Crews continue search for missing cave
diver after finding one dead in Hernando
County springs

“ Once you get past the daylight zone or the cavern zone, then it's devoid of light. It's not dark, it's devoid of light,"…” “Devoid of light.” That’s dark. Interesting article. Thank you for posting.

I have done some spelunking in wild caves in my life. However, it want to be able to BREATHE the whole time, even it is takes longer to get to the entrance than I anticipated.

Looks like we could have a tie for the Darwin Award for Cave Divers.

Same as #2, I have been spelunking (caving) in wild caves since childhood, but never went anywhere underground that required SCUBA gear. Edd Sorenson, a rescue diver, has made 12,000 cave dives. I am impressed. Mr. Sorenson is a true expert in this dangerous game. Years ago I saw a film of the recovery of a drowned cave diver. Down where he had run out of air, there was absolute darkness, the same as in any other cave where the sun never shines. Zero light. The rescue diver explained later that in such an environment, a drowning diver doesn't know up from down. I can't even imagine anything as horrible as being in a place like that with no way out. But it's a risk, and risks can be irresistible. I'll pass on cave diving. Regular caves are more my speed.

Years ago I lived within easy driving range of dozens of these Florida spring-cave systems, and have swum and dove them since the late 1960s when I was in college and HS there. A good friend since that time is a world class cave diver, has done 6,000 ft mapping penetration dives in some systems, been a supporting diver for National Geographic expeditions to cenote cave systems in Mexico, worked for the state of Florida on water flows in these systems. He and I have done a number of cave dives over the years....including a cave dive on my wedding day at Devil's Eye, next to Ginnie Spring, which is now developed as a resort, and unrecognizable from the "spring in a cow pasture" days of the 70s. I don't claim to be a big league cave diver, I am not, but I have done it for over half a century and I am still alive and had a lot of fun. Admittedly, I go with far more experienced divers and have learned much from them, and I don't do the huge, multi-tank, long decompression dives. I'm a recreational diver, and doing it less and less often as I get older. But, every few years, my friend and I go out and do some free diving in a spring, or a canoe trip down one of the fine rivers that these springs feed. North central Florida has some wonderful places to visit in the wild. Unfortunately, my friend also has been on body recovery dives, and he really hates it, and has quit volunteering for those missions after doing a few. He says that they are horrible. But, the diving instructor is exactly correct, you cannot believe how absolutely devoid of light it is, and a lot of people don't realize the hazards - silt is easily stirred up in some caves wiping out visibility, passageways can all look the same, and without a safety line, you'll be lost, and decompression is required for some deep dives like this one. Back in the 70s and 80s we had to make our own lights from surplus Nike missile batteries and aircraft landing lights, today there are really high quality dive lights. We made our own safety line reels, too. And they were critical tools to getting back out alive. As that Great American Philosopher Harry Callahan said, "A man has got to know his limitations." Believe it.

As a rescue diver I can say that cave and interior wreck diving are two of the most dangerous things you can do . Right up there with solo free climbing.. There is no room for error and you need a back up crew and experience.

Ldotters are such interesting people. Thank you for these posts. BTW, I’m dreading the nightmare I know I’m going to have about this. What a terrifying way to go. Yikes.

Number 4 - I imagine it’s the same feeling that Mary Jo Kopechne endured for hours after Teddy Kennedy left her to die as he went back to his room to shower and eat breakfast . A horrible feeling.

I got my openwater diver cert. in Canyon Lake, my cave diving cert in Jacobs Well. Installing grates to keep divers from going into the lower chambers where deaths/recoveries happened almost every year. The Well is now in the middle of a park instead of out in a pasture, far from any road. I did some dry spelunking as well, though it wasn't always "dry", in fact quite muddy and crawling thorough batshit to get in,, and then breathing the foul air a mile underground where the people that had come before crapped and left it was ...not so fun. I soon after moved to better dive areas, bright sunlight, corals, turtles, dolphins, reef fish...sharks....w/surfing nearby.

https://twitter.com/pookleblinky/status/1457526482675376128/photo/1

Both of these divers went down yesterday morning, surfaced, and went back down. The first diver's body was recovered after it floated to the surface yesterday afternoon. Radio news reports at noon that the second diver's body was found at a depth of 137 feet this morning. A bad way to go. The coroner will have a report soon. I, too, am amazed that several in our crowd have had extensive experience cave diving. I can see the attraction. The view from below up through the azure water toward the sunlight is inspiring. So too can be formations in the depths illuminated only by portable light. If I had an interest in cave diving, I now know several people to seek out, people who always do it right, people whom I would trust with my life. Pretty neat.

Tampa is about a half day drive to the keys and some of the most beautiful diving in the world. For the life of me i cant imagine someone would rather risk their life diving a dark hole almost totally devoid of life

Maybe the stupidest recreational activity I ever heard.

#Me,Too. Long time diver here. Still logging ~50-100 dives/year but that's because I have amazing access. Never ever ever ever ever would consider cave, free, or wreck dives, no matter WHO my divemaster or buddy is. Thrillichillijilli loves adventure but likes wide open spaces on both land and sea, No dead ends devoid of light, uh uh. Fins up!

I've been watching a lot of cave diving videos on YouTube lately, which are filled with fascinating information about the discipline, knowledge, and skills associated with this hobby. My most interesting observation made so far is that were it not for cave divers there'd be no need for cave dive rescues. I am truly in awe of these men, but have come to realize that without A LOT of training, supervision, and planning should even a certified cave diver drop into the abyss. Never dive alone and do plenty of "gas planning," since long decompression stops may be necessary on the ascent, especially if you have to dive deeper to save your buddy! Edd Sorenson is THE best in the world at cave dive rescues, but even he is getting up there in years and must soon pass the torch to a younger man.

Some people need this kind of thrill. Risking one's life just to get an adrenalin high isn't thrilling it's stupid.

My rule is to never go beneath anything that will prevent you from proceeding straight up to the surface. And if, in fact, they dove to any significant depth on the first dive then their day should have ended at that point. Multiple dives in a dy is not a good practice.

When I was younger, I made thousands of open water dives.most were to 80 to 90 feet. I was in super condition both in muscularity and endurance. I only made a couple of dives to the 130 foot range and immediately started getting nitrogen narcosis. It strikes in seconds and leaves you feeling drunk and then helpless. After just a minute or so I started getting to shallow water. I was very bold and dove in cold, poor visibility and inside sunken vessels. I would never have attempted cave dives of over 130 feet.