John Reekie RIP

[chuuk]

Sad to say a cave diving pioneer-John Reekie has passed away. One of my mentors in sidemount/cave diving. Rest in peace John

[Webmaster]

Rest in peace.

Do you have a bio for those of us who may not be familiar with him?

[Kelly Jessop]

Thank you for reporting this. Great guy and had a unique flair for cave diving

[Jay]

Sad to say a cave diving pioneer-John Reekie has passed away. One of my mentors in sidemount/cave diving. Rest in peace John

This, I am not sure I have met him, but sorry to hear of your friend's passing.

[Kelly Jessop]

This, I am not sure I have met him, but sorry to hear of your friend's passing.

He used to be referred to as the Crazy Canadian by the Ginnie staff at that time who used to dive with him

[vinegarbiscuit]

Very sad to hear it. I didn't know the man, but I read about his exploits in books about Northeast wreck diving (e.g., Kevin F. McMurray's "Dark Descent: Diving and the Deadly Allure of the Empress of Ireland") and Floridian cave diving. He sounded like someone I would very much have liked to have known. I wish I had had an opportunity to see him in the water, too - I hear he was really something. It must have been incredibly difficult for him to forcibly retire from diving due to ill health.

[lonestarfl]

Sad to hear...I had lost contact with John....he took me on my first dive at Numero Uno when it was still called Numero Uno...lol
RIP John...I will miss your humor...that Canadian English, heh...and you impecable dive skills.
Lee

[Brent]

Those of you who knew John, can remember his extra large size and having said that, he and I did a no-mount dive into Little Devils upstream around the 91 time frame. He wanted me to go first but there was no way I was going to have a guy that size behind me. He led in and I'll have to say that for a big guy he could bend and twist around those corners with the best of them. I haven't seen him since Berman's memorial service but I did exchange an email or two over the years. John really liked cave diving but I would have to think that his first love was diving the Empress of Ireland. That wreck was special, for whatever reason, and even though he had a "near miss or two" on the Empress he continued with his exploration right up until he gave up diving. Knowing John, that was not a good day!
RIP "big guy"

[metaldector]

I knew John years before I got into cave diving. As a crazy Canadian he and I did a few beers together. He worked for the Canadian division of the company I worked for in the '90's, and after visiting us at the US HQ -soon as he could he lit out for cave country. I sadly never got to dive with him. RIP John.

[jjwells]

What happened? I dove with John back in the late 80's. One of my favorite dives with him was at Merritt's Mill pond at "Hole in the Wall" cave system. Lost track of John.