Though the two divers who were stranded by their charter boat off Key Biscayne last weekend made it to land safely, the boat operator has received hateful and malicious calls and emails from hundreds of people, the Miami Herald reports
The angry messages were so severe that they prompted RJ Diving Ventures Inc. of Miami Beach to take its website down, as well as its Facebook page.
"I am shocked at the animosity and hatred displayed by these people," company owner Robert J. Arnove told the Herald.
"We shut down our Facebook page because we couldn't delete the negative comments fast enough," Arnove told the Herald. "I have refused to even look at the SCUBA messaging boards and blogs because I know I would find more of the same there."
Broward County Commissioner Lois Wexler told the Herald that she expects animosity when dealing with people in such situations.
"I think the internet has made access much easier for folks to share their opinion, positive or negative," she told the Herald. "The silent majority in the middle really is just that -- silent."
Divers Paul Kline and Fernando Garcia Puerta went forward with their story last weekend after the boat that carried them and others to a dive spot off Key Biscayne was gone when they resurfaced.
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The two men held onto a buoy until a fishing boat spotted them.
Ellie Trichet, captain of the "No Compromise," says he was heading back to Miami from Key Largo when he saw the stranded divers.
Arnove and his company began receiving the angry phone calls and emails once the internet was flooded with news of the incident.
One man sent an email inquiring whether his wife could be given similar "special treatment," as he would "like to leave her clinging to a buoy," the Herald reports.
As the coast guard is investigating last weekend's incident, dive trips were canceled through this weekend because of high winds, the Herald reports. Arnove said he plans to continue with his company's dive trips.
"I am confident that we will weather this storm," he told the Herald.
