Beulah man died during dive
Avid sportsman on tour with charter boat in Gulf
June 14, 2004
Sean Smith
@PensacolaNewsJournal.com
The Escambia County Sheriff's Office has identified the man whose body was found in the Gulf of Mexico as William Norris, 52, of Beulah but has not issued a cause of death.
Norris, an avid scuba diver, former Navy diver, surfer and a lifelong adventurer, was free-diving from the Scuba Shack charter boat Wet Dream on Saturday when the incident occurred about six to nine miles south of Pensacola Pass.
Scuba divers from the charter boat found Norris on the bottom some 30 minutes after he turned up missing, said Sgt. Ted Roy, Sheriff's Office spokesman. Norris was later transferred to a 23-foot Coast Guard boat that was launched about 12:20 p.m., officials said.
Escambia County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death.
The crew reported to the Coast Guard that they had been diving at a site called "the Russian Freighter," a sunken ship that sits in about 75 feet of water nine miles south-southeast of Pensacola Pass Coast Guard Petty Officer Justin Seussner said.
The Coast Guard crew met the charter boat about a mile outside the pass and brought Norris ashore, also taking aboard a doctor who had been performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him, Seussner said.
Scuba Shack owner Eilene Beard declined comment, citing the ongoing Sheriff's Office investigation.
Norwood Norris, 54, of Gulf Breeze, said his younger brother was an avid diver and a lifelong adventurer. Will Norris once served as a Navy deep sea diver, he said.
"I remember when we were kids. I was at the water's edge, and he was always 50 yards offshore. Dad had to go and get him,'' Norwood Norris said. "He had a fearless attitude. He sailed the South Pacific. He hang-glided. Will was probably the most loved unorthodox person in the city. His true passions were certainly surfing and diving."
Will Norris had been scuba diving with a group that included at least 10 people and then went snorkeling, Roy of the Sheriff's Office said.
In free diving, divers only use a mask, fins, snorkel and usually a small amount of weight to make descents. An average free diver can reach 20 to 40 feet, and skilled divers can descend beyond that.
Beulah neighbor Connie Kisor said Norris had lived by himself next door to her for about a year after moving from Hawaii. She has a pair of conch shells, one of them bigger than a football, that Norris plucked from the bottom on a recent dive trip to the Bahamas.
"He said he went down to the bottom and got them for me," she said. "He was always so nice. We're really upset that we have lost him."
Norwood Norris said as his brother returned from that trip, he stopped in Orlando to see their mother and sister, then stopped at several places in Pensacola and Gulf Breeze to see friends and give them gifts from the islands.
"He has touched so many lives. He was giving shells and gifts to everyone. I guess the Lord really kind of set it up," he said. "He was doing what he enjoyed. He really was in his element."
