Imagine the excitement you felt when you first decided to learn to scuba dive. Perhaps this is how a Florida father and son who received brand new diving equipment for Christmas felt when they decided to try it out at Eagle’s Nest Sink in Weeki Wachee Florida. Their story is a tragic one that highlights the importance of proper training.
A Heart-Wrenching Scuba Diving Accident
Darrin Spivey was an experienced diver but was not a certified cave diver. His fifteen-year-old son Dillon Sanchez enjoyed diving, but he did not even have an open water certification. The father and son had received new scuba gear for Christmas, and that same Christmas morning, they made the decision to go diving.
Eagle’s Nest Sink is one of the world’s most challenging cave diving sites, with maximum depth at about 300 feet. Located in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Refuge, which also offers shallow saltwater bays and estuaries, the site is accessible to the public. It has a sign near its entrance that reads: “Cave Diving in this area is extremely dangerous – even life threatening! Do Not Dive unless you are a certified cave diver!” Despite the warning, at least six divers have died in the cave since 1981, with the most recent before this incident taking place in 2009.
Darrin’s fiancé, Holly King, became concerned when the victims failed to return home after several hours. When she drove to the cave and saw that their vehicle was still in the parking lot, she kitted up and dove into Eagle’s Sink alone to search for them. After failing to locate them, she notified authorities.
They were last seen alive by a hunter who saw them wearing their diving gear at 11 a.m. Rescue divers hurried to the site Christmas Night, and tragically, they found both Darrin and Dillon deceased inside the cave at approximately 8:30 p.m. Darrin’s body was recovered from atop a mound on the floor of the “Ballroom” at the cave’s entrance at a depth of 127 feet, while Dillon’s remains were located floating against the cave’s ceiling at a depth of 67 feet.
Robert Brooks, who is an experienced cave diver and an acquaintance of Darrin’s, told reporters that these horrific deaths could have been completely avoided. “The sad thing is, I told him, ‘One night they’re going to call me to come get you.’” He had urged Darrin to stay out of the cave in the past, and Darrin had assured him that he wasn’t going beyond the Ballroom into the miles of narrow tunnels beyond.
Brooks was one of the divers who aided in the recovery effort. He said that the deaths, which have been ruled accidental drownings, appear to be the result of actions taken by a diver who attempted to exceed the boundaries of his training and experience.
Family members said that the victims had been diving at Eagle’s Nest Sink several times in the past and respected the dangerous conditions. Holly King told reporters that “The top thing on their minds was safety. They never pushed it. Darrin loved his family and loved his kids and wouldn’t risk anything.”
Darrin’s mother, Sylvia Spivey, said that Dillon had “found his niche. His dad would put him through drills so he’d know it like the back of his hand.” He was enrolled in the Junior ROTC program at his high school and would spend hours studying dive manuals in preparation for earning his c-card.
Brooks said that both victims’ dive computers indicated that they had descended to a depth of 233 feet, and that both victims had run out of air. Dillon’s air was consumed first, and it appeared that he had been buddy breathing with his father as the two raced to get back to the spare tanks they had stationed at 130 feet. They almost made it; Darrin’s body was located next to the spare cylinders.
Even if Darrin and Dillon had been able to breathe from the tanks, they would have needed about an hour to ascend and decompress, as they were breathing simple compressed air rather than blended gas. Brooks told reporters that it didn’t appear that the spare cylinders contained enough air for adequate decompression. He noted that it was clear that Darrin had taken a great amount of care in preparing the equipment the two had on hand, but their lack of experience and appropriate gear proved to be fatal. He summed it up, saying that the father and son were “pretty much doomed from the start.”
Comments
Very sad and preventable!!