Vortex Spring, Holmes County, Florida
This is the first of a two-part series about the mysterious disappearance of Ben McDaniel, a certified open water SCUBA diver that has been missing since August 18, 2010. The missing persons case remains open.
It’s a story that strikes fear into the heart of every diver: going down and never coming back up. Such is the story of Florida diver Ben McDaniel, who went on a solo cave dive in the summer of 2010 at Vortex Spring, a popular freshwater recreational site for divers and swimmers alike. Although he never resurfaced in society, no trace of him was ever found in the spring or the cave, despite ongoing efforts of police and qualified divers. This unsolved mystery has become the subject of two projects that will be released to the public in the upcoming months. One is a Discovery Channel show entitled “Disappeared,” and the other is a feature documentary called “Ben’s Vortex,” produced by one of the industry’s most respected female divers, Jill Heinerth, and her husband, Robert McClellan.
Becoming an open water diver at just 14, Ben McDaniel is remembered by friends and family as a fearless individual who was passionate about his hobbies, particularly SCUBA diving. Seeking more of a challenge than his open water certification offered, McDaniel decided to try his hand at cave diving, a certification which would have required about two months’ training and 125 logged dives with an instructor or cave-certified dive buddy. Despite the well-known dangers of cave diving and the necessity of proper training, he went ahead on the dives without it.
On the day of the fateful dive, August 18, 2010, McDaniel entered the spring just before sunset, unaccompanied by a dive buddy. On his way into the cave, he was passed by two divers on their way out, one of which was a commercial diver who works for Vortex Spring. Eduardo Turan had come to know McDaniel in the weeks previous to his disappearance as a regular diver at Vortex, and knew that he was gaining access to the cave by jimmying the locked gate that separated the cave from the common areas of the spring. Only cave-certified divers are given a key to the gate, which McDaniel did not have. That day in August, Turan turned around and unlocked the gate for McDaniel. On previous dives, Turan would sometimes wait for the sight of McDaniel’s bubbles at the surface, as an indication that he was decompressing and okay. Turan and the other diver did not wait to see those bubbles this time, and no one knows if there ever were any.
Photos via systemslibrarian, Thespis377
He broke the lock. I was there that weekend it happened and that’s what I was told.
Eduardo Taran, a commercial diver employed by Vortex Spring, admitted that he had opened the lock for Ben McDaniel on the dive where he disappeared, knowing that McDaniel had tampered with the lock on previous occasions. He and the other diver with him on that day submitted to polygraph tests about the incident and passed.
Headed to Vortex this weekend actually.
I’m going next week.
Went there with a buddy this summer.
first of why was he given the key? and a lot of caves espically in fla often go out to the ocean, its possiblehis body was swept deeper than the cave team has gone, one thing for sure he was stupid to even think of doing what he did!
Anyone know when this show will air on Discovery?
This guy got what happens when you thing the rules don’t apply to you
Insurace fraud!
This is why you NEVER dive alone!
No exact date, but the show is set to air in March, and the documentary will be released at film festivals this summer.
Please don’t dive beyond your certification level. This is a classic case. Open Water Divers should not go into an overhead environment without proper training under any circumstance.
Wow, that is where I got open water certified! Those caves are dangerous from what I hear. I guess this is a warning to all of us.
Just watched the movie “Sanctum” on HBO. Over the top dramatization but realistic cave diving depiction! I’ve dove overhead environment numerous times. It can be unnerving if you let the circumstance get into your head. If you love diving and haven’t seen the movie, worth the price of admission! t
I was there that weekend he went missing…we were told he had broken the lock.
Will be waiting for ‘part 2′. Anybody heard any theories?? Kinda sounds like a D.B. Cooper story….
I think Russ is spot on. He’s probably gotten deeper than they’ve searched and if he hasn’t gotten hooked on something or blocking a narrow opening, he’ll eventually end up in the ocean
Haha he is deff not in the cave, I’ve personally talked to a rescuer and he has dove that cave deeper than anyone. How could he go farther than the rescuers if he wasn’t even cave certified?
We are going there this summer
We are going there this summer
Don’t dive without a buddy and without proper equipment and training. I wouldn’t cave alone ABOVE ground.
It has since been proven a diver is able to slip through the underwater gate. And no, Ben did not break the lock as there is new information whereas the broken lock was substituted with the original one and the owner ( Lowell Kelly with his helpers ) took the body out and disposed of it on the property somewhere. Numeroous hunts with cadaver dogs on land has not had positive results yet. As far as the polygraph tests is concerned—there were only three questions asked instead of an official 1 1/2 to 3 hours it normally takes. Something is not right here but our family was in such a stage of shock we did not realize how significant an error this was!