Following the tragic deaths of father and son Darrin Spivey and Dillon Sanchez on Christmas Day there has been a lot of talk around the Internet on the dangers of cave diving. In particular, the family of Darrin and Dillon are campaigning to close the cave which took their loved ones. Whilst I totally understand their grief this is clearly not the correct course of action.
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Unfortunately, the reason for this tragic incident was not the fact that cave diving is dangerous (although it is), the reason is that those involved attempted to dive an area which was far beyond their level of training. Darrin was not a diving instructor or a cave trained diver and his son was not a qualified diver at all. This terrible outcome could have been avoided.
It is with scary regularity that I see people undertaking dives which they are not trained to attempt. Those extra few metres in depth or entering overhead environments (wrecks and caves) without adequate training are causing you to gamble with your life. Diving is inherently dangerous, but intensive training allows us to minimize the risks and enjoy being underwater in relative safety. Cave diving can be exhilarating and rewarding. Wreck diving can be a thrilling historical journey. Deep diving can show you things you would never see anywhere else on the planet. All of these things however do require specialist training to ensure you can enjoy them and not play Russian Roulette with your life.
I will point out that I am not a cave diver. I am not beating the drum as a cave diving enthusiast. It is not an environment which appeals to me and I have not undertaken any cave training. For me personally, the risks outweigh the reward on what I will experience on the dive. The important thing here however is that a lot of people do want to try cave diving but without adequate training, the results can be fatal.
This video (which has been on the Internet for quite some time) was produced by cave diving specialists (National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section) to highlight the potential dangers of cave diving. To show that what seems quite simple can go very wrong, very quickly.
Please share this article and the video to highlight this issue. This is kind of safety message saves lives!
