Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

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Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby Cheryl Jones » Aug 28, 2010 2:46 pm

30-year old Ben McDaniel of Collierville, Tennessee, was last seen Wednesday night at Vortex Springs in Ponce de Leon. Divers are continuing to search for his body in an underwater cave that runs more than16-hundred feet.
http://www.waltonsun.com/news/search-53 ... rings.html
http://www.newsherald.com/news/loss-864 ... ourns.html

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http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/1013 ... n=comments
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby Squirrel Girl » Aug 28, 2010 7:58 pm

Actually, after repeated attempts at finding a body, the recovery teams have quit looking. They had some good divers on the team and it's very low and extremely silty in there.
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby rlboyce » Aug 28, 2010 8:25 pm

I am no diver so I am unaware of the importance of such matters, but would it make a difference if there was a high water flow, or if the water was flowing in/out?
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby harrym » Aug 31, 2010 5:14 am

rlboyce wrote:I am no diver so I am unaware of the importance of such matters, but would it make a difference if there was a high water flow, or if the water was flowing in/out?


Water flow affects visibility, depending on the cave. High flow can either wash-in debris and ruin the visibility, or wash-out the debris and improve visibility.

Flow also affects how much gas you utilize, or conversely, how much gas you have to bring with you, and limits how far you can penetrate into the cave.

In a spring, the water flow is out of the cave. Therefore you have to fight against the current to penetrate into the cave. If the flow is high, you've got to work rather hard. Therefore you burn through your gas much faster, and your penetration distance is limited. You get a free ride heading out of the cave, though.

In a siphon, the water flow is into the cave. I don't dive siphons anymore, don't care for them. In a siphon you are carried with the current as you enter the cave, but then you have to fight against the current to exit the cave. If you plan properly you have enough gas to make it out alive!

For example, in one cave with no flow I was able to penetrate over 3,500 feet with a single set of tanks before we had to turn around. In another cave with high flow (a spring), I was able to penentrate only 800 feet before my gas supplies required that we turned around. Big difference.
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby Squirrel Girl » Sep 2, 2010 4:32 am

Barbara Anne am Ende

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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby batrotter » Sep 2, 2010 5:45 am

Your link got truncated or something:


http://www.newsherald.com/news/ponce-86 ... esume.html
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby Chads93GT » Oct 4, 2010 12:02 am

Did they ever find this poor kid?
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby Squirrel Girl » Oct 4, 2010 3:23 am

Chads93GT wrote:Did they ever find this poor kid?


No. They used cadaver dogs that indicated the presence of decomposing material. They used an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to no avail.
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby Chads93GT » Oct 4, 2010 10:46 pm

damn that sucks.
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Re: Diver Missing in Vortex Springs, FL

Postby DeanWiseman » Oct 13, 2011 10:51 am

I once did some diving in the Vortex Springs Open Water area... and we just dropped down the bottom of where the entrance is. Even doing that, the silt kicked up. Up until then, I had contemplated getting some training, but after that, I knew serious cave diving wasn't for me.

:shrug:

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