Agnes Milowka's Body Recovered from Tank Cave

Certainly an emotional retrieval for the divers who knew her well.

The body of a world-renowned cave diver has been recovered from the underwater channels where she was trapped.

Agnes Milowka, 29, ran out of air after becoming separated from her diving companion on Sunday in the eight-kilometre-long channel system of Tank Cave near Mt Gambier, in South Australia's southeast.

Members of the close-knit diving community had retrieved her body, police said in a statement on Wednesday.

Tank Cave is one of Australia's longest underwater caves, and divers had to clear and widen the channels to make it easier to retrieve her body 600 metres from the entrance to the sink hole.

Visibility was a difficulty with sediment from any movement taking hours to clear.

Some of the channels were so narrow divers could feel the walls pressing against them.

Continue reading...

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Milowka's family and friends as they seek closure after her passionate passing.

Poseidon Diving Systems Announces New U.S. Headquarters

The Swedish diving technology company and creator of the world’s first recreation rebreather technology has a new U.S. headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas.

The company is also soon embarking on a 6-month demo tour to various cities around the U.S., conducting regulator and rebreather classes along the way. Stay tuned and we'll get you the cities and dates of that tour as soon as they're made available to us.

In the meantime, here's the headquarters press release from the good folks over at Poseidon:

Poseidon Diving Systems, creator of the world’s first recreation rebreather technology, has introduced a new headquarters in the US intended to service North American diving needs. This full-service facility will provide customers with Poseidon scuba products, as well as technical service for Poseidon gear and educational training.

Sweden Headquarters has designated Melanie Price, from Kickady Scuba, to be the Director of Operations, and Jerry Price to be Director of Service and Training at the new facility to provide faster, more efficient customer service to North American dealers and divers. The new facility holds a fully stocked warehouse containing only top of the line Poseidon technology, an oxygen clean room for servicing Poseidon products, and a classro om used for training instructors and divers.

Poseidon’s fully automatic rebreather technology is the first of its kind, and it is arguably the greatest breakthrough within the diving community for many decades. When compared to traditional recreational scuba equipment, the Poseidon Discovery provides a more tranquil, nearly silent, diving experience. This technology allows the diver to feel one with his or her surroundings, instead of an intrusion among the underwater world.

To kick off the introduction of the Poseidon Discovery rebreather in the North American market, Poseidon is sending a team across the country to showcase and demo the products. Divers and instructors will have the opportunity to be trained and to test this innovative technology first hand as well as the option to purchase gear on site.The Poseidon team will demonstrate this technology for instructors and the general public along with providing educational training at each site.

For more information about the United States Poseidon Headquarters or about Poseidon technology, please visit http://www.poseidon.com.

###

Be sure to check out PoseidonUSA on Facebook and follow PoseidonUSA on Twitter.

Any thoughts on the concept idea of "recreational rebreather" technology?

Captain Morgan's Lost Cannon Believed to be Recovered in Panama's Waters

Raise yer glass for ye ol' Captain! For what once was lost is now back again!

An international team of marine archaeologists has recovered six iron cannon from a reef in shallow waters not far from the mouth of the Panama Canal. They believe the weapons were lost during one of the less glorious chapters of British adventurism in the 17th-century featuring Captain Henry Morgan.

The cannon were prised from the reef a week ago amid fears that they might be plundered by treasure-hunters and could be the only physical evidence tying Capt Morgan to the region upon which he had such an impact more than 300 years ago. He remains a legend thanks to the brand of rum named after him. "Every school kid learns about Morgan's activities, but we have never seen any of his materials," said archaeologist Tomas Mendizibal, of Patronato Panama Viejo, a government agency that is overseeing excavation of the original site of Panama City. "If these are indeed his cannon, it would be a first."

A privateer for the Crown sent to protect trade routes to the Americas, Capt Morgan was seeking to capture the Castillo de San Lorenzo, at the mouth of the Chagres River, from the Spanish when his command ship, the Satisfaction, foundered on the reef with three other ships that were following him.

The fort, as it happened, had already been taken by a forward party of his own men. But Capt Morgan was not quite done. His ships sinking in the shallow waters behind him, he paddled upriver with his soggy men in search of Spanish gold in Panama City.

He inadvertently burned the town to the ground in violation of a treaty between Britain and Spain. Capt Morgan, who was from South Wales, was eventually forgiven by King Charles II for his carelessness and sent to Jamaica where he became Lieutenant-Governor.

Continue reading...

Arrrgh matey!

Recovery Team Member: Agnes Milowka Remained Calm Until Last Breath

A somber follow-up to news of the death of Agnes Milowka over the weekend, revealing insight into her final minutes underwater.

CAVE diver Agnes Milowka remained calm until her last breath as she tried to find her way to the surface.

Dr Richard Harris, a close friend of 29-year-old Ms Milowka, says she didn't panic in her final moments.

He is part of the team trying to clear the way for police divers to retrieve her body from Tank Cave, near Millicent.

Dr Harris, who had seen Ms Milowka's body submerged under 20m of water in a tight section of the cave about 550m from the entrance, said she was not trapped before her death.

He said Ms Milowka, who worked as a stunt diver for James Cameron's movie Sanctum, had ran out of air and suffocated after becoming disoriented.

She was separated from her diving partner and later became lost after stirring up silt from the cave walls and floor.

"It looks like she has remained very calm right to the last breath while she's been working at extricating herself," close friend and state safety officer Dr Harris said.

...

He said Ms Milowka - a marine archaeologist - was at the "leading edge" of the sport and respected worldwide for her diving skills.

Her "aggression" in the winding and narrow tunnels might have cost her life, after venturing into "a very narrow, rocky piece of passage," which took divers about an hour to reach, he said.

"There was no room in there for two people so she was by herself. To dive by yourself under certain situations is acceptable in this sport," he said.

Continue reading...

Milowka was a skilled professional until the end.