Ginnie gets to around 100 ft in depth, but there are also shallower areas in the system so average depth is usually less. As you come out it shallows to around 55-60' for the last 200'-300' feet before you exit, via either the Ear or the Eye.
If I have any signifiant deco obligation I exit through the Eye, as it has plenty of space to make deco stops at 40' 20' and 10' levels, (a 30 ft stop is bit more cramped, but two divers in side mount configuration can stay out of the way and not block divers entering or exiting). The area at 20' will easily handle 8-10 divers, even with DPVs.
The other advantage of the Eye is that the flow is much lower through the entire exit and there's no risk of getting blown out of the cave.
If you elect to exit the Ear, you basically exit through a crack a few fee wide and several feet high with substantial flow. If you are not on your game, and final to properly manage your drysuit, wing, and (if applicable) loop volumes, you run the risk of getting blown out of the cave. If that happens and you have 40' and 30' stops to make, you've got a problem.
If you add in other challenges such as trying to exit with a camera or a DPV, you're going to have to deal with the extra task loading as well, and my understanding is that the man in question also had a fairly sizable camera on the dive.
At the 20' level in the Ear, there is a large log that makes deco easier, and there are also areas deeper in the crack that are fairly sheltered from the flow, but the number of divers that can comfortably decompress there is more limited than in the Eye.
We were there the day this incident occurred and while there were still other caves in the area that were not closed due to flooding, the number was dwindling and the volume was up at Ginnie, particularly given that it was also a weekend.
There was another fatality that day, involving a CCR diver who appears to have had a heart attack, and that incident over shadowed this one.
