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GUE History: Towards A New and Unique Future (2004)
Here in this 2004 white paper, Jablonski presents the rationale, controversy, and evolution of the DIR system, discusses the rise of alternative DIR groups and how they differ from GUE, and charts out a new direction for the organization, all of which makes for fascinating reading for diving history buffs.
The Evolution of DIR
by Jarrod Jablonski, Preface by Michael Menduno
Preface
Standardization of equipment, gases and dive protocols are accepted and viewed as the norm in military and commercial diving. However, the idea of creating standards for sport diving teams in order to improve their safety and performance was, to say at the least, controversial in the 1990s when technical diving was just emerging. But that’s exactly what George Irvine, then the director of the Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP), and training director Jarrod Jablonski, did with the development of their groundbreaking “Doing It Right” (DIR) system of diving, which evolved from the earlier “Hogarthian” approach to cave diving developed by WKPP co-founder Bill ‘Hogarth” Main.
There’s little doubt that the DIR system garnered even more controversy as a result of Irvine’s pugnacious “my-way-or-the-highway” online persona, which arguably detracted from DIR’s importance. Jablonski went on to establish Global Underwater Explorers (GUE) in 1998, with the DIR system at its core. In fact, GUE’s membership magazine “QUEST” was originally named dirQUEST.
By 2004, Jablonski and Irvine’s system inspired the rise of a number of DIR groups around the world, each unaffiliated with GUE, and each with its own focus and nuance. This created some confusion and additional controversy surrounding what constituted GUE standards in comparison to other DIR groups. As a result, Jablonski authored an article titled, “Toward A New and Unique Future,” in the Summer 2004 issue of dirQUEST, which is reprinted below. Following that issue, the “dir” was dropped from the title of magazine, which was renamed “QUEST.”
In his treatise, Jablonski recounts in some detail the need, evolution, and clarification of GUE’s DIR standards, as well as discussing the rise of alternative DIR groups, the confusion that it caused, and the decision to take GUE in a new unique direction. His thesis makes for fascinating reading for diving history buffs like me.
In addition, he made several notable points which struck me as I read it. First, Jablonski pointed out that DIR was misunderstood from the beginning. Specifically, that it was NOT an indictment of non-DIR equipment configuration or practices, but rather an effort to promote uniformity among dive teams. There is more than one way to “do things right.” The key is to decide on a standard and stick with it.
Second, Jablonski concluded that DIR was a necessary, but not sufficient, condition of being GUE. In other words, GUE was bigger than DIR and encompassed a wider set of standards and practices. Those included the practice of “civility,” which was likely added in response to Irvine’s actions at the WKPP.
Interestingly, when viewed today, GUE’s standards have clearly demonstrated their robustness. In fact, one could argue that many of GUE’s standards, such as a pre-dive checklist, streamlined equipment, nitrox vs air, cylinder marking and gas switching protocols, as well as more conservative gas parameters—OK, not everyone has bought into helium beyond 100 ft/30m, yet—have been extremely successful in that they have largely been adopted by the technical diving community. Here’s what Jarrod Jablonski had to say back in 2004.
The article makes for fascinating reading for diving history buffs like me.
Toward A New and Unique Future
by Jarrod Jablonski, GUE Founder and President
The history of underwater exploration is filled with striking personalities and noteworthy actions. However, underwater exploration took on a new form with the emergence of scuba diving. Initially driven by commercial and military interests, underwater exploration using scuba grew to include sport divers, who embraced underwater exploration as their life’s passion and who sought to develop the best tools possible to complement their exploration needs. While the sport was in its infancy, and choices were limited, these divers did not vary greatly in terms of their equipment and configuration.Furthermore, given that training options at the time were also limited, these divers also shared very similar techniques.
