Divers React to Sheck Exley's Final Dive
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 มิ.ย. 2022
- Sheck Exley is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of cave diving, and he died at age 45 while trying to set a depth record by diving the world's deepest sinkhole. We review the details behind this tragic dive and walk through all the lessons we can learn from it.
Original video from @MrDeified: • Disaster cave diving t...
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I'm not a diver, don't want to be a diver, don't watch diving videos or channels, but I love Gus and Woody.
Same!
Yup, same here.
Same!
If you like the water, like the ocean, and like watching those ocean life documentaries, you should get scuba certified. It will change you forever. And it is safe. There is a relatively short list of really important rules that are pretty easy to follow for a basic open water diver. You follow the rules, and you are safe. You follow your training and don't skip steps like pre dive buddy checks, etc, you are safe. You go maverick and dive outside your training/capabilities/comfort zone... you are in serious danger. You never dive anything you aren't comfortable with. That doesn't mean you aren't nervous on your first dive of a certain type that you have been trained for, but that you are confident in your ability and training. It's easy to stay safe as a scuba diver, even advanced open water where you are certified for depths of 130ft, and usually after deep dive certification comes nitrox gas certification. Hell, you probably want to get nitrox certified first as people swear by it and say they feel much less tired after dives etc.
The dive this video is about went bad because they broke the rules. There was a clear abort condition long before problems started compounding. Shaking... abort. Being at all surprised at your gas consumption... not checking gauges. You don't get surprised at your gas levels. That's a huge fuck up. That Jim made it back is a fucking miracle. And you see their reaction at diving to those depths on air before switch to a proper mix... another big fat nope. All these are rules broken. Diving rules are written in blood. I'm not qualified to judge these men. I don't know what the rules were at the time they dived this. But rules as tech divers know them now were broken and that's a fact. I'm not a tech diver. I've got about 100 or so dives. My next cert if I can ever get wet again will be nitrox. I'm certified for low vis/night, deep (130ft), just Advanced Open Water, but still not a tech diver. I don't do decompression at all or caves at all or caverns that aren't clearly approved by people much wiser than me for open water divers. I don't dive in ship wrecks that aren't clearly OK'd for open water divers. These wrecks are gutted and have clear exits and no chance of entanglement, and I would never entire one at night. I'd like to get cavern certified, that would be ok by me, but as for any kind of decompression or cave diving. That is not for me. I always want up to be an option.
TLDR: Scuba is FUCKING AMAZING. Follow the rules and you are safe. Ignore the rules and you could die. It's actually one of the few things that can be boiled down to that kind of simplicity. Follow the rules, all the rules, and you are good.
Me too
Someone once said about Sheck, "It's not a tragedy that he died at 45. It's a miracle he lived to 45"
As cave divers we're forever in debt to him for the lessons he taught us.
Lol at you pretending to be a cave diver
@@Hello-ig1px dang.. I'm busted
I have developed a resistance to nitrous that they give you at the dentist. Man, I miss the rush and then oblivion that I used to get from nitrous! Now, it doesn’t affect me at all.
@@jjsmama401
steve-o, is that you?
@@Hello-ig1px always that one guy
Woody, to answer your question you absolutely CAN develop a resistance to narcosis. I am highly susceptible to it. However, in 1995 I was working on a film where we dove to 150 feet on air every day for a month on Kwajalein Atoll. The first few days, I was almost unable to function. By the end, we were popping down to 200' routinely and I was fine. But I can tell you that the effect wears off rapidly. A few months later, I'm quite sure I would not have been able to do that. Right now if I did 200 on air I would probably not come back.
Yup, deepest air dive I've done was 170 and I was narced off my ass. I don't bother with deeper than the recreational limit of 130 now, and rarely exceed 110.
Tech doesn't interest me much at all.
Try this and you will end up on ballen 😂
@@jonathanbradley4896 going to 170 without training in honestly kind of insane… no thanks I pass on that
This is interesting. I searched on PubMed (the most famous medical library) for articles but nitrogen narcosis resistance was NEVER studied. This doesn’t mean you’re wrong, it only means that real studies need to be conducted on this subject.
@@tylerbest194 without training? No one said without training? If you’re diving 10 feet without training, you’re incompetent.
When I was a diving instructor I'll never forget being in a bar and my gf at the time, an extremely experienced diver and cave diver (literally thousands of dives), saying she didn't think narcosis existed. She'd dived umpteen times to 60m on air etc. Never felt it.
Literally a week later, she dived a 30m wreck and almost missed the wreck because she was narcked.
You mean she almost missed the wreck dive ? or do u mean she missed the wreck bc she was narc'd ?
@@FloridaMikey she almost missed the wreck because she was narc'd
@@josm1481
You mean she almost missed the wreck dive ? or do u mean she missed the wreck bc she was narc'd ?
@@traviscole4121 she almost missed the wreck. You're the second person to ask. My comment mustn't be clear. I'll try correct that
I've got a few thousand dives, never felt narcosis at 30m and rarely at 60m, but i certainly have felt it
That dive was insane 800+ feet, it really boggles the mind. I just wonder where the dive industry would be if Shek was still alive today. R.I.P to a great legend.
Sheck Exley was my swim coach at SHS, teacher, and friend. Glad to see you keeping his memory alive.
Hey buddy
@@bojiden5042 hey bud!!
@@themysterypooper9230 got bud, bud
Your friend is probably the biggest inspirations of my life. I never got to meet him, but it's not overstating things to say he defined most of my adult life and inspired most of my accomplishments. Both in and outside of diving. The man is among the greatest Americans to ever have lived!
Anyone who says this is a fake
What's eerie about Sheck Exley's death and Dave Shaw's death is they both died in a system where recovery of the body was practically impossible, as the only people that could dive to those depths were the ones that perished at those depths, yet both are recovered when the stage equipment is recovered.
David Shaw had about 400 dives when he died. He was primarily just bold I'd say. He made numerous errors we can all learn from. Sheck and Dave are not comparable.
Sheck's air tank was found intentionally tied to the line. Jim thought that Sheck did this intentionally when he realised he was going to die in order to aid recovery and prevent people dying to get his body.
