CAVE DIVER REACTS TO LAST DIVE OF DAVID SHAW

UPDATE: Some of the information we disclosed in this reaction video was incorrect. We released a follow up video to add some clarity here: • THE TRUTH ABOUT THE LA...
Woody Alpern is a Certified CCR Cave Diver, Full Trimix Diver, Normoxic Trimix instructor, and a KISS Rebreathers Tec Diving Instructor.
We received a request to react to "The Last Dive of David Shaw" which details the final moments of David Shaw's Life as he became tangled and ultimately died while trying to retrieve the body of another diver at almost 900 ft (270 meters) of depth inside a cave in South Africa.
Many of the rules we use while Cave Diving come from accidents like these, and there is so much to learn from this one we are reacting to today.

[@joannafreedom7914]

Theres a climber named David Shaw who died on Everest. It's eerie to hear of a diver named David Shaw dying on the other end of the spectrum. As above so below.

[@maggiem6209]

Chills.

[@jessiedeemarkgingo6074]

Now I get an idea of naming my future son Jeff Bezos

[@justinaacorn5721]

Good movie

[@dianebays5484]

Yes! And he was in green boots cave, awake. Many people passed him by. There was nothing , I guess they could do.

[@boobookittyfuck789]

@@dianebays5484 they probably had summit fever. Edmund Hillary The first ever to summit Everest had some things to say about them for not helping a fellow human being. If they had the strength.

[@Musiknird]

One of the first thing I learned when I went in to be a professional diver was; never ever feel ashamed of aborting a dive! It's not a failure, it's being responsible and making the right call.

[@DIVETALK]

Great advice!

[@joysanders59]

Absolutely. As with anything else in life!

[@KMTSports21]

Dude, you’re avatar/photo is BRILLIANT! I kept thinking I had a hair on my screen and was like, why the hell is this hair scrolling and not wiping off! I was seriously bugging out for a split second. Funny!

[@Musiknird]

@@KMTSports21 Hahaha! Yeah sorry for that. It's kinda trollish but it makes people laugh so that's why I'm keeping it.

[@T-RexPanther00]

Great comment 👍

[@ballisticcranberrypeat7777]

Laying it out in such simple terms as “things are happening 31 times faster than at the surface” really drives home how insanely dangerous those depths are. I have no dive experience, but we can all appreciate the impossible difficulty of the simplest of tasks under those circumstances. Even without all the anxiety and exertion.

[@backpackingcarlie1487]

Kind of reminds me of the movie Interstellar, where every hour is equal to seven years on earth...

[@jazookinsjazookins1088]

David's Body floated up after he died the bag with Deon's body was entangled and was recovered as well. He achieved his mission at the cost of his life. It was doomed from the beginning.

[@janetyovonnestuckey4772]

This was so Bitter Sweet story & ending. Makes one wonder was it worth it? But he made a promise & I guess kept it.

[@DC-ml6cv]

Feel terrible for the parents of the first guy. Loose your son and then have to see this happen because they are trying to recover his body. Horrific all around

[@BxCortez2050]

ouch

[@naufeltajudeen3769]

The craziest part is that after the body was recovered...the parents cremated the bones and sent the ashes right back down into the same cave. Still smh over that bit

[@wenchfisterx]

@@naufeltajudeen3769 that's pretty ignorant if true...

[@brendongreen9989]

He didn't do it a day after he broke the record. Was weeks of planning after finding the body before trying to retrieve it

[@strychnyne3530]

Yup. That's basic research.

[@MrE.888]

And he didn't do it alone

[@alienbaby2358]

@@MrE.888 he wasnt alone in the cave?

[@joycevenzon3634]

I think they planned to do a relay of the body at every 100 ft so other divers can decompress

[@RealAlexM]

@@MrE.888 he was alone when he died.

[@Jatycre]

There were team members along the ascent line (they went down after him). But I have to agree that it made no sense to attempt the most dangerous part all alone. However, Dave himself explained it to the team by saying “better to have one person dead than two or three.” He felt that if he got into trouble at that depth, no one could save him anyway.

[@nightshadegatito]

He was probably right, and that would be my main criticism of this video. Woody emphasizes that a team is needed because he wants to illustrate the danger, but the more accurate and responsible thing would be to say “don’t even do this, leave the body alone.” I understand that he was trying to “not be mean” about Dave Shaw’s purpose in diving… and in any case, the lesson of not even trying this should resound to anyone thinking about it in the future, from the facts themselves.

[@Ryan-fp2tk]

Diving as a team is nearly impossible, at that depth, little people had the experience, and diving to world record depth the second time along with others may cause everyone to die if one had a problem

[@jamesbevan9989]

As a psd who's recovered a lot of bodies, he shouldn't of worried about bagging until a deco or had family and cameras stage somewhere outside dive site, and do what you can and come back. There is no time limit for a body, it's not a rescue it's a recovery.

[@DIVETALK]

James good point and thanks for the comment.

[@canterburytail2294]

I was going to say the exact same thing, it seems so easy from here, that intoxication that happens down there must be intense.

[@umpalumpa-qw8ru]

That was my first thought. Why not take the body like it is and put in a bodybag in the cavern

[@sarahb2897]

I haven’t double checked but from what I recall the body had been there for a while and I think the body bag was more for trying to ensure everything stayed in one piece rather than for obscuring it from view, that was a secondary consideration.

[@ugugugthe2nd.732]

This thread answers the question I had. Thanks.

