Manatee Springs fatality?

[IowaCaveDiver]

I received some secondhand information today from a recreational diver who is involved in the local search and rescue team. Said there was a fatality at Manatee potentially a cave diver female with husband. Attempting to exit at the main head spring husband made it out female was trapped in a major restriction at exit and did not make it out. Body has yet to be recovered according to my source.

Horrible news to get just before the holiday. I'd be curious if there are any official details at this time.

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[rddvet]

That sucks. Out of curiosity, wasn't there a collapse or something that led to the main head spring not being a viable exit option? I believe I remember reading that and if this is true it would seem to coordinate

[rddvet]

Sadly, not fake news


https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/Di...565426851.html

[IowaCaveDiver]

I don't believe so however I cannot confirm. It's been a couple years since I've exited the head spring. I do recall you need to pretty much line yourself up prior to getting shot out of the hole or I could see how somebody might get pins and if you are not strong enough to get yourself out you can find yourself trapped fairly easily.

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[rddvet]

I don't believe so however I cannot confirm. It's been a couple years since I've exited the head spring. I do recall you need to pretty much line yourself up prior to getting shot out of the hole or I could see how somebody might get pins and if you are not strong enough to get yourself out you can find yourself trapped fairly easily.

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I've never exited via the headspring, so don't know. I thought I read something about changes at the downstream exit of the head spring but it's very possible I'm remembering incorrectly.

[IowaCaveDiver]

The Traverse from Catfish Hotel towards the mainspring is fairly short and could easily be perceived as a low-risk easy dive. I guess this goes to show we should never underestimate the hazards of even the simplest Dives.

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[Brent]

It appears that very few divers are aware of the "so called" chimney exit at the headspring. If the normal exit was blocked or restricted, this would certainly be an option. Ironically, this exit is only less than five feet away from where divers normally swim out. The chimney is, for the most part, solid rock and by that I mean no breakdown as such. In my opinion, the only thing that would block this exit is debris ( limbs and such ) that the current would push into the crack. Flow in here is off the scale. I've never done an exit for that reason, but I have entered here on numerous occasion.

[TracyN]

Exiting from the head spring is quite a ride. Even being totally negative if you don't grab on to rocks to slow your exit you will be shot out of there like a cannon ball.

[mdax]

Dang, head spring has a lot of places to get stuck and high velocity water. So sad.

[IowaCaveDiver]

What a horrifying experience for this poor diver. Being able to see the light of day and not be able to get to it.

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