A deceptively easy way to die

[DA Aquamaster]

Deceptively easy? Most adults would see the danger instantly.

Required viewing? Why, to scare someone out of something 99.9% of them would never consider?

SB needs a new forum - Instructor FUD for Masochists!

This doesn't belong in Basic Scuba. Is there a follow-on of the risks of 300ft dives on air?

I wish that were true, but it's not.

For example a couple years ago an OW instructor - let me repeat an OW instructor - took his teen age/young adult kids diving in the cavern at Twin Cave in the Millpond near Marianna. The daughter looked in and saw what is a very beautiful cavern a swam straight in. Unfortunately, she got to the back of the cavern and turned around before even realizing her flutter kicks had totally blown the viz as the cavern there is also low and silty. She found an air pocket and stayed their until Edd Sorenson was summoned for help and arrived to rescue her.

None of the three OW divers involved in this incident thought it was dangerous, and this girl in particular was incredibly fortunate to have survived.

The title of the video sums up the problem exactly. Getting into a cave isn't hard at all, it's getting out alive that's the problem and cave training focuses on two primary issues - how to avoid problems in the first place, and how to deal with problems and get out of a cave safely when a problem occurs.

 

[spoolin01]

OK, that's one (and led astray by an instructor - but by all means, all divers should be hammered with how progress occurs best w/ expert instruction). How high will the tally go? Let the anecdotes begin. What percentage of divers ever go near a cave of that sort?

The stats don't support the inference that current instruction produces divers who hurt themselves. Done according to rec guidelines and instruction, it's a safe activity, and one that doesn't necessitate a lot of worry and is actually pleasant.

Why is it that so many instructors - and a few others - incessantly front the opposite?

Does that have anything to do with satisfaction and retention? I never worried much about diving - beyond the obvious stuff, I mean, who isn't immediately aware of the risk of drowning when they're in the water? - until I came here to scubaboard. Then I got scared, regularly. Is that really what you want in the Basic forum?

When I opened the thread, I was expecting something eye-opening to an average diver. This is not that and besides being plainly obvious, applies to very few.

 

[Lorenzoid]

. . . What percentage of divers ever go near a cave of that sort?

The stats don't support the inference that current instruction produces divers who hurt themselves. Done according to rec guidelines and instruction, it's a safe activity, and one that doesn't necessitate a lot of worry and is actually pleasant.

. . .

When I opened the thread, I was expecting something eye-opening to an average diver. This is not that and besides being plainly obvious, applies to very few.

I will reiterate that it depends where one lives/dives. If you confine your stats to a place like northern Florida, then the average diver is likely to find himself in this position.

Maybe the topic better suits the Florida forum than the Basic Scuba forum, but I don't think it's so out of place here. People travel to northern Florida and other places with caves, in the US and elsewhere. If someone reads it and is certain he is never going to be anywhere near a cave, he can just move on.

 

[josephglenn61]

The video got me! Did my open water checkout dives at ginnie springs, did my research on the caves, saw the video, went out and got my cave training and I am now an avid cave diver.

 

[spoolin01]

I will reiterate that it depends where one lives/dives. If you confine your stats to a place like northern Florida, then the average diver is likely to find himself in this position.

Maybe the topic better suits the Florida forum than the Basic Scuba forum, but I don't think it's so out of place here. People travel to northern Florida and other places with caves, in the US and elsewhere. If someone reads it and is certain he is never going to be anywhere near a cave, he can just move on.

Of course, and very reasonable. Too bad the first half dozen posts weren't in that vein. But keep hammering the dangers, it's good for the sport.

 

[DogDiver]

Deceptively easy? Most adults would see the danger instantly.

Required viewing? Why, to scare someone out of something 99.9% of them would never consider?

SB needs a new forum - Instructor FUD for Masochists!

This doesn't belong in Basic Scuba. Is there a follow-on of the risks of 300ft dives on air?

The problem is open water divers coming down to dive the warm water springs from out of state this winter.
Since 1970 over 600 divers have died in the North Florid Springs. Most open water certified only. It they closed every spring that someone died in, there wouldn't be any systems left open.
Come down to Florida and enjoy diving in the "daylight" zone with training.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Doppler]

... But keep hammering the dangers, it's good for the sport.

Yea, and so are news reports about uncertified divers killing themselves in caves.

 

[Storker]

OK, that's one

And here is another one.

besides being plainly obvious, applies to very few.

Ya think? My first ever warm water vacation dive was in Ustica, Italy. One of the sites is called the Grotto dei Gamberi. It's supposed to be a wonderful site. Our guide was noticeably huffed when I told her that we are, no way, diving anything overhead. The other guests went in. The entrance is at about 40m (130ft). One single exit, no line, about one light per diver, no-one with redundant lights. All of them on single tanks. No line whatsoever. After the dive, the more safety-conscious divers were pretty livid when they realized what they'd been lead into. I was pretty happy to have insisted on a safe open water dive, even if it was a bit dull.

I'm pretty sure that it doesn't apply to "very few". Even if I only have two datapoints (anecdotes?) to contribute.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Deceptively easy? Most adults would see the danger instantly.

Required viewing? Why, to scare someone out of something 99.9% of them would never consider?

SB needs a new forum - Instructor FUD for Masochists!

This doesn't belong in Basic Scuba. Is there a follow-on of the risks of 300ft dives on air?

... you've obviously never been to High Springs, Florida. I've only been there a few times, and even I have seen people in the entrances to some of those caves who clearly are barely out OW class ... they're about as basic as you can get, and a lot closer to dying than they realize when they swim inside those holes ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Dish]

The problem is open water divers coming down to dive the warm water springs from out of state this winter. Since 1970 over 600 divers have died in the North Florid Springs. Most open water certified only. It they closed every spring that someone died in, there wouldn't be any systems left open. Come down to Florida and enjoy diving in the "daylight" zone with training. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

3 of those 600 dead divers were friends of mine that graduated with me from the Naval Academy. They were smart guys and were attending Naval Nuclear Power School, which, at that time, was in Orlando. A few months after we graduated, I got word that all three had decided to dive a cave and perished. I think that if Lamar's video had been available to them, they would have thought twice and been smart enough to not try the dive. Again, they were not stupid guys... just under-informed.