[@mackhomie6]

the first dive, months earlier, dave explored the cave floor and discovered the body (rather than instantly ascending.) lots of preparation went into the dive, actually.

[@subblonde3101]

Yeah, it's bothering me seeing all these stupid comments bagging on Shaw, if you don't know the story, shut up. I love Woody and the channel and i understand it's a first reaction, but either make it clear that you don't know what happened or research it after; because people watching who don't know are taking their word as gospel.

[@jonathanbradley4896]

@@subblonde3101 yup, Dave was one of the greatest Closed circuit divers of all time. He still holds the record for depth on a rebreather. Ignorant people gonna ignorant i guess.

[@lightfeather9953]

​@@jonathanbradley4896 what good is a record if you die doing it again? It just shows how it was reckless in the first place. You can tell yourself he planned it perfectly and got struck by lightning. Get real. There's a reason why this failed spectacularly.

[@jonathanbradley4896]

@@lightfeather9953 I agree the plan was not exactly what I would have gone for considering the amount of silt kicked up by trying to wrestle the body off the bottom. Attaching a lift bag first to say, the first stage regulator or a D ring on Deon's BCD and adding a small amount of air would have likely made lifting the body off the bottom much less difficult. I think Dave went for the body bag approach because he was worried about the body coming apart but that didn't seem to be the case. He made a poor judgement call that cost him his life, I personally don't think that makes him any less of a diving legend but to each their own.

[@armandojuan64]

That recovery is as absurd or useless as trying to bring a frozen corpse from Mount Everest , Annapurna or K2 .

[@kimikae4170]

That's what I was also thinking, sadly.

[@armandojuan64]

@@kimikae4170 You cannot breath life into a corpse . That simple .

[@Scratchy314]

Actually more so

[@Scratchy314]

If i were the kid's parents, I would have insisted he not try to make the recovery. I wouldn't want his life on my hands. The cave was as good a burial spot as any for their son.

[@Scratchy314]

People act all upset over climbers using hiking markers like greenboots, but its faux outrage thats completely misplaced. Are they going to go and recover those bodies? I don't think so. What's disrespectful about leaving them where they fell? It serves as a warning and a catalyst for introspection for all who pass by. I beleive that marking their graves with a monument of some kind and learning a lesson from their deaths is the best way to honor them

[@thegriffin88]

Got a family friend who's a cave diver and used to work in Hawaii but now works at the NYC Aquarium. I'm fine with just doing the doggy paddle but love to learn about anything I don't know about. Love you guys, you never fail to entertain!

[@thegriffin88]

I didn't realize this would send as a comment I thought it would be some private message or something so this is possibly the WORST video I could have picked in my binge watching to do this I'm so sorry!

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

Hawaii, but* paddle, but*

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

comment. I* something, so* this. I'm* Yeah. Lol. If it's not a live chat, then this is a comment, not a message.

[@ReligionAndMaterialismDebunked]

​@@thegriffin88It's perfectly alright of a message, I'd say.

[@markmtbrider]

900 ft deep to recover an already deceased diver? I know nothing about diving, but that sounds an awful lot like the Everest no help line of altitude. All you can do is fend for yourself , or you wont make it .

[@JediOfTheRepublic]

You can’t really compare the two. You don’t get to the top of Everest in 10 min.

[@Coach_Vedo]

That deceased diver was there 10 years. Dave went for the record dive and he accidentally found him down there. Then he decided to make an action for retreiving,but not just 1 day,or the next day after his 1st dive but months after preparing,planning and with the team of 12 divers. But on the bottom he was alone. You have the whole documentary on youtube about it.

[@PoochieCollins]

@@Coach_Vedo : oh wow, they planned for months? That makes some of the things that happened even weirder then: Shaw going to the bottom alone, Shaw rushing it on a breathing apparatus where too much exertion can create toxic CO2 levels, and the second-to-last guy in the helpline going down further to check on him after more than the planned time passed instead of abandoning the plan which ended up causing him serious medical problems and nearly killing him as well.

[@serwalkerofthekeynes8761]

Also he'd told the lads parent "I'll get him back, for you" To give them closure, and a proper burial. This one is so sad.

[@sunnyscott4876]

@@serwalkerofthekeynes8761 Sadly, he already had a burial....at sea. Too bad that it wasn't left at that.

[@binslick1000]

These dive was deeper than Yuri Lipski! I get chills every time I watch this video.

[@DIVETALK]

Yes. Way deeper.

[@mackhomie6]

nearly 3x the depth i think

[@DonovenGrey]

yea, this guy was prepared and qualified and practiced for the dive which makes it more shocking.

[@АнтонКузьмин-г4е]

This is my first and only one join channel I did in my life . Gus and Woody - thank you for your channel.

[@dawgpost90]

I love these perspectives. To someone with little to no knowledge of cave diving, my only exposure to these stories are from the perspectives of people reporting from an outside perspective. Hearing this from experienced divers is really interesting. Thanks

[@harrisonh1054]

I don't dive or ever plan on it, probably, but I still find this stuff very interesting and fascinating. 👍

[@harrisonh1054]

@@gp123lIlI I wish. Maybe if I had the resources I'd give it a try but until then I'll just stick to the videos.

[@guardrailbiter]

These videos seem to suggest my dive instructors were rare unicorns when they drove home the message: "Never dive alone."

[@subblonde3101]

he wasnt alone.

[@guardrailbiter]

@@subblonde3101 okay. But I did say "these videos." Plural.

