Deaths at Eagles Nest - Homosassa FL

[Jax]

Perhaps. I was banging that drum as representing the tacit endorsement of Spivey's cave diving by the certified diver that loaned the equipment. "You know, you really shouldn't be going into caves...and here's that set of doubles and 400ft reel you wanted to borrow."

You cannot know that the loaner knew it would be taken into the cave.

I've seen people borrow equipment as a try before you buy. We don't know what story Spivey gave.

 

[gianaameri]

You cannot know that the loaner knew it would be taken into the cave.

I've seen people borrow equipment as a try before you buy. We don't know what story Spivey gave.

"The sad thing is, I told him, 'One night they're going to call me to come get you,' " Brooks said ( from Tampa Bay article).

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

On page 7 I posted the question: can anyone tell us what actually happened to the divers?

I agree with everyone that it was atrocious judgment for them to make this dive.

But, did they die from something that training would have prevented, or from some external cause such as a medical emergency or equipment failure?

Sorry but I did not have time to comb through all 30 additional pages to find out what happened.

 

[vincent54]

On page 7 I posted the question: can anyone tell us what actually happened to the divers?

I agree with everyone that it was atrocious judgment for them to make this dive.

But, did they die from something that training would have prevented, or from some external cause such as a medical emergency or equipment failure?

Sorry but I did not have time to comb through all 30 additional pages to find out what happened.

"One of the recovery cave divers that recovered the bodies said off camera it looked like the father and son ran out of air." They ran out of air.

 

[rongoodman]

It's been reported that the father's long hose was deployed, suggesting the son ran out of air. They then ran out of the father's air on the way out, with one drifting up to the ceiling and the other sinking back to the mound. At 233' on air they would have been impaired by narcosis, so whether they didn't monitor their gas usage or something else happened is unknown. A free-flow or CO2 hit to the son could also have caused him to go OOA.

 

[xmerlin]

It's been reported that the father's long hose was deployed, suggesting the son ran out of air. They then ran out of the father's air on the way out, with one drifting up to the ceiling and the other sinking back to the mound. At 233' on air they would have been impaired by narcosis, so whether they didn't monitor their gas usage or something else happened is unknown. A free-flow or CO2 hit to the son could also have caused him to go OOA.

IMHO Most probable reason: overconfidence (we already did a simular thing and got away with it), more specific: complete lack of training, failing to monitor gas consumption (on a regular basis) and poor dive planning (or no planning at all).

 

[redacted]

Well, it depends.

If I see a large group of divers clearly unequipped/unprepared to enter an inland cave I normally dive, I'd ask if they are cave trained (although it is obvious they are not), and if they say NO, I'd ask if they have the permission of the land owner to access the cave, and if they say NO, I'd ask them if they have a permit/license from the authorities (some caves require it), and if they say NO, I'd tell them that they cannot lawfully dive the cave, and if they proceed with their intentions I call 112 (the U.S. 911 equivalent) because they are clearly a public danger (a danger to themselves and others) and the police has a duty to intervene.

So, you would not be powerless and there is something you can do.

What would you do when the response to any of your questions is "f&^# off"? Do your bobbies have a duty to intervene when someone tells you to FO?

 

[gianaameri]

What would you do when the response to any of your questions is "f&^# off"? Do your bobbies have a duty to intervene when someone tells you to FO?

If a minor or the general public is at risk , Yes.

 

[guyharrisonphoto]

So sad, it looks like lack of training was a key factor. Not the best gas for the depth, no "rock bottom" or turn time planning so they could get out even of one went OOG because of unexpected equipment failure.


I have to join everyone else, it's just unbelievable . .

 

[Cleavitt]

...
So, you would not be powerless and there is something you can do.

It gets a bit more complicated with the Spiveys types because they generally look the part, but if you do know they actively dive caves as some would/could/ought to have known in this case (cave diving is a small world), and a cave untrained minor is involved in deep cave air dives, it does beggar belief how nobody with the knowledge and holding some positions (Management or Member or Trained Rescuer...) in "Cave Organizations" (i.e. NSS-CDS, NACD, IUCRR...) did not make that call to the police.

Maybe nobody knew (???) and it went unnoticed to fellow cave divers, but a cave untrained minor doing deep air cave dives is a call to the police in my book.

You seem to be working under the assumption that cave divers saw what was going on (specifically the 15 year old doing cave dives) and looked the other way. As a member of the Florida cave diving community, I find that highly unlikely. The cave diving community shames its own members for minor etiquette violations on a regular basis. There is no way they would look the other way if they even suspected that an open water diver and his non-certified son were attempting what is normally a staged decompression Trimix cave dive.

Eagles Nest is way off the beaten path. I have been there many times and I have only seen other divers there once. Little River is also pretty quiet much of the time and it's frequently used for cavern classes so it's not unusual to see younger and/or inexperienced divers there. It wouldn't always be cause for alarm unless you actually see them underwater in the cave zone. I think it is very likely that the victims were going out of their way to avoid trained cave divers while diving these sites.

As far as the recovery diver that loaned gear to the father, we don't even know what gear was loaned. It could have been a snorkel and the suggestion to do some open water diving for all we know. I think it's unlikely that the recovery diver knew the father was taking the son with him on cave dives. What we do know is that the recovery diver told the father to get some cave training and he told him that if he kept attempting cave dives without training he was going to die.