Solo Diving in FL State Parks

[Kelly Jessop]

#1: shallow water black-out
#2: mismarked gas cylinders, breathed 50% at 150'
#3: that one was a suicide
#4: we still don't know how he died, he was solo in Ginnie. Another friend found the body.
#5: deep air
#6: Steve Berman
#7: breathed pure helium at 20' because he mislabeled a bottle he decanted pure helium in.

Thank you for sharing. You and I share many of the same experiences, indirectly if not directly. I am with you in the #7 was puzzling knowing his sense of detail,but to me the pity was how he was thrown under the bus by the team leader after it occurred. #4 has some similar analogies now, as far as some of the understanding I know. #6 still resonates strongly,even after all these years. Two solo cave diving accidents that I recall happened at Cow and the other Alan's-one conjectured due to medication,the other people felt due to gas planning.

[kensuf]

Jonathan was a good guy, and I agree with you on the bus. He and I did at least a dozen decent dives at Indian, Cheryl, and Sullivan between '98 and '00, but lost touch when I dropped out of the WKPP. He also spent many weekends helping me try to dig out Little Dismal.

At least something good can come of it, I use the label marking stories as cautionary tales when I teach.

Edited to add Derek F. reminded me about Jack Gregory, who I only knew in passing, but he falls in the tangentals list.

[FW]

The friend's death that hit me the hardest was Sheck Exley. I figured that as long as he was alive, I would be safe. It was a rude awakening when he died.
I also lost several other friends:
Gene Fussell in Jackson Blue.
Chris Henson in Cow.
Agnes Milowka in Tank Cave.
Ron Simmons in Allen's Mill Pond.
Bonnie Cotier in Pwll y Cwm.
Jack Gregory in Devil's Eye.

[OFG-1]

The friend's death that hit me the hardest was Sheck Exley..

The one that hit me was Rory Dickens, murdered in his own home.

[dogwatch]

Bill McFaden 15 MAY 1988 Little Dismal
Parker Turner 17 NOV 1991 Indian
Sherwood Shile 8 AUG 1993 Cheryl

[Brent]

One point that hasn't been mentioned regarding those who have passed on, is that most of these guys and gals were at the top of their game when it came to diving. Some of the fatalities such as Ron and Agnes were probably among the best at sidemounting and possibly solo diving ( self sufficiency ) and yet they are no longer with us so if it can happen to them, it can damn sure happen to the newly certified and those with minimum numbers of dives. Don't be in a big hurry to go "where no man has gone before"

[cmint]

One point that hasn't been mentioned regarding those who have passed on, is that most of these guys and gals were at the top of their game when it came to diving. Some of the fatalities such as Ron and Agnes were probably among the best at sidemounting and possibly solo diving ( self sufficiency ) and yet they are no longer with us so if it can happen to them, it can damn sure happen to the newly certified and those with minimum numbers of dives. Don't be in a big hurry to go "where no man has gone before"

I'm going to tread carefully here. I didn't know any of these divers personally and am going on what I have read posted here and other forums. hopefully I will not offend anyone, but I have to say that if you choose to leave all but one of your tanks behind and go cave diving with only one tank and one reg, you're not really at the top of your game; At least not on that day and at that time. It was a horrible decision, and if it occurred regularly I would hesitate to call that diver one of the best.

[inverted_bear]

I'm not going to keep pushing the idea of getting peacock open for solo. However, there's a pretty big difference (in terms of difficulty) between exploring no mount sections of tank cave and the first 1000' of Devils or the peanut tunnel.

That said, all of the deaths listed are very sobering, and they definitely lead to some self reflection.

[Kelly Jessop]

.

That said, all of the deaths listed are very sobering, and they definitely lead to some self reflection.

Exley's ,"Blue Print to Survival" is sobering, because each rule is the result of a death. Where it gets personal and self reflective is when you can start naming off friends that died in this sport.

[patpicos]

Exley's ,"Blue Print to Survival" is sobering, because each rule is the result of a death. Where it gets personal and self reflective is when you can start naming off friends that died in this sport.

result of a death ....or one of his own come to god moments