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.

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.

Me: not a diver at all. _Binge watched Mr Ballen videos which has me now terrified of scuba diving especially in caves._ KZfaq: here's more diving tragedies. Also me: let me binge watch all these *dive talk* videos as they are super interesting and informative.

Ever since hearing about this I have always wondered why someone would risk their life trying to recover a body. I hope no one ever risks their life trying to recover my body.

I highly recommend watching the documentary "Dave Not Coming Back". It is very well done and tells you the whole story. This wasn't a rushed dive after the record dive. This was an extremely well planned dive that just didn't end well. In fact, a second diver Don Shirley, also almost died on this dive.

If Woody says “at that depth, by yourself” you know he’s worried.

Let the dead rest were they lie. Especially at that depth. This is exactly why they leave people on Everest. Life is for the living and that shouldn’t include a death sentence for attempting to retrieve another body at that depth or in the case of Everest at that height. They all died doing what they loved to do so respect that and let them lie in piece

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.

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.

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

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.

Love the channel but I need to correct you on a couple mistakes Woody. First of all Dave discovered Deon Dryers body on October 28, 2004, the day he made his record setting dive. It was not until January 8th 2005 that the recovery dive took place. He had an entire team of people helping including his friend Don Shirley who nearly lost his life also. After 10 years the body was no longer bloated...it had turned into corpse wax or 'Adipocere' where the body fat becomes a soapy type of wax. This is what caused the body to float which in turn caused many problems which contributed to Dave's entanglement which ultimately cost him his life in addition to the carbon dioxide buildup in his re-breather.

I have been on a Dive Talk marathon and something struck me today. The fact that you guys react to these tragic life loss dives and share so much information is doing a serious service to the Diving community. The things that you guys are commenting on is going to save lives. You two are very very kind to do this and i have so much respect for you both.

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

Wish he had watched a better version of this. Because there’s more to the story, even one of his dive partners had problems… started suffering from severe vertigo and started vomiting underwater. Took him several weeks to recover.

I'm not a diver (yet), but I still remember the first time I watched this footage. It's rough. RIP Dave Shaw.

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.

I've never gone diving (and problably will never go). I always assumed that all you had to do was grab some tanks full of oxygen (kind of like filing an helium balloon), and you were good to go. Yet I realise each dive is so technical, and so many parameters have to be taken into account, this is insane.

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.

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 .

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!

I remember first reading this story, broke my heart. He didn't have to go down there, he just really wanted to bring those parents some closure by bringing their sons body back, such a hero and good man.

He had a team. He had divers staged every 100 ft and planned to pass the body up like a relay race

I really hope you and Gus plan on reacting to Dave Not Coming Back! Such an incredible movie and provides a lot of context to this video and this story. The rescue effort of Don Shirley, one of Dave's support divers and the narrator on this video, is harrowing and incredible. Dive-reenactments in the movie are done on-location in Bushman's Hole, and Don Shirley participated in the re-enactment. Couple notes on the video without spoiling any of the diving components of the movie: - Dave found Deon's body four months before his death, not the day before. In addition, he had a team of 7 or 8 support divers who had planned to relay Deon's body in the bag to the surface. Nobody except Don had gone to the bottom of the cave with Dave - they had planned a staged ascent. - Dave believed the body was skeletonized after having been stuck 900ft underwater for over a decade, hence why the plan was to put it in a body bag and bring it to the surface. It is likely that Dave did not expect Deon's body to begin floating once he reached the body at the bottom. It seems to me that the mistake that cost him his life was not bailing on the dive once he noticed the body was dislodged and floating - after some time, it may have floated to the roof of the cave on its own. - Dave was used to putting his light around his neck while he worked underwater. However, this was also the first time he had dove with a camera on his head. He was unable to place his light in the usual position because the camera was in the way, so he left the light floating next to him instead. This is how he got his light tangled with the body. - Don suffered from The Bends after his rescue and was unable to walk for several weeks following this dive. Nonetheless, he recorded this narration about five days after Dave's death because he knew South African news had gained access to the video, and wished to avoid having Dave's last breath aired on national television.

