You know I think it's kinda great that one of the deepest divers in the world was just another guy from Australia. You wouldnt have picked him. Makes me proud really.
Dave Shaw rose from just a guy doing an intro dive to do things that most of the retired armchair big shots dream of. 330-odd dives (of astounding scope) and a whole lot of money (that he could afford being a Cathay Airbus pilot I suppose) later, he wound up dead like so many of the deep wanderers before him. The risks of what he was doing just got the better of him, sad but true.
He died trying to recover a body that he found himself that had been lost for 10 years, as he was probably the most uniquely qualified person in the world to accomplish a feat like that at the time. That is noble, and that is courageous. Here was a man who didn't do deep dives for publicity, or just to be deep, or any of that attention seeking trash. If it had been up to Dave, no one would have known about it.
The story of Dave Shaw inspires me, not just as a diver or an Aussie, but on a personal level. Because any man that can be called friend and equal by some of the most experienced divers in South Africa, including Don Shirley, is an amazing human being. He was humble, modest, driven, and above all a loving and genuine bloke, all traits that are rarely found together at the top of any game. His loss was a real blow to the dive industry, as a lot could have been learned from his experience.
If you haven't read the books or the articles about Dave yet, get to it. His web address at deepcave.com is still there. Have a read and you'll see what I mean.
Dave Shaw rose from just a guy doing an intro dive to do things that most of the retired armchair big shots dream of. 330-odd dives (of astounding scope) and a whole lot of money (that he could afford being a Cathay Airbus pilot I suppose) later, he wound up dead like so many of the deep wanderers before him. The risks of what he was doing just got the better of him, sad but true.
He died trying to recover a body that he found himself that had been lost for 10 years, as he was probably the most uniquely qualified person in the world to accomplish a feat like that at the time. That is noble, and that is courageous. Here was a man who didn't do deep dives for publicity, or just to be deep, or any of that attention seeking trash. If it had been up to Dave, no one would have known about it.
The story of Dave Shaw inspires me, not just as a diver or an Aussie, but on a personal level. Because any man that can be called friend and equal by some of the most experienced divers in South Africa, including Don Shirley, is an amazing human being. He was humble, modest, driven, and above all a loving and genuine bloke, all traits that are rarely found together at the top of any game. His loss was a real blow to the dive industry, as a lot could have been learned from his experience.
If you haven't read the books or the articles about Dave yet, get to it. His web address at deepcave.com is still there. Have a read and you'll see what I mean.
