Having visited many of the sites mentioned in this book in my cavern training was a humbling experience after reading this book. Learning about what the early cave divers endured and we’re willing to put at risk in pursuit of their passion and love for one of the most arguably dangerous sports in the world is truly awe-inspiring.
Caverns Measureless to Man is a story written by Sheck Exley, a diver, whose passion for exploring where no man has gone before, leads him to push his physical limits and the technological limits of the equipment and decompression theories time.
Sheck Exley takes you on one wild adventure after another. The book opens with him being sucked into a vortex of jellyfish, shrimp and snapper into a dark abyss of a Belize cave. Finally, he opened up into a large room, revealing a maze of stalactites that no one had ever seen or even knew where there. Sheck describes the equipment of the time and how it worked in great detail. As a diver, you will often be surprised what the divers of the time were willing to do with the primitive equipment they had compared to the equipment now available even to the most novice diver.
Sheck wrote this book as a diver for divers, as it just exudes his passion and enthusiasm for the challenge of exploring new caves, better equipment and most importantly, for better safety procedures. Sheck Exley wrote the book on cave diving safety procedures more than one. Every chapter starts with the epic adventure that Sheck and his gang of elite divers of the time were trying to accomplish and what new equipment they were able to invest, adapt, purchase or persuade someone to donate. For example, the evolutions of the diver reel from a tin can spooled with string around it to the modern Reel we use today. To high-powered dive, lights using a motorcycle battery for power, and even the evolutions of a buoyancy compensator.
As with most extreme sports and situations, there are quite a few stories of how divers have lost their lives pursuing their passion and how we deal with the loss of our dive buddies. Sheck Exley describes many of his close calls and some of his dive buddies. Sheck doesn’t hold back how much planning and preparation goes into planning the kind of dives they were doing and the risk they were taking, and then they bear the unfortunate cost when things don’t go according to plan.
Despite some of the harrowing stories Sheck Exley shares, the book is a fantastic read, as the author was a high school teacher, and he writes in a storytelling way. He takes you on a journey each dive trip to the depth of the world. I enjoyed this book, and I feel it’s an excellent read for anyone interested in diving and a must-read for anyone who is or is considering cave training.
I feel it’s important to know about the ones who came before us and where all the wise rules one is taught and systematically trains. These rules have been passed down to us through the high cost, and we need not be complacent. Instead, we need to respect the rules and make them second nature when we go on our dive so we can return to our loved ones with inspiring stories and less tragedy.