Cave diver dies in South-East (Australia)

[Centrals]

There are a lot of things that are appealing about caves -- clear water, beautiful formations, fossils -- but for someone like Agnes, I think the ultimate appeal is that you have an opportunity to go where no one, no one at all has ever been before. There are not many places in earth about which you can say that, and it's a very powerful lure for some folks.

That remind me of late Dave Shaw and his attempted effort to retrieve a body from about 270m in South Africa.
Both paid the ultimate price.
Very sad indeed.

 

[Tortuga68]

Not to sidetrack the thread, but Dave Shaw had already been there in that case - he died when he went back the second time to do the recovery

 

[Jax]

Watching that wonderful smile makes the loss truly a terrible tragedy. Continually accomplishing dives while squeezing through incredibly tight spaces is a risk few other explorers would even consider. Ego? Psychological abnormalities?

I think, by definition, cave explorers squeeze through incredibly tight spaces.

Two things we can be sure of, IMO: (1) she understood the risks and chose to take them, and (2) this time, it was not in her favor.

People thought Columbus was mad when he took off to the unknown in three tiny ships. I'm sure there are some that consider Agnes nuts for doing what she did. It is for each diver to consider their own personal motivation for 'pushing the envelope' and understand what risk they are taking. I do not think we could determine Agnes' motivation here.

 

[bowlofpetunias]

We have just returned from SB Invade The Rock 2011.

*ag* spoke fondly of diving Fishrock. Since this was a SB "event" as promised we organized a tribute to *ag* from her SB friends. Jon Cragg (Fishrock Dive Centre) our host Dive operator for the last three years of IVTR was kind enough to co-ordinate things with the other dive Operator (South West Rocks Dive Centre) which is the operator *ag* normally dived that site with. We tied three dive boats together and had around 30 divers in the water Jon was kind enough to take some pictures and video as I read the following....then we dumped a dive tub full of Frangipanni Blossoms into the water and had two minutes of silence in Memory of *Ag* We chose to do this on Wednesday.. a week to the day from when she was brought out of the cave.

"*AG*was an ambassador of our community driven to push the limits, to explore... to open new areas.

No one can question her knowledge and skill. Neither should we question her right to the choices she made on her last dive. Her choices resulted in an inspirational life lived with passion! Her death is a loss to so many.

Rest in peace *AG*"

I know this is not the condolences thread but IMHO *ag* 's death was a result of her drive to explore and therefor holds little in the form of "lessons to learn" for 90+% of divers. Only her peers in the Cave diving/exploration community are likely to really understand. The rest of us.. can only look at her accomplishments and be reminded the price Pioneers and Explorers have paid through the ages. I am not sure that repeating the refrain "Never do a dive you do not have the training and experience for" has any value either..just my .02 I will post some pics in a more appropriate thread..

 

[ucfdiver]

I had just read an article by Agnes from Underwater Speleology from the July-Sept. 2010 edition. I just had one question about this article, on page 16, for those of you who have it. It reads. "in the end I got banned from the CDA of Australia. Yes, probably the only person to be banned on two continents." Is she also referring to the one in the US?? I understand what lead to the banning in Australia from what she had put in the article, but what did she do to be banned from the other??

I am not trying to make her look bad or discredit her, this is just a general question regarding being banned from an orgainzation and how is happens.

Likely referring to an incident @ Ginnie Springs where Ag was informed she was no longer welcome. Something to do w/ a DPV dive way in the back and being overdue.

Agnes was reported overdue one night after a long dive in the back of Ginnie. Her DPV failed and she had a slow exit, with very little gas left in her tanks by the time she completed the dive. By this time, recovery efforts had already began. Ginnie Springs is one of the only places in the state that requires a DPV card, which Agnes didn't have. Many divers view this certification as unnecessary with mentoring and choose to not take the course. Ginnie Springs management decided to ban Agnes for a year after this incident.

 

[tracydr]

I have an open question to any and all cave divers reading this thread. Last summer I dived in a cenote in Mexico. It was a cavern, not a true cave. It was my first (and most likely last) restricted overhead environment dive. I wanted to have the experience to see what it was like. I found some psychological comfort in the periodic openings showing an exit. I didn't feel very attracted to the environment. It was interesting, but I personally enjoy sunlight, reef and lots of fish. Diving in "normal" environments seems plenty risky to me. I love diving, and so I accept that risk. I place no judgment on what anyone does with their life, but I must admit in this case I don't understand.

My question: What is it about diving in caves that is so alluring that some folks are willing to do what this woman did? By anyone's measure, it seemed like an unacceptably high risk to take.

Some people watch the videos Agnes made and say "no way, not me" and I watch them and want to sign up for Cave classes. Different people respond to caves in different ways, I think.
Than again, I was a Missile Launch Officer in the Air Force so I spent 4 years in an underground cave.

 

[stairman]

I dive sidemount and squeeze a bit but not much. There is a ton of cave that can be seen with plenty of room and quite a bit you could drive a semi thru. Its all about choices really, and AG was IMO a very brave and meticulous explorer. Things sometimes go wrong when you take risks and she knew that as we all do . She died doing what she enjoyed most and to me that beats a hospital bed anyday.

 

[tracydr]

Could somebody please tell me how many years of cave diving experience Agnes had? For some reason, I read something in her blog that made me think she started in December of 2009. That can't be right?
I'm so shocked and saddened by this tragedy that ive thought about it all weekend. I can't help but wonder if age could have played a factor? Being so young, could she have had the feeling of immortality that comes with youth?
Such a tragic loss to not only the family, the diving community but the entire world. I hope there is something that we can learn from this. Redundant air, air management, something.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I remember reading on her website several months ago that she started cave diving in 2008, but it's no longer there. I've seen some reports that she started in '06 or '07, as well. It definitely wasn't '09, but it also wasn't that long ago.

She had redundant air. The issue is she turned a primary cylinder into a stage cylinder and pushed on with a single cylinder that had already been breathed from and that had no redundancy (no h-valve). The better plan would have been to return to that passage with an unbreathed no mount cylinder equipped with an h-valve and redundant regs (although it's not clear if redundant regs would have made a difference) and attempted to push it at that time. Whether she planned what she did before the dive or changed her plan during the dive, the issue was the plan and execution of dropping a primary cylinder and taking a less than full cylinder in that passage.

 

[ucfdiver]

Could somebody please tell me how many years of cave diving experience Agnes had? For some reason, I read something in her blog that made me think she started in December of 2009. That can't be right?
I'm so shocked and saddened by this tragedy that ive thought about it all weekend. I can't help but wonder if age could have played a factor? Being so young, could she have had the feeling of immortality that comes with youth?
Such a tragic loss to not only the family, the diving community but the entire world. I hope there is something that we can learn from this. Redundant air, air management, something.

I remember reading on her website several months ago that she started cave diving in 2008, but it's no longer there. I've seen some reports that she started in '06 or '07, as well. It definitely wasn't '09, but it also wasn't that long ago.

2005 was when she started, so I think only a bit longer than yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions

When did you start cave diving and how many cave dives have you done?
I started cave diving in 2005 and have done over 500 cave dives.