@@LarsDennert I would say in a sense they are comparable due to the fact that Dave still knew the risk and decided to recover Sheck anyway despite knowing 9 times out of 10 he wasn’t going to make it. Am I wrong or missing something? Because no matter who had more dives they both perished in the same dive attempted. Dave was just willing To die to recover sheck.
@@drelocs2878david shaw died somewhere else...sheck was qualified
@@drelocs2878 Shaw died in the Outback while trying to recover a body for the Family, if I am not mistaken.. Bushmans hole??? Not sure
As a Respiratory Therapist Woody’s question is an interesting one. We do see patients who develop resistance to increased carbon dioxide levels which usually make you somnolent. Great question!
As a doctor in the field of bs detection, I can confidently say that you are full of it
@@Hello-ig1px think what you like, Co2 retention is a real process in chronic smokers. Body compensates for it given the time. Maybe the smell you perceive is your own level of BS
@@Hello-ig1px you tell the commenter he's full of it, but then contribute literally nothing to substantiate why, or to give correct information, or any information at all that could be useful to the conversation. Id expect alot more from a "doctor". But maybe that's because you don't have anything useful to contribute, and saying, "Err herr durr..yer full of it..durr.." is about the best that you can muster. In which case you should probably just sit there quietly, while you eat your glue and crayons, and do not interrupt adults while they are talking.
@@mattjack3983 i'll be the bigger person
@@Hello-ig1px I am also a respiratory therapist and yes people can obtain a resistance to high CO2. A normal persons CO2 is between 35 and 45mmHg. I have seen people awake and alert that have smoked for 40 or more years with a CO2 of 80 and even higher. their bodies have adapted to it. Now are you just a troll or just an idiot that doesn't listen to people who now what they are talking about because you are an idiot.
If it was determined that he was born with these extra physiological abilities as opposed to obtaining them through practice and experience then it’s a magnificent coincidence that his passion was for diving👌❤️
He was born with it. That's the only way he survived to do what he did. He was a pioneer. Pioneering is dangerous.
@@mikegamerguy4776 Definitely agree. Many pioneers in all areas of science and exploration have died trying to get to know the unknown.
No such thing as coincidences 😉 he was born to be a great diver.
I agree
I think even if I have this ability, I'm too much of a landlubber. 🤣 My ass is staying on land, see ya when you all get back. Deep water freaks me out. I don know why I torture myself with these videos!
I want to start by saying I'm a massive fan of the channel! Thank you for your content and the reaction to this video. You both do an excellent job explaining and entertaining. You have built a fantastic community of divers and non-divers alike.
I am not a diver and try to do my best to provide accurate information in my videos. But, yes, there was an error on the dive depth I mentioned at the 8:02 time stamp. Thanks for clarifying, Woody.
In my research, I found that Sheck and Jim were using air at extreme depths (over 120ft) because they felt they could and were trying to get used to the effects of nitrogen narcosis. Sheck was always trying to push the limits of his dives and I think this played a part in him breaking modern-day dive/ safety rules. It would be safer to say Sheck and Jim were trying to get used to the impact of nitrogen narcosis rather than build a tolerance. It is not certain they were trying to develop tolerance but they might have thought it was possible in the year 1994. If you google "Sheck Exley incident report" the first link to the PDF explains the technicalities of their dive, which was used as research for this video.
Keep doing the good job!
For a non diver this was amazing!
@@jcvanier Thank you!
@@vvtor I appreciate that!
Thank you for your video - it was fascinating 🌸
Sheck did use a tri-mix on this dive as a travel mix of 10.5% O2, 50% Helium& 39.5% of 10.5% O2, 50% Helium& 39.5% Nitrogen.
To get from 290 -580ft. He chose a bottom tri-mix of 6%O2,29% N2 & 65% Helium. This gave an equivalent air depth of 274ft for his N2 narcosis exposure, which he thought he could handle. Post dive investigation showed he had breathed both his bottom mix tanks empty. He then breathed his one travel mix tank empty. His second travel tank was unused. His BC tank was empty, BC partially inflated.
My take on this - This was a breath control issue. He breathed too fast on the way down, & ran out of gas. He changed to his travel mix,& passed out before he went for his second travel mix. He would be exposed to high Nitrogen, high Oxygen & high Carbon di-oxide,& thick air.my guess is the thick air was the deciding factor- it is 29 times as dense,& is like breathing honey - you can not breath fast. When the effort of breathing produces more CO2 than you can get rid of at that breathing rate you develop Hypercapnia, pass out & die.
In my book, this is what also happened to Dave Shaw.
In the 60s in Durban, South Africa, I was a diver on the construction of 2 sewage pipelines from the shore to 234ft. We lost 6 divers on that job, & as they were working progressively deeper it did not appear to have a preventative effect.
Acclimatisation dives are still recommended before deep dives commercially, but the real control of N2 narcosis is the restriction of air use to 50m (165ft.)
As a result of these deaths, South Africa became the first country (to the best of my knowledge) to issue a Commercial Diver's ticket.
I was Diver #005,which was very cool in those days (James Bond's 00# was a license to kill. )
I did about 30 dives between 150 & 234ft,& narcs came at it's own times. There is always some effect, but on occasions it was enough to scare me, as I felt I was passing out. I first experienced this on a 140ft dive the day after a 180 footer. This concerned me, as I should have been acclimatised ( 1960s theory). I have not found that build-up dives are needed for me, but still build up my commercial students to 50min stages according to accepted international training standards. It can not hurt & it might help some people.
I have only had nice narcs once. I got ugly narcs, anxious, determined not to pass out & hot to the extent I would flush my hood to cool my head. It was only when I did my Diving Medical Officers course that I learnt I had been poisoning myself. I was a skip breather. I held every breath, so I developed hypercapnia,- symptoms -anxiety & flushed face. These days we teach -do not skip breathe.
About the "I first experienced this on a 140ft dive the day after a 180 footer. This concerned me, as I should have been acclimatised" bit:
I wonder if the differences in trimix ratios could account for why someone may get a worse nitrogen narcosis reaction at a lower depth? How accurately are the mixture percentages, especially back 60some years ago? Perhaps on the deeper dive you had a mixture more suited to you, and on the shallower dive you were using a mix that was a half a percentage, or a full percentage point off from the other one, if the system used to measure the ratios wasn't perfect it could maybe explain this, since I know narcosis is tied a lot to the specific ratios within a given trimix tank?