[@alexbitzan8747]

I love that this channel doesn’t repeat explanations of the basics of diving (narcosis, ox tox, deco, etc) over and over like most documentaries

[@babesmagee1]

I'm absolutely STUNNED by how FAST it went critical 😔

[@DIVETALK]

Yeah...at those depths it goes south real quick

[@DiveVibe]

When you started talking about how much deco he was gaining per minute, it made me curious. I opened up multideco and figured out the descent time and then I started adding a minute and measuring the delta between the previous and new run times with each additional minute. I used his hypoxic mixture and ignored cns o2 for simplicity sake and left it on a 1.2 po2 for the whole dive. It looks like each additional minute was earning him around 60 additional minutes of deco! Crazy stuff. Great video!

[@Zackary_]

Holy CRAP! Thank you for doing it! I was quite curious myself after he mentioned it. That’s just crazy to even think about, I couldn’t even imagine the pressure you’re under as well just knowing how much an extra minute can matter.

[@grosom31]

I'm sure Don shirley was in the water for almost 12 hours after the dive to deco, and he wasn't even on the bottom for any amount of time he only was supposed to be down at the last gas stage but went below his depth to see if Dave was ok, saw his light wasn't moving, and sent a message to the surface to let them know Dave wasn't coming home!

[@innerspaced]

I’m not a diver, but I’m pretty sure there was a dive team and the whole thing was filmed for a documentary. Dreyers parents were present. They nearly lost a 2nd diver when he got the bends on the ascent, he owns a dive school in the area. Forgive my ignorance if I’ve mixed this up with another incident.

[@captindo]

I'm not a diver in anyway, I went Army instead of Navy but, it takes real nerve and intelligence to deal with the stress your putting your body and mind through doing cave diving, hats off to you and your colleagues.

[@DIVETALK]

Thanks for the compliment.

[@willepooh]

I always feel like there's gonna be something terrifying in the water

[@gabrielf1911]

Idk if you watched the whole thing but he did succeed in bringing up the body. He tied a line to the body and either tied it to himself or was tangled. When the team went to pull their equipment out of the cave, both bodies were attached to the line. He would have had at least 1 other diver with him at the bottom.

[@matydrum]

No he was alone at the botom. The bodies showed up the next day closer to the surface and then the rest of the team took them out.

[@DonovenGrey]

@@matydrum The divers returned to get their equipment and when they pulled up there stuff from down below the water they found out both bodies were entangled in the line that had all the tanks and the rest of their things.

[@mw12349]

there was no one else with him at the bottom past the cave roof! he was completely alone doing this body retrieval. the teams were placed further up get it right! 420GLADIATOR There was no other diver with him !!!

[@spencrob]

how does such an ignorant comment get so many likes, there was no one at the bottom with him, his partner Shirley descended to meet Dave at 200m to take the body, but saw no sign of Dave coming up. He went down to 250m and his glass on his computer cracked, and he had to ascend again. He saw Dave's light motionless on the bottom and knew he was dead.

[@e.starling141]

Did your last sentence mean to say SHOULD instead of would?

[@ree8069]

This is actually not the full recording of David Shaw, it is containing cuts, the obvious narration, and the end is missing. At the end you can actually hear the so-called coughing exhalations. He was pushing the button to feed more oxygen too, realizing he has a problem, but his body was physically unable to exhale the C02 due to multiple factors, but in short, it's called dynamic airway compression. You can see comments on this in videos like DAN's video named "respiratory failure in technical diving". At about minute 31 you will hear actual exhalations. NOTE: it's rather graphic in nature, discretion advised. Cheers guys, love the videos. Keep it up.

[@skyDN1974]

I knew nothing about cave diving until today and I can’t stop watching videos like this. Thanks for the info!

[@Geronimo2Fly]

I'm not a diver and barely understood a word this guy said, yet it was still fascinating. What a sad story though. I would hope that the families of people who die in extremely difficult to reach places would tell any potential rescuers "Please don't. It's not worth risking your life to recover a body." Yet it seems like so often they're willing to risk someone else's life just to get their loved one's body back. Sherpas have died while trying to retrieve bodies from Everest, having been offered lots of money by the dead person's family to do so. It is very sad.

[@Susanirusta]

Superb commentary. Much appreciated your experience and observations

[@DIVETALK]

Thank you for watching.

[@brittjbowden7843]

I thought that because of the extreme depth, only Dave could have gone down to the bottom. I don't dive, but from what I read, Dave was only the 3rd person in the world to reach to floor. And he did have a team in the water and out. Don Shirley was the first, waiting at 700 some feet and like 6 or 7 others above him to relay the body. Instead they had to relay the news of him not coming back.

[@DIVETALK]

It is true that Dave was one of only 11 people to go down past 800 ft, but that’s starting at the Surface, commercial divers go down to thousands of feet but that takes special preparation. The bottom line is that they tried to do too much at that depth and it cost him his life.

[@brittjbowden7843]

@@DIVETALK I have to agree. Thanks for the review! I've read a lot about this story and it's interesting to hear from am experienced technical diver!

[@djc728]

I had the insight to see the follow up video which clarified a lot BUT I just wanted to say how well Woody explains things and the great job he did with his input ESPECIALLY for a non-diver like me. I've learned a lot just watching these "Dive Talk" videos AND as much as I like Gus as well - great job Woody. Keep up the good work. Kudos.