As more people took up scuba diving, however, variation in equipment, training, and equipment configuration grew. With ever-growing numbers of people finding pleasure in open water, no decompression diving, a collective identity emerged reflecting the interests of recreational diving participants. An entire industry would soon follow to serve these interests. Concurrently, another identity would take shape, one tied to a group of divers, some coming from within recreational diving, some from without. These divers pushed the limits of recreational diving, exploring increasingly more demanding environments; e.g. caves, deep wrecks and ice. Over time, these two groups would diverge and each would follow its own trajectory. The somewhat vague (in part arbitrary) categories of “technical” and “recreational” diving can be used to describe these two trajectories.
Given the different orientations of recreational and technical divers, it should come as no surprise that different training practices, equipment choices, and configurations would emerge to answer to the wants of each. The evolving idea of what it meant to be “recreational” led to some divergence regarding what one needed to know to remain safe during dives of minimal difficulty. As a result, dive training tended to become shorter, with minimal treatment of topics such as gas planning, breathing gas concerns, decompression, and crisis management. Likewise, this shift led to greater variation with respect to equipment choices and to how this equipment would be configured.
However, the needs of technical diving generally required greater knowledge of these areas, more precision, more attention to detail, refined skills, practiced crisis management, a sound configuration, and well-crafted and well-maintained equipment. Conventions foreign to the recreational diving community, such as the “thirds rule,” the use of a long hose and a redundant regulator, emerged specifically to address the needs of the technical diver. However, in time, it became apparent that the more precision and proficiency that was required to pursue exploration-level technical diving, the more the need for a unified system. That’s because it was impractical, if not impossible, to operate efficiently as a team if individuals were not functioning under a common set of constraints.
Regardless of environment, there is substantial variation among divers with respect to both the value they place on efficiency and how intensely they seek to extend the limits of their diving practice. I would argue that the position that divers take on issues of efficiency is largely tied to the nature of their diving. For instance, it is clear why early divers did not consider standardization an urgent need. That’s because their diving was less aggressive and thus less likely to demand a high level of efficiency.
However, as diving became more aggressive and more complex, the benefits of precision and efficiency become progressively more obvious; individuals undertaking such dives quickly realize the benefit of standardizing nearly all aspects of their diving to make it more efficient. So, when evaluating different equipment configurations—from those used in the early days of underwater exploration, to those representing “Hogarthian” ideas (discussed below), to the evolving principles of “Doing It Right”—it is useful to keep in mind the importance of efficiency in dealing with complexity.
As a greater number of divers (both recreational and technical) discover the value of efficiency as a means of improving the quality of their diving, standardization in training and equipment, seems the likely future of the practice of diving. The public first became aware of the movement toward standardization and of its value, when the Hogarthian diving system became popular. This scheme was composed of a rough set of ideas and equipment recommendations that served as useful standards for measuring desirable aspects of diving equipment configurations.
Cultivated by a small collective of cave explorers, i.e., Bill Gavin, William “Hogarth” Main, Lamar English, George Irvine, and myself, the idea behind this “system” was that there were preferred methods of configuring equipment, and that these methods had a profound effect upon diving efficiency. Bill Main invested considerable time seeking the most streamlined configuration possible, which resulted in his middle name being chosen to represent the overall system.
Though useful, the Hogarthian system did not require a specific piece of equipment or a particular configuration. Therefore, it did not provide divers with an objective diving standard that would ensure efficiency in the water and was thus limited in its utility. However, by promoting the idea that a careful selection of equipment and configuration could substantially impact the success of a dive, Hogarthianism introduced a dynamic new paradigm to divers and encouraged them to seek improvement through minimalism and streamlining. Armed with this new perspective, many divers (myself and the above explorers included) sought to assemble the most efficient equipment configuration possible, often sharing our findings with the public at large.
Rather than provide divers with an objective standard to assemble their configuration, Hogarthianism offered a loosely-knitted set of ideas or philosophy that, in the interest of diver efficiency, promoted an ethos of careful gear selection. However, the lack of an objective standard did not permit divers to understand what exactly constitutes a Hogarthian diving configuration. Instead the “system” varied according to how different advocates of Hogarthian diving saw the links tying together equipment, streamlining, and efficiency.
