I saw an interview with one guy who said he was at about 70'.  He said the
water went milky and he felt like he was in a washing machine.  He and the boat
were unscathed.

Clint Wrote:

there have been loads of threads on this - don't be so lazy  - go look
for them.

CNN has reported plenty on divers caught in the tsunami.  Doesn't your igloo
get cable?

Many died, both local divers and tourists, including a party of divers who
were in a cave when it hit and dive operators finding dead bodies inside
their shops.

On NPR I heard an interview with a couple from Santa Monica that were diving
in Thailand when it hit.  They were diving a wreck in 20m of water.  I did
not get the name of the site.  Suddenly there was extreme turbulence, they
lost contact with eachother and the divemaster.  The husband described being
thrown around against the wreck, and that according to his depth gauge he
was 15m deeper than before the turbulence.  He began working his way to the
surface, and the turbulence subsided.  He found his way to a line from a
buoy and waited at 15 feet for 10 minutes before surfacing.  The boat picked
him and the other divers up.  They were all shaken badly, but all survived
without major injury.  They had no idea what had caused the turbulence until
they returned to port.

It's amazing how dramatically the effects wane with depth.  I can't figure
out if they decrease with the cube (due to volume) or square (due to
depth) - sorry for being a math geek.

A fellow at my work was on a bareboat charter out of Phuket when it struck.
He departed his mooring 45 minutes before it struck, and had no idea what
happened until he arrived at his next port.

Clint Wrote:

Hi there
check out the posting under the Beach Bar heading... the divers went in
the water about one hour after the Tsunami (in Maldives).
I have posted photographs.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/29/tsunami.diver/index.html
CNN) -- An American woman who was scuba diving with her husband in Thailand
as one of Sunday's tsunamis roared overhead said she was oblivious to the
disaster until after they surfaced, her mother told CNN on Tuesday.
Faye Wachs, 34, was diving with her husband, Eugene Kim, Sunday morning off
Ko Phi Phi Island in Thailand when they noticed the water visibility
worsened and felt as though they were being sucked downward, Helen Wachs
said.

Their dive master signaled to them to surface, "but we still didn't know
what happened," Faye wrote in an e-mail to her mother Tuesday.

The enormity of what was happening while they were scuba diving was not
immediately apparent after they surfaced, Helen Wachs said her daughter told
her.

"She said she saw a lot of trash in the water. The dive master said it was
really rude for people to throw trash. Then they saw large bits of debris
and thought there might have been a boat crash," Helen Wachs said.

She said her daughter didn't know what had happened until the dive master
got a text message from his wife telling him about the catastrophe.

Soon they saw bodies floating past them, Wachs' mother said in an interview
from Oakland, California, where she lives.

Once they returned to shore, the couple did what they could to help, Helen
Wachs said.
[...]

Checkout the Tsunami thread in the scubaboard forums. Some really good info
there.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums.php

Am just back from a month in Phuket. Assisted with survey and clean up of
Similan Marine National Park.

In fact, remarkably few divers got caught. In Phi Phi Islands, those that
went diving were a lot safer than those that stayed behind. Divers had
different experiences - some said that it was like being in a washing
machine, others barely noticed anything at all.

Liveaboard boats reported that they could not even detect the tsunami whilst
at sea.

Nigel

There are a few posts from Singaporean divers, it is peak season in the
Similans.  This is a local site.

http://www.finsonline.com/vbulletin/

It seems those out at sea were ok, those near shore (once the wave was
gathering height) had a harder time.  In general though - other than
some people cave diving - most were ok fortunately.

Most LOBs are still operating - less sure about day trips.

Simon