Cave accident article

In the Oct. 2009 "Scuba Diving" magazine, there is an article titled "Death in the Dark". It gives sketchy details of an accident, but no location of the spring is given. Has anybody else seen this story? I couldn't find any similar accidents in the accident reports. Some of the details just do not make sense to me, like "He would regularly check his air supply on his illuminated dive computer and could see it slowly dropping toward zero." ...And details like "He shed his gear...hoping the flow of water leaving the spring would bring his body to the surface in time for his friends to revive him." The story is too weird for me. BTW, I'm a new poster, although I've been lurking here for three years. Hope I'm doing this right.

Yep, you're doing it right ;) Welcome to the forum, good post. I saw the magazine cover at the dive shop, but didn't read the story. Someone will be along shortly to enlighten us.

Shirley

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Originally Posted by Johnny Bailey

"He would regularly check his air supply on his illuminated dive computer and could see it slowly dropping toward zero."

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Doesn't sound like a trained cave diver, if he was using an air integrated computer. Did the article say he left a message? If not, how would anyone know he actually was even looking at his pressure, or why he took his gear off?

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Originally Posted by FW

Doesn't sound like a trained cave diver, if he was using an air integrated computer. Did the article say he left a message? If not, how would anyone know he actually was even looking at his pressure, or why he took his gear off?

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Probably hearsay from buddies' on previous dives? (To established that the decedent did pay attention....:-) )

Consider the source, BTW...stuff reported by recreational scuba media tends to be highly edited and lots of details (to protect the guilty?) are left out or just based on speculation.YMMV.

Dive safe,

Celia

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Originally Posted by FW

Doesn't sound like a trained cave diver, if he was using an air integrated computer. Did the article say he left a message? If not, how would anyone know he actually was even looking at his pressure, or why he took his gear off?

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That's what surprised me. The article said he was a certified cave diver with hundreds of dives. The article didn't say anything about him leaving a message. It said he and his buddies staged bottles for a planned second dive. When his buddies went to get fills, he stayed behind to retrieve his backup primary he left by accident with his stage tanks. He didn't tell them of his plan. He went back in by himself with a single tank and only ONE small backup since he planned to be in the water "only a few minutes." They had staged their tanks off of the main line, and when he went looking for them, his light flooded and failed. He was lost and subsequently drowned.

The writer of the article stated "To prevent other divers from finding the additional cylinders, they decided to leave the cylinders off to the side of the permanent lines. They left nothing to chance in their dive plan."

The article said this is a true story, but I question this unless someone recognizes any of the circumstances. Thanks for your help from this questioning diver.

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Originally Posted by Johnny Bailey

The article said this is a true story, but I question this unless someone recognizes any of the circumstances. Thanks for your help from this questioning diver.

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Somehow, I suspect we would have heard about this, unless it was in another country.

I've read most of the reports and this don't sound like one. Of course this could be an old accident that was dug up and a little over dramatized to make it interesting to read.

I guess his lost line search was unsuccessful. Most cavers I know have several lights already connected to them so why would he enter a cave with backups removed off the line too far to get back on when his only light failed. If he was experienced he was also complacent and careless.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Johnny Bailey

That's what surprised me. The article said he was a certified cave diver with hundreds of dives. The article didn't say anything about him leaving a message. It said he and his buddies staged bottles for a planned second dive. When his buddies went to get fills, he stayed behind to retrieve his backup primary he left by accident with his stage tanks. He didn't tell them of his plan. He went back in by himself with a single tank and only ONE small backup since he planned to be in the water "only a few minutes." They had staged their tanks off of the main line, and when he went looking for them, his light flooded and failed. He was lost and subsequently drowned.

The writer of the article stated "To prevent other divers from finding the additional cylinders, they decided to leave the cylinders off to the side of the permanent lines. They left nothing to chance in their dive plan."

The article said this is a true story, but I question this unless someone recognizes any of the circumstances. Thanks for your help from this questioning diver.

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This sounds like, if I recall correctly an incident in Falmouth (I believe) about 5-6 years ago.

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Originally Posted by FW

Doesn't sound like a trained cave diver, if he was using an air integrated computer. Did the article say he left a message? If not, how would anyone know he actually was even looking at his pressure, or why he took his gear off?

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Just curious to know what issues people see with a cave diver in doubles using an air integrated computer? I used my Pro Plus 2 (in gauge mode) for a couple hundred deco and probably 50 cave dives with no issue until it died and I didn't feel like paying 700 bucks to replace it.

I always thought that the benefits outweighed the liabilities

Liabilities

• Larger = potential entrapment point and more to carry
• Difficult to get custom length hoses which limited routing options
• battery = another potential failure point

Benefits

• Precise display of pressure
• provides convenient secondary depth and timing device
• Much better logging than any of my wrist mounted computers (I can tell by run time and depth how much my SAC rate changed from one section of the cave to another)
• If you want you can set an alarm for thirds