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Kentucky diver's body recovered from Hernando underwater cavern

Staff file photo (2004)

James Woodall II, 39, and his friend Gregory Snowden, 34, went diving at the underwater caverns at Eagle's Nest.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2009

Updated: 11/04/2009 11:12 am

WEEKI WACHEE - Volunteers early this morning recovered the body of a Kentucky man who drowned while cave diving Tuesday in a Hernando County cavern system.

Divers found the body of James Woodall II, 39, about 500 feet from the entrance to the Eagle's Nest cave in about 270 feet of water, said Hernando County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Donna Black.

Woodall and Gregory Snowden, 34, came from Kentucky to dive at Eagle's Nest, a vast underwater cave system in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Management Area northwest of Weeki Wachee.

Snowden told deputies they had traveled about 500 feet from the cavern entrance when Woodall began to experience trouble with his scuba tank about 1:30 p.m. When he was unable to help his dive partner, Snowden returned to the surface to summon aid.

He reached the surface at 6 p.m. because of time for decompression, the sheriff's office said.

Neither was a certified cave diver, Black said.

The sheriff's office had to summon specialized volunteer divers experienced in cave diving to recover Woodall's body.

The cave system has proven deadly for divers in the past, even for divers trained to explore the mazes of Florida's underwater caves.

Craig Simon, 44, of Spring Hill, and John Robinson, 36, of St. Petersburg, drowned in the cave system in June 2004.

Both were experienced and certified cave divers with the proper equipment for the complex dive, including scooters to pull them rapidly and the right mixture of air in their tanks.

They were found about 1,100 feet into the cavern in water about 200 feet deep.

In August 1990, another experienced cave diver, Brent Potts, 29, of Tallahassee, died in the cave. The diving instructor was found in about 200 feet of water.

In December 1981, a diving instructor from Crystal River died trying to save a woman in the cave. Jim Bentz, 32, was a trained rescue diver but drowned trying to save Terri Collins, 29, of Gainesville.

To be certified in cave diving, people must take extra training beyond what's needed for open water scuba.

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