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Divers Claim Largest Underwater Cave

foxnews.com — Bogaerts and Schmittner spent four years swimming the length of the system, making about 500 dives with scuba tanks, linking one sinkhole lake to the next. Some passages were "big enough for a jumbo jet," while others were so narrow divers had to remove their tanks to wiggle through.

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  • WetSplatter, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Very intresting. I've always wanted to dive and this just adds to the excitement that you can smiply dive and explore cave systems.
    • Metatron197, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3good luck exploring once you run out of air
    • sambtravis, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3I've done some dives in cenotes in Mexico, which are basically lakes or sinkholes that are interlinked, not really a cave dive but same concept. I personally didn't enjoy it too much. There was nothing to see besides rocks and and a random bush when you got near another cenote. But if you're the kind of guy that could gladly go spelunking then cave diving is for you but if you want to see more than rock formations and air pockets then stick to a reef.
    • joshua5, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12no pictures... lame
    • Balanced, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Cave diving is a specialized offshoot of normal SCUBA and terrestrial caving. It's not as easy as it sounds, as the relatively minimal dangers of normal diving get magnified if you don't have a clear path to the surface at all times.

      Take it slow and careful, and don't exceed your abilities.
    • Parasocks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2So are they going to give it back?

      Somewhere a US politician thinks this is the work of terrorists.
    • wvdavis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As a certified Cavern diver, I can tell you that diving in an overhead environment (Cavern, Cave and Wreck) requires training. Cave diving is one of the most dangerous sports in the world. Do not attempt it unless you have had *extensive* proper training with certified instructors. There are several sites that are dedicated to Cavern and Cave diving. Some of the few are:

      The Global Underwater Explorers at: http://www.gue.com/
      The National Association for Cave Diving at: http://www.safecavediving.com/
      National Speleological Society, Cave Diving Section at http://www.nsscds.com/

      For those of you who are looking for video of Cave & Wreck diving a good source is: http://www.neptunoworld.com . The web site needs some work, but this guy is a diver not a web designer.
  • ilselu1, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24As a diver, I love this story! Although caves scare the living crap out of me...
    • ArchieAndrews, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15Just reading the sentence "...so narrow divers had to remove their tanks to wiggle through" gives me the willies. I have done a fair amount of diving too but, obviously, this particular discipline is not for me.
    • JimSartor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Indeed. Anytime diving is mixed with stuffing myself in small holes in which I have to remove my gear to get through . . . that's pretty much when I quit and go home.

      /weak
    • neuroticus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All that is needed here is a Cthulhu-type creature or a handful of sharks and this story could be the scariest thing I've ever read.
  • Dumbledorito, on 10/12/2007, -3/+23They claim it? Did they bring a flag?

    No flag no cave!
  • baxtermaddux, on 10/12/2007, -17/+4please dont submit stories from Fox News please. there is no way to know if anything from that organization is actually news since they get their headlines by throwing darts at a board of half truths
    • forensicmeteobo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Actually, the story is an AP story, posted by Fox. It's even in the URL! ".../wires/..."

      While Fox's journalism may be of question, AP is pretty reliable.
    • mikesty, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Wow. Well, at least if they throw two darts, they get a full truth, right?

      "while others were so narrow divers had to remove their tanks to wiggle through." -- that passage scares the ***** out of me.
    • baxtermaddux, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21/2 truth x 1/2 truth = 1/4 truth
    • Blandyman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Where'd you get multiplied by?

      They're combined. Unless you're still telling the half-lie part. Even, then, it's still left at 1/2...

      And yeah, I've seen videos where divers remove their gear to get through, and I have the horrible predisposition to hold my breath whenever people are underwater (in a movie or show or w/e) and I would've been flailing like a fish by the time I had finished passing the tank through.
  • mikev, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Things like this really intrigue me...anyone have photos of it?
  • jayh, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1All your cave belong to us
    • 10lbhammer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5oops! messed that one up, didn't ya!
  • reboare, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3This was on HD Discovery channel yesterday. AMAZING! Of course, its even more amazing at 105 inches. Gotta love panasonic ax100's. Yea. HD. drooool.....must watch monkeys in hd....drooool.....caves now....droool.....kombai tribe weiner gourds in hd....no drooool......
    • sambtravis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Just felt like informing everyone you had a 105 inch HDTV or was there more to it that I can't catch?
    • reboare, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Yes, I felt like bragging.
    • Blandyman, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Your mom's vagina... drooooll... tastes so good... droooooll... old and used... drooooll.

      We don't care about your TV. The mention of it being on Discovery HD probably would've gotten you dugg up, but the smart-ass bragging... no one likes it, on or off Digg.

      And the vagina jokes will get me dugg down, but at least I was only being mean to you.
    • silver98, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1that was about caves in florida. not the same thing
  • slonkak, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Did anyone else read that as, "Divers Claim Largest Underwear Cave"?
    • kryp7onik, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Nope, just you.
    • Blandyman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2How many articles can have a "did any of you guys read it as..." comments?

      It seems like someone tries one for each new article.
  • magealita, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The natural pools of water in the yucatan area are called Cenotes. I personally am much too claustrophic to even consider diving through caves. :)
    • reboare, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Just felt like informing everyone that the Yucatan had Cenotes and were claustrophobic, or is there more to it I can't catch?
    • Blandyman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Rofl, reboare.

      You just like the negative attention, don't you?
  • waterboy1628, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Dugg down for Fox News.
  • MadN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Are they sure it was not just Paris Hilton sleeping?
  • Svenson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Everyone should check out the documentary on the Florida freshwater caverns on discoveryHD I think its called Uncharted Waters, really worth checking out and a lot better than reading two or three paragraphs.
  • BlackMagic2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hmm, I'm an idiot...

    In school we were just studying sinkholes and what not, so I thought I'd print out the article, write a review, get a little extra credit. Why does that make me an idiot? I have the hardest ***** time getting the formatting right so it would print out right... I had no idea why, never had trouble doing it before, when at the top of the page a "View Easy print format" link was there :(

    what would you call a 'blond' moment for tech type stuff?
  • nitsuj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Release the Kraken..."
  •  

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