@@Night_Hawk_475 Back then we were diving on 21/79 - straight air. As a result of the lost divers air dives were subsequently restricted to 150', deeper dives required heliox.
@@frogmanant ohh, I see o-o
Thanks for explaining :)
Though even with heliox I still wonder just how accurate the ratio desired was to the ratio actually put in the tank. Since sometimes only a percentage point or two seems to be the difference between what various people prefer in their personal mixes.
Also from South Africa. Love dive stories know nothing about youtube video knowledge about diving. Loved reading your comment. You should write vlogs about your diving stories. Would be a nice read.
Gus and Woody, thank you for your excellent channel. You guys asked a few questions during this video. I hope I do not come off as presumptuous. Sheck has been probably the most important influence of my life. I learned about his push at Mante at a young age, and that one article defined my entire path in diving, and much of my path in life. While my cave training came after his death, I have been blessed with friends and mentors who did know him and have shared stories about him with me.
Gloves: I do not believe those are dry gloves. Sheck was known for diving with dishwashing gloves. After having my fingertips bleed from limestone abrasion, I can certainly understand why.
Rebreathers: There is at least one photo I know of with Sheck diving prototype Cis-Lunar rebreather, but I do not believe he ever used it for any of his serious pushes. If memory serves this photo was taken at Wakulla, which would fit because Bill Stone and the US Deep Cave team was working that system around that time.
They absolutely had and used Trimix. Bowden mentions his travel gas was “HeliAir 50” (Trimix 10/50). His bottom mix was Trimix 69.5/6.4, which is the same Sheck used at Mante. It seems likely they stuck with a bottom gas that worked on a previous dive of similar depth. Sheck also used Nitrox for decompression on his Mante dive. We do have the decompression schedule for that particular dive (published in Sheck’s book and online). One could reasonably assume the schedule and gasses for this dive were similar. Bowden wrote that their narcosis acclimation dives were intended to prepare the for the high END they would experience at the bottom. They didn’t know exactly how deep the system was, so they thought it best to prepare for an END of about 300 feet at 1000 feet down. Both Sheck and Jim had experienced HPNS on earlier dives, so one might speculate they were keeping the N2 content as high as possible to buffer against that. Remember, at the time, divers were much more comfortable with the idea of narcosis than they were with the poorly understood symptoms and consequences of HPNS. Watching those guys dive Pearse Resurgence, It still blows me away how comfortable people have become with HPNS.
I wanted to avoid commentary on the source material but I just can’t help it. If your are interested in sources, most of this is from Bowden’s epilogue in Sheck’s excellent book “Caverns Measureless to Man”. At 21:44 the information in this video falls apart. The person who made the video seems to confuse accounts or simply make things up. We have absolutely no idea what Sheck experienced at that point on the dive. Any reported experience or motivation attributed to him past this point should be considered made up, speculative or conflated. Sheck did not return from this dive, so we have no idea what he experienced. All we know is that he reached a max depth of 906 feet and that his tanks were empty. He did experience HPNS in Mante, but obviously nobody knows if he experienced it on this dive.
Things fall more or less back into line when they mention Jim turning the dive after having realized he’d breathed more gas than anticipated. That said, I have never seen any accounts of Jim’s first stage disconnecting from the the hose, and I find that to be extremely unlikely. There was one staged reg that continued free-flowing when he turned on the deco tank so he did have to feather the tank valve between stops for about 8 minutes. These are NOT the kind of guys who would forget to tighten down their second stage on the LP hose.
As Gus said, it is probably NOT true that Sheck randomly drifted up and became entangled in line. Those who were there insist he deliberately wrapped the line around his wrists and tank valves and theorized that he probably did so in anticipation of his own death to prevent any dangerous body recovery operations.
I’m just now realizing that I’m one of those guys who left a several paragraph long comment on a TH-cam video. I’m going to have to do some serious soul searching about that. Thanks for reading. I hope this was helpful and that I did not come off as presumptuous.
Thanks again, Woddy and Gus! You guys are awesome!
Brett Gilliam’s article “ZACATON: The Tragic Death of Sheck Exley“ should be considered an accurate summation of this dive.
Thank you!
@@DIVETALK I believe you absolutely could build up a resistance to it - IF YOU DO IT SLOWLY.
It's basically the same way people build resistance to alcohol, pain medications, anxiety medications, etc..
The problem is, say you built your tollerance up.. if you don't keep it up and it happens you'll die anyways.
Bottom line: it's not a good strategy.
11:05 that's the most awesome "to scale" "graph" I've ever seen.
It's not to-scale, rather it's to-scale based on who's accomplished what and in what year
Not a diver, just fascinated by it. I throughly enjoyed your long explanation thank you! I was very interested reading the whole thing and I usually don't like terribly long winded comments. Kuddos to you for your excellent writing and explanation! 👏
Thank you for this quality answer! I appreciate it.
Sheck used to teach and do presentations out at my Spring many years ago. He is one of only 3 people to dive my spring and went 250 ft deep. True legend
What spring is this?
@@DIVETALK Alapaha Rise. Largest spring in the world.
@@DIVETALK field trip??
@@xplicitstyle in florida ?
@@451dev yes
Usually the technicalities of diving doesn't seem very interesting to learn about.
But this channel makes it interesting, makes me wanna learn more.
Not because I wanna dive, but it seems pretty fascinating. Totally different world down there.
It really is a different and exciting world and both peacfull but at the same time dangerous, but thanks to people like Mr. exley made safer... We Divers owe our procedures and Lifes to pioneers like him..
I free dive I use one breath and I get 3 minutes to zoom around like Superman it’s so peaceful and beautiful but dangerous and tricky it’s humbling 🖤🦈
@@reeperkeegan7241 I used to free dive but one day thought what I could see if I was not limited to just one breath, so I got scuba certified and well have quite literaly never looked back ever, "Once you go scuba, youll never go back" lol
@@richardlong4076 I’m 17 and workin really hard to be able to scuba dive it’s my dream and my life goal I will not stop until I can do it professionally and scuba is really cool but I’m still a free diver at heart 😁🦈
I agree. I never would have thought that listening cave divers talk about cave diving is exciting and fascinating. I also once thought that I got to do this one day but realize that I am not really cut out for this kind of adventure. Im just interested in learning about this field but never would I do this kind of field.
