Exley on Mix | X-Ray Mag Issue #50 | Sept 2012
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tech talk Edited by Michael Menduno Exley On Mix Text by Michael Menduno “I’m interested in your deep div- on a collision course. Billy repeat- Journal, #3, MIX, published Photos by courtesy of Michael ing program and diving the USS edly tried to raise the ship on the in January 1992. Two years Menduno and Ann Krislovich Wilkes-Barre,” said the caller with radio warning them that we had later on 6 April 1994, Sheck a distinct southern drawl. divers in the water. To no avail— drowned during a failed Prologue: I first spoke “Do you have any deep diving the freighter never responded. attempt to bottom out the with Sheck Exley in the experience?” I asked. As it drew closer with no signs of Zacatón cave system in “Some,” said the caller. changing course, Billy decided Mexico, which was more than summer of 1991. I had “What’s your name,” I queried. that we had to move the boat 300 meters deep. begun publishing aqua- “Exley.” though we still had divers on CORPS: The Journal for “Sheck???” the line. We sent a support diver Exley on mix Technical Diving, a year Later that fall, Sheck and his down to Sheck who was decom- I glanced over at Sheck. He partner Mary Ellen Eckhoff visited pressing at something like 60-feet, was again lost in thought, star- earlier and I was working Key West to dive the Wilkes-Barre, to tell him to hang on, we were ing blankly into the night. It out of the office at Capt. a 610-foot U.S. Navy Cleveland- moving the boat to avoid a col- had been fascinating listening Billy Dean’s dive shop in class light cruiser sunk in 1971 in lision. It took Billy about five min- to him discuss the facts and Key West, Florida, the first 250-foot of water, which served utes to maneuver out of the way figures of the dive, but what I as one of our training sites. We of the freighter which blew its really wanted to hear about technical diving train- stowed our gear on board the whistle at us as it went past. were the things that go on ing center in the United Key West Diver One and motored Forty minutes or so later, Sheck inside his head when he’s bur- States. “Technical diving”, 45 minutes out to the wreck. sheepishly climbed back on ied under hundreds of feet of Billy stayed on board and I board. The freighter, which had water, inside a rock crevice, a term we had just coined dove the wreck with Mary Ellen. passed us, was still visible in the on the very edge of life, and to describe this new style Sheck decided to make the dive distance. Sheck asked if this sort still going on. ANN KRISLOVICH of diving, was just in its by himself shadowed by one of of thing happened often. Billy “How are you going to infancy. our support divers. We planned a replied it was not uncommon. decide when you have gone To say that Sheck Exley is not Certified in scuba at the age 20-min exposure to 250 followed Sheck, who acknowledged he deep enough?” I asked. your average 42-year-old high of 16, Exley became the first Billy was out running errands and by approximately and hour of was not too comfortable on “Fear,” Sheck answered imme- school algebra teacher is a bit person to log a thousand cave Chris, the store manager, called decompression. Mary Ellen and boats, said that he was going to diately as if he had been patient- more than understatement. By dives accomplishing this feat in out for me pick-up the phone in I surfaced, while Sheck was still stick to cave diving after that. ly waiting for such a question.” vocation, he is in fact a teacher less than seven years. Over the the office: someone was inter- on the decompression line with a Later that fall, I interviewed at Suwannee High School in Live nearly two and a half decades ested in our deep diving program. support diver. In the distance, we Sheck for the magazine. Here is —from The Deepest Dive Oak, Florida. By avocation he is that followed, Exley explored “Hello, my name is Michael. noticed that there was a large a reprint of the original interview, by Ned Deloach an explorer, pioneer, educator and surveyed most of the world’s May I help you?” I said. cargo ship bearing down on us which appeared in aquaCORPS and diving legend. known deep water cave systems, 81 X-RAY MAG : 50 : 2012 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO tech talk