Missing Diver For Monday Mystery...!

This story is strange on many levels. A diver goes missing sometimes, but generally when the search for him starts, a body is found or at least some clue as to what happened. Not in this case, however.

The Missing Scuba Diver

The warning sign near the entrance to the cave. Photo: Wikipedia

When diver Ben McDaniel descended into the water of Vortex Spring, a large dive park and underwater cave near Ponce de Leon, Florida, he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy plunge. One narrowing tunnel below the surface is even sealed by a locked gate, with a key available only to divers experienced enough to handle its challenges. With the tightest spots in the cave measuring just 10 inches from floor to ceiling, the only way out is the way you came in. McDaniel went down, but he never came back up.

Recovery divers searched every inch of the cave. They explored hundreds of feet beyond the end of the cave map, squeezing through 10-inch spaces. They found just two decompression tanks belonging to McDaniel—but not McDaniel himself, and no other signs that he had been there. No scrapes on the limestone, no feeding fish, and no disturbed silt. His disappearance remains a mystery.

What can I say? If the sign can't stop folks from going into the cave, seems as though it's on them. I hate to say it, but I reckon some folks don't have any common sense.

Coffee out on the patio one more time.