[@destinyc6494]

As a non diver but a person who loves to learn and love the aspect of your work I truly appreciate your attention to detail . Thank you

[@grosom31]

He planned the dive for months prior to the actual dive, he found the body the year before, and he did have a full team, who were staged at different depths, it was only the bottom time he was alone.

[@DC-ml6cv]

Yeah dunno how he came to that end. Says in another comment he watched the doc on it too lol. Must have misheard in the doc and stuck with that

[@us2zu]

he should’ve had someone else with him on the bottom, all those tasks by himself were too much. maybe he would’ve survived 😕

[@grosom31]

@@us2zu it would have only put more people in harm's way!

[@TheKunnche]

Just dropping by to say there's a New Video from Woody and Gus on this very topic that sheds a ton of light, corrections and updates on the whole thing. Do give it a watch 🙌🏻 These guys are gold 🤍

[@DIVETALK]

Thank you for leaving this comment

[@michaelzaccone6682]

I have been on 2 open water tourist dives my entire life. My uncle however was a very skilled dive instructor in the Bahamas. He passed away we did once talk about this. His opinions which make sense was at the time, this was a world record dive. It was not a dive 2 or 3 guys could do. This was then and im sure today is still a dangerous dive. This was a dive that at 2005 technology was barely up on. Which is what made Shaw such a daredevil. Also probably proves the point while is heart was in the right place he had no business doing this. He knew the risk. Had more experience then anyone else. He obviously is a heroic spirit. Just a few points of this review even from a moron like me perspective are off the facts.

[@DIVETALK]

Thanks for this very valid comment.

[@DingKong]

Another engaging insight from Dive Talk. I watched the documentary film 'Dave not coming back' which was very interesting, not to mention tragic. I also learned that a few days before the attempt, Don Shirleys dive (wrist) computer had failed at depth. It couldn't take the pressure. They managed to contact the designer of the unit who talked them through repairing it. For me, that was the point at which the dive should have been aborted - if the equipment is not up to the task then it's time for a rethink. Both Dave and Don were extremely experienced divers, but having Dave alone at the bottom left no redundancy for circumstances unaccounted for. No matter how well you plan you just cannot legislate for the unknown. Don also ended up getting bent due to a tiny air bubble in his ear and could only manually hit his rebreather to keep himself alive. Tragic.

[@JustJaneOYVEY]

I have a lot of respect for divers there are three family members of mine that used to dive one for a treasure hunting boat off the coast here of St Lucie county Florida and two for recreation in Palm Beach county Florida. They knew their limits and they were very smart.

[@askledhead]

I have never dove before, I some how had a dive vid on YT recommendations. I saw your Update video on this dive, there were some inaccuracies and you addressed them on your Update video. I really appreciate your input and knowledge on these vids. ✌

[@donnabee511]

“Face it, B, we're doing this for the adventure of it.” - Dave Shaw

[@mjlives5428]

Your incredibly articulate,clear and concise!!

[@DIVETALK]

Thanks. Made my day.

[@mjlives5428]

@@DIVETALK Glad I could do that!

[@jonwayne70]

Just to clarify, which might of been mentioned in the comments already. Dave Shaw didn't do the recovery the day after his world record dive. On his first dive he discovered Dions body, I don't know the exact timeline but he did meet Dions parents after to tell them and said that he would be willing to go down and get Dions body. In that time he practised the recovery in a swimming pool and the documentary states that it took days to set up the equipment for the 2nd dive.

[@ligmasack9038]

I wish you had mentioned that the Body David went to recover had been in the cave for more than a Decade; which means no bloating. The Corpse was mainly Adipocere, or "Corpse Wax".

[@favourites144]

These videos are amazing due to the insight. Keep ‘em comin’!

[@hellfire_.]

Gosh, it’s so terrifying yet fascinating!! Cave diving is probably my biggest fear, it feels like complete terra incognito😳But i don’t completely understand what was the point of body bag in this situation. Obviously the body bag make the task even more complicated. Was it for his parents not to see their son in that state of decomposition? Or is it just the protocol of recovering bodies?Thank you so much for your work!

[@DIVETALK]

It was mainly for the parents not to see the body. Thank you for tuning in, I hope you enjoy our reaction videos!

[@mackhomie6]

yeah, which makes it all the more sad. get his parents the fuck out of there however you need to and skip the entire bag nonsense. some people were quick to blame the parents for this whole situation and i tend to defend them, but they made an unnecessary job all but impossible and allowed several people to risk their lives because they were hellbent on retrieving that corpse. something that nutty almost certainly involves religion somehow they had already spent a fortune getting some specialized submarine thing from debeers flown over to search for the body

[@grosom31]

It was a special bag, because the body had decomposed and he wanted to bring back the whole body, but the bag was like a large sleeping bag stuff sak with net at the end to allow water to flow through.

[@vincentsubmarinismo774]

Again, misinformation! It was nothing to do with the parent's, it was to preserve as much of the body as possible. The guy had been down there 10 years . There were just bones which when moved would have fell out of the exposure suit he was still wearing. As it was the skull was lost and is still in the cave.

[@ant1985ish]

All for someone who was already dead. Sad

[@Gizziiusa]

exactly, let the body lay where it died. like Mt Everest.

[@TheAnnoyingBoss]

@@Gizziiusa that's what I think. The cave should have been the gentlemen's final resting place.

[@peterherbst2415]

The camera was specially bought from hong kong because of its low light capabilities. The video you seeing is by the light of a pencil pelican light. It was extremely dark and silty.

