction of shore.
"A lot of interesting things that you do not think
about when you dive regularly come into play," he said.
Ozburn's neon-yellow buoy was one of them. Chosen for
its high-visibility color, the buoy failed Ozburn because
the way the water and sun fell on it caused it to appear
white, blending in with the whitecaps and making it
harder to see.
Each time Ozburn had the slightest inkling of a boat
passing, he blew his whistle and signaled in that direction.
"I just hoped to God they would hear me," he said.
Uncertain of his fate, what kept Ozburn kicking was
never losing hope, repeating to himself, "There is going
to be something else" each time a boat or helicopter
passed him by.
Nearly eight hours later and after nine miles of drifting,
a Niuhi Dive Charters boat came to his rescue at
about 7:30 p.m. Captain Andy Ross and a few divers had
set out around 6 p.m. Sunday in response to a distress
call about the missing Ozburn. Observing the current's
east direction, Ross calculated a speed of one to one-anda-
half miles per hour, multiplied by the amount of time
the diver had been missing. Slowing down around the
seven-mile marker, Ross and his crew noticed a "white
stick" hanging out of the water -- Ozburn's safety buoy.
"It's like finding a needle in a haystack," Ross said.
Happy, tired and thirsty, Ozburn cracked open a
long-awaited Gatorade while the boat took him to shore,
where he reunited with his relieved and overjoyed family.
Despite the risk that Sunday dive brought, Ozburn
plans on continuing his favorite hobby -- though now
with higher-quality gear and a flashlight always in tow.
-- Condensed from an article by Melanie Vynalek published in the Pensacola News Journal on June 25