Deaths at Eagles Nest - Homosassa FL

[vincent54]

What a tragic accident that should not have happened.

I did google Spivey. I think the whole thing could have been prevented if the father was in jail as he should have been. A history of child molestation, DUI, and hit and run from a fatal accident and he still was out of jail? Do you honestly think a person of this calibre would have the brains to follow any rule or recommendation? He's ruined many families, not just his own.

 

[TSandM]

I think, if there is a lesson beyond the "don't dive in caves without training" one to be learned here, it's probably the perils of teaching your own kids to dive. In fact, one of the photographs shows them both in doubles with a stage bottle, and one of the articles mentions that the father was always "putting him through drills", suggesting that the kid had, in fact, had SOME training, even if it wasn't from a certified instructor.

But if the accident occurred as Mr. Brooks portrays it, and the two of them ran out of gas and would not have had enough to do the required deco even if they had made it to their stages, it highlights the biggest danger in teaching your own family -- that you don't know what you don't know, and you pass those blind spots right along. Clearly the father did not know how to plan a technical dive to that depth, and the son had no way of knowing that there was information he didn't have. The result killed both of them.

Classes have a curriculum for a reason. It's because the people who designed the classes sat down and decided that there was a body of information and a set of skills that someone requires to do that kind of diving, whether it's simple OW or hypoxic trimix. If you are self-taught and try to teach others, you have no idea what dangerous holes in your knowledge and skill set you are perpetuating. Those holes, as this incredibly sad case so vividly illustrates, can be lethal.

 

[debajo agua]

Many years ago when I was young, I bought scuba gear at a yard sale and taught myself to dive...solo.
I didn't die (obviously) or suffer any mishaps, but I didn't know what I didn't know.

I eventually decided education/certification was a prudent choice (besides, itwas getting harder to get tank fills).
I would never cave dive without training, but I can see how someone could, andif they did so successfully, how they could become complacent and develop an overestimated sense of ability.


There will always be those who dive beyond their ability or training.
Some will survive, some will not.
Those who survive are rarely heard from and provide little service to the diving community.
Those who don't survive will at best serve as a catalyst for others to pursue appropriate training, and at the very least serve as a grim reminder that training will always trump luck.

This report makes me sad and angry, as a father, I can't imagine a more horrible scenario; tethered to my child, sharing the last of my air and frantically searching for an exit. They would breathe the tank down and both would run out of air simultaneously. I
just can't imagine this level of horror for any father to go through, basicallywatching the end come for his child, knowing it came as a direct result of his own actions.

The rules violated were so well known, I feel there is nothing I can learn from this event; but I have an overwhelming need to go spend some time with my kids now.

If what is reported is true (230'), then it's total negligence on the part of the father. People sometimes make mistakes and push the limits a little, but this is inexcusable. I agree, there's nothing to be learned here.

 

[victorzamora]

The rules violated were so well known, I feel there is nothing I can learn from this event; but I have an overwhelming need to go spend some time with my kids now.

This whole post made me incredibly sad....but especially that last part. I can't imagine the hell he must have gone through in his final moments.

 

[boulderjohn]

We don't know what happened when they went to 233 feet. Did they plan that? It seems incredibly stupid if they did. Another possibility is that one of them, with the stupefying effects of breathing air at narcotic depths, went on deeper than planned and the other other followed to turn him around. That is the scenario believed to be at the heart of the fatal/lifetime paralysis deep dive in Cozumel two years ago. It all speaks, as countless others have said, to the folly of diving beyond your training and your equipment (including helium as equipment).

For the benefit of others who are not sure what I mean about the degree to which they were diving beyond their training...

I am full cave certified with more than 50 cave dives past my final cave certification dive. I am certified to dive scooters in caves. I am fully trimix certified to depths beyond 300 feet. I am a technical diving instructor. I have never dived Eagles Nest. Knowing what I do about it, I really want to dive it, but I am going to wait until I can do it with someone who is not only more trained and experienced than I am, they need to be familiar with that system as well. I consider doing anything else to be foolhardy.

 

[Superlyte27]

Had the father survived, he may very well have been made an example of legally. A number of criminal charges come to mind considering his son was a minor, even if there are no scuba specific "laws" on the books.

Had the father survived, someone would have tracked him down and beat him half to death.

 

[kwinter]

I wonder how this would have played out if they had somehow survived. The kid would have been bragging to his school buddies about how accomplished he was as a diver. The father would have even more misguided hubris about his skills as a cave diver. And the next dive would have been even deeper and longer. I'm sure they felt they had already conquered the Nest. It seems their deaths were inevitable. If not now, then next week or month.


Please pardon any typos. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sheeper]

after 30 years in public safety all I can say is that otherwise smart people continue to do stupid things.

 

[Superlyte27]

This report makes me sad and angry, as a father, I can't imagine a more horrible scenario; tethered to my child, sharing the last of my air and frantically searching for an exit. They would breathe the tank down and both would run out of air simultaneously. I
just can't imagine this level of horror for any father to go through, basicallywatching the end come for his child, knowing it came as a direct result of his own actions.

The rules violated were so well known, I feel there is nothing I can learn from this event; but I have an overwhelming need to go spend some time with my kids now.

You have typed my exact thoughts. It's very very sad. I can't imagine doing this to/with my sons. It's enough to make you cry.

---------- Post added December 26th, 2013 at 10:10 PM ----------

We don't know what happened when they went to 233 feet. Did they plan that? It seems incredibly stupid if they did. Another possibility is that one of them, with the stupefying effects of breathing air at narcotic depths, went on deeper than planned and the other other followed to turn him around. That is the scenario believed to be at the heart of the fatal/lifetime paralysis deep dive in Cozumel two years ago. It all speaks, as countless others have said, to the folly of diving beyond your training and your equipment (including helium as equipment).

For the benefit of others who are not sure what I mean about the degree to which they were diving beyond their training...

I am full cave certified with more than 50 cave dives past my final cave certification dive. I am certified to dive scooters in caves. I am fully trimix certified to depths beyond 300 feet. I am a technical diving instructor. I have never dived Eagles Nest. Knowing what I do about it, I really want to dive it, but I am going to wait until I can do it with someone who is not only more trained and experienced than I am, they need to be familiar with that system as well. I consider doing anything else to be foolhardy.

It's a long way from the entrance to 233'. This probably wasn't done by accident.

 

[darushin]

The depth of where they found one of the bodies, suggest they never left the Ballroom, which technically is a cavern dive and not a cave dive as reported.

It is far from a cavern dive. I have 30 dives in that ballroom ( I use it for rebreather practice ) and on all my dives there I have only seen light at the top of the tubes once maybe twice from the top of the mound.

Also at the very tip of the mound you are 130' deep which is there very limit of cavern. At the bottom you are in the 170' range.

Daru