[@austinprice2278]

I’m not a diver and I don’t know anything about it, but I’m glade I found your videos! I really enjoy you breaking down these videos

[@DIVETALK]

Austin we are sure glad you found us as well.

[@carrytheflag3498]

"so far so good" Literally the very beginning of his checks lol. While I love the channel, the personalities, the info... Just once can we limit Woody's ability to pause? The man's brilliant, no doubt. Would be nice to only hear him pause 142 times per minute rather than his current pace. Cheers mates!!!

[@prabhumallikarjunpatil9858]

My friend. Let me correct few facts here. 1. Dave dived down with team of 4. 2. He reached the bottom 1.5 mins before planned. 3. As soon as diver number 3 saw that Dave was not moving he tried to swim to him. Soon realized his computer was broke. He already knew Dave was probably dead he took a call and swam back. 4. When they pulled the line up they found both the bodies.

[@DIVETALK]

Yes and I’ve posted that I was simply doing a reaction to the video not the incident. Additionally we are going to do a follow up video to now react to the factual incidents. Stay tuned for that.

[@Sanou-San]

That Ocean Gate story is gonna make me watch every videos about deep diving!!!!

[@peterherbst2415]

having extra people at a word record depth is insane. There were 13 divers in total. Dave bottom. Don support at 200. Dusan and mark at 150. Lo at 100. Body was supposed to be taken from Dave by don at 200. passed to Peter at 85. given to police divers at 20. Steven and Gerhard were runners up and down the line. Body bagging was practised using don as dummy. many times. shallow however and Don was negative.

[@crockmans1386]

.....is not insane. Buddy right at your side is necessary ...as fate showed us.

[@peterherbst2415]

@@crockmans1386 Hindsight is an exact science. made even easier by sitting behind a keyboard and not actually doing anything - Every single cave or tek diver will tell you that buddies are cool to have with on a dive but that they are a liability that you need to manage. Not having a buddy limits that liability. Recreational divers do not carry redundancy and is therefore relying on a buddy for backup ( 100's still die every year in spite of having said buddies so THAT premise doesn't work either...) Tek divers carry extra masks, computers, gas, regulators, knives etc. so that the CAN be independent of a buddy and are self sufficient in an emergency.

[@scottybhoy8375]

I'm ex infantry thought nothing could phase me but watching these dive video make my palms sweat

[@donnakawana]

Heart breaking loss of a great man... Dave Shaw an amazing human!! ✌🏼💗😊

[@un_civilized]

Why couldn't they do the body bag at the first deco stop?

[@DIVETALK]

Exactly!

[@connorism69]

Great analysis. Thanks!

[@Kriegerdammerung]

If you go to his website, there is a section called "future projects" that is frozen in time, very sad and tragic as only it could be.

[@robvanwaardenburg2931]

He didn't do it alone, nor was it the second day in a row. I believe David Shaw was a very experienced diver and they planned this operation thoroughly. So I feel the comments and suggestions of Woody are a bit like jumping to conclusions without doing much research of what really happened.

[@spencrob]

He was alone when he was at the bottom, if something went wrong nobody would be there to save him. By the time his friend got down to him, it was too late. This guy knows what he's talking about even if he got some minor details wrong.

[@subblonde3101]

he was one of the best.

[@johnarundell7951]

@@spencrob Saying the rescue happened the next day when it was in fact months later after a lot of planning with a hand picked team is not a minor detail, and no one got down to Dave at any time, the depth is virtually impossible. That's the point, the body was lying at or just above the world record depth, Dave was the only person who could go down there. Don went to 220m which was still 50m higher and never saw Dave again, he ventured to about 228m to see if he could see anything but that's when his equipment cracked. The uninformed comments by people who don't even know what happened but are happy to denigrate Dave as if he was some reckless idiot are incredibly naive and disrespectful to him.

[@brucewayneissupermanquinn601]

Not even a diver, but this channel is SO entertaining. Had to subscribe!

[@thygrrr]

I can see you wearing a wool hat, i needed one too. This dive gave me chills.

[@jeskeepinitreal]

I keep looking for your dog. You need the dog here in the studio I have mine here in my bed when I watch this and I am not a diver. Just fascinated but also cringing and very tense. Dog on mellow- out duty .

[@e.l.2734]

Sadly, now that this happened, we all know that, if there wasn't anyone qualified to go along with him, then the dive was too risky to be attempted in the first place. Seeing how competent David was and how well planned the dive actually was can hopefully make someone considering solo cave diving to really think through their reasons.

[@kyletruong]

Thank you for this. Love the channel

[@cmcproductions26]

I first heard about this, after watching a short documentary about it, here on KZbin. After I watched it, Dave instantly became a hero of mine. He had first seen the body, about 4 months prior of the recovery dive, when he was diving there, while attempting a world record. He immediately tried to grab ahold of Deon's body, but Deon's tanks were firmly stuck in the mud, so Dave tied a line to Deon's tanks, and left. Hours later, when he finally surfaced, he immediately told everyone about seeing the body, and said he was gonna come back, and recover it, for Deon'a parents. He called the parents himself, and told them he had found it, and was gonna go back to recover it. During the documentary, there was a part where all the divers were sitting together, planning things out, and Dave told everyone "only worry about yourself. It's better to have only one person dead, than two" So he knew there was a chance he could die, and yet he still wanted to do the dive. It takes a special kind of person to be willing to risk their lives, in order to help someone else.