This disparity of opinion, along with Hogarthianism’s singular emphasis on equipment (versus general diving practice) led to considerable confusion among the diving public (it was extremely difficult to standardize what, was largely subjective in nature). Eventually it became clear that both a more complete system and greater standardization were needed. To be as useful as possible, the components of the system would need to be objectively arrived at and standardized. George Irvine and I, having worked extensively with the Hogarthian system, and having written at length about it, worked toward this new paradigm. We named this new paradigm “Doing It Right” or DIR.
As the first holistic scuba diving system ever crafted, “Doing It Right” began to gain significant popularity in the mid-1990s; a key component of its success was the detail and care that guided its growth. By adhering firmly to standardization, DIR initially faced opposition from diving quarters that saw the loss of “personal preference” as a notable sacrifice. Even so, with the gradual recognition that it is impossible for a team of divers to be efficient in the water without notable uniformity in equipment, training and configuration, opposition began to erode and continues to erode to this day. That’s because divers have begun to realize that there is a significant penalty in terms of wasted energy and effort for stubbornly seeking to maintain an individual “style.” Why reinvent the wheel alone when there is a proven system that ensures safety, efficiency, and success in the water?
Because DIR’s insistence on standardization is frequently misunderstood, it sometimes becomes a source of tension among divers. That’s because some see the insistence on uniformity as an indictment of practices that do not abide by DIR principles. However, there is nothing essentially hostile or critical about DIR; in its most basic form, it is ultimately pragmatic, promoting the concept of uniformity within and among teams of divers.
Because DIR’s insistence on standardization is frequently misunderstood, it sometimes becomes a source of tension among divers. That’s because some see the insistence on uniformity as an indictment of practices that do not abide by DIR principles. However, there is nothing essentially hostile or critical about DIR; in its most basic form, it is ultimately pragmatic, promoting the concept of uniformity within and among teams of divers.
To be fair, there is a certain degree of legitimate tension generated by imprudent advocates of DIR. Having personally benefited from the system, they take it upon themselves to become almost evangelical in their promotion of what they understand to be its tenets. Nevertheless, this is not an intrinsic weakness of DIR; all successful movements have their zealots.
By crafting a set of objective standards meant to regulate diving practice, DIR triggered a paradigm shift in diving, one that will forever modify the way that divers evaluate their diving. It is now part of our ethos to believe that divers acting cohesively and with shared purpose are more efficient. Nonetheless, considering standardization in isolation is unfair to the system’s holistic approach.
DIR Principles
As a well-defined, standardized system, DIR was designed to maximize efficiency across multiple environments in order to promote safety and fun. Among its key principles are:
Unified Team
Central to the DIR diving system is the concept of a unified team. This system pairs divers of similar capacity within an environment that they are properly prepared for. Teams of individually capable divers produce a level of safety and efficiency beyond what is capable while diving independently. Few things are as rewarding as diving within a group that maintains a similar degree of care and focus. Any diving activity where the concept of a team is marginalized will always fail to maximize its potential with respect to fun and safety.
Preparation
For DIR, preparation for diving involves five primary components. These are: pre-dive preparation, mental focus, physical fitness, diving experience, and dive planning. Divers who try to circumvent any of these areas are not adequately prepared for the dive and stand a good chance of experiencing reduced comfort, a missed dive opportunity, or even a dangerous situation. With ill effects, far too many divers assume that dive preparation begins the day or even hours before the dive.
Streamlined Equipment
The elements comprising a standard DIR equipment configuration have been endlessly discussed and are now well known. For those seeking more information on this subject, please refer to my book, “Doing it Right: The Fundamentals of Better Diving.”
