Cave diver death at Ginnie Springs

[SandyRobinson]

For a non-diver - in the cave at any given point in time are there very few people in a cave or are there teams of folks coming and going? How busy does Ginnie Springs get - are there 5 people or 50 people in a cave in a day? And is it all hours or are most dives done in the morning or afternoon? Just curious.

I am used to ocean dives where you are limited by tides on a shore dive or when the boats run and take you to a dive site.

What AJ said. My buddy and I made two dives at Ginnie over the weekend. While there were other divers, the only ones we saw in the system for about 3 hours were during deco in the Eye. With all the passages, it is not unusual to have multiple teams diving with out ever seeing another team.

 

[ajduplessis]

Pretty big dive on OC.

 

[ucfdiver]

Pretty big dive on OC.

Why do you say that? It's a 2hr dive, tops, even planned well it's only 2 stages and a single deco gas.

 

[ajduplessis]

Big because of distance.

 

[PfcAJ]

Pretty big dive on OC.

Not a big OC dive.

If you're familiar with ginnie it can be done on a single stage and backgas with 20mins of oxygen deco. It's a GREAT dive, super pretty, but still deserves respect as it's far from the door and past some restrictive areas.

 

[ajduplessis]

I live in South Africa, so no I am not familiar with Ginnie. I have also never used a scooter. All our caving is done with the legs. It does look like a lot of fun. When and where do you start your deco during this dive?

 

[ucfdiver]

I live in South Africa, so no I am not familiar with Ginnie. I have also never used a scooter. All our caving is done with the legs. It does look like a lot of fun. When and where do you start your deco during this dive?

Deco is done in the spring basin right where you enter, typically sitting on a rock or in the ceiling so you're out of the flow.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

Does every cave dive encounter a deco obligation? Are there short cave dives that are fun that don't need deco? I am not interested in learning to cave dive but I am interested in how it works. I would imagine maybe just training dives or checkouts? Otherwise if you are not going for deco are you wasting your time in a cave?

 

[Lorenzoid]

Does every cave dive encounter a deco obligation? Are there short cave dives that are fun that don't need deco? I am not interested in learning to cave dive but I am interested in how it works. I would imagine maybe just training dives or checkouts? Otherwise if you are not going for deco are you wasting your time in a cave?

I'm not a cave diver either, but whether you incur a deco stop obligation depends on time and depth and gas mix just like any other dive. Whether you're in a cave or not is irrelevant to that. I would imagine there are some caves, like maybe in Mexico, that are shallow and could be dived quite enjoyably without a deco obligation.

 

[cerich]

Florida caves that are most dived tend to be at the 80-100 ft depth, thus nitrox and deco are pretty common among cave divers there.

Does every cave dive encounter a deco obligation? Are there short cave dives that are fun that don't need deco? I am not interested in learning to cave dive but I am interested in how it works. I would imagine maybe just training dives or checkouts? Otherwise if you are not going for deco are you wasting your time in a cave?