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Koszty reaches for the name of the one death on record that he recalls may be attributed to external, geological changes.
“Parker Turner,” Koszty says, tentatively.
While Turner explored a cave with a teammate, a sand slide in the cavern area plugged the exit. The sand moved into the cave violently, triggering a current that caused silt – fine, sedimentary particles that obstruct vision underwater – to be blown an estimated 500 feet into the cave. Although the teammate survived, Parker remained trapped in the sand and debris.
Within the diving community, this fatality is regarded as the sole deadly case without fault of the reputedly cautious diver.
“The things we dive in are always changing over thousands of years. We don’t get to see that – diving under what’s going to be another sinkhole, pressure changes, instablility of the water,” Koszty says.
From the cautious to the carefree, cave divers know natural elements need considering. The upkick of silt while in a cave spells danger, possibly causing low to zero visibility. Once visibility becomes a problem, the diver runs the risk of losing the guideline to the surface.
Even the most basic cave-diving course distinguishes between the simple, flapping fin techniques of an open-water diver and the more controlled, advanced fin techniques of a cave diver.
“Frog kicks – not flutters – sideways kicks so it doesn’t kick up silt and turning around in tight spaces, reverse kicks,” said Thompson, stressing the importance of a horizontal profile instead of a novice’s typically vertical profile. “[Mastering sideway kicks] is partly of experience; beginners should not be going into silt caves.”
Cave diver John Moseley, 48, understands first-hand the adrenaline rush of a close call with silt upkick even after approximately 600 dives since 1992.
“I was coming out of a cave real tight and I had to take my tanks off, and it was tight and silty and I’m feeling line but can’t read the computer on my wrist. Then I’m trapped and hit my head on the wall because the cave went from 2 feet to 5 inches. The line was pulled over me, and I followed it into a little crevice with no visibility and went into a solid wall and couldn’t go any further. I finally went into a little space and went 25 to 30 feet and followed my way out,” Moseley says evenly.
It was worth it
Despite close calls with silting, equipment snags and cocky cave divers, Moseley would get up at the crack of dawn to do it again. He can spout a litany of rewards from his daredevil hobby.
“Cave diving is fascinating. The big beautiful formations in the limestone; the different colors; the clay layers over the years; the neat geographic designs in the walls; sand dollars sticking out of the walls,” says Moseley, who once wandered through a shallow cave for four hours.
“It’s very relaxing – just floating. No telephones, no noise, just you, crackling sounds, just you, fish, the regulator and your breathing,” he says.
Moseley prefers river caves that aren’t publicly known and less traveled. He enjoys the pristine caves unlike ones at Ginnie Springs, which are covered in thousands of handprints on the cave walls, he said.
Finding answers
Be it the solitude or the curious innards of Devil’s Ear, Tindale couldn’t stay away. Reports confirm that his intentions were to scuba dive and in all likelihood he lacked the proper equipment of several lights and a continuous guideline. Was he aware of the Thirds Air Rule? His friends said he had a few minutes of air the final time he went down to explore. Reports of his death reveal his unpreparedness by cave diving without a teammate, certification and a plan.
“You’ve got to plan your dive and dive to plan. Know the routes you’re taking and stick with that,” says Thompson.
He explains that even if he had participated in thousands of open water dives he still wouldn’t go cave diving without an instructor.
“There’s a higher possibility you won’t make it to the dive site. There’s a higher statistic of being killed on the way,” Koszty says. “If I feel there’s too many questions, then I have to be able to answer the what-if’s. If you can’t visualize the dive, and I don’t have a plan, I don’t do the dive.”