General Vortex Incident Discussion

[lurk-n-learn]

You really believe everything you read in the media? They also claimed he was an advanced tek diver.

No I do not.

 

[Jax]

However... I totally abandoned any thought of ever using the "progressive penetration" method again. And I believe my wreck diving took a quantum leap in the "safer" direction after cave training.
Put another way, I highly recommend cave training for any wreck diver.
Rick

Thank you, this was what I was looking for!

I see no way one specialty course would prepare you for something else, but it seemed logical the skills would contribute to another specialty.

 

[Cave Diver]

You really believe everything you read in the media? They also claimed he was an advanced tek diver.

Some of it corresponds with information I've been told, most of it does not.

Search for missing diver will resume after Labor Day | ponce, day, resume - News - The News Herald


Search for missing diver will resume after Labor Day
Comments 0
September 02, 2010 12:02:00 AM
JAY FELSBERG
Florida Freedom Newspapers

PONCE DE LEON — The search for missing diver Ben McDaniel will resume after Labor Day using underwater cameras and fresh divers.

I was told that u/w cameras were being considered since all attempts to find him have failed.

Capt. Harry Hamilton of the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office announced the plan after consulting with diving experts Tuesday at Vortex Springs north of Ponce de Leon. McDaniel, 30, of Collierville, Tenn. just outside of Memphis, was reported missing Aug. 20 after having not been seen at Vortex Springs since the preceding Wednesday. His vehicle, wallet and diving logbook were found but there was no sign of McDaniel. The missing man was a regular diver at the popular diving location off State 81.

That corresponds.

Hamilton said an underwater video camera would probably be employed in the search and that cave divers from around the nation were expected to help.

Several teams of expert divers, including qualified cave divers and cave diving instructors, have already searched the more than 1,600-foot cave at Vortex Springs that drops as much as 165 feet deep.

Corresponds.

Two of McDaniel’s tanks were found outside the cave

My understanding is that tanks were found inside the cave, but outside the grate.

and there are indications that someone penetrated to the final obstruction in the cave, a crevasse that has not been entered to date.

My understanding is that more dives were made this week and a dive team had pushed to the final restriction.

It is believed that McDaniel could have been trying to map the complete cave

Confirmed by several people. My understanding is that the map was crude, and inaccurate.

and that he could have somehow gotten through the crevasse, pushing his gear and equipment through in front of him.[/B]

To my knowledge no evidence of this has been found.

The dive to the final obstruction gets increasingly dangerous, according to several expert divers who have participated in the search. The cave narrows and drops sharply, with a number of cutouts on either side where a diver could get confused and panic, they said. The dive requires teamwork, and divers must leave decompression tanks along their path for the decompression necessary as they back through the cave.

Hamilton said search divers would not go into the deepest restrictions and would check all crevasses again using the camera if available.

As I understand it, the cave has been thoroughly checked. If a camera is brought in, it will be used for documentation/confirmation purposes.

“Even with experts, there have been several close calls,” Hamilton said.

"Close" is probably subjective, but there have been incidents during the search.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Keep in mind, your information might be wrong as well Cave Diver

 

[Cave Diver]

Keep in mind, your information might be wrong as well Cave Diver

Yes, I know that's a possibility. That's why I qualified the statements.

 

[Hetland]

I told my wife a few days ago that if something ever happens to me underwater, and there's no hope of life, to just leave my @$$ where it is. A corpse isn't worth someone else getting hurt or killed.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I told my wife a few days ago that if something ever happens to me underwater, and there's no hope of life, to just leave my @$$ where it is. A corpse isn't worth someone else getting hurt or killed.

Nice thing about where I dive is that if I'm down there more than a few days, the recovery isn't necessary ... unless ya just want the gear ... the crabs and starfish will have taken care of the rest.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[DocYates]

Cave Diver,
Can you tell us about some of the incidents? My background is in medicine, and spent several years in Mobile, AL, and worked out of the forensic office there as well. We used to dive Morrison and Vortex frequently as OW dives, never cave diving, I don't have the mentality that will allow me to do it, it is just not for me. I would be interested though to hear of the difficulties the searchers have had in the mission. It would make it much more real for those of us who understand what they are trying to do.
Thanks

 

[Docc]

Coming back from lunch just now I heard Michel Jackson singing "Ben" on the oldies channel.......lyrics are kindy creepy......

Ben, the two of us need look no more
We both found what we were looking for
With a friend to call my own
I'll never be alone
And you my friend will see
You've got a friend in me

Ben, you're always running here and there
You feel you're not wanted anywhere
If you ever look behind
And don't like what you find
There's something you should know
You've got a place to go

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I would be interested though to hear of the difficulties the searchers have had in the mission. It would make it much more real for those of us who understand what they are trying to do.
Thanks

Tight, specifically very low, but also narrow in alot of places.

Deep, 160' depths, with no helium onsite.

Silty and craggly, no visibility and the cave does its best to grab at you and hold you to it.