Deaths at Eagles Nest - Homosassa FL

[Jack Hammer]

Another just as likely scenario is they bought the bottles in the pictures used and didn't bother changing the markings...

Honestly I don't know either way what they had in the bottles or what their reasoning was behind that choice. My understanding is the line is at 130' and that seems to me to be reason enough for them to have placed the bottles there. At this point anything beyond that is just guessing on all of our parts.

 

[ianr33]

Even if they did have 32%, that's not exactly the best deco gas for a 230 foot dive..................

 

[tursiops]

I thought the yellow computer on the Dad's wrist was a DiverRite Nitek 3, but I could be wrong.

Look at his other wrist.

 

[boulderjohn]

Even if they did have 32%, that's not exactly the best deco gas for a 230 foot dive..................

The master of understatement!

For the benefit of those of you who are reading without the training involved for this sort of thing, allow me to explain.

A planned dive to 233 feet in a cave will incur a significant decompression obligation. In order to shorten the amount of time such decompression requires, trained tech divers will breathe from tanks having very high oxygen concentrations during the later part of their ascents. The high oxygen concentrations give them low nitrogen concentrations, allowing for faster decompression. A typical dive to 233 feet would include two different decompression gases. A diver will switch to 50% O2 at 70 feet and then switch to 100% O2 at 20 feet. They will still be there for a long time. Some will switch to another gas at a deeper depth as well. (There is more than one way to do this.)

Now, you will hear of open water divers doing "bounce dives" to depths like that and doing significantly less decompression. They do this be descending rapidly to their maximum depth and then ascending pretty rapidly back up to decompression depths. You can't do that going through a sloping cave tunnel. You will therefore accumulate much more bottom time under those circumstances.

I don't know how much bottom time they actually had before they almost got back to their extra tanks, but I find it hard to believe those tanks had enough of whatever was in them to get them safely to the surface. A tech diver going to such a depth and spending maybe 15 minutes in that rough area will typically take an hour to reach the surface, including using both 50% O2 and 100% O2 for most of that time.

 

[Texas Torpedo]

The picture shows the Dad carrying what appear to be cookies on his right shoulder. Was he really doing dives that require cookies, or is it all part of the cave diver look?

John, I thought you knew!?!

Cookies came standard with last years Halloween cave diving costume. Rumor has it this year it will be line arrows. Fortunately, faux cave divers won't know the difference and probably won't need them either until they start including the kite reels with plastic snaps.

 

[ScubaToneDog]

John, I thought you knew!?!

Cookies came standard with last years Halloweens cave diving costume. Rumor has it this year it will be line arrows. Fortunately, faux cave divers won't know the difference and probably won't need them either until they start including the kite reels with plastic snaps.

Damn you...coffee almost came out my nose...

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

[Nirvana]

Even if they did have 32%, that's not exactly the best deco gas for a 230 foot dive..................

If it really was EAN32, I would guess the choice might not have been based on what they considered the best gas to use, but the one that was available. I imagine it is not easy to get 100% or even 50% O2 in a dive shop in the region without showing at least an advanced nitrox card, which neither diver had. On the other hand, EAN32 is commonly used by recreational divers, making it easy to obtain.

Either way, the deco gas was another bad choice in a long series.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

If it really was EAN32, I would guess the choice might not have been based on what they considered the best gas to use, but the one that was available. I imagine it is not easy to get 100% or even 50% O2 in a dive shop in the region without showing at least an advanced nitrox card, which neither diver had. On the other hand, EAN32 is commonly used by recreational divers, making it easy to obtain.

Either way, the deco gas was another bad choice in a long series.

Neither had a nitrox card either, according to the reports, which would seem to support the suggestion that they'd bought tanks without ever changing the MOD sticker, and that the tanks were filled with air.

 

[boulderjohn]

Neither had a nitrox card either, according to the reports, which would seem to support the suggestion that they'd bought tanks without ever changing the MOD sticker, and that the tanks were filled with air.

I have been trying to ascertain exactly what certifications the father actually had. I keep looking at the reports, and I see vague references to him being OW certified only, but the wording is never precise. It could just mean he did not have any technical or cave certification. Nitrox is not considered an advanced certification any more. You can even use nitrox on your 4th OW certification dive these days, and you can get nitrox certification the next day. From what I have read, it is possible he did have nitrox certification.

Does anyone have any reliable information saying he did not have nitrox certification?

 

[Croomrider]

I have been able to get nitrox in marked tanks without ever showing my nitrox card, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was able to do the same without a nitrox cert. I also understand it wouldn't have made too much difference in this case anyway!

Mike