Diver deceased at Manatee Springs, 2/19?

[scubafool]

I saw a post about this on another forum, with very sketchy details. Has anyone heard about it? I'm hearing about too many deaths lately, it sucks.

 

[1amphibian]

Heard about it while finishing up my Cavern class today, but no reliable details.

 

[Daedalus]

some more info here:

http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070220/LOCAL/702200318/-1/news

 

[JackSpearo]

so sad....a noobie question...what % of people could still be alive if their buddy would have not left them? it seems i read a lot of stories about the buddy leaves the guy and then the guy dies...

 

[DandyDon]

some more info here:

http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070220/LOCAL/702200318/-1/news

Thanks for the link. Those often stop working long before interest in the thread so I'm going to post it here...

Scuba diver dies at springs in Chiefland
Sun staff writer February 20. 2007 6:01AM

A scuba diver died Monday while diving at Manatee Springs State Park in Chiefland — the second diver death in the last week in North Florida.

(name removed), 19, of Panhandle, Texas, was found by rescue divers near an underwater area called Catfish Hole in Manatee Springs, according to Sgt. (name removed) with the Levy County Sheriff's Office.

(the deceased diver) was airlifted to Shands at the University of Florida after being rescued from the water around 1 p.m. Monday, but (the deputy) said (the deceased diver) was pronounced dead at the hospital.

(the deputy) would not go into specifics about how the young man got trapped under the water Monday. He said the medical examiner's office will be doing an autopsy, but drowning is the likely cause of death.

"He did run out of air," (the deputy) said. "He was diving with two buddies and, at some point, got separated from the buddies."

(the deputy) said (the deceased diver) and his friends were not actually cave diving, but they were diving in an area that would fall under the category of cavern diving — where an overhead obstruction does not allow direct access to the surface, he said.

Monday's incident marks the second diver death in less than a week, with the Lafayette County Sheriff's Office reporting that a certified cave diver from Virginia died last week while diving alone in a spring along the Suwannee River.

Lafayette County (deputy) said last week that the body of (other deceased diver) , 53, of Charlottesville, Va., was recovered Thursday in a remote spring in northwest Lafayette County known as Allan Millpond Springs.

(other deceased diver) was reported missing Wednesday when he didn't show up at a friend's house in Alachua County, and searchers located his vehicle near the spring run that leads to the Suwannee River.

Certified cave divers from around the area were called in to search for (other deceased diver) . They located his body about 300 feet from the mouth of a shallow cave, and by looking at dive journals, investigators said (the deceased diver) apparently had been inside the same cave as many as 40 times before last week's fatal dive.

This one hits kinda close to home as Panhandle TX is less than two hours north in this sparsely populated area. I need to make some calls now.

 

[H2Andy]

man, bad news ... young kid

it's hard for me to imagine anyone getting trapped in that cavern ... which goes to show you, overhead can bite you in the butt no matter how friendly it looks

 

[DeepBound]

man, bad news ... young kid

it's hard for me to imagine anyone getting trapped in that cavern ... which goes to show you, overhead can bite you in the butt no matter how friendly it looks

My condolences to the family and friends.
Last winter, when I had only done about 30 or so dives, I went to that spot, Catfish Hotel, as an open water diver, to look at the cavern. My buddy and I looked near the downstream siphon cave entrance, and felt ourselves being pulled by a very strong flow towards the cave. I was convinced that if we had swam any closer, we could have been sucked in and been unable to return, and we were just a few feet into the cavern zone.

That being said, it was a truly beautiful and amazing place to dive, and got me interested in getting cave training. But I find it a bit scary that they let open water divers in there, but don't allow them to take a light. If there's any chance of getting sucked into that cave, a light might be what you need to avoid panicking in there. If you end up in the cave zone, the only thing that's going to save you is being able to see the gold line.

 

[H2Andy]

DB, you did the right thing by skiddadling out of there (you never know), but that flow is not so strong as to suck you in against your will

you can kick against it and get out. of course, dropping to the bottom and pulling yourself against the current would be a better option (saves energy and gas)

you will be able to see daylight for a while before you are in total darkness. swimming towards the daylight will get you safe.

the danger with letting non-trained divers carry lights is that they can get themselves out of the daylight zone, and if they run into a problem at that point, they are in serious trouble.

most non-trained divers who die in caves die within the first 100 feet or so, often much less.

 

[webjr]

it's hard for me to imagine anyone getting trapped in that cavern

IIRC ... doesn't the cavern section only go about 10ft back ? Before becoming a full cave ?
Kind'a makes me wonder if there's not more to the story.

 

[H2Andy]

yeah, it's a fairly small cavern, with a bit more room towards the right (where the spring exit is) and some room to the left (where the siphon exit is)

but you can clearly see daylight from that entire area ... in fact i've always thought of it as a safe cavern ... which, again, goes to show you ... overhead can get you even if it looks benign