Diving incident at Eagles Nest Sink

[Storker]

Its not hard to do a 6hr dive there.

It's not the run time. It's how long it took from they should have surfaced until their buddy called 911.

If you tell me that you'll dive for 6 hours, fine. If you tell me you'll dive for three hours, I wouldn't wait another three before calling emergency services. In my world, the maximum run time is the maximum run time, and if someone fails to show up when the time is up, it's time to call for help unless we see some indication that everything's OK (e.g. they shoot a dSMB). At least that's how I'm used to doing it. It may be different where you dive, so I can only say how it's done here. And given my standards, 3 hours is way too long to wait before calling.

 

[wgw04024]

From the description of that location, it must some time getting anyone else there for emergency support.

 

[amaze]

Hard to shoot a dSMB in a cave. The support diver was in an out of the water. Best place for him to be was at the debris cone or shallower to support. Deep cave rescue has many logistical issues that make it impossible even given the duration of the ccr unit. Once out of the water he had to make the call...I have had to drive several miles from eagles nest to get cell service.

 

[rjack321]

It's not the run time. It's how long it took from they should have surfaced until their buddy called 911.

If you tell me that you'll dive for 6 hours, fine. If you tell me you'll dive for three hours, I wouldn't wait another three before calling emergency services. In my world, the maximum run time is the maximum run time, and if someone fails to show up when the time is up, it's time to call for help unless we see some indication that everything's OK (e.g. they shoot a dSMB). At least that's how I'm used to doing it. It may be different where you dive, so I can only say how it's done here. And given my standards, 3 hours is way too long to wait before calling.

Its doesn't make any difference. Its a body recovery whether he called after the first missed meet up or the 6th missed (30min check). As a safety diver he was only there to bring down more deco gas (assuming they had some) and help with any EMS needs which he did (by calling).

If you want anyone in a situation like this to ever post here again you might want to quit blaming him now.

 

[Doby45]

This evidently occurred this past Sunday at Eagles Nest.

Two Divers Found Dead After Exploring Treacherous Underwater Cave System

 

[matt_w]

This evidently occurred this past Sunday at Eagles Nest.

Two Divers Found Dead After Exploring Treacherous Underwater Cave System

Here is the existing thread:
Diving incident at Eagles Nest Sink

 

[DjDiverDan]

Here's another report. ‘Stop. Prevent Your Death!’ said sign at Fla. underwater cave. These experienced divers ignored it.

This is the same cave system which claimed the lives of a man and his 15-year old son last Christmas. The man was NOT certified for cave diving, and his son wasn't even open water certified, but the father took his son into cave system marked at the entrance as highly dangerous.

 

[Dsix36]

Its doesn't make any difference. Its a body recovery whether he called after the first missed meet up or the 6th missed (30min check). As a safety diver he was only there to bring down more deco gas (assuming they had some) and help with any EMS needs which he did (by calling).

If you want anyone in a situation like this to ever post here again you might want to quit blaming him now.

Your assumption that it would have to be a recovery regardless of when he called is not accurate. The divers were on rebreathers and that can give some incredible runtimes. In a deep cave like this a mere extra 5 minutes at depth can easily rack up an extra 30 - 45 minutes of deco and thus increase the runtime considerably without any real danger to the divers.

I say this from experience at this site doing a planned 5 hour dive that ended up being 9-1/2 hours due to having a bad day in the cave.

I do agree that the support diver does not need to be getting blamed for his decisions though. It is often a difficult decision on how long to wait before going for help and this location is rather remote and cell phone coverage sucks out there.

 

[drrich2]

I didn't read the guy was there as a support diver, just that he was less experienced so off doing his own thing elsewhere and going to meet up with them at a later time. Not necessarily there to monitor their down time, implement a safety plan protocol, etc...

Also, not everyone rigorously adheres to schedule. Some people in some activities don't see extending their time as a big deal. I'm not endorsing that, just acknowledging it.

Anybody know whether the deceased were cave diver certified?

 

[rjack321]

Your assumption that it would have to be a recovery regardless of when he called is not accurate. The divers were on rebreathers and that can give some incredible runtimes. In a deep cave like this a mere extra 5 minutes at depth can easily rack up an extra 30 - 45 minutes of deco and thus increase the runtime considerably without any real danger to the divers.

I say this from experience at this site doing a planned 5 hour dive that ended up being 9-1/2 hours due to having a bad day in the cave.

I do agree that the support diver does not need to be getting blamed for his decisions though. It is often a difficult decision on how long to wait before going for help and this location is rather remote and cell phone coverage sucks out there.

You assume that they were even alive at the bottom (which might not be the case if their gas was contaminated).

But even if he left after the first missed connection, its a good 30mins to even get a cell phone signal (after he gets out of his gear). Someone has to be ready and able to drive over there. Realistically you are looking at what 4 hours - at a minimum before someone could even splash? 4 hours at 240+ft on a CCR is breaking through almost every scrubber made, nevermind the deco obligation. So this hypothetical rescuer also needs to bring enough deco gas for 2 divers to do 12+ hours of OC deco. Or extra prepped CCRs. And some sort of habitat to avoid freezing to death.

I don't see how anyone could actually deploy to Eagle's in time to find and extract someone alive who's somehow just stuck on the bottom (for hours longer than planned). It would be different if the safety diver could have gotten into the cave.

I remember your long day.