![TIL 5 European divers were swept away from their dive boat by the current during a dive off the coast of Indonesia near Komodo National Park. Adrift at sea for 9 hrs, they managed to swim 25 miles to Rinca island & had to fight off a Komodo dragon with rocks during their 2 nights there before rescue](https://external-preview.redd.it/jLgfD5X6lTSh8pPlBvhzLdS_rW-L5PA2iZps5LKMM7s.jpg?auto=webp&s=134b4b4a92058d1e047e52596d500fc4f219309b)
www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/07/indonesia
To be fair, at the time it seemed like a good idea. He had a direction and a goal, and that had been shared with everyone.
Komodo park has some wicked currents.
Overall, the country has some pretty great guides and experienced operations, but Labuan bajo is growing fast, and when I was there the regular gamut of cattle car operations and thrown together groups were prevalent as well.
A bit of me is surprised that they don’t lose divers more regularly.
The sea level north of the island and south of the island is actually different, leading to an extremely strong underwater current on all straits that connect the Java/Flores Sea with the Indian Ocean. Boats sinking due to inexperienced/overconfident captains or overloading are very common in this part of the world, especially when the ocean starts turning around December.
On a side note, the waves can get freakishly huge and some surfers like that challenge.
That dive boat captain is an ass face. I used to work on a dive boat and the fact that they didn't see them even though they were 30 yards away, insane
With an inflatable flag! And, what, he just left? They had hours of daylight.
"My job here is done." -him probably
"I only get paid til 5."
Pictured: Female British diver...
They sure have a house style don't they.
"Sure there were five people involved, three British, two of them women. But this one's 25 and we have holiday snaps."
Then they escaped from a giant cyclope who wanted to eat them, and then they were seduced by beautiful sirens.
>cyclone
>cyclops
>what you said
At one point there was bees wax involved.
That’s more than swimming the English Channel. Crazy
Where is the film starring Tom Hanks?
You mean Tom Holland.
Komodo dragons are terrifying! Don’t they have toxic saliva!
Yes, while it is said it is just deathly mouth bacteria, others have told me that on further testing it is actual toxins.
Regardless, they are poisonous or toxic or whatever. On a Broader note, a lot of the cells in the body are like captive controlled bacteria. Whether they're made by the body or cultivated by them and still corralled by them from escaping the areas that are allowed to be in, the result is the same.
Just one komodo? Lucky them.
Komodo Dragons are my least favorite animal - for some reason they scare me more than like a bear/shark or other thing that could kill you. Little hissy, poisonous, tongue-sticking-out-ass bitches.
Lets not forget fast and powerful...those motherfuckers are legit apex predators....like since that island doesn't have bear,lions or tigers,these motherfuckers filled that niche and its crazy that a fucking living dinosaur encompasses all the traits that make them truly dangerous to humans as the most fearsome mammals (like speed, power,, agility, and intelligence) a fucking dinosaur that evolved alone on an island chain is on the mount Rushmore of top predators on land.
Like I dont even consider us humans to be in any of those league yeah if we have more than a couple of people and altleast access to rocks and pointed sticks we can take on anything and be considered top predators too...but I know if our numbers are lower than that and we are not prepared against a hungry motivated version of any of those creatures or like 2 or 3 those numbers won't mean shit cause we're getting killed and eaten lol.
I remember when Planet Earth showed them. It was absolutely a living nightmare watching the footage of them hunt.
They are not dinosaurs. Not relatives. They are their own thing that also existed back in the dinosaur era. The birds are dinosaurs.
You're right but i believe their main point was that it's a big ol lizard.
Same! I am terrified of those things.
Big lizard in my backyard
You ever go to make a pork sausage and find it's got hairs growing all over it?
Note to self, research dive pistols before scheduling a trip anywhere near there!
Who’s got the rights to the film? Let’s make it happen
White people ass story
When will Northern Europeans just stop doing stupid shit like this man
Guy looks like an alien
So you're saying they shooed a lizard with probably excessive force?
Komodo dragons get up to 10 ft long and 330 lbs and have been known to eat human corpses. A significant bit of stern shooing is justified.
So have pigs, dogs, and cats, all of which are more dangerous than them. Even flies eat corpses.
Komodo dragons less dangerous than cats and dogs? Dude, Komodo Dragons are apex predators in their own island and also opportunistic enough to attack humans if they get the chance. A bite from one will bleed you to death because they are venomous.
You would not consider keeping snakes away by throwing rocks at them excessive force either if one was intentionally approaching you.
Ca 25 000 people are killed by dogs every year. Komodo dragons kill about 1 person every 6 years.
There is a huge difference between the amount of dog-human encounters than there is komodo dragon-human encounters. The dog deaths include wild dogs as well which are beasts unlike their domestic counterparts. Hippos have only 500 deaths a year, but I will assure you hippos are much more dangerous than dogs.
You do not approach any wild animal because they are unpredictable and you certainly don't want to be approached by wild predator either. Wild carnivorous animals will pretty much only approach humans to test if they are prey, and holding your ground rather than running away is more often than not the correct answer to not get marked as prey. Throwing rocks at komodo dragons is absolutely the correct choice if they are sneaking up close to nib you.
Another redditor wildlife expert that's totally interacted with many komodo dragons before. Yes, there's a matter of volume of encounters obviously.
You are right that I am not expert on Komodo Dragons in any way, but I am not going to pretend that fending off approaching wildlife when you are stranded on an island with no shelter is excessive force. The divers had all rights to protect themselves and if their stay on the island had prolonged even longer, they could have even hunted the komodo dragons for food for all I care without it being 'excessive'.
What an idiotic comparison
Fuck off with that.
This person is one of those people who think they can take on a bear.
If you don't know how Komodo Dragons hunt, they ambush and deliver venom into the prey through their bite. They don't intend to kill large animals right away. Instead, they wait. If you don't have access to medical care (like on a remote island), your bite wound won't ever stop bleeding because of the anti-coagulants in venom. You can run as far as you want, but you see that forked tongue those dragons have? It tracks food. It can smell you from miles away. The dragon won't stop coming after you. It will be in pursuit at its own pace. When at last, you succumb to your open wound, blood loss, infection and shock, the dragon will eventually reach you, and claim its prize.This is how they actually hunt large prey.
It's a death that you'll run from, but it won't ever stop coming after you. All a dragon needs is one firm bite.
Hilarious, but none of that has ever happened. Typical redditors making shit up.
So if you had to choose between being stuck on an island with one dog, or one komodo dragon, you’d pick the dragon?
I would choose the lizard as it would have a better chance of surviving in that environment, and because dogs deserve better care than I'd be able to provide. I'd not be worried about either being dangerous for me unless there was an extreme shortage of food or if the dog had been raised as a guard dog/dogfighting dog.
Wild story to tell. Jim going off from the group was a bit of hubris that could've killed him though!