If you were stranded in the Caribbean Sea
after being left behind on a scuba diving trip, what would you do? In this How to Beat video, I’m going to
break down the mistakes made by our tourists, see if we can make better decisions, and ultimately
attempt to beat the cold, uncaring ocean in Open Water. I’d like to start with a quick disclaimer. This movie was partially inspired by the real
life disappearances of Tom and Eileen Lonergan, an American couple serving in the Peace Corps
who were accidentally left behind during a scuba diving trip to the Great Barrier Reef
in Australia. They were never found. The movie Open Water is set in the Caribbean
Sea and loosely begins the same way. However, because no one knows how the Lonergans
behaved after being left behind, we’re only going to speculate about the actions of the
fictionalized characters in this film and share some wisdom that may help you survive
if you ever find yourself adrift in the Caribbean. Being stranded in the open ocean with only
your wits to keep you alive is quite honestly one of the most terrifying real-world situations
you could find yourself in, right up there with being trapped in a cave-in or staring
down the towering wave of a sudden tsunami. However, it’s also in some ways way worse. In today’s modern world, when cave-ins and
tsunamis happen, local, government, and international organizations often band together to rescue
those who have been affected. They know where the victims are and have some
semblance of a protocol for how to save them and get them resources while they wait. That’s not the case when someone is lost
at sea. No one knows where you are, no one knows how
to find you, and no one can hear you scream. It’s up to us to survive being stranded,
so let’s see if we can. Daniel and Susan are just your typical overworked,
overstressed couple with their massive house and double high-profile jobs in construction
and sports management. They’re on their way to the Bahamas to escape
their suburban problems with a super-short beginners reef dive. Don't worry, these two amateurs are card-holding
certified divers. The next day, they hop aboard a local dive
boat, the Reef Explorer, run by guides Davis, Linda, and Junior. Daniel and Susan stick to themselves from
the start. Davis tells the group they’re heading out
to a dive spot called Magic Kingdom to swim with sting rays. Someone asks if they’ll see any sharks and
like any tour guide gunning for an easy paycheck, Davis reassures the group that the sharks
in the area aren’t aggressive toward humans. This is true -- the Caribbean islands average
less than one shark attack per year, but as we’ll find out later, all it really takes
is one. During the trip, Davis does a very rudimentary
headcount of 20 people and when they reach the dive location, Davis gives everyone a
quick safety tutorial demonstrating the international body language signals for “I’m okay”
and “I’m in distress.” Unfortunately for everyone, this bare-bones
safety briefing is interrupted by a d-bag who forgot his mask back on land, meaning
he won’t be able to dive with everyone else. We also learn the group is going to be diving
at a maximum depth of 60 feet for 35 minutes. Everyone, save the d-bag, gears up and jumps
in. Davis’s headcount is about as simplistic
as trying to keep track of people by hair color and it’s incredibly concerning since
a headcount isn’t just some tally, it’s what ensures that you don’t leave anybody
stranded in the middle of the ocean. Davis attempting to count off divers while
they are shuffling around on both levels of a rocking boat, while looking up and down,
then writing a number on a blank notepad with no context is incredibly negligent. If I was the dive guide, I'd have everyone
in their seats for the headcount, verbally calling their names and checking them off
on an official printed roster with names and faces, which I would be communicating with
the other guides and the skipper. If I was a diver and saw this haphazard headcount,
I would be pretty concerned. Would I still go diving? Sure, but I'd make sure I was tallied up,
that I made enough friendly small-talk with the other tourists to avoid being forgotten,
and that I never lost contact with the dive guides. As for Davis’s so-called safety briefing,
since a shark attack is possible, I'd also give the tourists some warning or protocol
regarding what to do if they encounter a shark so they don't flail around like wounded prey. If they get mashed up in a set of jaws, the
business is going to get some bad publicity, reviews, and 1 less returning customer. The safety briefing is important enough that
he should have restarted it after the d-bag interrupted. Better yet, this briefing should have been
given back on land before they left. If you’re an amateur diver, feel free to
ask your guide to start again if you ever find yourself in a similar situation. A few moments later, a man and woman resurface. The woman tells guide Linda that she can’t
equalize her ears and they are going to give up on the dive. When they reboard the boat, Junior marks three
people down on the headcount, however the d-bag uses the opportunity to take the woman’s
