Teen age kid and his older cousinOriginally Posted by Kelly Jessop
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Teen age kid and his older cousin
Tom Johnson / tj
Administrator/Sponsor
Dayo Scuba North
Live Oak, Suwannee County, Florida
Cave Evaluator/IT TDI
NEWS
Bodies Of Cave Divers Found
February 21, 2001
LIVE OAK -- The bodies of two Georgia scuba divers were found more than 500 feet inside a treacherous spring cave, police said. Mark Anthony Granger, 19, and William Anthony Ridenour, 34, both of Kingsland, Ga., received their diving certifications Sunday and were on a dive with their instructor when they died, authorities said. Rescue divers found Granger's body Monday morning in 40 feet of water 500 feet inside the Royal Springs cave, police said. Ridenour's body, which Hall said was hard to find because of silt in the water, was later recovered about 50 feet farther in.
So the story showed them as "cave divers"?
It's not the years in your life that matter, but the life in your years.
To the average uninformed reporter, any diver in a cave is, of course, a "cave diver", irrespective of training, certification, or lack thereof. Just as all our SCUBA cylinders are usually called "oxygen tanks" no matter what they contain.
I was already there. The most dangerous thing in the cave is man-made. There is a birdnest #### storm of cave line in there that was never pulled from previous recoveries.
From what I saw there isn't much to see, it gets kinda tight eventually and T's a few times. The only reason I would ever go back is to pull out the old line. The cave itself is fairly boring and poor viz. Exiting viz is probably top 3 worst I've experienced. The cavern was the most interesting part of the dive. Lots of freshwater flounder.
It was a kid and his dad's best friend. I saw the recovery video - gruesome.
Whoever said money can't buy love never bought a puppy.
I've spent a lot of time there. Very nice place, but it bites back if you let it. I worked my way into the cave very cautiously, but I see many opportunities for little mistakes to kill.
Three friends have died because they overestimated their skills or underestimated the cave. I've gotten into three situations where I could have as well. I have immensely more respect for the cave now.
I would dive royal again, but why? There are many other caves to line, reline, and survey. Of course some of them are dangerous too, but every year I get more cautious and see new ways to stay safe. Also, finding the mask of one of the deceased creeped me out. I replaced it in the silt but sometimes wonder if putting it on the mantelpiece would be a good reminder to think twice and dive once.
I wouldn't dive these places solo though, especially to learn survey and lining skills, I think you need a mentor to help you know what's best at first. The time I spent in the water with my mentors helped a ton. I'm better at lining and doing it safely after learning from people who do it every weekend for the last 15 years! And working with them, I've been to far more interesting and safe cave than Royal!
I've been at Royal way back in 1995 when the sand boil amongst the logs was not a boil, but a steady flow. At the time, the run going out to the river was about 3 1/2 feet deep and you could see clearly from the slope where the boardwalk is now all the way to the cave entrance. You want to talk about a phenomenal cavern sight? I would rate that experience right up there with the few revelations I have witnessed watching the sunbeams from the cavern at Jug Hole. Sadly, I have yet to experience a dive at Royal that was as pristine since.
On another note, I saw the birthing of catfish right inside the first right turn after the first left turn into the cave. There must have been 4 or 5 mothers because there were little HUNDREDS of tiny little baby catfish squirming around, none larger than a dime. That alone makes Royal unique in my mind. But as most here have written, the cave is not worth the risk IMO. Gate it off and you wouldn't hurt my feelings.
Thomas
So...they got their OW certs on Sunday and went diving in a cave (as opposed to cave diving) with their OW instructor on Monday. Gives a bad name to people from Georgia.
No disrespect to the dead intended, but I get this mental of image of two brand new OW divers jumping up and down waving their hands yelling "Pick me Mr. Grim Reaper!! Pick Me!!"
I know it's hard to believe, but Royal used to be clear, with a spring run that flowed out to the river. I actually have one of my first dive logs from 1999 where I logged how much clearer it was than Blue Grotto (I assume because fewer divers), and how cool all the fish in there were when I brought cheese.
Anyways, I shared that to say that I don't think their goal was to get towards the back in this case, even though they ended up there. They were found dead in the terminal room from what I hear, and there's simply no way on earth that was intentional. I would guess that they went to the first room or so, where it's still large, and likely VERY clear at the time, silted it out, and then kept crawling further and further into the cave, thinking they were exiting.
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