Although hearing about the deaths of cave divers is sad and often frightening, hearing the joy and wonder in your voices as you talk about the caves, the water, the experiences...I understand why someone would want to dive, even with the risks involved. Thank you for letting us come along for the ride, and being so honest about both the joys and dangers of the hobby.
Edit: When it comes to "why would you do that?", I'm reminded of George Mallory being asked just that - why did he want to climb Everest? His answer - which I think every adventurer understands deep in their heart - was "Because it's there."
Cave diving is much more dangerous than regular diving. Diving is still dangerous though.
I had a lung collapse a few years ago, and learned I would never be able to scuba dive in my life. Now, don't worry I had never scuba dived before my lung collapse and didn't plan to after but it just shows the interest level you guys are able to keep even for someone like me who will never need to know these things lol. Thanks for the content and wish you guys safe diving on all your future trips.
Nice to know I’m not alone- I lost my left lung to cancer 12 years ago. Never smoked a day in my life. I loved diving, some of my most treasured memories are the beautiful springs I would dive with my husband on summer breaks. Since I lost my lung I have been and will always be banned from diving, understandably. It was a real thing I had to grieve, I loved it so much. This channel and all the people who film their dives lets me feel like I can experience it through them , and I am so grateful ❤️ 🌊 🤿
It depends on the diving bell. Some wet bells, ie open at the bottom will have an umbilical that feeds air to the bell, then to the divers. Type 1 bells feed air from the surface directly to the divers, generally thier umbilicals will pass through the bell then the divers exit and dive from the other side, giving them a line back to the bell. During bail out they will exit the opposite side, where thier lines come into the bell allowing a clear path to the surface. A closed bell is normally fed air from the surface, then from the bell to the divers, mostly because they are used in saturation diving. The divers often descend with the closed bell at the pressure needed for the depth they are going to, this is also true for ascending. Pressurisation is normally done at the surface where the closed bell locks to a hyperbaric chamber and the pressure is raised or lowered gradually there depending if they are just going down or just got back up.
Yes I just watched a couple of vids on saturation diving. Man that's intense
I do believe some people are just born with special abilities not found in most people. When their natural abilities also coincide with their life's passion, they become pioneers. Also, the narrator was great. I could understand technical things easily from him, just like I do from the two of you! There's a reason I'm a subscriber. 👍
My grandfather passed yesterday and somehow this channel came across my feed and helped me through today. I know nothing about diving but your channel is very interesting. I’ve watched maybe 7 shows today keep up the great work and give cowboy a break lol
A little more background on Sheck's final dive:
Both Sheck and Jim breathed air to 290', then a 10.5/50 travel mix to 580', and finally a bottom mix from that point with around 6% O2. The incident report in aquaCORPS says 6/29 for Exley and 6.4/31 for Bowden, but that makes no sense given the travel mix and that they were diving "heliair" which is spot-on for the 10.5/50 travel mix (i.e. tank half filled with helium then topped with air @ 21% O2 giving 10.5% final fO2). The same incident report also states they targeted an END of 274' @ 970' and a PPO2 of
I start my first “real” job in two hours and watching a new Dive Talk video is the perfect way to calm my nerves!!
Hell yeahh! Congrats, have a Great first day! >:D
The first day can be terrifying, but you'll be *hopefully* positively surprised! Good luck ^^
No worries bro, you got this!!! Just keep trying to get better jobs and more training. Do what you love
Congrats!!!
Today is a first day for me too. Back to work after a month.
I have terrible claustrophobia and fear of deep water and watching these videos help me with my issues. Thanks Gus and Woody!!
This was heartbreaking 💔 I’m so sorry for his family friends students and community. I’m not a diver nor do I plan to . I’m an older athlete who does hyperbaric chambers and finds it uncomfortable at 40/50 ft with oxygen. I have so much respect.
Woody and I have one thing in common. We both got “one” hair cut! 😂 I got my open water certification on the reef in Ambergris Caye, Belize. The dive instructor and I went down to 70 feet at one point. The attraction to go deeper was extreme. Had I been alone I know I would have. Lucky for me the instructor was there and the little bit of training I had at that moment was enough to stop me. But recalling that moment of looking down at the reef and canyons going out from shore was absolutely amazing and the draw towards exploring those deeps was inhumanly strong. The only reason I’m able to make this comment today is that I was able to turn away and go back to the surface with the instructor. If you get to Ambergris Caye go to Scuba School Belize. The best dive shop on the island!
Ah, the call of the deep. That desire to explore is one of the things that put me off cave diving. I started the training, but figured my desire to explore would probably kill me. Also wonder if that draw is behind the legends of sirens & mermaids luring divers to their deaths. Unlikely, and getting narc'd is a more plausible explanation. It's strange the way the mind works though, ie a couple of times I've thought about extending a dive because I've got reserve air, and I haven't needed it.. yet.
Is that where the ambergris is at?
@@brolohalflemming7042 I know it'd kill me.
My dad has the very same haircut lol. One day, he came into the hair dressing shop where I was having my hair done, he dead pan faced, took his beanie off, and said to the assistant “so…what can you do for me?” Her face was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen 😂 I had to tell her “take no notice. It’s my dad” as she really didn’t know what to say. Lol.
@@brolohalflemming7042 amazing. I get claustrophobic just reading the titles of cave diving videos.
It seems like you can acclimate yourself to diving deep, but if you push it, you’re in trouble. Sheck had problems at his preparatory dive in Africa, and I tend to think that weakened instead of strengthened his body. It reminds me of being a heat casualty in the Army. I had friends who became heat casualties at boot camp, and they were always more sensitive to heat after that. I grew up in hot, humid, Texas with no air conditioning, so to me, the 95 degrees and humid at boot camp was no big deal. In fact, it was 10 degrees cooler than what I was used to. But if I’d ever gotten into a situation where my body didn’t have enough electrolytes or whatever, and I ended up having a heat stroke, you can bet I’d be weakened for a long time-maybe even permanently.