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

Great channel!!!👍 I've been obsessed lately with trying to mentally work out my claustrophobic fears by watching a lot of cave exploration and dive videos. This channel is amazing because it not only critiques these divers but is super informative and educational. Never knew cave diving would be such an intriguing fascination of mine 🤔New fan and subscriber here 👊

Hey man! Just wanted to say thank you for the quality and informative content. Appreciate you sharing your insight and experience!!

The parents should NOT have been there. They were at the surface ready to freak out when seeing the body so they had to bag him underwater which caused him to get tangled and sadly pass away. Bagging him shouldn’t have even been a consideration at this ridiculous depth. My heart goes out to all families and divers involved. Heart breaking. Also: woody is my favourite ever :)

I’m actually surprised that you didn’t mention the OTHER diver that also nearly got himself killed! He was the first one Dave was supposed to meet up with and he actually went against the plan and dove down farther to check on him and he noticed Dave’s light was no longer moving and something had obviously gone wrong. One of his gauges or something ended up completely failing or the gauge blew or something along those lines and he was literally vomiting underwater from the effects and like I said he nearly lost his life trying to save Dave Shaw.

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

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

Thank you so much for doing a reaction video of this dive. It helps to really understand what fully happened..

Wow, these lectures are mind blowing and your final thoughts should be written in stone at every dive site. As an amateur diver I can't emphasize enough the value of this information as well as understanding the science behind these complex dives. Thank you for providing your insight and knowledge. You may have inadvertently saved lives with this video.

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

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

The Willie Nelson of diving lol.

Still binge drinking beers to his memory in May 2021 NEVER FORGET DAVID SHAW!

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

Hi. I have been watching many of your videos for the past few days now, and I love this channel! So many things to learn from this. Keep up the great work! 👍🏻

Dave and Anne were friends of mine in Hong Kong. It was sad to lose him. RIP buddy

I caught myself rooting for David, even though I knew he didn't make it. Such a heart wrenching tragedy

Greetings from Kentucky. I am NOT a scuba/cave diver at all. Being underwater terrifies me, but for some reason, the mechanics of it is just fascinating. I was under the impression that when a diver uses "mixes" of gases, the decompression time is less, but I guess not. I'm so sorry for Mr. Shaw's family. Thank you, Mr. Alpern, for a very interesting, informative video. Keep up the good work and above all - be safe!!

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

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.

Great video. Watched three times. Learn more each time about what happens with too many tasks

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.

Its always so fun to listen to Woody explain everything even though most of time I have no clue what he's talking about but it sounds so cool 😁

I have never dove in my life. In fact I have barely swam in the ocean. I can not stop watching dive talk. What an amazing hobby and channel.

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

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.

I just wanted to say I just discovered you guys last week and have been watching your videos and wanted to say I know absolutely Dogass about diving but Dive talk is so damn interesting to me. I love it! Keep up the good work Woody & Gus !

Superb commentary. Much appreciated your experience and observations

I saw a video about this on another channel and I couldn't understand what went so wrong that the experienced diver died. It was so shocking. Thank you for your video explaining what can go wrong and how the diver got into trouble even though he was the best at this kind of diving.

That footage is excruciating. I feel like I'm down in that cave.

Great reaction Woody!! Your commentary is always super educational!!

This is so informative and Woody is super fascinating to watch. Thank you for this great video although the topic is very sad 😥 RIP 🕊

this guy keeps suggesting that he should have help down there with the body, but this was already a world record depth. he can't just bring some guys along because he is literally the only person on the planet who thinks he's capable of pulling it off. there was never a chance of having a team down there to assist at 900 ft or whatever it was

the goodman handle on the dropped torch entangled in the cave line. Dave was dragging a body behind him at 270m . 28 bar(atmispheres) co2 caught up with him. was not hypoxia. machine was delivering 1.1 ppo2.

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

This is my favorite episode of Dive Talk , I think Woody did an awesome job considering the informstion he had available at the moment .

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.