In short, the DIR configuration was designed to work in a majority of situations and to ensure safety and promote a diver’s efforts, not undermine them. Streamlined and minimalist in nature, the DIR configuration was designed to maximize divers’ efficiency while minimizing their risk. Items should not hang free or protrude from divers’ bodies, increase drag or cause entanglements.
Balanced Rig
The DIR rig is a carefully weighted rig; one that ensures that while divers are not over-weighted, they are able to hold a decompression stop in the face of a catastrophic gas loss. This requires a careful assessment of the component parts of one’s configuration, and how these each impact statically and dynamically, on the buoyancy characteristics of the configuration as a whole.
Cylinder Labeling
DIR embraces the uniform practice of marking cylinders with the Maximum Operating Depth (MOD) in a clear and easily identifiable manner, and utilizing only this data to identify bottles. This practice prevents divers from becoming accustomed to unreliable identification procedures.
Standard Gases
DIR promotes reliance on standard gas mixes for all phases of diving. “Standard gases” help to insulate divers from the risks of inappropriate gas ratios, provide a common platform for cylinder marking and gas mixing, ensure team symmetry, and vastly simplify decompression logistics.
Conservative Gas Parameters
DIR promotes conservative gas parameters for all phases of diving. Among these are: Equivalent Narcotic Depths (END) of less than 100 ft/30 m, the partial pressure of oxygen (P02) during the working phase of the dive of 1.4 ATA or less, and P02s of 1.6 ATA or less for decompression. To offset the toxic effects of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, DIR recommends the liberal use of helium together with the conservative use of oxygen.
GUE Diving
To a careful reader, a casual review of diving history will reveal a movement toward greater standardization. DIR’s place in history is assured, given its role in introducing a new paradigm to the diving public, one where standardization provides divers with the key to efficiency, safety, enjoyment and success. Though there is still variation among divers, in time, the desire for proficiency will force them to migrate toward a known paradigm that through its insistence on standardization, ensures phenomenal success in both extreme diving projects and in recreational applications. For this reason, the trajectory that the history of diving will follow will speak volumes to the impacts of the DIR movement.
With all great movements, comes inevitable corruption and fragmentation. Today, DIR has spread to every corner of the globe, with self-appointed DIR groups emerging in dozens of different countries. Given their physical separation, their lack of centralized direction, their own specific agendas, beliefs, power struggles, and constraints, these satellite groups cannot help but to promote a version of DIR that is uniquely their own. Many of these “versions” of DIR bear little resemblance to the original, however well-intentioned and devoted to the founding principles of DIR these groups may be.
The unavoidable division of DIR is the result of many factors, ranging from breakdowns in channels of communication, to differing interpretations, to personal agendas, to private experiences, to power plays, to simple disagreements among proponents. As individuals and groups adopt DIR they will often make choices very different from those that I and other founders of DIR would have made. As a result, it is necessary for us to recognize that DIR will be repurposed by those it has influenced in ways that serve their own interests. Nonetheless, in the end, I believe that these systems that adopt DIR can only benefit the future of the diving industry. Even so, I believe that to enhance the safety, fun and efficiency we sought to ensure when we first started to build DIR, it is necessary for us to ensure greater standardization across additional domains.
From the outset I believed that divers’ training, their equipment, their configuration, their knowledge, and their skill set should all contribute to greater safety and enjoyment in the water. That was the reason I founded GUE. The DIR system is at the core of GUE training. That is not surprising, given the extent to which my efforts helped to shape both DIR and GUE. However, with the passage of time, GUE has shaped its own identity, one that is not identical to that of DIR. And though being DIR is a necessary condition of being a GUE diver, it is not a sufficient condition; it is not enough.
There is more to being a GUE diver than being DIR. Among other things, it entails a standardized measure of competence (training), a commitment to civility, and also to non-smoking, aspects to which DIR in-itself does not speak.