mask to do his own diving. Linda warns him she can’t let him go without
a buddy, so he coerces the ear woman’s boyfriend to go back in with him. And just like that, the boat’s super accurate
headcount goes out the window. By the time the rest of the group is returning
from the dive, the number gets even more confused and no one notices that two people are missing. The deck’s so scattered with discarded equipment
that Susan and Daniel’s stuff gets shoved into a back corner. Unfortunately, none of our expert guides think
to do one final headcount before they leave the area. Explanation: There are a few things that could have happened
differently here. Not only should Linda have known to note that
the d-bag and the other guy returned to the water, but either way the team could have
avoided all of this by simply printing out a list of guest names for the trip and having
everyone sign back in when they reboarded the boat. Or, ya know, literally just doing a role call
once everyone is back on board. This is why you should always leave a note
with someone you know before doing dangerous activities. Daniel and Susan should have called a trusted
friend the morning of the tour with the promise to call immediately after disembarking once
they were back. That way, the friend could alert authorities
much earlier if they didn’t hear from them. Of course, since their friends are probably
back in the states, there’s no telling how long the process of confirming their disappearance
might have taken. The bigger red flag, however, is the missing
equipment. Davis, Linda, and Junior should notice that
two massive oxygen tanks are missing. The tanks aren’t slipping and sliding across
the boat deck; each tank has its designated cubby and there are two gaping holes where
they should be stored. Considering that your average dive suit and
tank can cost between a thousand and two thousand dollars, a small operation like this should
probably notice the loss, if not while at the reef definitely once they get back to
land. Daniel and Susan resurface a little later
and realize they’ve been left behind with nothing more than their dive equipment and
a dive knife. Instead of screaming, they choose to wave
the distress signal at two nearby boats. Susan suggests they should swim to one of
them, but Daniel worries that it’ll cause even more of a headache if they board the
wrong boat. Susan notices that the coral formation Daniel
used to keep them close to the dive site is no longer beneath them and Daniel realizes
they’re drifting with the current. They try to signal the only boat close enough
to spot them now, but it doesn’t stop. These two are in the “cracking jokes”
phase of their predicament and haven’t quite realized that they’re in for a world of
pain yet, which is concerning given their prior dive experience. Dive tours usually dive in groups - it's easier
for the company and safer for the divers if everyone is trying to stay within sight of
each other. Even if Daniel wanted to look at a fish, Susan
and Daniel should have noticed the other divers leaving the water and returned to the boat
as directed. As certified divers, it’s also likely that
one or both of them would have had a dive watch, making it easy to keep track of their
35 minute dive. Prior to the dive, Davis mentioned that they
were diving at the Magic Kingdom site, a relatively shallow area off the coast of Walker Cay,
one of the northernmost islands of the Bahamas. The reef there is located on average 1 to
2 miles offshore. Technically speaking, Daniel and Susan should
be able to see the island from where they are. On a clear, relatively still ocean day like
today, a person with their head above the water should be able to see about 3 miles
in all directions. They could locate land on the horizon and
head for it. However, the Bahamas are one of the flattest
archipelagos on earth and the elevation of Walker Cay is only 10 feet, which might impede
their ability to tell land from rolling sea. Plus, from the looks of their resort, it most
likely wasn’t located on Walker Cay, but instead on Grand Bahama nearly 42 miles south. Now with their boat missing, they should be
speed swimming to the nearest boat. Even if Daniel’s worried about so-called
complications when boarding the wrong boat, boats have radios and could at least make
contact with their tour company, or the coast guard if their boat wasn’t reachable. To all the lurking introverts out there, I
give you permission to be a giant, grade-A nuisance if it means you don’t get stranded
in the ocean. Surface marker buoys should have been included
in their gear. Inflating them right now would provide highly
visible 1.5-2 meter long red sausages sticking up out of the ocean that both the nearby boats
might be able to see. Since they didn’t bring buoys, at the very
least they should take off one of their flippers and wave it above their heads to give the
passing boat a fighting chance to spot them. Or, remove their dive tank and catch the sun’s
reflection on the metal, creating their own miniature lighthouse effect. Better yet, bring a safety whistle with you
