Peacock Slough 1973 "Body recovery"
We had spent the night behind Dale Stones Aqua Shack camping. Myself and a fellow Navy diver and our wife's. At this time it was not a State Park. We followed the directions on how to get there from a book we had bought from Dale's place. It read.
"From Mayo going north on S-51 travel 1.7 miles from the middle of the bridge over the Suwannee. Turn right on paved road across the highway from the Bay Service Station. (This is the second road on the right after leaving the bridge.) Travel 2.2 miles and turn right on second dirt road past the fence line. Go .4 mile to the springs which are located on your right.
As we pulled up to the springs there was already a couple of police cars and an ambulance parked there. It was around 10 or 11 am. My dive buddy ( Dave ) and I walked over to see what the problem was. There were three very somber divers sitting on the bank talking to the police.
It seems that four divers had entered Peacock early that morning. One whom had never dove anywhere before. The dive plan was to enter Peacock and swim over to Pot hole and surface. Things did not work out quite that well.
During the dive something went terribly wrong. The diver who had never dove before panicked for some reason. He left the other three divers in an attempt to reach the surface. His body was recovered a couple of hours later.
If you have never seen a diver with his fingers worn down to the bone from trying to dig his way out of a underwater cave. It is a sight you will not soon forget.
Dave and I had to wait untill they had finished with the recovery before we were able to make our dive. Both of our wife's were not at all happy about us going. We made it a short cavern dive.
So if you were ever wondering how people use to die in the caves around Branford. This is a fine example.
Re: Peacock Slough 1973 "Body recovery"
Quote:
Originally Posted by scuppertrout
If you have never seen a diver with his fingers worn down to the bone from trying to dig his way out of a underwater cave. It is a sight you will not soon forget.
I did a body recovery, in the mid 1970's where the newly certified open water diver ( a few hours certified)got lost in a shallow cave over near Mayo - he could see small shafts of light coming down from very small openings in the ground. These holes were maybe 6 inches wide.
He used his head as a battering ram to try and break through and also clawed at the holes. His head looked like a piece of raw hamburger meat and his hands were ripped to shreds. That vision has never left my mind even 30 years later.
Thankfully divers are more aware of the hazards of cave diving these days. Back in "the day" doing body recoveries from these springs was commonplace.....I don't even remember how many I did. I can think of 5 off of the top of my head.
Re: Peacock Slough 1973 "Body recovery"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim Wyatt
I did a body recovery, in the mid 1970's where the newly certified open water diver ( a few hours certified)got lost in a shallow cave over near Mayo - he could see small shafts of light coming down from very small openings in the ground. These holes were maybe 6 inches wide.
He used his head as a battering ram to try and break through and also clawed at the holes. His head looked like a piece of raw hamburger meat and his hands were ripped to shreds. That vision has never left my mind even 30 years later.
Where was that Jim? Owens? Cindy
