A few months ago, several new features about the 2018 Thai Cave Rescue hit Netflix and other channels. They caused a strong reaction among divers and non-divers.
As far as divers were concerned, opinions were split between awe and the shaking of heads, vowing never to cave dive. The strong reactions, especially on social media, inspired me to write an article for X-Ray magazine, investigating whether the breathtaking depictions of the rescue may just be putting people off cave diving.
By the way, this picture was taken by the extremely talented Mekan aka Alvaro Herrero. Check out his work here.
Tl;dr – you can download the entire article here.
Expert Opinions on Cave Diving
Alessandra Figari, Cave Training Mexico and Robin Cuesta, Sulawesi Dive Trek
Alessandra commented on one of the social media posts that inspired the original article. I contacted her to share her thoughts and we got talking. Since then, we also managed to dive together in Tulum.
Robin has been instrumental in exploring caves in Indonesia and establishing south-east Sulawesi as a cave diving destination. He’s also an excellent instructor and a great cave diving buddy.
Here are their thoughts. If you’d like to check out their cave diving businesses, you can find Alessandra’s Cave Training Mexico here, and Robin’s Sulawesi Dive Trek is here.
1. What is your reaction to hearing / reading that the movies and documentaries about the Thai cave rescue are putting some people (mostly non-tech divers) off cave diving?
Alessandra: It is pretty normal that people watching the movie get scared. Being under the earth and diving are two elements which will already stop people from joining us in what we do. However people have also to understand that this accident happened in a specific environment, a dry cave which got flooded due to early rains… a rare event which was the reason why the kids and coach were trapped. In Florida you only dive the caves when the flow push you out. When it rains the flow changes its course and push you in and if the cave flow changes, the caves are closed for diving. In Mexico we have not a flow (just a mild one in some caves) so we do not have these risks at all.
Robin: There is a misunderstanding about the accident itself, where a group of boys have been blocked inside a cave because of a flash cave flood and the activity of cave diving that was required to get the boys out.
Of course, seeing the images of the rescue and the conditions would put any ‘normal’ and ‘balanced’ human being off cave diving. In the movies, we are seeing the worst of cave diving: low visibility, narrow passages, high flow, and an unknown route. I am not surprised that it put people off and find it actually quite funny.
2. How would you compare the “cave diving” we see in the context of the rescue to the cave diving you have done and taught?
Alessandra: There is a lot of difference. We dive flooded caves where passages go from big to small for sure but nothing as shown in the movie. While the flow is low in Mexico and constant in Florida pushing you out, what happened in the Thai cave is different. First of all, it is a dry cave which got full of water with a lot of strength. Since our caves in Mexico are usually full of water there is not a significant change of conditions when it rains. In the downstream part you can have more dirt going in when it rains but that is it.
After a hurricane, I went to check some cave lines on a downstream line and yes the flow was stronger but on a scale from 1 low to 10 strong it was a 3. The Thai cave got a surge of water with a strength of 10! Also the passages are different. We have a line in the caves we dive that we follow and it was/is placed by the explorers when they discovered it. We have maps telling us which passages have restrictions and the depths. It is possible to plan what we want to do and where we go.
In the case of the rescue, the rescuers had to put a line in to search for the lost kids and coach. They were not sure in which chamber to find them. The water levels were increasing leaving not a lot of time to rescue them. The water levels in the cave we dive remain the same or barely increase after a very strong storm. But we never face those dramatic changes we watch in the movie.
Robin: As I said before, the cave diving we are seeing in the movies and documentaries related to the rescue is basically the total opposite of what most people do or what I am teaching. Cave diving does not require diving in narrow, silty, zero-vis, tight passages. Even though we need to train for when conditions become like that, you can mostly spend your whole life as a cave diver diving in large openings with crystal clear visibility while enjoying a relaxing dive. At some point, of course you could reach that level and actually want to go for this kind of extreme cave diving, but only a handful of people will do!
3. In your opinion, would cave diving training benefit even divers who are not thinking about exploring caves? If yes, how? What would they learn?
Alessandra: Yes, it may benefit. And there is a difference between cave courses and exploring, too. Many of my students wishing to enter technical diving, they start with the cave class. It is a great course to improve buoyancy, trim, and stops by hovering still, controlling of stress, how to deal with unexpected complicated situations (free flow when your exit is 1 hour away etc.). The cave diving course is for sure extremely good for anyone that likes to be not only underwater but enter special places likes caves or wrecks, too.
But caves are under a lot of stones and are dark. And this can be the limitation for some people. Not everyone likes to be into a cave because of the fact you are under a lot of dirt, stones, which are stopping you from a direct ascent to the surface. And the darkness even if we use lights can be another issue for many. An option is to start with the cavern part of the course which is divided in 3 segments (cavern, intro to cave, and full cave). Over there we teach trim, correct fin kick to avoid lifting up sediments, how to deploy the reel, perfect buoyancy… Basically the root for the cave course. If you like caverns you probably like caves. Even if the caverns are a lot more open than the caves. As for exploring caves, this is a next step, after many many many hours of cave diving. You do not finish the cave class and go exploring. You need to fine tune a lot more your skills and experience.
Robin: Cave diving would be beneficial to any divers as it will greatly improve their essential diving skills, their capacity of planning and assessing risks for any dive they would perform. But cave diving is not for everybody, it is misleading to say that cave diving is the ultimate goal to accomplish when venturing into the technical diving realm. You can learn those skills in other courses also as long as you pick quality training and don’t rush into certifications.
4. Is cave diving getting a bad/tough/unfair reputation from films like the ones about the rescue?
Alessandra: I do not think movies as the rescue of the Thai kids and coach are giving cave diving a bad reputation. Many people are admiring the job done by the cave rescuers and the work carried out by everyone involved. I think it showed organization, ability to plan, determination. We teach all these things when teaching a cave course. And in the movie you can see all these aspects coming up and working together.
Let’s be honest we have been lucky in a way that deaths were limited during the rescue to the navy seal diver (so sorry for him and his family). However, it is a truth that some people can be moved away from cave diving thinking it is too much, too scary. But it is not. Accidents may happen but because of bad planning or breaking rules. I have been cave diving since 2000 and started teaching full cave in 2007. I make sure my students understand the value of respecting standards and rules which are extremely important in cave diving. And I am not afraid to stop people not ready to continue yet their path to the full certification, if needed. I honestly believe that if we teach the cave class correctly it is not more dangerous than driving a car daily to go to work. Or maybe driving the car is even more dangerous because you depend on other drivers acting correctly.
Robin: I don’t know about the reputation the activity could get from these movies / documentaries, but anyway, cave diving does not care about reputation. It will never be a mainstream activity and should not become that way, anyway. People that are put off cave diving by watching these movies were probably not ready to get into it, and in a way, it is good that thanks to these movies they’re second-guessing their choice. If you feel that cave diving is not for you, then don’t!
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Of course, I also shortened the contributions made by various divers. Their full contributions will feature in the next blog – stay tuned!