Yeah, I started having issues with heat while I was volunteering during a heat wave - I suddenly started getting chills and I was like ‘ok, this is not right’ and went and got myself into cool air so I didn’t end up needing medical attention - and that was like 10 years ago and I’m better than I was but I still don’t have the heat tolerance I used to. It was the third day of volunteering all day in the heat and I think I just got dehydrated and couldn’t cool off properly.
It definitely weakens you to have heat stroke. I was dumb last year, didn’t notice how hot it was, thought I was drinking enough and then I started feeling faint. I was about 50 yards from the house, no shade, by the time I got there I was in trouble. I threw up and recovered but the rest of the year heat was an issue. It’s still an issue this summer.
Very good point.
Yes friends.. Southern Arkansas gets warm and humid.. I was even working in the garage last summer.. wasnt drinking enough water..
Got heat stroked, took like 6 months to recover all the way.. Im doing much better this summer so far, but im not pushing it at all..
Can confirm I had severe heat exhaustion when I was younger the doctors said it was borderline heat stroke and ever since then the heat makes me super sick
Great video guys! Love how you explain the different aspects of diving. Have a great afternoon!
Thanks Brian!
Man that speech by woody at the end on why humans push records really makes so much sense, as someone who does a few 'Extreme' sports im aware of a handful of people in each sport that are right on the knifes edge of what is possible vs certain death and i've racked my brain for years trying to come up with a simple way to explain why they do it other than 'bragging rights'. thanks woody, you are a very clever guy
This is very minor in comparison to shek, but relatable to your comment. I was an addict for almost twenty years, clean for two years, started diving less than a year ago. While getting certified, we were 30 ft down doing the partner out of air drill. I hit the purge accidentally just before putting the regulator in my mouth, so instead of air I drank water. I obviously made it out, but something about that dive got me hooked. For some, you don’t really feel alive unless you’re aware of death being there. My addiction has been replaced, every minute of my day I’m thinking about my next dive.
@@johnbrooks756congrats on being clean and finding things that make you happy wishing u love
In my opinion not bragging rights. I did extreme things to push myself to get closer to the edge. Lived on it for years. Many near death experiences. Living life.
I think you guys are awesome! Your video formats are second to none. Don't change a bloody thing, you both have the magic formula for presenting interesting and educational videos.
Can you imagine being underwater grieving and having to stay under there to decompress? You can’t just leave and grieve properly, you have to still run through the process. That’s so sad to me.
It would be a super lonely, awful situation.
@@paddlefar9175 seriously… i’m glad she had someone holding her on the way up cause that’s just so sad.
Everyone is different
@@thecloneguyz Lol! What a funny/ odd comment. What do you picture yourself doing if you were in a situation like that? Working out details to a home Reno? Lol!
@@paddlefar9175 everyone's grieving and mourning process is different people don't grieve and mourn just because you think they should in a moment that you think they should or what you think you would do because most people are wrong when you're sitting at home on the couch and you really end up in that situation you rarely do what you thought you would do
It's funny when people like you project your emotions and thoughts into the comments section instead of just your opinion
"SHOW ME ON THIS DOLL WHERE MY WORDS HURT YOU THE MOST SO WE CAN TALK ABOUT YOUR OUCHEY"
I love this channel so much. It is always so interesting. I am so afraid of deep water but I am considering learning to scuba. I like the analytical thought process that goes into it that I think that would help me over come my fear. Thank you for always explaining things to us non-divers. Keep up the excellent work guys.
I haven’t been afraid of deep water but I can say that when I was little I used to be more scared of ocean animals at the beach but once I started learning about them in school I was way less scared of them so maybe it will be the same for you where you can learn about how safe diving is and all the safety things that exist so it’ll reassure you it isn’t scary!
I was born and raised in Live Oak FL. Sheck was a teacher at my high school. I became a certified open water diver in 1986 and call Sheck Exley my friend. What people don't know is, he was also a skilled martial artist and led a karate club for us school kids. Those who knew him could tell you he was of strong mind. Im sure this had a great deal to do with his ability to control his body with his mind.
I’m not even a diver but y’all have me wanting to learn more about it keep it up💯💯💯
started watching DT's Gus and Woody because I was writing a story about cave diving. i've seen most if not all of their videos, and i'd consider myself an avid fan, and my excitement is immeasurable whenever there's a new upload.
Hi Woody and Gus, just wanted to say what a huge fan I am of your content. In 2019 I done a try dive in Gran Canaria and had wanted to do it again ever since (I live in the UK). after stumbling across your channel through Mr Ballen and watching so many of your videos I finally 6 week ago contacted a local dive club (BSAC) and have just done my 4th pool dive and loving it. Can't wait to complete my training to being an open water diver and drysuit trained. Although I don't think I will ever have the nerves to train to be a Cave Diver as great as it looks on some of your videos (the ones that don't end in disaster). Keep doing what your doing :)
Omg I didn't even know there was a channel like this. Love what you guys do
Moment of silence for Sheck!! Rest in peace brother , may your legacy live forever!
This was one of my favorite videos you guys have reacted to, as sad as it is. It presented a much clearer picture of this incident than I have seen before. It was clearly a huge loss for the diving community, but Sheck’s life and death will inform the community for decades to come. Thank you for sharing.
You guys can be so passive aggressive to each other... its HILARIOUS. "We weren't thinking you were gonna be the guy to do that" 33:09 LOLOLOL I'm dead. LOVE YOU GUYS!
That's crazy Woody, 7000 dives is like 20 solid years of everyday diving, if that doesn't show and speak to your passion for diving then I have no idea what would
Read a lot about that Final dive. Him and his colleague had trained for months to get their bodies used to that depth but Sheck had had a few issues in that training but his colleague did not.
Also, apparently Sheck wrapped his rope around his wrist in his final moments to make easier for his body to be recovered..though I tend to think he was too narced to know what was happening.
Odd things is, his friend actually dived deeper than Sheck did that day and yet he was ok.
They really were pushing the limits of fresh water diving and That dive was the World Record ( by Sheck's divemate) for quite some time
I have heard from a very close heroin addict friend who has worked on the Sydney Harbour bridge zero disability jobs and he even told ,r that why sick hanging out on heroin not having any or enough to operate he could even find a lezel that he wouldn't get sick from the nitrogen narcossis holding him why he worked he has had a Embalysm before and at close to 70 is the fittest man I know.
