Information request

[CaptnZ]

Hi guys and Gals,

I'm a new scuba diver and cave diving intrigues me, I'm also a writer and I'm working on a screenplay that involves cave diving. I'd like to pick someone's brain as to their experiences, equipment, emotions involved. Anyone interested? I'm in the Tampabay area and would like to speak to someone with some experience.

If you're interested let me know.

Thanks

[Tegg]

Please do us a favor and don't add ANYTHING to what may be described to you simply because it's not "intresting" enough...

I'm getting kind of tired of the press/writers messing things up when anything about technical diving is involved...

other then that, good luck.

[FreeFloat]

Please do us a favor and don't add ANYTHING to what may be described to you simply because it's not "intresting" enough...

Better yet, have him get a real diver to proofread his copy before it goes to print, just to ensure nothing gets unintentionally embellished or elaborated on when it shouldn't be.

[Gary]

Please understand CaptnZ that bad press for the sport is the status quo and largely undeserved.

Every report of "another killer cave" that is merely the result of some diver untrained in cave diving (or more rarely a trained cave diver not following the teachings) is another blow to the sport and leads to a not unjustified fear that another cave diving site will be lost to the sport and/or that the sport will be viewed and regulated in an ever poorer light.

The general result of attempting to inform the press with true and correct information in the past has largely resulted in the press seizing on whatever fraction of the truth they can bend to their purpose of pondering inaccurate sensationalist crap on their readership.

If you truly wanted good information on the subject the various organizational heads would make excellent and willing resources for your project. Senior instructors in most of the agencies would also make good resources.

Board rules prevent recommending any individual or agency on this board or I'd post a number of recomendations. However, if you wish recommendations can be sent to you via E-mail. If you have an E-mail address others can reach you at they may even contact you themselves if they come across this thread.

I hear that there is a movie in the works called "The Cave" (or somesuch) due out in the not too distant future that may also be interesting to you.

Good luck.

[FW]

This reminds me of an episode of "Wings". A reporter was interviewing the "wild" brother about all his harrowing experiences flying. The "level headed" brother wanted to be interviewed, but he never had a harrowing flight.

The main difference was the pilots attitude about safety. Cave Diving is much the same. If you plan safe cave dives, the risks are minimal. If you have a "devil may care" attitude, *nothing* in life is safe for you.

[Stu]

lol guys, aren't you reading a bit much into this?

CapZ *appears* to be simply trying to get some info on feelings and emotions for a fictional work of some sort, not for any sort of press article regarding cave diving. Since most of us here are still alive (apart from MikeH, judging by his picture), then most of us aren't going to have true firsthand experience of an OMG I'M GOING TO DIE scenario underwater. And around that time is the exciting/bad press part of the sport.

As for feelings and emotions while diving, it kind of depends what stage you're at. My guess is the same as you get while openwater diving for the most part - on your first few dives, it's a combination of task overload and WOW at the environment that you're in, then you get comfortable and get this warm, fuzzy and relaxed feeling, but with an edge of "this thing could kill me". Kind of like stroking a rotweiller's nuts - it lowers the blood pressure, but there's still that little voice that says "someday, you're going to push too hard and all that'll be left are bones".

I'd guess that just about every qualified, reasonably experienced and surviving cavediver has experienced and overcome stresses from task loading, loss of vis, loss of bearings (or simply jumping off the main line at the wrong point), and the real fun one of being in the silt and knowing that the only way out is to kick up more. Or maybe that's just me. Cavediving training is probably the most stressful thing I've gone through in a cave - you'll maybe do much trickier things later, but while training you're still trying to get the skills to handle them. All this while in lights-out, air sharing scenarios that won't generally occur in a normal day's cavediving, but that your instructor will throw at you anyway.

[CaptnZ]

Ok guys, I get the point. Ever see the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks? Well I work for that company and the worst thing about the movie was that all the pilots died and the jumpseater lived!!! By the way, we did have a pilot work with the filming crew on that movie and except for a few things they got it pretty close. If this gets bought, I'd love to have some expert input. This is not a movie about people dying because they are out diving for sport. I don't have any intention of having my wife read that because I would like to try it myself sometime too!
Stu, thanks for the input, I'd really like to pick someone's brain on the phone some time. If you're interested, write me.
Thanks guys.

[JR]

I'm a bit curious as to the level of breath and depth cavediving and/or diving will be developed in your screenplay? Will it be only an act like the plane crash in the Survivor? Who is the intended audience, the masses perhaps?
Sincerely, just an interested caver with a perspective differing as much as the next caver.

[Stu]

Looks like someone may have beaten you to it. Have you looked at www.karst com recently? Looks like a fullblown feature film on cavediving. Probably straight to video, but are you really going to tell me you won't buy it just to say "I'd never silt things up like that if a big scary monster was on my arse!" If so, you've never dived with Rich....

[DeWayne]

Ok guys, I get the point. Ever see the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks? Well I work for that company and the worst thing about the movie was that all the pilots died and the jumpseater lived!!! By the way, we did have a pilot work with the filming crew on that movie and except for a few things they got it pretty close. If this gets bought, I'd love to have some expert input. This is not a movie about people dying because they are out diving for sport. I don't have any intention of having my wife read that because I would like to try it myself sometime too!
Stu, thanks for the input, I'd really like to pick someone's brain on the phone some time. If you're interested, write me.
Thanks guys.

I talk to inanimate objects all the time, think you can make me a movie star?