while diving -- it’s a small, lightweight tool that can help draw attention in a crisis
and if it can save Rose from the Titanic, it can save you. The absolute best thing they should do is
activate their personal location beacon. The COSPAS-SARSAT satellite network can detect
the location of the PLB with an accuracy of 2 to 5 km. Newer PLBs have a GPS navigation receiver
which drops the search area to within 100 meters. Problem is, these were only approved for sale
by the FAA in, no joke, mid 2003...the same year this movie came out. The bigger problem here is the surface current
that’s taking them away from the dive site. Whether they can feel it or not, the wind
is influencing the Gulf Stream current to take them away from the Bahama archipelago
toward the 105 miles of open ocean between the Bahamas and Florida. Not to Florida, but into the current beside
it, the current that travels up the east coast and on toward Greenland and eventually around
to Europe. That current flows at about 5.6 miles per
hour, only slightly slower than Michael Phelps’s top speed, so I’m guessing most of us aren’t
swimming against that. Because they’re still close to the dive
site and were able to easily swim around the dive site without drifting, they should swim
back to check for a permanent surface buoy. Companies that return to the same area again
and again with tours might use a permanent surface buoy to help guide or anchor them
to the area. Daniel and Susan could hold onto it or use
their weight belts to tether themselves to it. This would allow them to remain where dive
boats are likely to return tomorrow, or where rescue is likely to look for them first. Even if no buoy is there, they might be able
to survey the coral reef for high points where they could stand or sit, or where they could
tether themselves to keep from drifting. Tour companies that offer diving usually offer
snorkeling as well, for anyone who isn’t comfortable going below, so it’s possible
there are reef structures near or at the surface. As counterintuitive as it may seem, now that
there are no boats left and they don’t know where the dive site is anymore, Susan and
Daniel are doing one thing right -- they’re conserving their energy by floating rather
than trying to swim. During calm seas, floating or gently swimming
on your back is ideal. It’s only when the sea gets bumpy that experts
suggest rolling over onto your stomach to help you stay afloat. Two hours post-abandonment, Susan’s starting
to get cold and they see their first shark fin break the surface mere feet from them. Susan asks Daniel to dive deep into his Shark
Week obsession and figure out if they’re supposed to swim or stay still. He tells her they need to stay relatively
still because sharks are attracted to wounded thrashing fish. After four hours adrift, the couple start
to feel the effects of hunger when they swim into a swarm of moon jellyfish and get stung
repeatedly. It’s only now that they begin to panic. Susan and Daniel are starting to run into
the major problems any of us would have being stranded in the ocean -- body temperature
regulation and predator proximity. Your body loses heat 6 times faster in water
and hypothermia is possible even in tropical waters and even while wearing wetsuits. Any temperature that causes us to lose heat
can contribute to our risk of hypothermia and since our bodies are always trying to
regulate around the temperature of 98.6*F (or 37*C), even the balmy waters off the Bahamas
which have an average temp of 74 to 86*F, for the people who have been to the moon,
or 23-30*C, for those who have not, and can start to feel chilly after long exposure. To compensate, their metabolisms are going
haywire trying to generate heat, making them hungrier and more tired. If you find yourself struggling alone in the
water, you should assume the HELP or HEAT ESCAPE LESSENING POSTURE by tucking into a
fetal position, with your arms close to your core and your legs tucked into your chest. If you’re with someone, assume a huddle
position to keep warm. This will help with temp regulation. As for the predators, well. It’s their ocean, we’re just swimming
in it. Daniel and Susan’s wetsuits are protecting
most of their bodies from passive harmful species like the moon jellyfish, which is
why only their uncovered necks and ankles get stung. Jellyfish are relatively easy to avoid. The divers just have to use their goggles
to move out of the swarm and then avoid scratching the affected areas, which can worsen the pain. Avoiding the sharks, however, is going to
be about as difficult as trying to stay away from Freddy Krueger in a unwakeable nightmare. The Caribbean Reef Sharks seen in this movie
usually avoid divers, although there have been rare attacks by these sharks in the past. The real baddies in this part of the Atlantic
Ocean are the tiger and bull sharks, both of which have been known to attack humans
without provocation. They round out the top three aggressive species
with the great white. Oh yeah, the Caribbean has great whites too. Throw a few hammerhead sharks in there for
good measure and you’ve got yourself a Sharknado just waiting to happen once global warming