@@jesusrodriguezrodriguez7630 Wait. I’m sorry but is there anyway you can fix that comment a bit? I understand if English isn’t your first language or something but it seems like you just gave some really intriguing information and I’m trying to make sure I’m understanding correctly!
I promise you I’m not trying to be an asshole at all!!! I wouldn’t be commenting on it if I wasn’t truly interested in what you were trying to convey.
@@dlrowmotemoclew I think he was saying he worked with someone who used heroin regularly, and this person would function normally while high. He was drawing a comparison to Shek practicing deep dives on air to induce narcosis. Shek was trying to practice drills on air at 300-400' depths to simulate the effect of being narced on TRI mix at 900'. That's my theory anyway.
@@Jimmy_CV That’s insane! My knowledge in diving is solely based on this channel but even I can appreciate that man’s innovative mind. He was a genius!
Sounds like they're saying that since they guy had an embolism before they're suggesting that made him resistant to something? It could be interesting if any of it is true but it sounds to me like nonsense.
I’m not a cave diver I’d love to try scuba diving at some point and I want these guys to train me! Great videos and insight! Keep it up, I’ll keep watching and learning!
Is scuba diving just as dangerous as cave diving? I would like to scuba also but am a chicken!
@@pastpresentfuture3599 it just depends on the depth you are diving at. But cave diving is for experienced people and it seems more dangerous due to the fact if something happens you can’t make and emergency bail to air. I probably wouldn’t want to go deeper than 30-40 feet.
@@pastpresentfuture3599 recreational diving is much less dangerous than cave diving, and is a safe sport if properly trained. Get certified, you won’t regret it
I just want to say thanks for the information and reactions. I’ve been watching a lot of videos regarding diving recently (mostly morbid) and it’s nice to have some input from people who know their stuff. I’ve been a fan of Mr B Allen and mrdeified for a while and it’s nice to have extra input to some of the story’s I’ve been made familiar with.
Stay safe!
Please do a story on Opal from Cozumel. They did a bounce dive without mixed gas and she died. Another guy was paralyzed due to it. She worked for Scuba Mau
6 breaths a minute is pretty easy, but remembering to regulate your breath work for ten hours seems insane!
It seems to me that sheck had some physiological differences that allowed him to achieve extreme feats that would be impossible for a vast majority. I’m also inclined to believe that heat also have obtained some of these abilities from the sheer amount of time spent diving. If not, it’s a magnificent coincidence that such a unique human with these abilities just happened to get into diving. He really does appear to be the grandfather of cave diving👏❤️
Humans have a seemingly endless amount of physiological anomalies that allow them to do crazy stuff. He definitely has something different that gives him a resistance to it.
Maybe it could've been a result of other drugs like meth or some kind of upper. Idk just a theory im throwing out.
Even in death sheck made his way back to the surface what an absolute legend rest in paradise
I am from Sweden, my name is Linn - I don’t dive, I have never tried, just snorkeling…. I like your videos so a huge hug from me in Sweden 🇸🇪
I had an ex fiancée from Gavle. Her name is Pia. Best relationship of my life.
Your videos never fail to amaze me. There’s always something for everyone in them and you two are such down to earth dudes! I hope I eventually get the pleasure of meeting y’all!
I found your channel a couple days ago and I've been binge watching since. Great content! I'm not a diver and actually have really bad claustrophobia but with how informative your videos are, it makes me really excited to *think* about learning. Probably won't but it's not an absolute no anymore. Haha!
"Hundreds of small concentric circles, each with a sparkling dot at its center filled his vision. His body began itching and stinging. It was high pressure nervous syndrome". Wow, that sure is a lot of detail given that he died on the dive and never got to tell anyone precisely what happened ...
This was SO great, thank you! I don't dive but I find it really interesting. I have also watched a lot of stuff from the channel that you were watching and he's great, I love that you appreciated his video so much. You guys are amazing.
@MrDeified has great cave and cave diving content. Glad you guys found him.
Thank you for all your videos.
I found your channel because I wanted to learn more about something that took the life of 3 of my family members during WW2. I can now understand how my Great Uncles born in a tiny town in Mississippi ended up becoming divers in the late 1930's-1945 and the beauty the found under the waves.
This was fantastic! Thank you so much for showing and reacting to it. He was like the iron man of diving. Holy moly how i wish i would have known him and learned from his experience. What a warrior!💪💪
You guys are like family. I love seeing you on here when you post something new. It’s like getting to see 2 of my best buddies. Absolutely 10/10 channel.
Also at 99 feet you will be breathing three times the air volume you would at the surface. So the deeper you go, the less air you will have available. If you forget this fact, you may be surprised your air supply is being consumed rapidly.
This was fascinating guys, so sad he lost his life, but just shows you even the most experienced diver can have trouble and lose their life, no matter how prepared they are. Not a diver at all but find it totally fascinating. Stay safe guys 🤿🤿
By far one of the best channels on TH-cam. I could listen to these guys all day. I don't even know how to swim that well. The chance of me driving is the same as guss finding aliens at the bottom of a dry cave.
"playing football without a helmet to get used to concussions" is actually an excellent analogy, Gus. I know enough about human physiology from my marine bio major to know that certain chemical and structural processes cannot be overcome, though how we react from individual to individual may vary. Some folks may pass out and lose memory from concussions more than others, but that doesn't mean that there is much distance between breaking points between individuals.
I love you guys ♡ love listening to your stories and reactions. I'm a non diver but find it all so fascinating. Best wishes to you both from England x
This is maybe a little unrelated but I noticed that Gus has a nice watch collection! I've seen Yachtmasters, Deepsea Sea-Dwellers and now this nice IWC big pilot! Could you show your collection online one day? ^^ I'm really into luxury watches but can't afford many myself. Btw it's awesome when a diver wears dive watches, kinda rare to see them on the right wrists so to speak.
If I ever build up the courage to learn to dive, I'll have definitely have learned a lot. Keep up the good work!
I jus watched the original video 2 days ago its crazy how this dive goes 😳
I am not a diver but man watching you guys keeps me interested in the water and learning the knowledge and dangers of being unprepared or safe
If he had a detached reg at 400ft with a tank fully open, the speed the tank would empty would be super fast. Having done a 200ft dive I can tell you its amazing how fast you breath a tank dry even breathing normally.
