Wreck diving community is largely ok with Andria Doria being known as the "Mount Everest" of wreck diving. There is still debate whether Doria deserves that term or not but there are charters that advertise their trips using that term because the title brings in divers from all over the world. One NJ boat charter also lists the names of all divers who died diving the Andrea Doria on their site and if you are able to find him on his website you will see that the list of names is followed by ...
Death Is Nothing At All
Death is nothing at all...I have only
slipped away into the next room...I am I,
and you are you...whatever we were to
each other that we are still. Call me by
my old familiar name; speak to me in the
easy way which you always used. Put no
difference into your tone; wear no forced
air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we
always laughed at the little jokes we
enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of
me, and pray for me.
I also remember the line from "Shadow Divers" which goes something like "Everyone who does deep wreck diving will either die, see someone die or come very close to death himself." My instructor was inspired by the Shadow Divers to take up wreck diving and so is an entire generation of wreck divers. I am thinking of a conversation in which I am trying to convince Robert Kurson not to write his famous novel because it will be bad for wreck diving. I really do not know where to begin such a talk.
This thread has convinced me that there is no equivalent of K2 in caves so there is no equivalent of Edmund Hillary in cave diving. This makes cave divers totally unworthy of a movie. Next time someone asks why are there no good movies on diving then this thread can be pulled as a reference.