sends a Category 10 monster storm our way. Fortunately for us, there have only been 1400
recorded shark attacks in the US in the last 180 years or so. Unfortunately for our chances of surviving
in the Caribbean without a raft, the waters between the Bahamas and Florida have the highest
shark attack numbers per square mile in the world. Daniel and Susan see a boat and try waving
it down, with no success. They take off their goggles and try to use
them to reflect the sunlight and draw attention to themselves, but the sky’s too cloudy
and the boat’s too far away. Finally they try to reflect light to draw
attention to themselves! If only they’d thought of this earlier when
the boats were actually close enough to potentially see them. This boat is just too far away. A few yards of distance can make finding someone
in the ocean as difficult as trying to spot a marble in a football field. Tech that allows rescuers to find people in
the vast emptiness of the ocean has only been around for a few years and is still being
refined every year. Even as recently as seven years ago, a piece
of the missing Malaysian Air Flight 370 was recovered thousands of miles from experts’
best guestimate of where it went down. Susan starts feeling nauseous because she’s
accidentally drinking gulps of sea water and abandons her dive suit’s weights to make
floating easier. Daniel then suggests they put on their gloves
and Daniel supports her to get some rest, but when she wakes, she discovers he’s drifted
a hundred feet away from her while sleeping. I know these two are in shock, but there are
a few things to correct here. Sea water is not drinkable, and I hope you
all know that by now. The salt concentration in the water is much
higher than our bodies can handle so even small sips taken over time will dehydrate
you faster than it can rehydrate you, which will lead to those cramps Daniel’s whining
about. Drifting away from each other in their sleep
is also potentially catastrophic -- when Susan abandoned her dive weights, she should have
used the weight belt to tether them together. Then we find out they have gloves that they’re
only now putting on. I don’t know about you, but when I start
to complain about being cold and I have gloves, I usually put them on. Not only would this have helped with the jellies,
but it also helps to reduce heat loss. When they come back together, sharks now have
them surrounded. Susan feels a pain in her leg and Daniel examines
her. He discovers that something has test-bitten
her, guessing by the bite size that it must have been a barracuda, yet another predatory
fish found in these waters. The bite wasn’t strong enough to break skin,
but it managed to tear her wetsuit. Before Daniel can surface, Susan vomits, spewing
partially digested food into the water around them. Daniel starts to experience cramps and sharks
start to circle closer. As for the sharks, at this point, both should
recognize that the cautious exploratory encounters they’ve had with sharks so far have transitioned
to something far more dangerous, not least of all because Susan’s just chummed the
water with her own vomit. Let’s remember, Daniel brought a diving
knife with them. Even though it should be sheathed to avoid
dropping it, I understand why he would bring it out with sharks circling. If I were him, I’d have that knife poised
in my hand, my goggles on, watching the water underneath me, ready to strike at the next
shark that came in for a nibble. It’s best to stay calm and still during
non-threatening encounters in which the shark bumps or grazes you, but if they seem aggressive
or like they’re charging, screaming underwater and swinging at the shark can intimidate them. If a shark attacks, Daniel should aim to stab
or punch the gills or underside of the shark, but avoid stabbing its top as it’s very
well armored with dermal denticles. If you happen to be stranded with another
person and have dive gear with you, you could also press your backs together and use your
gear as potential shields in the event of an attack. It’s at this point that Daniel and Susan
begin bickering, rehashing all of their relationship disasters to the benefit of exactly no one. While this is a natural response to trauma
and fear, they should be focused on the very real sharp-toothed threat under their feet
and working together to stay safe. Eventually a giant cargo freighter passes
by and again they try to signal. With a boat that big, they should have been
able to see it coming from a long distance. They could have gaged where it might be when
it passed them and tried to swim within a few hundred yards of where it would be, then
used the flash on their camera to get the crew’s attention. This is a risky gamble, though, because the
swim would burn a lot of their remaining energy. From this distance, they’re just too small
to be spotted by those in the wheelhouse. Spotting the freighter suggests that they’ve
drifted into a potential shipping lane -- a place where they’re more likely to be spotted
by passing traffic. They’re a little too far north to come in
contact with Florida Strait shipping traffic, but the freighter is a good sign that more