As a doctor, i can say its impossible for humans to develop a tolerance to nitrogen narcosis. You can, however, learn to cope with its effects. Sheck might be able to keep functioning DESPITE being narc'ed. Same way that some drunks are still able to drive, do math, etc. I enjoy your channel. Keep it up guys!
I've been sukking down nos balluns avery day for a couple of yeers now and I'm duing absollootelee fyne…
So, since this is an extremely dangerous activity and should be avoided while drunk/narc'd since one wrong move and you could get yourself/others killed
Thats pretty much what tolerance means mister doctor. "Same way that some drunks are still able to drive".. thats literally tolerance to the substance
I just love to see a doctor call people suffering from alcohol addiction “drunks.” That’s a good sign that you treat all people with empathy and respect, even when they’re mentally ill.
You’re describing tolerance, though. People physically dependent on alcohol are chemically tolerant to the effects of alcohol. It’s not that they experience the same effects but are just able to cope with them. They literally don’t suffer from the same degrees of negative side effects when highly dependent. They also don’t experience the same positive effects.
So, I have doubts about your assertion that people can’t become tolerant to nitrogen narcosis because your analogy is invalid.
It’s kind of remarkable that a doctor is not familiar with simple pharmacodynamic principles such as tolerance and dependence.
@@soberserotonin1850 🔥 🔥 😂
What lures me to cave diving or diving in general is seeing the geological processes, evidence of plate tectonics, and other earth forming processes. As geologists know, the ocean plates are dense, thin, and are almost all basalt. The continental crust is a heterogeneous mix of rock types. I find that super fascinating and being able to take a look at the caves and see the folds and faults in the strata of the crust would be such a great experience.
A few years ago I watched a special about the Congo river. They found that it was as deep as 700 or 800 (can’t remember exactly) feet in places. They also discovered it was separated by shallow areas of rapids. In each slower moving section there was a unique ecosystem. They posited that the river may have the highest biodiversity on the planet due to the number of individual, slow moving and extremely deep sections. I was curious if anyone knows whether there have been any diving expeditions? I know the constant volatility of the region would make this difficult. However, if there have been any instances of people diving this river it would be awesome to hear you guys talk about it! If indeed nothing of this sort has been done I’d like to formally extend my personal invitation to hire mercenaries, fight your way in, dive, fight your way back out and tell me what you saw. I’d do it myself but I can’t swim.
That would be an amazing dive, that river has crocodiles and massive snakes tho so I would die of a heart attack once the first thing brushed my leg 😅
Goliath tigerfish!
Loved this episode. Not due to the death of a legend, but just hearing the facts on Sheck's advancement of diving and the obvious huge respect you have for him. I'd looked it up before, but hadn't found a video that went into the details as much.
I’m not a diver nor interested into Doing diving but I love your channel because you guys give us expert insight to diving that the average man like me can learn
You guys are great, you react to a lot of videos ive watched before ever finding you guys and add so much to the video... keep up the good work
I love watching you guys, even on dives I would never consider. I got into diving just recently and have learned so much from y'all. This was a whirlwind of a story.
Its my understanding that narcosis resistance can be developed and increased for short periods in the same way you can acclimatize to high altitude when climbing mountains. Bowden and Sheck both spent time diving to 300'-400' on air, multiple dives, to build narc tolerance during prep for this dive. And Shecl definitely tied himself in. His descent line was looped and ties were made around the tank valves, not his body. It was a purposeful final act to spare anyone trying to come look for him, and spare himself an eternity in the dark.
This is a crazy story. Question for the dive talk guys…. Was this considered a cave dive? I’m sure light was nonexistent due to the depth, but it appears there wasn’t an overhead obstruction.
That’s a really good point Ryan, perhaps it was technically a cavern dive but like you said it was considered a cave due to extreme depth 👍
No not a cave dive. There was no overhead enclosure. Just a really dark hole.
There is a ledge feature they mention. This may include enough overhead enclosure to be considered a cave. ?
I waited to watch this ….as I knew it was going to be an immense tragedy, it’s obvious he was a tremendous, well respected pioneer and such a great loss to the dive community 😪 my condolences to all who knew, loved and admired him. He lived to the fullest ❤️
I’m Full Cave and in class you learn all about the pioneers in overhead diving. Actually met some people that dove with him. He help make practices that made overhead diving practical and safe.
You guys are amazing! I remember specifically asking for this video and I am so happy you guys finally did it. Been going through probably one of the darkest periods of my life right now, so I really have been relying on you guys to keep me distracted. Thank you again guys. Another amazing job.
As a fellow viewer of this amazing channel it’s sad to hear you’re going through some tough times Matthew. You’re not alone bud and please remember that you matter very much. I do hope things start to pick up soon. Felicity x
keep your head up pimp
Thank you very much, it truly means a lot to hear those words. And to receive the kindness from this community that these two amazing guys have built, I just can’t believe it
This guy did a serious amount of homework in regards to medical complications from diving at depth. That was really great to see.
0:17 “You looked the same…for 20 years” love these guys
It's impossible to develop a tolerance to nitrogen narcosis but it is possible to learn to cope with the effects of nitrogen narcosis through exposure. I think that's what MrDeified is referring to when he says tolerance to narcosis.
Surely it depends on how the person uses the word Nitrogen narcosis. If people are only describing the effect, surely by the laws of everything human, you can build some sort of tolerance to the effects, I find it impossible that someone would feel exactly the same level of narcosis at 200ft on their first dive and their hundredth. The human brain can be build a tolerance to any kind of emotion or feeling, so although I dont have the education on nitrogen as an element, I do have education in the more phycological aspect of elements and compounds and you can 100% build a tolerance to anything that gives you a feeling.
@@jakethompson5732 Tolerance to nitrogen narcosis is not backed up by any scientific evidence, as far as I know.
@@Dovahcrap But tolerance to any form of intoxication is a known thing for humans, does nitrogen narcosis not intoxicate you? This is where my education lets me down, I dont actually understand how the nitrogen creates the inebriated feelings, but what i do know is our brains build tolerance to feeling certain ways. People who have spoke about getting nitrogen narcosis have compared it to being in a sort of drunk state , which would mean that you can become more tolerant to the effects.