There is more to being a GUE diver than being DIR. Among other things, it entails a standardized measure of competence (training), a commitment to civility, and also to non-smoking, aspects to which DIR in-itself does not speak. Over time, GUE vice-president and long-time DIR supporter Dr. Panos Alexakos and I came to see that there was really no way to reign in the growing number of interpretations by DIR advocates; it would be a waste of resources and energy to struggle with them over the correct interpretation of DIR. With this in mind, we have struck out on a new road, a distinctly GUE road that looks fondly upon DIR as the foundation that can empower the organization toward a new and unique future.
Did you enjoy this article? Watch the original DIR 2004 DVDs now on GUE.tv.
Jarrod Jablonski is an avid explorer, researcher, author, and instructor who teaches and dives in oceans and caves around the world. Trained as a geologist, Jarrod is the founder and president of GUE and CEO of Halcyon and Extreme Exposure while remaining active in conservation, exploration, and filming projects worldwide. His explorations regularly place him in the most remote locations in the world, including several world record excursions at 300 ft to cave penetrations in excess of 24,000 ft/7 km; these dives include bottom times of 12 hours with total immersions near 30 hours. Jarrod is also an author with dozens of publications, including three books and more forthcoming, as well as several awards for lifetime achievement, including the 2018 DAN-Rolex Diver of the Year, 2016 Eurotek and 2015 Golden Trident. He successfully completed his first Ironman in April 2019.
Cave
The Aftermath Of Love: Don Shirley and Dave Shaw
Our young Italian poet-explorer Andrea Murdoch Alpini makes a pilgrimage to visit cave explorer Don Shirley at the legendary Bushmansgat cave in South Africa. In addition to guiding the author through the cave, Shirley and Alpini dive into history and the memories of the tragic loss in 2005 of Shirley’s dive buddy David Shaw, who died while trying to recover the body of a lost diver at 270 m/882 ft. The story features Alpini’s short documentary, “Komati Springs: The Aftermath of Love.”
Text by Andrea Murdock Alpini
🎶 Pre-dive clicklist: Where is My Mind by Pixies🎶
South Africa, Komati Springs.
On October 28, 2004, two cave divers and long-time friends, Don Shirley and David Shaw, planned a dive at Boesmansgat (also known in English as “Bushman’s Hole”) a deep, submerged freshwater cave (or sinkhole) in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. Dave dove to 280 meters, touched the bottom and started exploring. At that time, Shaw had recently broken four records at one time: depth on a rebreather, depth in a cave on a rebreather, depth at altitude on a rebreather, and depth running a line. While on the dive at Boesmansgat, he found a body that had been there for nearly ten years, 20-year-old diver Deon Dreyer.
After obtaining permission to retrieve the body from Dreyer’s parents, the two friends returned three months later. They enrolled eight support rebreather divers (all of whom were close to Don) and Gordon Hiles, a cameraman from Cape Town, who filmed the entire process—from the preparation on the surface to the operation at the bottom of the cave. The surface marshal was Verna van Schaik, who held the women’s world record for depth at the time. Little did they know that Dave would not come back from his 333rd dive, one that he himself recorded with an underwater camera.
Researchers have determined that while attempting the retrieval, Dave ran into physical difficulties with the lines from the body bag and the wires from the light head. The physical effort of trying to free himself led to his death for what is believed to be respiratory insufficiency (see video below). Don Shirley nearly died as well, and apparently was left with permanent damage that has impaired his balance.
Nearly 20 years later, our own Andrea Murdock Alpini visits Don and has this to say:
February 2023—I arrive at the mine owned by cave expert and pioneer of deep diving, Don Shirley. The place is fantastic—the wild nature, the warm water, and the dives are amazing. Every day I spend at least 230 minutes underwater, filming the mines and what is left of man’s influence in this beautiful and God-forgotten corner of Africa. Every day I have time to talk, plan dives, and prepare the blends together with Don Shirley.
The following is a part of the story that links Don Shirley to South Africa. Stories and places intertwine between Komati Springs, Boesmansgat (or “Bushman’s Hole”) and then the fatal dive with his friend Dave Shaw.
