If you are dead set on setting a world record deep dive, the place to do it is
Boesmansgat, South Africa. As you might imagine, not everyone comes back. Ten years ago, Deon Dreyer died there during
a routine dive. Despite the attempts of numerous individuals (and a robot at great expense to the family) to locate his
body, he was never found. At least, not until
October 28th, 2004. Unfortunately, the
body recovery did not go as planned. Read on for more information.
Deon Dreyer was a support diver at Boesmansgat in 1995 who disappeared during a relatively shallow
dive to 70m. The reasons for his demise are unknown though the most likely culprit was probably deep water
blackout. Numerous divers have searched for him and a copper plaque sits at the cave?s entrance in his memory. In
1996, Nuno Gomes set the world record at Boesmansgat by diving to 282m after a solo 12 hour dive. You can read his
harrowing description here. Even after reaching the bottom, he
was unable to locate Deon despite an extensive search.
And so it came to be that Deon?s body was discovered in late 2004 near the bottom of Boesmansgat
by Dave Shaw. Dave returned in January in an attempt to
recover his body. He died during his attempt.
The diver who went after Dave Shaw also nearly lost his
life.