Fatality at Peacock Springs

The article in the Suwanee Democrat had most of the story, however there are a few things to clarify:

A. This was not a class. It was just three guys out for a dive. The purpose of the dive was to test out Gene's new Ikelite camera housing at depth.

B. David has been diving with Al for many years, and David had more experience than would be let on by merely his Cavern certification. Gene is Intro. to Cave certified and has also been diving with Al for many years.

C. Gene and Al were in doubles, David was in a single tank. Gene had a stage bottle and Al had two stages (one for David and one for himself). They dropped their stage bottles at the restriction leading to Hendley's Castle.

D. On the way out, as David was running low on gas, he spooked and took off once through the restriction where they had left their stages. By the time Gene had gotten past the restriction, David's light was just a faint glimmer and when Al was through the restriction David was long gone.

E. Once Gene and Al got to there Deco bottles, they didn't see David. Both Gene and Al had not used their stages, so Al took both stages and went searching for David as Gene completed his Deco to get help.

The lesson to be learned here is that training, the lack thereof, was the single thing that caused this tragedy to occur. Both Gene and Al feel very bad about what transpired as they keep running "what if..."s through their minds.

This tragedy hits home with many of us, and I hope we can all learn from it.

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Originally Posted by bullfrog

Hi All, I've been cave certified lesss than a year. Ive been in Peacock I but not III. This has had me asking myself a lot of questions. Could I have made these same mistakes? I've had one of our trio take off in a cave, but we found him making the safety stop. I got lost on a wreck in open water and found myself heading for the stern instead of the bow. I've found myself in the water without all my gear. How about you? Ever mess up? This brings me to my next question, Are you ready to die? How about every time when you get in your car? Lot of things there you can't control. Do you believe in GOD? Do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ? Jesus told Nicodemus that to get into heaven "you must be born again". This means admitting you are a sinner, repenting of your sin, and asking Jesus into your life. John 3:16 says for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perrish but have everlasting life. Any other cavers out there not afraid to die because it opens a door to a better life?

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Tha answer to all of your questions is team work and proceedures, not god.

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I've had one of our trio take off in a cave, but we found him making the safety stop

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.....poor teamwork/proceedures

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I got lost on a wreck in open water and found myself heading for the stern instead of the bow

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........poor teamwork/proceedures

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I've found myself in the water without all my gear

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......poor teamwork/proceedures

Yes we all mess up, but usually because we forget one of the golden rules, very very rarely is it an act of your God.

Dave.

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Originally Posted by bullfrog

Hi All, I've been cave certified lesss than a year. Ive been in Peacock I but not III. This has had me asking myself a lot of questions. Could I have made these same mistakes? I've had one of our trio take off in a cave, but we found him making the safety stop. I got lost on a wreck in open water and found myself heading for the stern instead of the bow. I've found myself in the water without all my gear. How about you? Ever mess up? This brings me to my next question, Are you ready to die? How about every time when you get in your car? Lot of things there you can't control. Do you believe in GOD? Do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ? Jesus told Nicodemus that to get into heaven "you must be born again". This means admitting you are a sinner, repenting of your sin, and asking Jesus into your life. John 3:16 says for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on Him should not perrish but have everlasting life. Any other cavers out there not afraid to die because it opens a door to a better life?

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Hmm....some of MY posts are edited, but bullsh!t like THIS is allowed to stay? Are we now a religious cave diving cult forum? This loser obviously only threw some diving references in there to post all his(or her) religious fanatical bullsh!t. This should be deleted unless you want this to turn into a full blown religious/theological debate. Just my not so humble opinion.

Mike

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Originally Posted by MikeH

[Hmm....some of MY posts are edited, but bullsh!t like THIS is allowed to stay? Mike

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Ahhhh - come on Mike - I've never seen you post any BS at all worth any moderator's wrath...

But you are right - we certainly don't need any cave diving cults out there !! We have enough issues to deal with already!

Best Rgds.,
JB

I have only been on here for a couple of days but, If you believe in God or Jesus thats fine. Just don't push your crap on me. If you aren't ready to die then just quit living. There are risks with anything you do. If you aren't prepared to take those risks then do something else.

I find it hard to believe that anyone could take offense to Bullfrog's post. I know the man and respect him, as well as his diving ability. If you don't agree with his philosophy that is certainly your freedom to exercise. But there is really no call for attacking someone simply because they expressed their beliefs in public.

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Originally Posted by Deep-Thief

snip...If you aren't ready to die then just quit living...

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At least what Bullfrog posted made some sense.

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Originally Posted by bullfrog

Ive been in Peacock I but not III.

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PIII has half the vis of less of Peacock, and they took a jump down through a restriction at 130' to a breakdown room that goes to 180'. I'd say that is at least two if not three levels of training from Inrto, let alone cavern.

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Originally Posted by bullfrog

This has had me asking myself a lot of questions. Could I have made these same mistakes? I've had one of our trio take off in a cave, but we found him making the safety stop. I got lost on a wreck in open water and found myself heading for the stern instead of the bow. I've found myself in the water without all my gear. How about you? Ever mess up?

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The BIG difference here is that when something goes wrong and you have lots of reserve gas you hame TIME. These things end up being a small annoyance if you have the gas and esperiance to realize you have made a mistake and fix it.. keep your eyes open and KNOW the cave (or boat) without needing to follow the line out. If you find yourself somewhere in the cave you couldn't get out of without a line you need to know the cave better.

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Originally Posted by bullfrog

Any other cavers out there not afraid to die because it opens a door to a better life?

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Bringing religion into it, huh? Not too common on this board. I guess I will get off the train I was just about to take and drop this here..

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Originally Posted by DeWayne

I find it hard to believe that anyone could take offense to Bullfrog's post. I know the man and respect him, as well as his diving ability. If you don't agree with his philosophy that is certainly your freedom to exercise. But there is really no call for attacking someone simply because they expressed their beliefs in public.

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Offense? No...but I don't try to push my beliefs on him, so he needs to back the hell off and give others the same courtesy. This is not the place for it. He can go peddle his religious beliefs on a board dedicated to religion.

I don't know him(not that I'm aware of, anyways), but I'd be willing to bet that he's one of those that tries to push his religion on you just a few minutes after you meet him. If I ask somebody about, or show interest in their religious beliefs when they mention something religious, preach on. Otherwise, STFU.

There are a few types of conversations I try not to get involved in, because they never go anywhere, can get heated very quickly, and never change anybodys mind. Religion is at the top of my list. I guess I'll have to look and see if there's an ignore feature on this board.

Mike

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Originally Posted by DeWayne

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Originally Posted by Deep-Thief

snip...If you aren't ready to die then just quit living...

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At least what Bullfrog posted made some sense.

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I guess I need to clarify myself. There are risks in anything you do. If you go for a walk across the street you are taking the chance you won't get hit by a bus. When you drive to work you are taking a chance you won't get into an accident. If you want to quit living your life and hide yourself in a house and take no extra risks, fine, but you WILL, still die. So lets live our lives a little and have some fun. If its your time to go then I guess we all have to say goodbye. Lets also try not to blame someone else for our risks and/or mistakes.

Hey MikeH, don't forget to put politics at the top of your list. Although under religion it is at the top of mine.