Accident at Vortex Springs 8-20-10

[nwfladiver]

i take it there has been no luck in locating the missing diver as of this morning?

 

[robint]

very, very sad.... about the diver and the black-eye this will give to the Springs/Cave divers. The media does not understand the difference between a trained cave diver who dies cave diving and an untrained cave diver who dies cave diving. All they see is "diver dies while cave diving".

I am sure this will be all over the news, and many diver's families will be distraught for no reason. My family thinks I am nuts to dive in the ocean with sharks, mostly because of stupid "Shark Week". My husband is starting Tech training this month and I am sure his family will be upset when they hear about it. The news media does not help as they love showing the worst of the worst scenarios.

I hope there is news soon for this incident... best case would be if they find him outside the cave, lost in woods. Yeah, I know a long-shot, but I can only pray. Either way, I would like the see him found, the sooner the better.

robin

 

[Crush]

Dive-aholic, I watched the videos in your sig line. I am going to reference them in some of my classes. They are very powerful. I stress never entering wrecks or caves without training and I think they would really help. I wish others had heeded them.

+1. I am not an instructor, but those videos would be very useful in any OW class.

 

[Crush]

However, I think it is very justified in this situation, as the actions of the deceased were clearly incredibly irresponsible and foolish.

JahJahwarrior, I appreciate your posts and viewpoints - keep it up.

I am not a cave diver. Having taken only cavern, I appreciate now (in a limited fashion) how "incredibly irresponsible and foolish" it is to enter a cave without training. If I do complete cave, I expect that I will then be able to much better understand how "incredibly irresponsible and foolish" it is to enter a cave without training. Prior to cavern, I understood somewhat (but not very clearly) how "incredibly irresponsible and foolish" it is to enter a cave without training. The matter is that factors such as silting, or even the silting activities of others in front of or behind me did not occur to me prior to some limited specialized training.

It would be helpful if brand-new OW divers were taught in their courses how incredibly irresponsible and foolish it is to enter a cave without training. Dive-aholic's sig line videos would be a good start.

 

[atrawick]

When I walked in I over heard the people behind the counter say that they couldn’t find the key to the gate for the cave. They didn’t seem all panicked so I just figured they couldn’t figure out where they put it.

Was the key given to the diver without cert? Was the key giving to another diver and not turned in?

I do hope some answers come today. My thoughts and prayers for the family, search teams and their families.

 

[Meister481]

My opinion, NOT known fact:

That is assuming the diver knew enough about this dive, and cave diving in particular to plan it properly. It's been confirmed that he didn't have cave training so my guess is that he didn't have the gas needed for this dive.

Also, depending on where he got into trouble, if he got turned around he might have had adequate gas for where he started, but not for the deeper sections where it seems he may have ended up.

That's my point exactly. He didn't even know enough to have a chance.

I just really get upset about this, especially now that I have more info about how he got in and his criminal actions leading up to this fiasco. There's quite a bit of danger to the recovery team, that also makes my blood boil.

 

[Meister481]

Was the key given to the diver without cert? Was the key giving to another diver and not turned in?

You will have your answers soon, and you will be appalled by the divers' actions.

 

[JCDdiver]

post deleted

 

[dumpsterDiver]

This situation is hard to understand. A solo diver who was not trained in cave or cavern diving got so far back into a cave with incredible tight restrictions that expert side mount divers can not locate him?

My first impression is to wonder if the guy was suicidal or that he must have been, (regardless of the lack of formal training) a fearless and somewhat accomplished scuba/cave diver. Are there other possibilities?

 

[Cave Diver]

I just really get upset about this, especially now that I have more info about how he got in and his criminal actions leading up to this fiasco. There's quite a bit of danger to the recovery team, that also makes my blood boil.

I know where you're coming from and have a pretty good idea what information you've heard that makes you say this. I only ask that we wait for word from those directly involved before using terms like criminal actions. This is only going to serve to inflame comments until everything comes to light.