Two divers make some bad decisions at Manatee Spring

[TSandM]

Of the Florida caves I've been in, Manatee is NOT the one I would choose for open water divers to poke around in the cavern zone. Low viz and VERY low light make for a bad combination, and there's quite a bit of silt even close to the entrance. Those guys could have been in a world of hurt.

 

[BekaLynn]

I can hear them now - these crazy tech divers with gear sprouting everywhere came on us and started waving their hands at us. Wouldn't let us alone. We figured we better get out before they did something crazy like cut the line we were following.

They'd only be saying something this stupid if they didn't listen to anything they were ever told by an instructor. So far, every instructor I've spoken to, or experienced diver, all say the same thing to me....

"Dive within your training limits"

Anyone who is only OW certified, such as myself, knows this is dumb, really really dumb. If you're not having enough fun with your current certification limits, then it's time to get more training... not time to go do it by yourself...

Of course they hauled a**, they didn't want to hear the "You are so dumb" and "You could have died"... they are lucky, damn lucky if you ask me...

I always say, everything happens for a reason, thankfully you guys were there...

 

[Graeme Tolton]

It's really unfortunate you didn't run into them on the surface after the dive. It's also unfortunate that some people think that the "Prevent your death" signs were only meant for other people. With the gas situation as you describe, I imagine that they would have been getting to the surface with around 0 psi and possibly at this point having a realization that you saved their lives... But who know, being stupid enough to get as far as they did, it could have been a big laugh.

 

[divin'dog]

Holy Cow! I wonder if the divers even knew they were in trouble. This story reminds me of another that I had read a long time ago in Alert Diver...

As two cave divers were descending to the opening of an entrance to a cave, two divers came swimming out at the speed of light... no tanks, no gear. The two cave divers were totally surprised and wondered what the heck was going on. One of the divers coming out of the cave shoots to the surface. The other one swims up to one of the cave divers and takes a breath off his octopus, then heads to the surface.

Apparently, the two non-cave divers had entered and gotten lost and ran out of gas. They ditched their gear, found the entrance and made a mad dash for the surface when they ran into the two cave divers descending to the entrance. This story gave me the chills which is why I remember it so well. Now I have another story to remember.

 

[mparr]

I was at manatee as an OW diver the other day. We dropped into catfish first just to poke around and see the terrain. I watched a few cave divers come up and thought to my self... Why someone without proper training would attempt this is beyond me. The thought came back to me when I was in the main spring watching cave divers come and go. I don't get rattled by overhead environments (Thus far anyway. I'm still a new diver and have only been to a few sites that allowed OW certs to get into an overhead environment.) and it still looked quite menacing to me.

Different strokes for different folks but I've decided that scuba is a completely safe sport for me as long as I live by the "don't be stupid" rule .

 

[SteveAD]

Ignorance can be fixed, but STUPID is forever.

 

[RonFrank]

You can be proud that you, and your buddy very likely saved two lives.

What possess non-trained divers to enter a cave system is beyond me. I am not cave certified, and would never enter a cave without training.

It is too bad you could not have *discussed* the dive with these idiots. They have no idea how lucky they were to run into you. Sounds like they barely made it out with enough air as it was.

Good Job!

 

[krawlings]

Here is hoping that the tWO divers in quetion are members of the SB AND ARE( OR ) HAVE READ THIS THREAD and realize the divers that are being talked about is them and , They can see how close they came to posible death if dot death by ignorance , and learn from your coments . All the posts REALY HELPS me see how inportant it it to follow your training do not go past you diving skill/training THANK YOU ALL !!!!!

 

[redrover]

What is the signal for you out? Point and shoo!

 

[Graeme Tolton]

Perhaps one solution to this situation is to try to make them buddy up with you for the trip out of the cave. This way, you know that they will not get lost and drown. After all, you do have that 1/3 reserve for situations like this. Also, when you get to the surface, you can explain to them why they should have died but didn't. However, with a split second decision, I can understand why you would just be signaling "GET OUT". Something to think about for future situations for everyone who reads this.