Do you maybe think there isnt any solid science because its such a simple answer. Of coarse you can build tolerance to something that makes you feel drunk.
@@jakethompson5732 As far as I know, there has yet to be an exact cause for nitrogen narcosis. Nitrogen narcosis happens when compressed air is inhaled under high pressure but the exact process is not yet well understood.
@@Dovahcrap I kind of see where i might be wrong then, Nitrogen must not be acting as a sort of drug to cause the inebriation like i imagined it, otherwise there would be a clear ability to become tolerant. It must be creating the inebriation different to how lets say cannabis or alcohol creates an inebriation.
I just don't get how something can intoxicate you, yet not be able to build a tolerance. Do we know of any other element or compound that can intoxicate you without being able to build a tolerance
Watching all these videos makes me want to start diving, while I've hated swimming for all of my life
That's why they invented floaties.🌊🦄
Non diver here. Glad y’all reacted to this video. I had previously seen it, but didn’t understand everything he was saying. Thanks for explaining it and thanks for your content. Glad y’all do what you do. I don’t even get in kiddie pools cause I’m afraid of water!
"Six breaths per minute!?" *Gus's face of astonishment* I nearly spit my drink out laughing!
There's no word to describe Sheck or this cave dive other than as just insane. I mean this in the kindest way possible about him.
Woody, you're literally my uncle Joe's twin. From looks to personality. love you guys. Thanks for keeping me distracted and making my day wetter💘😁
Videos like these are so valuable, for it is better to learn from others' mistake than from your own.
What an incredible story. I had to pause it several times to let it sink in (pun not intended). Thank you for sharing that I love the commentary 🙏
So I don't know if it's true or not but I heard that in his last moments Sheck had the clear-headedness to wrap his line around his arm so his body could eventually be recovered. That's amazing to me with all that was going on down there with him to be able to think about that.
I was just yesterday looking again at the video where they mentioned Sheck's death (Hole That Killed 16 People). Just another awesome video guys.
Almost done with my diving instructor classes and looking forward to one day taking a class with you guys.
Sheck sounds like an amazing pioneer of the sport, thank you for this retelling!
I am cave diving in your channel now. Thank you for bringing me into the caves all over the world.
Jim himself was incredibly lucky to make it with that regulator failure.
And I totally agree that mentality is that of a test pilot or astronaut
I think the key line was “Sheck was really competitive” and was pushing to set new records. Ego pushed too far. It’s sad, and really shouldn’t have happened.
People been catching me watching your videos and ask " you do scuba diving " and my answer is always " i do not " but this guys make me feel like i know what they're talking about . 😆
I have absolutely zero want/need to go diving, I actually can't swim & Don't like water.. but I LOVE you guys 🤿 you make it fascinating to learn about, I had to idea it was so technical. A guy at my work is a dive instructor I believe, he teaches some sort of dive class, and it gives me so much more respect for him. And in awe of him. This is awesome content i accidentally stumbled upon!
21:34 Perhaps it was Normalization of Deviance? Sheck had made such deep Air dives before and lived, so he'd be more comfortable using Air to that same depth before switching to trimix. It's a common cause for errors.
during that period. helium was considered a "difficult gas to decompress". that's because they used modified air decompression tables that were not really accurate for trimix (far less deep stops). there was many bends cases during trimix usage. so they avoid using it as much as possible... they were been safe, not reckless.
fortunately for us, decompression research advanced, and those tables were recalculate. now a days pretty much all tables have have very different decompression profiles for different gases (zhl vpm, rgbm, and so on. ..)
Were you guys ever scared? Like in the beginning of all this was there a time where you seriously considered not going further with diving?
I’m terrified of the idea of diving now that I’m older. I love the ocean, I love the water, swimming all that but the thought of diving and having my kids with me scares the daylights outta me.
Not really...you don't become a cave diver overnight...it takes a lot of practice and ease into it.
@@DIVETALK that’s awesome! maybe I’ll start with snorkelling lol work my way up :p
Don't tell PADI: About 20 years ago, I dove off of Cabo San Lucas, the Wall, near Pelican Rock. Pelican Rock is very close to El Arco at the tip of the Baja Penn. The Wall is a vertical shear cliff dropping to approx 1,400 feet. Integrated air dive computers were something new. A couple of my buddies had them. We had done some practice deep dives the few days prior. 160 ft, 200 ft, 180 ft. We wanted to check how being narc'd affected us. On our deep dive day, we collected ourselves, dropped to 25 feet, and looked over the edge of the Wall. We went negative buoyancy and began our free fall. It was like skydiving as we fell off that wall. INCREDIBLE. A quick decent. As we plummeted, everyone had a strange desire to just keep falling into the abyssal darkness below. I was so quiet down there. The surface was not visible at depth, just a lighter murky green color. We spent no time at our bottom depth of 289 feet, before immediately starting our ascent. We did have a spare tank, waiting for us, sitting at about 20 feet and hung out breathing off this tank for about 20 minutes or so before completing the dive. I will never go this deep again on air. It was stupid to take such risk. Also, there were a lot of broken long threads of fishing line laying over rock formations. Entanglement would result in death. I find it amazing how people can dive on air to depths of 400 feet or more. Of course, I will never forget this dive. I dive as a triple amputee.
I've no interest in cave diving or scuba diving myself, but I LOVE watching videos about people that do it. It's fascinating to me seeing people put themselves in those positions and they actually enjoy it too. Very intriguing.
I just watched this video not long ago and it's crazy! I had no idea that guy was so ballsy and just went for shit. Calculating, yes, but he felt almost more like a daredevil than other legends in the diving community. He's been everywhere though. Bushman's hole? A footnote in the story of Sheck... 😳
It seems that they were diving on air to 300ft or deeper because the mixture of Trimix available was still going to have them at an equivalent air depth of 300ft at the bottom of the sink hole. I'm guessing but that's what I am thinking based on the information from the video. Stands to reason that they would want to simulate how they will feel at 800 + ft on Trimix. I'm not trimix certified yet but I know with Nitrox, some remotes places will only have set mixtures (Cancun generally only has 32% and 36%). Might be hard to get the exact mixture of Trimix for an 800ft + dive.