boats are likely nearby. Daniel and Susan spot an ocean buoy and swim
for it. During the swim, Daniel is startled by a shark
and drops his knife, a tragic loss as a shark attacks him almost immediately after. The water around them fills with blood. Zombies and aliens got nothing on the terrors
of the sea. If anything, this is the best advertisement
for a knife with a wrist strap I’ve ever seen. Susan manages to ‘tourniquet’ his leg
with a belt, but blood loss and shock make for bad bedfellows in the open ocean. This is the most critical part of their journey. With Daniel wounded and in shock, the death
bells have started to toll. Experiments have debunked the myth that sharks
are attracted to human blood OR attack humans on purpose -- they actually strongly prefer
fish blood. However, even a test bite from one of these
toothy torpedoes can cripple or kill our pathetic, weak little bodies. Unfortunately for Daniel, the belt Susan uses
is too wide to be used as a makeshift tourniquet. To properly stop the flow of blood, Susan
would need to be able to tighten the belt to the point of cutting off circulation, although
she could remove one of the weights from Daniel’s belt and use it to create a twist point, which
might work. Regardless, Susan should be doing anything
she can to get them both to that buoy. While it’s difficult to tell from this distance,
it looks like a spar-type buoy. If we were closer, we might be able to tell
from the color whether it signals the right or left side of a shipping channel OR if it’s
an isolated danger buoy. All three types, however, suggest this is
an area that frequently sees boat traffic. Additionally, even though we only see brief
glimpses, it appears to have a platform above the waterline that they could try to climb
onto. This would allow them to better regulate their
body temperature, focus on fishing for food or turtle blood to drink, and make it easier
for passing ships to spot them. And I don’t know about you, but I’d rather
die of dehydration above water than be test-nibbled to death by some monster from the deep I can’t
even see. At the very least the buoy seems to have a
series of metal bars that could shield them from additional shark attacks. Instead, they forget about the buoy entirely,
effectively destroying their last chance at rescue. After dark, things get even worse when a storm
fills the night sky with lightning and thunder and Daniel is attacked by another shark. We cut to land where Davis the dive operator
finally realizes that two of his people from the cruise the day before are unaccounted
for. As unlikely as it seems, this is actually
what happened with the real couple this movie is based on -- they weren’t discovered missing
until two days after they were left behind. So, if you don’t think it can happen to
you -- think again. By morning, Daniel has succumbed to his injuries,
leaving Susan alone. A rescue effort is mounted, but it’s too
little too late. The movie ends with Susan ultimately abandoning
hope of rescue, removing her dive gear and disappearing underwater. This is a bleak end for both divers, and feels
unfinished because until he’s eaten by sharks, it’s possible that Daniel could still be
alive. One thing to keep in mind here is that it
can be very difficult to find a pulse even with bare hands, but especially with the gloves
Susan is wearing and both blood loss and hypothermia can contribute to a very low pulse. Even in the aftermath of his death, Susan
should have tried to hold on to his body or equipment to use as a deterrent from future
shark attacks. She could have propped her legs up on his
BCD, and laid back on her own BCD to keep most of her body out of the water. She also could have used both their goggles
to collect rainwater to stave off dehydration. It’s been less than 24 hours since they
became stranded and in a situation like that your own mind may become your worst enemy. There is still hope of rescue if you can keep
your wits about you. Stay out of your own head. Focus on what you can do to survive in the
moment. And like the late, great Alan Rickman once
said - never give up, never surrender. Daniel and Susan made several critical errors
in the course of their dive cruise that led to their untimely deaths. Swimming to a boat when they were first stranded
could have ended all of this twenty minutes in and saved both of their lives. However, once they became little bits of flotsam
adrift in the open sea, there really wasn’t much either could do, save for keeping the
sharks at bay, conserving energy, and ultimately swimming for the safety of the buoy when they
saw it. For anyone stranded at sea, the takeaway here
is to get out of the water as soon as possible -- the ocean belongs to Cthulhu. In this case, however, because Susan ultimately
gives up and because it was complete luck that they managed to spot a buoy in the first
place, I’d say the cold and brutal ocean in Open Water remains UNBEATEN. Thanks for watching, and remember, if you
find yourself adrift above the murky void of the terrifyingly deep sea, pray to the
sea gods for a merciful and painless death. Or a quick and easy rescue. It’s up to you.
