San Diego diver dies exploring underwater New Mexico cave
A veteran San Diego scuba diving instructor died over the weekend while exploring underwater caves in New Mexico that had been sealed for 40 years.
Shane Thompson, 43, was entombed overnight in a cavern underneath the Blue Hole, after being trapped in an accident Saturday, according to the Guadalupe County Communicator. The small lake near Santa Rosa, N.M., is a popular site for divers because of its crystal-clear waters.
Thompson was one of several elite divers who were on an excursion with the nonprofit ADM Exploration Foundation, the newspaper reported Thursday. The group had received rare permission to enter the caves, which had been closed in 1976 after two scuba divers from Oklahoma got lost inside the labyrinth and died.
Thompson and the team were using “rebreather” equipment that recycles divers’ breath with oxygen and allows explorers to stay underwater for long periods of time.
Diver Mike Young told investigators that he and Thompson were looking for passageways when he ventured through a narrow obstruction into a small chamber and Thompson followed.
“Shane was supposed to stay out, and for whatever reason entered the cave,” Santa Rosa Police Officer Mike Gauna told the newspaper. “At that point, that’s where everything went terribly wrong.”
Young tried to exit the area but both divers became wedged in a narrow passage. After freeing themselves, Thompson took a wrong turn and became trapped in what was described as an unmapped area that led nowhere, Gauna said.
By the time Young found Thompson, he had died. His body was recovered the next day.
Thompson was a well-known scuba diving instructor for Advanced Underwater Training in San Diego. According to his bio, he had more than 20 years of experience working as a deep technical rebreather diver who had first worked as a diving instructor in the Navy.
No more exploration is planned of the underwater cave system at Blue Hole, said Curt Bowen, president of the exploration foundation.
“The cave system below is walled out. That means there is no cave passage left to explore,” he said in an email. “We mapped everything we could fit through, and it ended in a tight rock breakdown at a depth of 194 feet.”
Because of the extreme environment within the cave system, the city accepted the group’s recommendation that the cave system remain off-limits to the public. The divers covered and secured the grate at the bottom of the bell-shaped swimming hole to prevent untrained divers from gaining access.
Family members said Thursday they were struggling with Thompson’s death, but they acknowledged that diving was what he loved to do and that he had earned numerous certifications during his lifetime.
A Navy veteran, Thompson began diving at a young age while growing up in the Florida Keys. After earning his first certification, he went to work for an underwater construction company and later started numerous diving businesses that focused on everything from boat maintenance to salvage work and training.
Last year, Thompson rediscovered the wreckage of the B-36 “Peacemaker” bomber that had crashed in 1952 near Mission Beach. A video posted by Thompson’s San Diego-based Advanced Underwater Training business shows his flashlight scanning the engines and other corroded pieces of the plane as he makes his way through the darkness more than 250 feet below the surface.
In New Mexico, the Blue Hole has been an attraction for centuries. Legend has it that outlaw Billy the Kid would take a dip at the swimming hole before heading into Santa Rosa.
The artesian spring, tucked into a rock outcropping, pumps out about 3,000 gallons per minute.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 11:25 PM with the headline "San Diego diver dies exploring underwater New Mexico cave."