Diver Missing, Lake Pleasant, Phoenix AZ Mar 13, 2014

[diversteve]

That's splitting hairs Steve. The hard fact is that most all of the water is pumped into and out of the lake. Without the aquaduct pumping water from Lake Havasu to Lake Pleasant, Lake Pleasant would likely be significantly smaller or maybe not exist at all as the Agua Fria River doesn't flow unless it rains, hence it being man made. Let's not skew the facts for people who aren't on the lake every weekend like most of us.

The hard fact is that most of the water pumped in and out of the lake had it's genesis in the CO/WY mountains so is in fact mountain fed run-off originally. The fact that it goes thru 5 dams (at least) and four other lakes before being pumped into Lake Pleasant doesn't change that.

 

[oc in az]

After being a lurker on SB for a while, I joined because I was curious if the recovery had been made. Having dove the old dam and Lake Pleasant being the closest place to dive, this one is close to home. This thread went from constructively discussing this incident, to criticizing (and defending) a prior search, to splitting hairs as to where water comes from.

Thankfully his body was recovered. RIP Nathan Allen Sheffel

 

[Laurie S.]

This incident was discussed last night at our dive club meeting and some more information came out. The deceased diver was by himself and joined a group of three divers. He was apparently buddied up with one of the three in that group. His buddy got down to 150 feet and signaled to Sheffel that he was stopping there. Sheffel continued on down. At some point later, the buddy was either still at 150 feet or doing a deep stop (I don't remember which) and he saw Sheffel come up too fast and then drop back down. There was zero visibility and nothing the buddy could do.

 

[BB`]

Have you heard anything more?


Specifically was this some kind of equipment failure or medical induced emergency ascent.

 

[Laurie S.]

I haven't heard anything new.

 

[mathauck0814]

Sort of blown away that the local guys didn't rally on this one and just go get the body. 250ffw isn't that big of a dive, there are plenty of teams in AZ that we work with who could have easily done the job.

 

[Laurie S.]

The site is listed as one of the 10 most dangerous in the world.

 

[BFRedrocks]

The site is listed as one of the 10 most dangerous in the world.

What's the source of that information? Having dove LP numerous times, I can see it being problematic in certain spots, but I can't imagine it comparing to the Blue Hole or the Cenotes in Mexico.

 

[mathauck0814]

What's the source of that information? Having dove LP numerous times, I can see it being problematic in certain spots, but I can't imagine it comparing to the Blue Hole or the Cenotes in Mexico.

Neither of which are difficult dives on the grand scheme of what's available out there. Cold, dark and deep with low visibility is what we get.

 

[Laurie S.]

What's the source of that information? Having dove LP numerous times, I can see it being problematic in certain spots, but I can't imagine it comparing to the Blue Hole or the Cenotes in Mexico.

That was stated by the owner of a local LDS, who is the president of our dive club and who talked to the shops in Phoenix about the incident. It's not the whole lake that's dangerous obviously, only the dam site due to lack of visibility, depth, and debris. She said that particular spot is listed as one of the 10 most dangerous spots.