Does anyone have any information other then what was written in the St. Pete Times paper? I've dove there many times. Why would you remove your tank (Which was found empty) to go explore a cave?
""Published March 29, 2004
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CRYSTAL RIVER - A diver on a tour to see the manatees died Sunday after becoming trapped in an underwater crevice.
About 40 scuba divers were capping their weekend trip with one last dive at the main spring in Kings Bay on Sunday morning when the accident happened. The spring is about 60 feet deep and is famous as a place to see manatees. Kings Bay is the headwaters of Crystal River.
Khrester Encanto, 27, briefly surfaced around 9:15 a.m. to say he had lost sight of his diving buddy. He re-submerged to look for him in the main spring at Kings Bay. His companions began to worry after about a half-hour and called 911.
The Citrus County Sheriff's Office dive team went to the site and two divers recovered Encanto's body from a small crevice about 1 p.m.
Encanto had apparently removed his dive tank in order to squeeze inside. The tank was recovered empty. The Sheriff's Office diver had to do likewise, relying on a small handheld air tank to be able to enter the crevice and remove Encanto's body, said a sheriff's spokeswoman.
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ronda Hemminger Evan said Encanto was described to her by the dive master as a "novice diver," although he was certified to dive. She said his body was taken to the Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, but the likely cause of death appeared to be drowning.
She said the Sheriff's Office divers theorized that Encanto might have kicked up silt inside the crevice, which reduced visibility, causing him to be disoriented and trapped.
The dive was organized by Lynn Haven Dive Tours, a charter company in Virginia Beach, Va. The group spent the weekend at popular sites such as Kings Bay spring in Citrus County and Ginnie Springs in the Santa Fe River in Alachua County.
Lynn Haven owner Charles Salle said Encanto was a Navy sailor stationed aboard the guided missile frigate USS Elrod in Norfolk, Va. He said Lynn Haven organizes trips to Crystal River several times a year.
The divers hired Bird's Underwater Dive Center in Crystal River to ferry them out to Kings Bay aboard three pontoon boats.
One of the pontoon boat pilots, Marty Senetra, said the group first went on a manatee sightseeing dive using snorkels. Then, individual members of the group began to put on scuba gear to dive deeper into the main spring.
"It was sort of confusing with everyone changing out," Senetra said. "But they had their own dive masters, and they seemed to be in control."
He didn't see Encanto surface initially, but said that others aboard the boats told him what happened.
"People kept thinking he might have been on one of the other boats, and it took about a half-hour to figure out that he wasn't," Senetra said. "Then we realized that he was overdue."
Visibility in the area where Encanto drowned was about 10 feet, said a member of the Sheriff's Office dive team.""