Point of clarification he was on a Mk15.5 with HammerHead electronics. Biomarine created the rebreather for the military. HammerHead is one of many vendors that sells replacement electronics for it. Hammerhead CCR is a completely different unit.

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. ✌

Great commentary and spot-on, im a MSDT for PADI and you did a great job explaining it!

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

This could’ve been successful if he had aborted the dive as soon as he saw that the body was positively buoyant, which is not what he had expected and therefore planned for. At this kind of depth you obviously can’t change the plan. Like as an airline pilot: when you don’t understand something, or something doesn’t go as planned, you must go back to the basics. In this case, abort the dive and rethink it later.But it is easier said than done, and maybe he felt some pressure to succeed right away also.

Thank you for this. Love the channel

Excellent channel btw thank you for your analysis for those of us who aren’t dive experts!

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.

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!

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.

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.

I always thought he pushed the limits cuz he promised the parents he would recover their child.

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”

You told the truth chasing a record, being a Hero.

What an excellent reaction. Thanks for this!

Tragic. But informative. Despite how experienced he was and the thorough planning, one simple unexpected turn (the floating of the body) was enough to create a disaster. I guess the lesson here, if one simple thing goes against the plan, abort immediately. Did you guys react/analyze the case of Audrey Mestre? Another totally avoidable tragic.

I have never dived at all but I find this so interesting!

I have so much respect for these guys

Never go hunting alone. Never go fishing alone. Never walk a forest alone. Never dive alone. All seem like good things to hold as in every scenario you are alone, away from civilization, and possibly in a major situation that needs help immediately. Hunting, predator appears or you fall, or you shout yourself. You can fall over board while fishing, good luck catching up to your trolling motor as it pitters away at 2-4 mph. It is just never good to be alone at night, let alone in a place with low visibility and can easily get lost in, I.e a forest. Then the video we just watched is a good way to show why diving needs more then one person.

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.

900ft deep, in a cave, almost unfathomable

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.

Good analysis. I know you weren't informed at the time of the video a d got some facts wrong but still good honest reactions which are still very very useful for anyone learning.

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 🤍

apparently be believed he was going to find a skeletal body, and was surprised by it being a chalky body with almost no decomp because of the extreme location. which makes little sense to expect a skeletal recovery but it’s what was reported by his people at the time.

I absolutely love this channel. I’m obsessed with the ocean and big bodies of water. I’ve been bingeing for the last two days. I’ve learned SO MUCH ! I don’t plan on diving, ever lol. However if it ever came to it, I AT LEAST know the 5 rules of diving. I feel like I should take a class to know how to work the equipment. Again, I will never go diving. I do not dabble with Mother Nature in that capacity. Again, Thanks Guys !

I don’t wanna dive. But this was so amazing to watch, mostly you outlined everything. Wonderful teacher.

David did have a team according to this short documentary on youtube kzfaq.info/get/bejne/hbyKkrtyvbu7nKs.html however, as stated, he didn't have anyone with him to help recover the body, he miscalculated the time needed based on a lucky or successful previous dive and almost cost the life of closest diver who got worried that Dave didn't come back on time, he got so sick himself that he started vomiting and had to be rescued.

Great content

Addicted to these. Keep it up!

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

Deep diving is definitely a skill. I’m glad I just like fishing.

Awesome video, thank you for sharing your thoughts and knowledge!

Woody you were pretty on point with this. I saw the later video and I get that there was some things to clear up. Generally though this video is a pretty accurate assessment. Problems at those depths are compounded. Dave did not consider this to the fullest especially a solo dive

I'm happy I watched updated version first

Some bodies turn into a waxy substance called Adipocere and the reason why they float is because that substance is lighter than water, that is different from decomposing bodies which float due to the amount of gases generated by decomposition.

I learnt about this on Qxir's channel! Was thinking how valuable it would be to hear a professional diver's insight on this. Thank you for covering these tragic events, may the victims rest in peace.

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

Fantastic video! Just stumbled upon your channel recently and have really been enjoying your content. Could you guys do a reaction video to the last dive of Yuri Lipski in Egypt's Blue Hole?