Observing an unsafe act

[pink arrows]

Before I get my ire up, could you explain how you know it was female and not male?

Nathan was being respectful by not putting it out there that she was a... "she". Without gender-specific pronouns its pretty easy to figure out it wasn't a guy (although I'll admit I had to read it twice). The focus of this discussion should not be on "girl cave divers", in fact, it shouldn't even be about the girl in question. It should be about her instructor boyfriend. As a certified cave diver, this guy knows the dangers, rules, expectations, and required skills necessary before entering a cave. It was selfish of him to allow her into an overhead environment before she wasn't ready (whether it be ready to dive in a drysuit, or ready to dive in a cave in general). What a decent boyfriend would have done is taken her to open water and have her practice the skills until they were not only good enough, but second nature. He should have been protecting her instead of encouraging her to do something she wasn't ready for. She was just trying to make her boyfriend happy... It was HIS job as a cave diver, and ESPECIALLY as an open water instructor, to make sure she was prepared before heading into a cave with her.

Tracy: apparently you should find a man NOT into cave diving so YOU don't have to buy two of everything!

(...10 million dollars is looking pretty good right now... not only could we buy another set of gear, but a resort in mexico... and.... a castle.)

Because women cannot cave dive. Men are naturals in the sport.

Agreed! (lol)

We did suggest she stay out of the water. We also suggested she work on her skills in ow. I don't think being "man enough " was a problem. And I have no problem with women in this sport and can think of several women off the top of my head that can dive circles around me. This individual however is not one.

Perhaps next time you could tell the diver, and their buddy, that they are "farm-animal stupid" and have no business in a cave. (my goal is to use that phrase once a day.)

[MedCop]

I wrote it non-gender specific on purpose, because gender has NOTHING to do with this incident. It is about the fact that the two people involved should have known better than to allow this diver to dive in general. Poor judgment was used by both, her for trying to dive in an overhead environment when her skills / training were not adequate. His poor judgment for allowing or possibly encouraging her to dive in an overhead environment knowing her skills and training were not adequate.

I started this thread as this incident was really bothering me. I didn't want to see a thread or read a report of a fatality in a cave and find out it was she or he for that matter. I felt that keeping this to myself could in some way contribute to a diving accident and I just couldn't keep it quiet. Maybe having it out in the open will encourage something like this to not happen again, maybe not for this buddy pair, but maybe others. If people know we do care deeply about cave diving and care about the safety of those involved in the sport and if it puts an ounce of doubt in someone’s head then mission accomplished.

Yes, she was encouraged to stay out of the water by both of us and to work on her skills if she was going to continue to dive. When she was noticed in the cave the second time neither of us were in a position to stop her.

Diving is one of the biggest passions in my life, and I love to share my passion with anyone willing. My wife is not a diver, however she did start an OW class and on the second OW dive had a major ear problem causing her to abort the dive. Since then she has been apprehensive about going back into OW. I don’t push her, as she knows that she can at anytime continue her training.

That leads me to say the following.

Dive because you want to dive and enjoy it. Do not dive because someone wants you to dive.

I encourage the diver this incident is about to continue to practice, practice in OW if you choose to dive. Build up your diving skills, buoyancy, trim, drills…so on. If you are willing to give the time to your diving skills, diving will give you so much more in return.