Saturn_Divergirl
New
While my condolences go out to the family, does anybody have any more details? My friend implied that the deceased diver wasn't trained, I don't want to spread gossip, but I'd like to know what happend.
Local Man drowns at Jackson Blue Springs
- Thread starter Mike Edmonston
- Start date
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There are several "wild rumors" afoot. So far they are only "wild rumors" with no credibility, so let's leave 'em in the closet until we get some credible information.Saturn_Divergirl:
I know it's hard to be patient when we all want to know right now, but we must be.
Rick
Condolances to the family and friends.
Jeff
Jeff
ianr33
Contributor
This is one of the most accurate articles I've read, as far as scuba diving is concerned.
I've been doing this 12 years,and always wonder why we keep repeating this type of mistake. I see a lot of peer pressure to do something because other people are doing it ie my friends are full cave certified and I am only intro,so it will be okay this time, or everybody wants to do a double stage dive to the....,and I just got my full cave card etc etc etc -I've seen and heard them all. Rules and limits in cave diving aren't there because somebody wants to prevent somebody from diving,they are there because somebody has died. Please be safe
Officials confirmed Tuesday the identity of the diver who died inside a spring cave at Blue Springs Recreational Area, as well as details surrounding his death.
Jackson County Sheriff John McDaniel said XXX, 48, of Dogwood Heights near Marianna, died of drowning Monday after becoming stuck in Jackson Blue, the spring cave that lies in close proximity to a recreational diving board inside the park.
XXX is survived by his wife and two daughters. He was the owner and operator of Air Services, where he designed and built automotive paint booths.
According to McDaniel, XXX had been a certfied open-water diver for more than 20 years, but he did not have the required certification for cave diving. He had frequently dove at other caves, including Twin Caves and Hole-in-the-Wall at Merritt's Mill Pond in Marianna.
"Cave diving is a trial enough when you do have the training and certification," said McDaniel, "When you do it without the certification, you're just asking for trouble. It's like flying a plane into the wild blue yonder without being trained to fly."
McDaniel confirmed some of the details surrounding XXX's death. He said XXX was diving with his friend, certified cave diver YYY of Marianna, when XXX apparently became stuck. YYY surfaced and called for help.
The sheriff's office and local cave-diving expert Edd Sorenson responded within minutes.
McDaniel said that the sheriff's diving squad is not cave-certfiied, so Sorenson did a search inside the spring cave for the missing diver.
Sorenson recovered XXX's body four minutes into the search, approximately 600 feet from the mouth of the cave, which lies about 85 feet from the surface.
XXX was no longer wearing his double tanks, which he probably removed in a state of panic, said McDaniel. An autopsy later confirmed that the cause of death was drowning.
As for XXX's diving partner YYY, whether or not he will face any charges has yet to be determined, pending investigation. A sheriff's press release reported that YYY has been a diver for about 30 years and works at an area dive shop.
McDaniel, who is a diver himself, said the longest part of the process of recovering XXX's body was most likely Sorenson's ascent after finding him. Sorenson might have had to stop for decompression before exiting the water.
A decompression stop is when a diver spends time at the end of his dive at a constant depth in shallow water. This is a measure to eliminate harmful gases that the body absorbs while diving. Not doing so could lead to decompression sickness, otherwise know as "the bends."
McDaniel said that this is not the first diving fatality in Jackson County.
"We've had divers all over this county drown, usually people who aren't cave certified. I'd say about eight to 12 people in the past 30 years," said McDaniel, "When you push your limits or experience level, you're putting your life on the line."
__________________
Officials confirmed Tuesday the identity of the diver who died inside a spring cave at Blue Springs Recreational Area, as well as details surrounding his death.
Jackson County Sheriff John McDaniel said XXX, 48, of Dogwood Heights near Marianna, died of drowning Monday after becoming stuck in Jackson Blue, the spring cave that lies in close proximity to a recreational diving board inside the park.
XXX is survived by his wife and two daughters. He was the owner and operator of Air Services, where he designed and built automotive paint booths.
According to McDaniel, XXX had been a certfied open-water diver for more than 20 years, but he did not have the required certification for cave diving. He had frequently dove at other caves, including Twin Caves and Hole-in-the-Wall at Merritt's Mill Pond in Marianna.
"Cave diving is a trial enough when you do have the training and certification," said McDaniel, "When you do it without the certification, you're just asking for trouble. It's like flying a plane into the wild blue yonder without being trained to fly."
McDaniel confirmed some of the details surrounding XXX's death. He said XXX was diving with his friend, certified cave diver YYY of Marianna, when XXX apparently became stuck. YYY surfaced and called for help.
The sheriff's office and local cave-diving expert Edd Sorenson responded within minutes.
McDaniel said that the sheriff's diving squad is not cave-certfiied, so Sorenson did a search inside the spring cave for the missing diver.
Sorenson recovered XXX's body four minutes into the search, approximately 600 feet from the mouth of the cave, which lies about 85 feet from the surface.
XXX was no longer wearing his double tanks, which he probably removed in a state of panic, said McDaniel. An autopsy later confirmed that the cause of death was drowning.
As for XXX's diving partner YYY, whether or not he will face any charges has yet to be determined, pending investigation. A sheriff's press release reported that YYY has been a diver for about 30 years and works at an area dive shop.
McDaniel, who is a diver himself, said the longest part of the process of recovering XXX's body was most likely Sorenson's ascent after finding him. Sorenson might have had to stop for decompression before exiting the water.
A decompression stop is when a diver spends time at the end of his dive at a constant depth in shallow water. This is a measure to eliminate harmful gases that the body absorbs while diving. Not doing so could lead to decompression sickness, otherwise know as "the bends."
McDaniel said that this is not the first diving fatality in Jackson County.
"We've had divers all over this county drown, usually people who aren't cave certified. I'd say about eight to 12 people in the past 30 years," said McDaniel, "When you push your limits or experience level, you're putting your life on the line."
__________________
I don't know any of the people involved but lack of certification isn't necessarily the same as lack of training/experience. Of course, in this case, the outcome of the dive might be indicative of the state of preparedness of the diver.
I would be interested in hearing just how he got so stuck. What were these guys doing?
I would be interested in hearing just how he got so stuck. What were these guys doing?
Is there any difference than a person that isn't certified doing something they shouldn't or somebody certified doing something they shouldn't-history shows the outcome is the same. If a person enters the overhead without training then they are exceeding a limit. We don't see OW divers entering the overhead as much and having accidents as much as we used to,but it still happens,but we do see things like cavern divers on doubles entering the no light zone,intro divers doing 1/3rd,scootering or staging to name a few. Sometimes I think the thought is because we have a cave card or we have somebody along that is experienced then I am safe,but this sport can be very dangerous,especially when we push limits.
karstdvr:
I'm not sure what the thought is. Going too far too fast has always been a good way to get in trouble. We have OW divers going on guided tours in Mexican caves and tropical coral caves every day. Cave diving and cave training is marketed more than it used to be. I think as it gets more popular and gets to be bigger business, we're going to see more of he same.
We're seeing the same thing with technical diving in general. As recreational training agencies get into the business and every corner dive shop starts selling "technical training" things are going to change. "Technical diving" and "cave diving" are getting to be far more accessible and might soon be listed as training levels right after AOW. I don't know if all this is good or bad but I have a feeling we're going to find out.
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