Cave diving incident

[jepuskar]

I'm not married and I don't cave dive...where does this leave me? Ohh yeah, with money!!

 

[oceancrest67]

Thank you for all the return replies. I just want to follow up with something I always remind myself: that there is always the unpredictable and that having a sense of humility and respect for the diving environment is needed in all divers. Unfortunately, I have met too many divers who maintain a cocky sense of themselves (how deep, how long, where, when and what)...it is as if some are pushing a badge of honor. Cocky behavior is dangerous behavior. Thoughtful behavior is considerate behavior whether on the road or diving in a cave. The mad rush to get the next certification does not lend itself to good diving technique.

Just some more of my 02.

 

[TCDiver1]

well a meteor could come crashing through the roof and kill me as I sit here in my office too.

I'm gonna add that one to my repertoire. I usually use the "i'm in more danger driving to and from work than i am diving" justification. It doesn't have to be cave diving either. Diving in general gets the bum safety rap from most non divers and society in general.

Stuff happens .... is not a good reason to stop doing what you love.

 

[Mako Mark]

I am divorced and cave dive, my ex wife doesnt cave dive or in fact dive at all, nor does my girlfriend, but I am going cave diving with my ex lover this weekend and taking my girlfriend along for the ride.

That is what I call living on the edge..

 

[MikeFerrara]

I am divorced and cave dive, my ex wife doesnt cave dive or in fact dive at all, nor does my girlfriend, but I am going cave diving with my ex lover this weekend and taking my girlfriend along for the ride.

That is what I call living on the edge..

you may very well be in grave danger and I think the cave is the least of your worries.

 

[diverbrian]

I am divorced and cave dive, my ex wife doesnt cave dive or in fact dive at all, nor does my girlfriend, but I am going cave diving with my ex lover this weekend and taking my girlfriend along for the ride.

That is what I call living on the edge..

Who is the beneficiary on that life insurance? LOL

I have to say from reading this one is unique. It is the only that I have read, outside of the medical problems underwater category, that things were done right (as far as my inexperienced mind can tell) and someone still died.

I still like my odds of coming back from a tech dive if I follow my experience level and some basic respect for my environment. I use Gedunk's line about driving to the dive site as well. I was more at risk riding a Harley than I ever will be underwater. On the Harley, the people that couldn't see me presented an uncontrollable risk. Underwater, the risk factors are determined by the diver.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I'm gonna add that one to my repertoire. I usually use the "i'm in more danger driving to and from work than i am diving" justification. It doesn't have to be cave diving either. Diving in general gets the bum safety rap from most non divers and society in general.

Stuff happens .... is not a good reason to stop doing what you love.

Of course I was addressing the likely hood of the cave roof falling in on you.

Driving can be dangerous but getting killed on a dive seems a stupid way to avoid the drive home. Besides, driving to work is pretty close to what I'd call a "must do" for most of us. Hopefully a driver is skilled enough to help manage the inherant risks although we all know that not all drivers are. Diving, on the other hand is not something that we have to do so you would think that there would be less motivation for the unskilled to do it. It's not in the same catagory as bowling. LOL

I wonder... if we could compare driving deaths/number of man-drives I'm not sure that it is more dangerous.

 

[BigBoB]

One of my dive teams (BS DIVE TEAM...great name, huh) favorite past time is to listen to other tech divers before/after the dive. We are fairly new to the scene so we mostly keep quite while others are speaking. A lot of knowledge can be gained this way IMO. The most valuable of course is to learn which divers to steer clear of in the deep blue ocean. One of the best tricks I have picked up by doing this is to let some "divers" enter the water well before you, so that you can go left when they go right on a knife edge wall with no bottom. Like my signature says...stupid people kill smart people.....

 

[RickI]

I remember doing a trimix dive on the R. B. Johnson off SE Florida with George Irvine a short time after this sad accident. The circumstances that he related, a substantial current reversal followed by the infilling of the cave opening by accumulated sediment was totally unexpected. Once this geologic event was in motion there was little recourse for those that were not outside the infilling cave opening. Parker Turner was a well respected and regarded technical/cave diver and was involved with many interesting projects including the Warm Mineral Springs paleo and archaeological studies through FSU.

I can recall meeting several NACD instructors while attending university at USF in Tampa in the mid 1970's. I met two that felt they would have perhaps died if they had each gone on separate dives in which the entire teams perished. Then again, this was several decades ago and fairly early in the development of cave diving procedures. Still, these stories made a significant impression on me at the time. Enough to turn me away from getting into cave diving in a significant way, along with the long drive up to NW Florida of course.

It is good that time and development of new procedures and gear have reduced some of the risks associated with cave diving.

Rick Iossi

 

[Spectre]

I just found this thread, from another board, about a 1991 cave diving accident that took Parker Turner's life. It is rather long, with two accounts. One, from the diver with Parker on this dive, and also one from George Irvine, one of many support divers for this dive.

Bill Gavin & Lamar English caught wind of that response from George Irvine and posted an open response on TDS a little while back:

http://www.thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2962