Caveeagle
Contributor
Dove three of the NFL springs over the last couple weeks. I've had a couple friends and my kid in town who are all OW divers. So we were in OW friendly spots. Troy, Paradise and Ginnie. Overall we had a good time, but was just a bit vexed by a couple sightings. I certainly don't consider myself to be one of the "SCUBA Nazis", but I do try to keep my crap together and always do a gear check with folks diving with me.
I am honestly surprised we do not see more fatalities around here.
...So, maybe this is just to vent, but here's a short list of what I saw.
Troy is a state park, open water dive, that has a definite cavern (overhead) zone and depths approaching 60'. Just a relaxing dive there with my 'buddy', mostly to let him get some time underwater and gain comfort with gear. At around 45' we see a younger diver, alone kicking past us with full on scissor kicks heading straight for the cavern/overhead zone. Back-up 2nd and gauge console hanging straight down. I could not imagine a more perfect picture of the 1st stages of another fatality. We went in a little closer to the cavern just to keep an eye out. I was still hoping I would see HIS buddy show up. At one point, he was kneeling down in the silt right near the darkest corner of the cavern. We hovered nearby until he eventually swam out. A little later as we were exiting, we saw (we think) the same kid with another teenager on the stairs. Other kid had BC and Tank and no reg. Seemed like he was waiting on the stairs for the his turn with the reg. I feel a little bad that I did not insert myself and object, but it looked like a pretty hardcore family of "country folk" and I was just not in the mood for a fight. I decided to look around for a ranger, which I never found. ....Fortunately everybody survived.
Paradise is a privately owned Cavern. We saw divers in the cavern that seemed to have NO cavern training. No reels, no backup lights, and lots of danglers. We also saw a couple divers that looked to be much more experienced, who were down in the Cave (140') section. They seemed to pretty much know what they were doing, but had only cavern gear. ie: only single 1st stage regs. ...Fortunately everybody survived.
Lastly, we were at the Ginnie Springs cavern (Ballroom). I know, I know.. Its July 4th weekend and most sensible divers avoid the 'Zoo'. I figured we could sneak in early and get out before the crowds showed up. That mostly worked out, but it got kind of bad during our second dive. We saw OW divers that appeared to be very rusty. Tanks on backwards with the 1st stage on the back. Heading straight into the cavern sort of bouncing between the floor and the ceiling. Overall, the worst thing was at around 35', well inside the cavern, we saw an exiting diver. He had a 'buddy' close by. Unfortunately, the 'buddy' appeared to be a snorkeler attached to his safe 2nd. They were on the way out/up, so I am pretty sure they were all the way down near the grate @ ~50' at some point. They were practically in my face, so I did my best "sign language" to let the diver know that this was wrong and pointed to the exit. I kept my eye on them, and just before the exit 'hole' the snorkeler ditched the reg and swam out. I think I saw him blowing bubbles on the way out, but I was not in a great position to tell. I made a mental note of the divers appearance, but could not pick him out from the crown after our dive. I also did not see any Ginnie staff around to report it too.
...I did not see any ambulances as we were packing up, so I assume everyone survived this one too.
As I was working my way up the steps, there was a semi-drunk yokel trying to chat me up about the 'cave'. Even was bold enough to ask me if I would take him inside.
Holy cr@p! ...Is this becoming common? I have still not heard details about the free-diver fatality there a few weeks ago, so I have no idea if buddy-breathing free-loader-divers is becoming a thing.
BTW: I am typically never afraid to speak up re safety issues. In these cases, I just don't see how I could have done anything other than maybe start a scene and get told to F**-Off.
I am honestly surprised we do not see more fatalities around here.
...So, maybe this is just to vent, but here's a short list of what I saw.Troy is a state park, open water dive, that has a definite cavern (overhead) zone and depths approaching 60'. Just a relaxing dive there with my 'buddy', mostly to let him get some time underwater and gain comfort with gear. At around 45' we see a younger diver, alone kicking past us with full on scissor kicks heading straight for the cavern/overhead zone. Back-up 2nd and gauge console hanging straight down. I could not imagine a more perfect picture of the 1st stages of another fatality. We went in a little closer to the cavern just to keep an eye out. I was still hoping I would see HIS buddy show up. At one point, he was kneeling down in the silt right near the darkest corner of the cavern. We hovered nearby until he eventually swam out. A little later as we were exiting, we saw (we think) the same kid with another teenager on the stairs. Other kid had BC and Tank and no reg. Seemed like he was waiting on the stairs for the his turn with the reg. I feel a little bad that I did not insert myself and object, but it looked like a pretty hardcore family of "country folk" and I was just not in the mood for a fight. I decided to look around for a ranger, which I never found. ....Fortunately everybody survived.
Paradise is a privately owned Cavern. We saw divers in the cavern that seemed to have NO cavern training. No reels, no backup lights, and lots of danglers. We also saw a couple divers that looked to be much more experienced, who were down in the Cave (140') section. They seemed to pretty much know what they were doing, but had only cavern gear. ie: only single 1st stage regs. ...Fortunately everybody survived.
Lastly, we were at the Ginnie Springs cavern (Ballroom). I know, I know.. Its July 4th weekend and most sensible divers avoid the 'Zoo'. I figured we could sneak in early and get out before the crowds showed up. That mostly worked out, but it got kind of bad during our second dive. We saw OW divers that appeared to be very rusty. Tanks on backwards with the 1st stage on the back. Heading straight into the cavern sort of bouncing between the floor and the ceiling. Overall, the worst thing was at around 35', well inside the cavern, we saw an exiting diver. He had a 'buddy' close by. Unfortunately, the 'buddy' appeared to be a snorkeler attached to his safe 2nd. They were on the way out/up, so I am pretty sure they were all the way down near the grate @ ~50' at some point. They were practically in my face, so I did my best "sign language" to let the diver know that this was wrong and pointed to the exit. I kept my eye on them, and just before the exit 'hole' the snorkeler ditched the reg and swam out. I think I saw him blowing bubbles on the way out, but I was not in a great position to tell. I made a mental note of the divers appearance, but could not pick him out from the crown after our dive. I also did not see any Ginnie staff around to report it too.
...I did not see any ambulances as we were packing up, so I assume everyone survived this one too.
As I was working my way up the steps, there was a semi-drunk yokel trying to chat me up about the 'cave'. Even was bold enough to ask me if I would take him inside.
Holy cr@p! ...Is this becoming common? I have still not heard details about the free-diver fatality there a few weeks ago, so I have no idea if buddy-breathing free-loader-divers is becoming a thing.
BTW: I am typically never afraid to speak up re safety issues. In these cases, I just don't see how I could have done anything other than maybe start a scene and get told to F**-Off.
