I've been following the Vortex incident thread without anything to add but a few "Thanks", but since this is in our semi-private Solo forum, I thought it might be a better place for reflection.
I agree with the OP here that the first news report did make it sound like Bob's big error was diving solo, when of course that turns out to be the least of his problems. Then again, that's the press - the same kind of people who later wrote articles about his "decomposition tanks".
Here's what I was thinking: This guy was scuba diving's Chris McCandless. Do you all know his story? There was a book and then a movie called "Into the Wild" about him; but for those unfamiliar, he was a young man who marched into the Alaskan wilderness after discarding his maps, with basically nothing more than a .22 rifle and the clothes on his back. On purpose.
He died when the rivers swelled and he could not cross back the way he came to return to civilization, although if he had kept a map he would have known there was a cable crossing specifically built for individuals to get across the river not too far from where he was. He died at his campsite either from starvation or possibly eating some poisonous plants. He left behind a vivid diary of his explorations.
Some adore him as a hero who threw away the maps in order to simulate a real exploration of the unknown - since pretty much everything has already been mapped and explored by someone else or some device nowadays, consciously avoiding that information is the only way to experience that sense of discovery for yourself.
Some of course call McCandless an idiot, and point out that, as much as he researched Alaska before he headed cross-country to get there, he certainly knew the very real risks and dangers, so what he did was tantamount to suicide. Suicide by willful ignorance.
I lean towards the latter, but I am also sympathetic to the former interpretation. Personally, as discussed on other threads, while I am a solo diver, I otherwise am not interested in pushing beyond typical recreational limits. In fact, those limits along with a bit of redundant gear are what let me dive solo without feeling I am being unduly risky. Yeah, I got my cavern cert but mostly just for the skills - I have never intended to do much overhead diving of any kind, with or without buddies.
But at one time I was a kid growing in north Alabama and south central Tennessee: Cave Country (and not the underwater kind). In fact, the national HQ for the NSS was in my hometown of Huntsville, right on Cave Avenue (there is even a huge cavern right under downtown that was used as a dance hall at one point). Now, the NSS had mapped most of the caves in the area. In fact, they placed registries in them way in the back so you could sign in that you had been there. But we weren't interested in following someone else's map of those caves - we wanted to explore them ourselves, figuring out our own way to crawl up the chimneys and over the ledges, squeezing through a tight spot in the hopes of finding some new large cavern beyond to explore. I even (stupidly) swam out a water-blocked exit once because I could see the light coming through, even though I had no mask or snorkel and nothing on my feet but heavy hiking boots. It was completely unplanned. We were exploring, and for us it was uncharted territory, the NSS be damned.
Now, this guy in Vortex was no kid, and cave diving is several orders of magnitude more dangerous than traditional spelunking, map or no. But given that this was obviously his conscious choice, that he had given it some thought and certainly had some knowledge and warning of the risks, and taken deliberate actions to accomplish his goal, I think his situation is much like McCandless'. Yeah, they both died because of it, and left behind hurt and confused family members, but both obviously died doing what they wanted to do, and I can think of much worse deaths... in fact, working in hospitals as I do, we see lots worse ways people die - whether quickly smashed to pieces in a car wreck, or slowly as some cancer gnaws you away from the inside out.
It's the one event that you're guaranteed to experience, one way or another, risks taken or not, whether solo or surrounded by loved ones - how do you want to die? And how harshly are you going to judge someone else who dies doing what they wanted to do?
