Scuba Diver Saved 16 Miles Off Belmar

BELMAR, NJ — A scuba diver attempting a deep-sea wreck dive off the Jersey Shore nearly died Sunday, but his life was saved thanks to the efforts of the quick-thinking boat captain and the U.S. Coast Guard.

This happened aboard the Ol' Salty II, a boat that operates sports fishing and dive charters out of Belmar. Ol' Salty II is owned and captained by Captain Nick Caruso, a Wall Township resident who is himself an experienced deep-sea wreck diver.

Caruso and his boat had been booked by a group called Big Apple Divers, a scuba-diving enthusiast group located in New York City. They had booked Caruso and his boat for the day to take them to the Algol, a former U.S. Navy ship that is now a shipwreck. The Algol is located in 145 feet of water about 16 miles from the Shark River Inlet. It's a very popular dive spot for experienced wreck divers.

The boat departed from the Belmar dock early Sunday morning. They got to the wreck site at about 8 a.m.

"It was a beautiful day, just bluebird conditions," said Caruso. "The group had already done their first dive of the day. I was just getting ready to drop a group of divers in for their second dive."

One man, 61 and a Connecticut resident, was the first to drop into the Atlantic Ocean. The man had not done the earlier dive; this was his first dive of the day. He is a very experienced diver, said Caruso, who said the man has booked dives with his boat for the past 20 years, and that the two of them have dived shipwrecks together.

In full scuba gear, the man entered the water at 10:05 a.m. About 25 minutes later, he popped up 175 feet floating behind the boat. He appeared non-responsive in the water.

"We started calling to him and he really appeared foggy. My second captain immediately jumped in the water, with a line tied around him attached to the boat, and swam to him. By this point, (the diver) had become caught in the current and was now about 200 feet behind the boat," said Caruso.

Both men were pulled up onboard. Caruso said he does not want to disclose what may have happened, citing the man's medical privacy.

"He may have suffered a medical episode under the water or had an equipment malfunction. I really don't know and don't want to say anything more," said Caruso.

(Caruso's boat does not supply any of the dive gear. All the divers who book with him bring their own.)

But he said the man appeared very disoriented, and was taking very shallow breaths.

"He was not in good shape; he was very lethargic. We took all the gear off him and started giving him oxygen," said Caruso. "Based on my assessment at the scene, I decided to radio the Coast Guard, which immediately responded and sent a helicopter out."

The Coast Guard helicopter arrived at the Ol' Salty II within 30 minutes. They lowered a rescue ladder down and the man was taken up. The chopper flew him all the way to Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. Jacobi Medical Center has the only hyperbaric chamber in the tri-state area. Inside its pressurized chamber, it increases oxygen levels in one's blood.

The man spent six hours in the hyperbaric chamber and he is doing better today, said Caruso. He's expected to make a full recovery, said the boat captain.

Caruso said the man is not just a random client; the two are good friends. Caruso drove up to the Bronx and picked the man up at the hospital after he was released, to check on him.

"I've known this man for over 20 years. He's a longtime client, friend and fellow wreck diver. We've dove on the Andrea Doria, the SS Carolina and other boats," said Caruso. "He's getting better every day."

The Andrea Doria is a shipwreck off Nantucket; the SS Carolina is a shipwreck in very deep water (250 feet) 65 miles off New Jersey. It is only for the most advanced, skilled divers.

Caruso said this was not a negative story about a mishap at sea. Instead, he said, it's a positive story.

"In the diving community, this could not have been a better outcome," he said. "This was a life-saving story. From the man jumping into the water to save him to fellow divers aboard the boat monitoring his vital signs and giving him oxygen to the Coast Guard responding so quickly and getting here so fast," he said. "This man lived. We'd have fatalities on board. Not this time. He lived to dive another day, by the grace of God."

This is not Caruso's first time in the news: In 2017, his boat, the Ol' Salty II, pulled up the body of a scuba diver who had been diving on the Andrea Doria. Ol' Salty crew members gave the man CPR for almost two hours, but the diver remained unresponsive and died.

The Andrea Doria has often been called the "Mount Everest" of scuba diving because of the extreme depth and the dangers associated with the wreck, which is rapidly deteriorating. Since 2005, seven people have died while exploring the Andrea Doria. In 2015, Thomas Pritchard, a 64-year-old scuba diver with the John Jack, a 50-foot commercial diving boat out of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, was presumed dead after he went missing on the wreck.

Video of the Coast Guard helicopter coming up to the Ol' Salty Sunday: