Extreme Cave Diving on PBS

[scottsax]

Airs February 9, 2010.

Here's the producer's story...

[Mattleycrue76]

Just set the DVR - Thanks!

[scottsax]

Just set the DVR - Thanks!

I gotta get one of those...

[Ken G]

My DVR is ready too

[defied]

Bam. Tivo'd.

D(B)

[Joshua Smith]

Just set the DVR - Thanks!

I gotta get one of those...

I will never be without one again. They're completely essential pieces of gear, and should be built in to every TV.

[babs13]

pretty awesome. here is a link to the preview. http://video.pbs.org/video/1398380542/

[H20doctor]

great and interesting here http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/cavedive/producer.html

Brian was the lead diver , and main expert for this ... really cool Brian Kakuk http://www.bahamasunderground.com/

[airsix]

Just set the DVR - Thanks!

I gotta get one of those...

I will never be without one again. They're completely essential pieces of gear, and should be built in to every TV.

Same here. Set the timer for it last night.
DVR: Watch what you want WHEN you want. And it only takes about 40 min. to watch a 1hr program.
I wish I had Tivo back though. I have Dishnetwork w/ their dvr and it stinks compared to my old Tivo.

[defied]

I've been in some tight spots before, but this:

Cave1.jpg

D(B)

[selkie]

PBS programs are closer to an hour unless it is time to beg for money.

[airsix]

PBS programs are closer to an hour unless it is time to beg for money.

I don't mind investing an hour as long as I get an hour's worth. That's the nice thing about PBS. It's almost a 1:1 ratio.

[scottsax]

What an amazing show! I think I'm getting hooked on caves...

[LCF]

I really enjoyed the show, and not just because I was pleased at cave diving making network TV. Wes Skiles' photography (as always) was stunning, and those caves in the Bahamas are somewhere I really want to see. The information on the paleontology and climate change was interesting, too. I just wish they hadn't gone on to such a degree about how dangerous this sport is.

[ljjames]

Well, fwiw, they kind of have to... they are showing something so awesome and cool, and considering it's timeslot, more and more prime time viewers are perhaps going to want to test the waters. Do you really want everyone and their brother in the caves? No more than i want everyone and their brother on the deep wrecks. Do you dislike the label of thrill seeker? Cave diving floats around the top 5 of 'extreme sports', up there with ice climbing, big wave surfing, BASE jumping, skydiving and street luge.

But yes, even Wes who constantly reminds us how dangerous and how many friends he's lost diving (those who watched the little thing from last october will see this) was not pleased with the fully fabricated near death experience in the beginning... He says the producer took great liberties with the footage he shot and was not pleased. essentially, "I just shot it, didn't have say in final product"

I really enjoyed the show, and not just because I was pleased at cave diving making network TV. Wes Skiles' photography (as always) was stunning, and those caves in the Bahamas are somewhere I really want to see. The information on the paleontology and climate change was interesting, too. I just wish they hadn't gone on to such a degree about how dangerous this sport is.

[selkie]

[quote="ljjames"] Do you really want everyone and their brother in the caves? No more than i want everyone and their brother on the deep wrecks.quote]
Geez, I am everyone's brother and no one wants me to do anything fun! :angry:

[airsix]

Goes to show that anything we watch on TV has an element of BS added for the entertainment value. We are close enough to the source to recognize some inaccuracy/fabrication in this instance. It's a good reality check for all those subjects presented on TV to which we aren't so closely associated. We can't just take them at face value.

Despite my attempts to shield myself from the shock-and-drama elements, the two things that made the most lasting impression were the shots of "dead '70s guy" and the statement that as many as 1 in 10 rebreathers have killed their user*.

-Ben

*Don't flame me. Educate me.

[ktb]

*Don't flame me. Educate me.

May have to steal that for a sig line . . .

[ljjames]

I've been in some tight spots before, but this:

Cave1.jpg

D(B)

*grin*

Considering that Wes (or whom ever shot this) has enough space to get his video rig in and shoot sideways at them... Me thinks its a bit like that ice diving on sidemount vid from a week or so ago where there is a bit of "okay, see that narrow bit over there to the side? think you can squeeze through it and make it seem really committing?!"

[spatman]

Despite my attempts to shield myself from the shock-and-drama elements, the two things that made the most lasting impression were the shots of "dead '70s guy" and the statement that as many as 1 in 10 rebreathers have killed their user*.

from a thread over at thedecostop:

Re: Nova/National Geographic Cave Diving/Blue Holes Documentary

Hey guys and gals,
Yea, the drama was way over the top. Wish we would have had something to say about that. Lots of stats were incorrect, but what jill was talking about .........1 in 10 RB divers...was actually about a specific unit, which is true...again, they cut and paste some of the audio for their own specific effect.

One of the things I said was actually bits from two different sentences pasted together...not happy about that or the drama aspect. We got exploration and research funds out of it, so we will put this behind us and do some real work now. Thanks to all who watch, appologies to those who were offended by the drama and sensationalism.

Safe diving,

Brian
__________________
Brian Kakuk
Bahamas Underground
http://www.bahamasunderground.com
Bahamas Caves Research Foundation
http://www.bahamascaves.com

and:

Re: Nova/National Geographic Cave Diving/Blue Holes Documentary

Hey Gene, The diver's body had been there since the 70's because when he died, his family realized how dangerous a recovery would have been after hearing about the type of cave it was. They also said that he died doing what he loved, so they thought to leave him there. Unfortunatley, his death was the typical open water diver goes in without any training, line, reduncancy etc. Based on what I saw, he died a pretty terrible death. We were actually told that they were not going to use the footage a while back, so we were surprised that it was included, and I really don't think they needed to show the diver's head/jaw part.

That "work up" dive as they called it, was actually many sites and dives all twisted together to make up one fairly tale dive for effect...unfortunately.

Wes and I have been appologizing for the sensationalism, but it honestly was out of our hands after the footage went to the editing room.

<snip>

Safe diving,

Brian
__________________
Brian Kakuk
Bahamas Underground
http://www.bahamasunderground.com
Bahamas Caves Research Foundation
http://www.bahamascaves.com

[airsix]

Despite my attempts to shield myself from the shock-and-drama elements, the two things that made the most lasting impression were the shots of "dead '70s guy" and the statement that as many as 1 in 10 rebreathers have killed their user*.

from a thread over at thedecostop:

Thanks for the link, Matt. In that thread I found this cave fatality slide-show presentation. Very interesting stuff! Add up a few numbers and you notice things like 85% of the fatality victims had no light or just a single light. 60% were not using line. 75% had no cave certification.

With this data you can almost see a cave-fatality stereotype. Male, early 20s, no light, no line, no gas plan, no training.

[scottsax]

With this data you can almost see a cave-fatality stereotype. Male, early 20s, no light, no line, no gas plan, no training.

...with plenty of balls and no brains...

[LCF]

As someone who follows this stuff pretty closely, the statistics have changed. When Exley developed the five rules of cave diving, most of the people who were being killed were untrained. They dove without guidelines and without adequate light. Today, the deaths are different. There are far fewer untrained people entering caves, and more experienced cave divers dying because they break rules (don't use guidelines, or push gas limits). There are very few deaths where people followed all the rules and were killed by equipment failures or environmental disasters like cave-ins.

The fact is that cave diving is an activity with very high risks (as somebody says, there are no injuries in cave diving) which is amazingly done by a fairly large number of people on a routine basis with a surprisingly good safety record. Like all diving, you have to avoid complacency and keep your skills sharp, and be honest with yourself about what you're really skilled and experienced enough to do.

[ArcticDiver]

Enjoyed the show even with the usual PBS political comments. When they were "harvesting" the cave structure I wondered if they had permits for that. Or, was it like the old Costeau movies where they felt free to destroy now for the "greater good"?

It was good they pointed out that climate change has always been with the planet and will continue to be an ever present thing. The only two real questions are: What is causing it? And, can we do anything about it that will assure survival of our species? On those two issues there is much heated discussion.

More than one of my internet friends has died using a rebreather. I don't have access to Navy statistics on their rebreather casualties so I don't know whether the risk is with the rebreather, or with the type of diving they were doing.

As to relative to other overhead diving risks; in the modern world I'm not sure how much of the dramatic statements are due to actual risk and how much is due to possessiveness about the caves on the part of those who already have access.

[Waynne Fowler]

Do you really want everyone and their brother in the caves? No more than i want everyone and their brother on the deep wrecks.quote]
Geez, I am everyone's brother and no one wants me to do anything fun! :angry:

muahahahahaa!!!!