Tell us about Marine Wrecks/Disasters/Diving

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell us about Marine Wrecks/Disasters/Diving

let it mellow: Jun 1, 2000; Dinosaur Gum

13Pandora13 posted:

Blue Hole, New Mexico is a popular tourist destination. It's a lovely clear water body (specifically, a spring water fed sinkhole)...

...that also happens to feature a network of underwater caves that were immensely popular with divers until 1976 when two divers (of a team of 10) perished. The actual final depth of the caves is largely unknown, it's only been explored to about 200 feet, and after the accident a grate was installed to keep would-be diving thrill seekers out. Diving is still permitted in Blue Hole, but open water only - the caves were completely sealed off.

That was, until the caves were re-opened to minimal surveying exploration in 2013, with successful dives/rock clearing not commencing until 2015 - a short lived effort, when in March of this year, a highly experienced diver from California died:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/mar/31/veteran-scuba-diver-shane-thompson-dies-underwater-cave-accident-new-mexico
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/expert-diver-dies-blue-hole-caverns-new-mexico-article-1.2586285

The group he was diving with has a page regarding exploration/surveying of the caves and it's history of the 1976 fatality, but no mention of Shane Thompson: http://www.admfoundation.org/projects/santarosa/santarosaexpedition.html or any possible future dives. Local news sources reported shortly after that no more cave diving was to occur, but to the best of my knowledge it hasn't been permanently re-sealed.

Reports from divers who have been in the caves describe a massive underwater cliff that expands so far and deep end walls cannot be seen, and huge networks of chambers and tunnels.

Curiously, if you google "blue hole accident," the New Mexico site is not the only location that will turn up.

Blue Hole, Dahab, Egypt, is the deadliest diving spot in the world and is also a sinkhole system (within the Red Sea). It was the location of the now infamous recorded scuba diving death of Yuri Lipski, who's helmet camera was intact when his body was recovered. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eejQPUyeNiY Warning - there is no visibly graphic footage, but his distress is clearly apparent and audibly gruesome. Slate had a pretty good write up of the circumstances http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2014/03/04/diver_s_cemetery_the_blue_hole_of_dahab_on_the_red_sea_in_egypt.html

That video analysis is kinda useless. The most salient point they make is when they point out the first time he checks his computer is at 80-90 meters / 265-300 feet at which point he is likely already hosed. I don't know what gas he was diving, will check the slate article in a few, but he was probably narced all to hell (someone earlier posted the nitrogen narcosis issue I think) and was all past any legit deco chance, unless there were spare tanks or he was doing a rebreather. I also don't believe that was an air integrated computer given the date and the way it looked, so you never see him check air, but I'll hold off on that thought until I read the article.

The second most salient point they make is that he has too much weight. I'm guessing that was intentional but the loving guy took himself ridiculously deep very quickly without paying attention to where he was or the possibility of getting narced.

They also made a point early on about him being an instructor. That's meaningless. I'm a lowly rescue diver, my wife's a lowly AOW, but we have dove with instructors both much more knowledgeable than us and instructors that were incredibly unsafe - it's entirely possible to get instructor cert within about a month.

Anyway, pupdive or someone like that should comment on this video, but it is representative of extremely dumb diving.

E: oh for fucks sake

quote:

t didn't help that Lipski had just one tank full of air

for reference, we have done the Belize blue hole and at ~150 feet / 45 meters, you have 8 minutes of time before you have to ascend. This has to do with nitrogen absorption (the bends) and also the fact that every atmosphere of pressure increases your air consumption. A breath at ~33 feet / 10 meters underwater takes twice as much air out of your tank as a breath at sea level. So he was dead as soon as he looked at his computer for the first time.

The guy was a loving idiot.

let it mellow fucked around with this message at 03:43 on Oct 16, 2016

# ¿ Oct 16, 2016 03:37

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tell us about Marine Wrecks/Disasters/Diving