[@MrGlenndini]

INCORRECT! He did not find the body the day before. This was a separate excursion set up specifically to recover the body found one year before. October 2004, renowned cave diver David Shaw discovered Dreyer's body in the cave at a depth of 272 metres (892 ft). On 8 January 2005, Shaw tried to recover the body, but died in the attempt.

[@Maroniie]

Great video! Could you react to Yuri Lipski’s last dive?

[@DIVETALK]

Hi Cleo, thank you for the suggestion, I’ll do some research and you might see it here in the channel soon.

[@Thorum13]

What an excellent reaction. Thanks for this!

[@DIVETALK]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@montewestlund8195]

video/movie "Dave Not Coming Back" shows the complete dive and preparations they took for this recovery. It's worth watching.

[@vagurl84]

I can’t imagine even attempting this task solo. I’m not a diver, I just watch diving videos, but I couldn’t imagine doing any dive solo.

[@kentmartin3746]

Please watch the documentary of Dave Shaws final dive! It was a well planned dive with lots of support divers, with a surface team keeping everything on schedule. If I remember right the record dive had happened a long time before this dive happened. There was a lot of preparation that went into the recovery dive.

[@DIVETALK]

Yes we did which is why we did a follow up video to this one. Please watch our follow up video. We corrected ourselves on many points.

[@crockmans1386]

Down there at the bottom Dave was all alone. A true hero of courage .... but sometimes in life and battle you really need a friend right by your side. Only inches .... not 100feet up in darkness.

[@CoDWiiPS3Gameplay]

These are tough to watch but very informative. Not a diver myself but have always been fascinated. I'm still shocked Dave attempted this solo. For a resume this complex, at this depth, I would've expected a team of probably 4 divers. Dave was practically doomed from the start. Very sad.

[@DIVETALK]

Well, he's the only one that had been to those depths...they were record breaking depths

[@CoDWiiPS3Gameplay]

@@DIVETALK I see, thank you for the clarification and the quick response. Love the quality content you gentlemen put out. Keep up the great work.

[@ruthmendez4519]

I love woody when he stops the video and explain because a lot of us aren’t divers!!!!!!! I didn’t realize how much preparation goes into diving

[@serfranklin6022]

Not the day before, very incorrect....weeks before

[@dianebays5484]

I've watch the video. It's heartbreaking.

[@markwallace1251]

I've never been 270m deep in a cave on a rebreather, but what you've said has struck a chord within me today sir, and I want to thank you. 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment Echo Company Marjah/Sangin River Valley, Helmand Province, Afghanistan 2010-2011

[@DIVETALK]

Thanks for this comment and the support.

[@kaspervestergaard2383]

You could have just send the first line of text. No need for the rest my guy.

[@vincentsubmarinismo774]

Oh boy🤔 This is a reaction to the reaction. I normally enjoy these videos. But ...... You got so much wrong on this. 1 he was not doing the recovery the day after the record dive. It had been planned meticulously, and was weeks later. 2 he was not alone, he had 7 staged divers on the line.as well as a support team above ,in total 25 people. Also had staged tanks in case of bailout scenario, and a recompression chamber on site. 3 the body he went to recover wasn't bloated! he had been down there 10 years, there was no body, just bones in an exposure suit. I realise this is a reaction video,so too much knowledge would not be a genuine reaction.that said why assume all you said with no knowledge? You let yourself down badly on this one, I think you should comment on this publicly or your credibility will be damaged

[@DIVETALK]

Yes I agree. I just simply reacted without watching any prior videos as Gus just wanted me to react on the spot. I need to do a follow up for sure. Very valid comment! Thanks!

[@vincentsubmarinismo774]

@@DIVETALK still think this channel is top! 😁👍

[@MrBlackwing83]

i see this reaction videos for the first time, realy like the analysis.. Cave diving is no joke, its mindblowing to see, one little error in this enviroment can kill u in a blink of an eye.. Imagine the psyhological pressure u have... No mistakes or dead... Crazy to watch

[@aw3017]

Loving the videos but I’ve noticed the screen is mainly not the actual dive footage and the studio, we love to see you but most are here for the footage of the actual dive not the commentator! Just a thought ❤️

[@mrhanky5851]

Was Don Shirley on an electronic rebreather? Dude is both crazy and ballsy for jerry rigging it the night before with tape after a wire failed and then going 700+ feet with it to try and rescue Dave the day of. These guys are insane in a way I respect, but I don’t think I have plans to do that any time soon lol

[@0minous187]

there were several divers at certain depths so they could pass the body up then the diver would go to the next diver and so on. when the diver closest to david noticed his light wasnt moving he went closer realized he was dead and wrote in those underwater writing boards that david isnt come back which was handed off to ea diver. also the body was not bloated he was fully or mostly decomposed his hand and head were just bones. from what i hear his wetsuit kept him intact but its also what made it hard to get in the bag and ultimately got him killed. post mortem i believe is the word you were looking for that causes a body to float but i could be wrong

[@sexyworm1000]

I watched the facts video then this one and I always love these reactions after doing a little personal research it makes me sad and angry to know the family asked to get deons body back simply to get it cremated and sent back into the same waters he died in to me it was nothing but a senseless death seeing as the deon was sent back to the same place to rest after the family got “closure”

[@dcc-randomstorieswithmel7424]

No way,are u kidding me? Why didn't they just leave him down there? Talk about an unnecessary death,his parents are so selfish

[@jamesupton4996]

That's terrible. Cremated and returned to the spot again. 'closure' is a vague term. In this case what the parents asked for was stupid and selfish.

