I have several questions from reading the thread.
1. What does it mean for the dragon to be up your back? Is it fear of losing air in time to get out?
2. What does SM tanks were islolated mean?
3. Watching the video...I noticed tanks lying about. Are those spares with air? Are they ditched tanks used up to be retrieved later?
1. Is just I think Rick's expression for what you feel when you know you are in the middle of a close call - adrenaline or otherwise.
2. Side mount tanks are technically always "isolated" in the sense of how the phrase would be used in doubles as the tanks are independent and in no way connected to each other. I think it is technically less correct to say "isolated" in regard to a side mount tank and it makes more sense to just say one of the tank valves was closed - but as long as the meaning is understood it makes no real difference.
3. If I remember correctly, the tanks in the video were deco bottles. That part of the cave is a little too close to the front to see stage bottles. Deco bottles are normally clipped on to the main line or clipped on to your primary line so that you can find it even in zero viz and also to prevent it from getting moved by any flow. That is one of those rules that also gets bent at Ginne as they are often just laying somewhere out of the flow. Another risk factor at Ginnie is the OW divers or freedivers who may stray into the eye, the ear or even into the cavern zone and take a deco bottle so that also impacts where bottles are placed versus where they'd normally be placed. Ginnie is different in some respects and that is one of them. At Little River for example, you almost always see them on the line at the stop depth or 10' below it with less variation on that theme.
I have to say this thread gives me chills to read. Not being a cave diver...It seems a scary endeavor, especially for the untrained and unfamiliar as myself. My heart and adrenaline pump just perusing this discussion.
You are 100% that cave diving is deadly for the untrained, and can be if you exceed the limits of your training or ability, or of you take it for granted as it is at the same time deceptively easy when everything goes well and extremely demanding and totally without mercy for anyone who lacks training, skill or sound judgment when things do not go well.
But there is nothing on the planet I'd rather be doing on any given day. It is extremely rewarding and with proper training, planning and prudent execution of the dive, fear is not a major player in cave diving. You are always aware of the risk that is out there but 99% of the risks are controllable and you train for the rest of them. There is (or should be) an awareness of the risks and the potential consequences of taking shortcuts, breaking the rules or making a mistake, but the presence of risk if you screw up is part of the challenge and is one of the things that makes it both interesting and rewarding.
Most cave divers, at least those that last long enough to grow old and experienced, are not risk takers, but rather risk mitigators who use planning and training to minimize the risk to very small levels to avoid the risks of any given dive.
