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I know this was posted due to the Thai cave rescue but what is discussed in this manual and what they are doing are different. Exley wrote this because scuba di
by breals 8y ago
I know this was posted due to the Thai cave rescue but what is discussed in this manual and what they are doing are different. Exley wrote this because scuba divers, some even experienced cave divers, were dying in cave diving accidents and landowners in Florida were closing caves or banning diving. This blueprint is more accident/incident analysis than training material. It was required reading when I got cave trained ~17 years ago.
The Thai rescue will use some of these techniques but it's whole different set of challenges they have to deal with; being in a silt out with an untrained person who hasn't eaten or slept much for almost two weeks
Sadly Exley died a few years later trying to get into the record books for "deepest cave dive" which goes again "Going too deep"
- planteen 8y agoI visited Nacimiento del Río Mante on a spring break caving trip to Mexico ten years ago. We were a group of dry cavers headed back from the Aquismon area. We camped by the spring and I fondly remember swimming on top at night and exploring the small amount of dry cave there. The stream of water coming up was ridiculously strong and very warm. It was a surreal feeling, looking up at the stars and moon, knowing that below your feet there was almost a thousand feet of water extending hundreds of feet below sea level. I remember thinking that Exley's depth record there felt like reaching the moon in terms of exploration.
- paulcole 8y agoI grew up in Florida near some popular diving caves. One of the most memorable bits of local apocrypha was about the dead divers they pulled out. Lost in the dark and running low on air, they would claw at the limestone ceilings of the tunnels they were trapped in until the flesh of their fingers was worn away. Even then they’d keep scratching with their exposed bones. Never developed an interest in cave diving, myself.
- x0x0 8y agoFor people who've never had the experience, it's stunning how fast a stray kick into the silt can turn the water in a cave pitch black. Like barely able to see your hand dark. Even when you're used to it most people will find it very claustrophobic. From the surface, it's easy to say just follow the guide cables the divers have no doubt installed. Doing that in person is quite different. The other issue is these are some calorie deprived kids probably not in shape for an extended workout. Maintaining body heat and fighting a not-particularly strong current for 10 hours is taxing for very physically fit people who haven't been food deprived. And who aren't scared out of their minds and burning through oxygen.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago> For people who've never had the experience, it's stunning how fast a stray kick into the silt can turn the water in a cave pitch black. Like barely able to see your hand dark. Even when you're used to it most people will find it very claustrophobic. For some reason reading this made me shiver in fear. I don't usually visualize scary stuff when I read it, but this did it. I know I would be scared to death if it were to happen to me.
- callahad 8y agoIn practice, the training is excellent and you'll have dozens of zero-visibility experiences before finishing the certification. You learn that as long as you have the line in your hand and you stuck to your gas limits, you have everything you need to make it out alive, even if it takes you twice as long to do so. ...the trick is what happens when you don't have the guideline in your hand, or something goes wrong with your equipment, or someone's tanks run out, or a diver gets lost, etc. But you train for that, too.
- gaius 8y agoFrom the surface, it's easy to say just follow the guide cables the divers have no doubt installed Someone asked my cave instructor, if you lose the line how long should you search for it? The rest of your life, he replied.
- astr0n0m3r 8y agoI didn't think a silt out was relevant to this cave.