[@christopherdean7885]

They didn't ask to get the body. David came to them asking if he can retrieve the body. You should read the book Raising The Dead. This is a book about that day with answers from everyone that was there.

[@Adrianbudiman]

I stopped watching after he said he did it a day after the record breaking dive. This is unacceptable amount of research by this channel, and this is an enormous mistake. You basically didn't respect the man enough to research him.

[@rekunta]

Kind of a stupid question I guess, but…. ….why don’t they have suits that can be pressurized to 1 atmosphere so that when you go down you don’t have to worry about gas mixtures, nitrogen narcosis, HPNS, decompression stops on ascent, etc etc? Seems that so many steps are taken in precaution over a broad range of areas, when you could just pressurize a suit, pump in normal air, weigh it down and work that way. This has to have been done already as it’s the very obvious solution, so why isn’t it the usual method for very deep dives?

[@psystealth]

Spot on analysis. Respect.

[@Zman82]

In the end he was successful, miraculously bringing the body up along with his body when they recovered him.

[@baaardmanbt5369]

Dude... You don't watch the videos properly... You keep commenting on things that are out of context... I watched two videos and it's so obvious you have alot of opions but no respect for the facts!

[@vincentsubmarinismo774]

I notice he doesn't like or reply to any comments that aren't positive Sure sign of a narcissist.

[@baaardmanbt5369]

@@vincentsubmarinismo774 also saw that... He only likes and promotes the good... Never acknowledges the critics even most though most of the points raised are valid... I watched this video and the just asked KZbin to stop suggesting his stuff... Hopefully if enough people do it the algorithm will stop pushing his selective "journalism" whatever he wants to call this.

[@Arthuro1776]

I am doing sport like skiing, climbing ....and once I was in cave not diving but there was one Syphon and it was all ok a bit scared but ok, I made it through without panicking. But to see this cave diving is really scary and I have absolutely no clue how hard it is to breath. I just can't imagine. And to see how fast the situation escalated is just brutal.

[@DIVETALK]

Thanks for the comment. Definitely can be unforgiving so training and following the cave diving rules all the time are critical.

[@claymac7895]

The whole thing is so insane to me it almost seems like a subconscious suicide.

[@Rundu1987]

Just a correction, its NOT a bloated body, its more than 10 years later, its a bag of bones.

[@DIVETALK]

Actually that’s not always true we are told. Flesh can be preserved that’s inside a drysuit or even wet suit (we have been told by some experts).

[@Rundu1987]

@@DIVETALK Shaw had been advised by various experts that the body would remain negatively buoyant because the visible parts were reduced to the skeleton. However, within his wetsuit, Dreyer's corpse had turned into a soap-like substance called adipocere, which floats. Damn! Youre right! Adipocere (/ˈædɪpəˌsɪər, -poʊ-/[1][2]), also known as corpse wax, grave wax or mortuary wax, is a wax-like organic substance formed by the anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat in tissue, such as body fat in corpses. In its formation, putrefaction is replaced by a permanent firm cast of fatty tissues, internal organs, and the face.

[@mayhem7455]

He didn't do it "by himself." He had a team with him. They had other divers in the water staged at different depths with extra air or tanks, I'm not a diver so with a rebreather I don't know what the backups would be. I just know they had them. He WAS the only one to go all the way to the bottom and deal with the body. So yes, he did that part alone. I think your intro is a bit misleading by accident.

[@DIVETALK]

Yes we are going to do a follow up but he was “at depth” by himself as the other dives were hundreds of feet above him. So really he was “alone” while doing the body retrieval.

[@mayhem7455]

@@DIVETALK I certainly agree with that.

[@danhallorannyc]

So, i think your analysis is ultimately correct on the central cause of the failure but off on a lot of areas of the potential solutions and causal factors. You are right on that the main issue was a Normalization of Deviance error that caused Shaw's death- the first dive succeeded and fooled him into thinking it could be repeated. You are right on that he was lucky. But I think the errors are not that he didn't STAGE team members at all the staged bottle locations; that would have been impossible and just create more opportunity for life-threatening diver conditions . First, the deco obligations would become astronomical across the board with divers staged at all the bottle points and those divers would run risks at every level. Gas use, even with all of them on rebreathers would become dangerously pressed and multiply inherent rates of failure by the number of divers- and do they need to be in PAIRS at those stops? According to your analysis that you "don't like solo diving" it would - creating even more factors for error. Second you would need to multiply the bailout tanks by the number of divers- creating a need to hang DOZENS of tanks at each stop, making logistics a NIGHTMARE imagine potential gas needs in a rebreather failure at depth and then have that across 10-20 divers (I counted at least 6 stop depths for bottle changes). MAYBE he brings one or two divers to share the bottom work but again that still requires additional bailout mixes, increases the silt-out opportunities, and creates even more entanglement hazards... Realistically - he probably should have had ONE other diver- not to share work, but to simply spot for him and not work- so that the WOB would be reduced on the second (spotting diver) and ONE deep emergency diver (say 180' monitoring a video or at least audio feed live and being able to run in either direction if needed). Two "brains" and an opportunity to see errors coming. Full-Facemask with comms were essential to this dive- they weren't used. Another issue is likely that he should have had 4.5/86 mix as the ideal mix for 900' to even out the HPNS issues for helium at that depth -though the "tables" for this sort of dive are all theoretical because no one is actually doing these sorts of dives- maybe 4/80 is right but again its not idea- and does depend on the PPO2 he flew the rebreather at. Another issue is Shaw DID NOT follow the plan's time constraints realistically. You don't simply turn the dive and go- he knew he needed to follow the timeline to the letter- and he was not "ready" to ascend at the turn-point (he was still entangled). He was too "task focused" and forgot the first mission parameter- return alive. Also, it wasn't HYPOXIA he likely succumbed to it was probably HYPERCAPNEA, the CO2 retention caused by the higher WOB at depth. The better way to have done that whole bottom portion is to model it on a PSD recovery. A line tethered to the recovery diver also connected to the tender (or support diver or exit line) and zip cutters NOT snips for entanglements. use of a lift bag to assist and stabilize the body might have helped as he knew the body was still in the scuba tank and harness. He likely also should have had a two-three day interval between dives for off-gassing and helium diffusion and just to clear his head.