Exley 1973, has published over 100 articles eyes adjusted and I swam a little bit and six books on the subject of his further, peering off into the darkness. passion, lectures extensively, and cur- I guess I’ve been peering off into that rently offers a mixed gas training pro- darkness ever since. gram for experienced divers. join the Perhaps pioneers like Exley will MM: You’ve made some incredible pioneered many of the methods always remain an enigma. An explor- dives in your career; your “Salute the rebreather and techniques of deep air and spe- er and athlete of the highest magni- Flag” dive at Diepolder II to 360 feet revolution cial mix scuba, and in doing so, has tude, combining physical ability with on air, Wakulla, El Nacimiento de Rio repeatedly redefined the limits of self- the psychological stamina necessary Mante to 870 feet, your 10,939 foot contained diving. to venture where few will ever go, to penetration at Cathedral, why do His exploits and verve have earned others, perhaps, he is seen as a dare- you do what you do? him the reputation of being one of devil and risk taker seeking a thrill. the finest divers in the world, and Recently aquaCORPS caught up SE: I’m not sure. My motivation has have shaped the development mod- with Exley hoping to try and explain changed a lot over the years. I ern cave diving, which is regarded by and reconcile the many stories that grew up diving, and as a teenager many as a model for specialized dive have grown up around the man, to I wanted to be important and to training. A teacher and soft-spoken understand his motivation, to get be thought of as important. I went educator, Exley helped to establish inside his head. The results were more through a stage where I wanted the National Speleological Society’s than we had anticipated. to see how deep I could go. Then I Cave Diving Division (NSS-CDS) in went through a stage to see how far I MM: When did you could go. I still enjoy that. start diving Sheck? There are places that no one else has been to since the dawn of time. SE: I got started in We can’t see what’s there. We can 1965 but I didn’t see what’s on the dark side of the really start keeping moon or what’s on Mars, but you a log until February can’t see what’s in the back of a 1966 when I went cave unless you go there. There’s a on my checkout special feeling when you know no dive with Ken Brock. one else has been there before. And He taught me how it’s an extra special feeling when you Poseidon MkVI to dive. That first know no one has ever been that far. I The world’s first fully automatic, dive we went down enjoy that feeling. recreational rebreather and I stuck my head under a coral MM: Your Nacimiento Mante dive Now available at ledge, what you must have been like that? Poseidon Rebreather Centers worldwide. Visit poseidon.com might call a coral for your nearest center and cave, maybe 16 SE: It was frightening. I’d use the term for further information on feet deep [chuck- “physiological roulette” to describe the Rebreather Revolution. les]. Wasn’t much of my four Mante dives. The first to 520 anything, and I real- feet in 1987 was probably the most ly didn’t enjoy it. But frightening. It was really stepping then Ken took me out into no-man’s land as far as the to Crystal River and western hemisphere was concerned. I really got turned Jochen Hassenmayer of course on. I didn’t have had been deeper at Fontaine-de- a light or anything Vaucluse. www.poseidon.com so I kind of wan- dered off into the MM: Was Mante your first big mix cavern there, my dive? 82 X-RAY MAG : 50 : 2012 EDITORIAL FEATURES TRAVEL NEWS WRECKS EQUIPMENT BOOKS SCIENCE & ECOLOGY TECH EDUCATION PROFILES PHOTO & VIDEO PORTFOLIO tech talk Exley SE: I had done practice dives of course: 130 feet at Cathedral and 260 feet at Holton Springs. Dale Sweet’s 360 feet trimix dive at Diepolder back in 1981 was the only dive in the western hemi- sphere that was close to it. In the eastern hemisphere, there were Jochen’s dives. He had been to 660 feet, which gave me a lot of confidence. MM: You knew it was doable? SE: I knew it was doable. I had dived with Jochen. He’s an extremely impressive diver, as good as any I have dived with. decompression tables; isn’t that have the information to make Organised by The fact that I had actually met just foolhardy and crazy? that statement.