Monkeys arrive on time every 12 hours. They showed up last night at about 5:00. They came down from the trees in large groups. They start playing, throwing themselves from one branch to another, chasing each other. Mothers hug their little ones. Some of them play with oxygen cylinders, the smaller ones instead with methane gas tanks, the ones we use for cooking. We are surrounded by gas blenders of all kinds.
A herdsman’s hat rests on the workbench. Two hands with delicate, thin skin take adapters, cylinders, and whips.They open and close taps. Notebooks report all the consumption for each charge, strictly written in liters with the utmost precision. Impressions: An Amaranth t-shirt, an unmistakable logo, that of the IANTD. A pair of jeans and then some boots. He has a slight physique, he is lean and athletic with a beard that is white now, and a few days’ old.
While he works carefully, I do not disturb him, for I know well that when mixing, one is not to be interrupted, at least this is so for anyone who loves precision. Then, when he’s done, we have time to talk a little bit together.
We sit at his desk and then go to the board to plan the dive in the mine.
Don shows me the map of the first level. He explains some important facts to me, then his hands pull out a second sheet with the plan redesigned from memory of the second level at 24 m/70 ft deep. “This is the guitar level,” he says.
At first I don’t understand. He chuckles. I look at the shape he drew and, yes, that floor plan is a cross between a Fender Stratocaster and a Picasso guitar. Anyway, it’s a guitar, no doubt.
We begin planning the dive together. It’s exciting to hear him talk; he speaks in a soft, elegant tone, and it moves me. I look at his index finger moving. I listen to his words, but I also look at his eyes.
He gives me some advice but also tells me, “This mine is more similar to a cave. I have left it as it is. I want people to explore it and not follow any lines.”
Freedom of thought, plurality of choices. Acceptance of risk, inclusion of the other in what belongs to you. It’s clear that Don’s vision of diving is uncommon. Freedom is beautiful, but it is the most dangerous thing there is, if mishandled.
The next day, we have an appointment at 7 o’clock at the lake. Before diving this morning, we saw where the “Tunnel of Love” originates on the surface, a curious gallery which I came across underwater. There are two parts of the mine that survived the destruction of the mining facility after its closure. One of these is the tunnel where we are going, the other part is perched in the middle of the mountain.
Don explains that the tunnel is now frequented by the wild animals who go to drink there, so we follow their trail. The water has flooded everything up to just a few meters below the surface of the bush. Don cuts the underbrush that makes the path difficult. He wears his faithful herdsman’s hat and never takes it off. The ground begins to tilt slightly, a good sign that we are about to arrive. A series of stones suggest that here the path has been paved. “It was covered in wood,” Don explains.
The path that started from the building where the miners lived is now demolished. Following it, we arrive at what was called “The Tunnel of Love.”
The tunnel that was the mine’s main entry point. Narrow and difficult, the tunnel led to level one—now underwater at a depth of 18 m/60 ft.
We turn on the headlamps and enter. A small colony of bats flaps its wings upon our arrival. The water touches our boots. Some roots filter from the rock and stretch to the resurgence. The scenery is evocative.
Don kneels, peering at the water, and something. He looks at the water and something changes within him. Something has changed in our shared dialogue.
It’s as if Don takes on another language as he speaks. He always looks straight ahead. His vocabulary changes, and with it his tone of voice. We talk about politics, economics, the future of Komati Springs, the origin of the name of the place, the history of the mine, but we never mention two topics: diving and Dave Shaw.
Don’s a real caveman. I know that those who love caves are not ordinary people. We who do are a little bit mad to do what we do and love, but he’s different. He is comfortable here; he has found his dimension.
I remember asking him a question when we were inside the Tunnel of Love, breaking one of the long silences: “What thoughts are going through your mind?” He seemed to have reached a meditative state, a kind of catharsis. He replied, “I am just relaxing. This is a peaceful place. “
Around nine o’clock, we travel again to the lake, leaving the dry caves behind.
