04/16/24
October 02, 2005
"There is no room for emotion or panic in the bowels of a dark hole.": This heart pounding account of extreme deep diving in the world's biggest underwater cave is the first I'd heard of the attempted recovery of the body of a young diver that had disappeared into the depths ten years ago.
This account is thrilling (yet tragic) stuff. It's...gripping, I dunno that I'd say I experience it as "thrilling". I had a feeling of how it was gonna go down pretty early on. In the realm of sports that sometimes produce bodies, body recovery is a pretty controversial thing. I know where I come down, but it's so close to the bone, you gotta stand aside and let people do what they're gonna do.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:16 PM on October 02, 2005
I got to bed at four on Saturday morning. By eight yesterday morning, I was eating breakfast. By the time I got into the house at eleven last night, I was just about dead on my feet, but some muppet had left OSM sitting open at the Ashes round-up on the sofa. Of course I read the cricket bits, and then stupidly thought I'd have a flick through the rest and stumbled upon this little beauty. Then I couldn't sleep, and when I finally did, kept having nightmares about drowning 900 feet underwater in a cave.
posted by JJ at 04:32 AM on October 03, 2005
Not in a million years. Not in a million-billion years. Terrifying.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:59 AM on October 03, 2005
The sentence "There's no room for panic in the bowels of a dark hole" is just dumbfounding. What kind of mind perceives of such a metaphor?
posted by dzot at 09:28 AM on October 03, 2005
Brilliantly written and a heroic dive. But at what point does an act stop being a sport and become folly? I know we've had this discussion to some extent before. I also understand it's an individual's right to choose to do what they wish, and I'm all for that, even if it means he or she ends up at the bottom of a 900-foot hole for 10 years. I'm just having a difficult time reconciling putting yourself almost certainly in harm's way with calling it a "sport." In my mind, a sport is something you do to challenge yourself and for the competitive aspects, but also you do for fun and with the expectation at the end of the event, you'll have a pretty good shot at being in one piece and breathing. This is most definitely an amazing show of endurance, but is it really any different than dodging traffic on an eight-lane interstate?
posted by wfrazerjr at 09:37 AM on October 03, 2005
is it really any different than dodging traffic on an eight-lane interstate? In at least one sense, yes: divers don't involve unsuspecting passers-by in their risk. But I take your point. The thing that I found most frightening about the article was the description of the intoxicated state that is inevitable after a very short time at such depths. I read that and thought about an analogous situation, of doing some other risky activity (like climbing or whitewater kayaking), but doing it with the proverbial four or five martinis on board. That's my measuring stick, and can't think of any reason why I'd ever be willing to do such a thing -- certainly not to recover a body.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:12 AM on October 03, 2005
I cant find the words to describe how this story has touched me. It is very well written.
posted by daddisamm at 10:24 AM on October 03, 2005
a sport is something you do to challenge yourself Check - it sounds reasonably challenging and for the competitive aspects Check - Dave Shaw was clearly getting a buzz from going deeper than anyone ever had (and lived). but also you do for fun Check - on the scale of weird-things-humans-do-for-fun this is way up there, but it's probably nowhere near the top. and with the expectation at the end of the event, you'll have a pretty good shot at being in one piece and breathing Check - they sounded pretty well prepared. It's not like he lobbed himself in there in a pair of Speedos screaming "Last one to the bottom's a twat!" As the article said: None of the divers who were with Shaw in Bushman's Hole think the dive was reckless. As support diver Mark Andrews puts it: 'If you asked me about the chances before the dive, I'd have said there is a 99 per cent chance of success and a one per cent chance he'll have to leave the body. And zero per cent that Dave wasn't coming back.' Some of the pictures in the paper version of OSM were quite moving - particularly the one of Dave Shaw in the water just before he went down (you want to reach into it and grab him by the scruff and suggest a rethink), and the series of stills from the video footage he shot while he was down there. Also in there, they had a graphic displaying the depth of the hole (shadows of a football pitch overlaid for those who don't do that anyway when converting distance) and a timeline of the events. I too am all for the individual's right to do whatever the hell they like to get their kicks as long as no one else is put out by it. I don't know Dave Shaw's wife, and I don't know what sort of discussions they had about it all, but it strikes me that if you're going to get heavily into cave diving, it might be better to be heavily single and have no friends who will mourn your loss. Now - shall we have the discussion about how ridiculous it is to say things like "At least he died doing what he loved?"
posted by JJ at 10:30 AM on October 03, 2005
Now - shall we have the discussion about how ridiculous it is to say things like "At least he died doing what he loved?" I'll pass, thanks. I already said my piece on that at some length elsewhere on SpoFi, I believe. BTW, I'm finding the comments in this thread nearly as good reading as the article. Truly.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:43 AM on October 03, 2005
Yes, it seems clear that preparedness was a big issue for them, and they took the steps they thought they needed to take in order to be successful. And I for one feel that bringing the body back is not without its importance - which they ultimately succeeded in doing at a terrible price. I for one am thankful that these people exist. The ones who cast the idea of folly aside and probe the depths of both the planet and human endurance. These are the kinds of people that make the discoveries needed. And they don't do it for money, or fame. I hope this special breed never opts for TGIF on NBC.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 11:57 AM on October 03, 2005
[extreme or not] diving ≠ sport RIP dead person.
posted by scully at 01:14 PM on October 03, 2005
RIP dead person. What the heck is this supposed to mean???
posted by daddisamm at 03:33 PM on October 03, 2005
RIP dead person. What the heck is this supposed to mean???
posted by daddisamm at 03:33 PM on October 03, 2005
RIP dead person. What the heck is this supposed to mean??? At a guess -- since the names are right there in the article -- I'd say it means that terrapin couldn't be bothered to read it, but wanted to comment anyway. It's not a very comfortable read, terrapin, so I don't recommend it for fun and yuks...but it does provide some insight into the methods of people who do this sort of thing, and I think you need some of that insight in order to make an informed judgement of "sport or not?" Not, mind you, that I think any of the people in the article would care in the least about what category their pastime fell under.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 09:47 PM on October 03, 2005
Searching for some more info on this suggests that it was a big deal (ie lots of coverage) at the time, particularly if you are into extreme diving. A South African dive blog offers some time capsule coverage of the incident (scroll up from that entry. Also, the article seems to have been reprinted in the OSM after having been published in Outside Magazine in August. This account is thrilling (yet tragic) stuff.