In terms of "extreme" sport, deep-cave diving is as extreme as it gets.
Derek Hughes, 38, a cave diver, who was part of Saturday's doomed retrieval mission at Boesmansgat, explained that cave divers plunged to extreme lengths for the opposite reason why people climbed Everest.
"We don't dive for what's there; we dive for what's not there," he said. "In a cave it's dark and silent. It's a very Zen experience. You float in velvet blackness and the only sound you hear is your own breathing.
"It's the closest thing one can get to complete nothingness; it's unbelievable. You are completely detached from the rest of the world."
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'It's the closest thing one can get to complete nothingness' "If you like being isolated, and peace and quiet, like we do, then this is the place to be," said Hughes.
Non-divers have questioned why Dave Shaw was not attached to a shotline, so that he could be hoisted to the surface in an emergency.
"The danger of becoming entangled is great if divers are attached to a line," explained Hughes.
"Also, being tied to a line limits a diver's movement and could have serious consequences if he is trying to sort out other problems."
A line would have slowed down Shaw's descent too much and would probably have made the mission impossible - he would have had only a few minutes on the bottom of the 271m cave to locate and free the remains of Deon Dreyer.
Hughes said commercial divers were tethered to the surface, "but it's a completely different sort of diving, with different equipment".
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This article was originally published on page 5 of The Star on January 11, 2005
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