The first dive lasted 135 minutes, the second 95 minutes. Once the equipment is set up, I return to the cottage to dry everything and recharge the cylinders.
Don’s hands this time are again without gloves. Before we start mixing, we walk into his office.The walls are lined with articles he has published over the years.
He shows me the medals for valor he got when he was on duty in the British Army. When we return to a small corridor that acts as a barrier, my eyes fall on two photographs. “Is that Dave?” I ask. “That’s him. We were here in Komati,” Don tells me. “You see? This is his hat,” and he points to what is on his head.
The Consequences of Love
These are the consequences of love, I think. A friendship that transcends time, life, but also death.
It’s time to prepare the blends for tomorrow. As the oxygen pumps out, Don asks me, “Have you ever seen our Boesmasgat’s diving slates?” Obviously, I had never seen the decompression tables of that famous and tragic dive to 280 m/920 ft depth at 1,600 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) altitude.
“Hang on a sec.” Don picks up a small black box with a yellow label and brings it to me. He opens it. “These are the original dive charts. These are mine; these are Dave’s.” The box also contains the famous blackboard with the inscription, (“DAVE NOT COMING BACK”) from the documentary, as well as a pair of underwater gloves used in that dive, and then the heirloom of his CCR computer that broke due to excessive hydrostatic pressure.
He exits the room. He leaves me with those emotionally charged objects in my hands. I can’t see them any differently. They obviously have historical value; but, for me, the human sense prevails. I look at the decompression tables, touch the gloves, and think about the hands that wore them, that read the various whiteboards, and I imagine the scenes of that time.
I place everything back in the box. I hand it to Don as I would hand him a precious urn. In part, it is one. I find it hard to express myself in that moment. He understands why.
At this point I ask him, “What was the true meaning of that extreme dive that Dave wanted to do? Why did he do it?”
“He just wanted to explore the bottom of that cave,” Don said. “Wherever Dave went, he wanted to get to the bottom. That’s how we’ve always done it together. So that’s what we did here at the mine.”
Don then tells me a series of details and information about that place, about the geological stratification of the cave; he talks a little about the owner of the land where the famous sinkhole is located, and finally he talks about many other aspects of their failed dive. I promised to keep it to myself, and I will do so, forever.
Such is a connection that endures over time.
DIVE DEEPER
Wikipedia: Dave Shaw
YouTube: Diver Records Doom | Last Moments-Dave Shaw
Wikipedia: Dave Not Coming Back (2020) A critically acclaimed film that centers on diver Dave Shaw’s death while attempting to recover the body of Deon Dreyer from the submerged Boesmansgat cave in 2005.
Shock Ya: Don Shirley Fondly Remembers Scuba Diving with David Shaw in Dave Not Coming Back Exclusive Clip
Outside: Raising the Dead (2005) by Tim Zimmerman
Other stories by the prolific Andrea Alpini Murdock:
InDEPTH: Finessing the Grande Dame of the Abyss
InDEPTH: Hal Watts: Plan Your Dive
InDEPTH: I See A Darkness: A Descent Into Germany’s Felicitas MineInDEPTH: Stefano Carletti: The Man Who Immortalized The Wreck of the Andrea Doria
Andrea Murdock Alpini is a TDI and PSAI technical trimix and advanced wreck-overhead instructor based in Italy. He is fascinated by deep wrecks, historical research, decompression studies, caves, filming, and writing. He holds a Master’s degree in Architecture and an MBA in Economics for The Arts. Andrea is also the founder of PHY Diving Equipment. His life revolves around teaching open circuit scuba diving, conducting expeditions, developing gear, and writing essays about his philosophy of wreck and cave diving. He published his first book, Deep Blue: storie di relitti e luoghi insoliti (2018) and IMMERSIONI SELVAGGE, published in the Fall of 2022.