[@alpine1609]

Hi, it wasn't the next day, he found the body, then it was about 5 months before the body recovery, there is a full documentary called dave not coming back, his dive buddie Don actually played himself in the reconstruction parts,

[@scubaclient355]

I wonder if he had a high VO2 max he may have survived the gas density. I've read he only had 333 dives in 6 years. But he was very experienced. An underwater drone to recover the body, with Dave controlling it.

[@dylandelarosa9856]

Drone would have silted out the environment.

[@scubaclient355]

@@dylandelarosa9856 Probably right.

[@stephaniehunter3251]

This made me cry

[@DIVETALK]

Me as well (Woody).

[@AudraK]

Creepy how at 20:34you see his detached head bobbing around in the water with his mask still on

[@davidgates851]

A good vid. I have done a bit of research abt this incident. At 900 feet the first problem....you bail. You leave and come back. A noble effort but as the commentator said it should have been a team.

[@DIVETALK]

Why not keep it simple and avoid using a body bag? Why not tie a line on the body and drag him out? Why not use a lift bag? So many things that could’ve prevented this tragedy. Thank you for your feedback and thanks for watching.

[@davidgates851]

@@DIVETALK in my research i learned a few things. One is thst over a period of time the part of the body in his suit went through a process where body fat becomes like soap, neutrally bouyant and harder to deal with in water than dead weight. Also dwyers head was skeletal as were his ankles. His head actually came off during the attempted recovery. Shaws body and Dwyers both actually floated to the surface over the next few hours and were recovered the next day. Shaws body, resurfacing quickly went thru an unfortunate and grotesque swelling. They believe his "narcked" level at 900 feet was about like 6 or 7 martini's. I agree and think it was a brilliant comment that he was doomed by the perfect dive the day before. No doubt he had a noble intent but the record for the deepest body recovery cant be ignored. He did have a team for his asent but the closest diver was Sheck Exley at around 700 feet. The first rule should have been, the slightest hitch, you bail. Dwyer's body had been down there 10 years. A few more days or weeks wouldnt have mattered. I followed this even though i am not a diver. As a student of zen for over 40 years i have found the study of courage to be a perfect fit with zen study. I actually found this channel because i was looking at most dangerous caves. There is a line where, unless it is to help others, courage becomes just pride. Selflessness in helping others is one of humanities greatest gifts and has given us our hero's and myths. Pushing your self for pride has produced our world records. My study is the boundry between the two and the courage it takes to honestly gaze into your own "soul". Thank you for your thoughts and the interesting exchange. All the best, from Tel Aviv, David

[@jernic8726]

Right, and they still could’ve body bagged him later at a safer depth during a deco stop and had the assistance of other people.

[@DIVETALK]

@@jernic8726 exactly! Or at the surface! The family didn’t need to be there.

[@BillReals]

@@DIVETALK The thought, at the time was the body was down there for years and the experts told him it would be the only way to bring him up was a bag since they thought it was "just bones" and would not float. He should have bailed when the body started floating. Then again, they should have just left the body down there.

[@jackspratt4343]

Yes, the team aspect didn't exist where it mattered most. Shaw was working alone to retrieve the body and then pass it up the line to team members further up. I've always questioned this.

[@DIVETALK]

Thanks yes we wondered also.

[@Midg-td3ty]

I dont get it why would you use up your air 30 times faster when the pressure is 30 atmospheres ? I understand the air is denser however the amount of molecules is the same. So wouldnt you need then a smaller volume for each breath which would compensate for the volume decrease ?

[@vincentlok8894]

I think this incident has been analyzed enough that it is probably a very good teaching tool. Maybe Dave Shaw's death has prevent others from dying.

[@herculejoestar5809]

I have seen hundreds of videos reviewing this and it does not get any better man was an expert and still got narcosis to the point that it caused a tragedy

[@keendeesjarlais3636]

as you explained, any time you need luck to do a personal best, I stay away from. if I want to squat a pb of 750 lbs, there's no luck... I trained hard to eventually get close to that weight and succeeded .

[@mitchellwilliams2491]

He didn't dive the day before. He tied the line to the body months before. And he did have a team member at each station on the ascent.

[@DIVETALK]

Yep you are right. Please watch the follow up video we made regarding this to correct all the errors we made in this first one.

[@mitchellwilliams2491]

@@DIVETALK thanks for letting me know. Just finished the follow up video.

[@Back_in_the_saddle]

You’ve got to be a darn mathematician to dive at depth. So fascinating to hear these professionals talk about it. Would never have the balls to dive but find it so amazing but very sad when it goes wrong .