On the ride to one of our projects sites in PA a NEST team member and I 
were discussing the recent debate regarding the state of Caver Diver Training. 
 During the course of this discussion he related the following story.    

   He and his partner where diving in Peacock last year and were 1500 feet 
from the nearest entrance when they were confronted with a group of three 
other divers swimming at high speed in line abreast heading toward them.  All 
three divers were wearing doubles, were using primary cave lights and using 
open water power kicks.  It did not appear to be an emergency situation since 
none of them appeared to be sharing air nor did they request assistance.  In 
fact the school of divers did not so much as wave as they blew by with a 
massive cloud of silt following in their wake.   The visibility almost 
immediately went to zero as they passed and remained that way for my friend 
and his partner for quite a distance.   My friend believes that these 
individuals were probably cave divers because of the distance into the system 
and equipment in use.  I ask him if these individuals were butt mounting or 
hose stuffing and he told me they were moving so fast and he was so busy 
heading for the line that he was unable to tell. 
    I can not think of any good reason why any responsible cave diver would 
conduct themselves in this fashion.  Unless I have missed something this is 
truly a sorry commentary on the these individuals and possibly the training 
that they received.   Although an instructor can not be responsible for the 
improper behavior of a student once he or she completes training it makes me 
wonder how three individuals like this could make it through the system.  
    On another occasion on a dive into Ginnie his team found that an other 
diver had moved their line markers at a jump.  What is wrong with this 
picture?????  
     It is one thing to dive a configuration of equipment that may be 
inappropriate for a site and possibly kill your self in the process, it is 
truly another ball of wax to conduct your self in a manner that may endanger 
the safety of others.  



                                                        JOSEPH KAFFL
                                                    SUMPDIVER@MS*.CO*
       
     
   

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