by riordandave
Owenahincha Search
11:52 in Community Activities, Cork, Diving, Information, Ireland, Members, SCUBA by riordandave
A more sombre trip west for the club on Friday, Saturday and Sunday last. To assist in the search for the remains of Jonathan Herlihy drowned off Owenahincha beach earlier that week.
Sean, Dave Connaghton, Donnacha and Myself went down Friday with the Humber. On Saturday Rory towed down the Osprey and met up with Brendan and April. Helen, Fiona, and Anthony assisted Sunday. Jonathan’s remains were found that morning.
The task given to us by the Navy on Friday was to do a inshore search between Roscarberry and Glandore, taking in the islands “Adam” and “Eve” in Glandore harbour. It took about five hours before the need to re-fuel took us back in for a meal generously supplied by locals. By that stage force five easterlies had caused the navy to ask that RIBs of our size search in pairs. After Lunch we made the call that it was no longer safe for a boat of our size to continue. Indeed the plan for Donnacha to drive it around to Baltimore was abandoned and we pulled the boat out to send it by road.
I did not think that it would be appropriate to bring a camera; but such a methodical search of the inlets, beaches, and caves of the coastline, especially before noon when the sea was relatively calm, was interesting enough in its own right. Kingfishers and an eagret, were spotted along with many seals. Most of the coxing was done by Donnacha and Dave Connaghton. The fact that about mid-day we were due the lowest low tide in 25 years kept us alert for navigational hazards. I stayed in the bow for most of the search and once or twice ominous reefs appeared to either side or ahead, calling for some tight manouvering. Later we had to move further offshore as the waves grew higher.
The search on Saturday was carried out by Brendan O’Leary ,April O’Gorman and Rory Keane. We were asked by the Coast Guard to take out a rescue dog and handler. The dog is trained to get scents rising from the water. On the rocky headland between Owenahincha Beach and Long Strand the dog sensed something and we contacted the coastguard. They in turn contacted the Naval Vessel who phoned us and then asked us to standby till the Naval and Garda divers came to us. They put in 2 teams of divers to search the area however no body was found.In water viz was very poor at the time.
On Sunday morning a shore based volunteer discovered the remains washed up on the rocks in this area. The body had been carried in on the rising tide and trapped by the rocks from going back out to sea.
Anthony, Helen and I continued with the search on the Sunday morning before the news came through that the body had been discovered. We had been searching from Dooneen Hd as far east as Galley Hd that morning. The Coastguard and the locals that I dealt with on Sunday were very grateful that CSAC could assist with the search. Its good that we can help out on these occasions.