| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penny, Preston | 37 | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
At 7:45 a.m. on February 23 a group of divers met at Ed Robinson's diveboat on Maui Island, Hawaii. These were tourists, hiring Robinson and Sue, his assistant, for a day's diving. The group included John Baird, Tom Colan, Masao Nakan and Preston Penny (37). They were all apparently open-water certified, but not trained in cave diving.
They discussed possibilities and decided to do a cave on Cape Kinau for a first dive. Robinson had previously toured this cave with clients. One light per diver was issued and a video movie of the dive would be made by Robinson. Sue would be safety diver and follow the group.
The cave, as described by other divers familiar with it and by the survivors, consisted of a single trunk passage with entrances at both ends, and three side chambers: the Small Chamber, Turtle Chamber, and Deep Chamber. Depths were apparently up to 90-100 feet in the Deep Chamber. One end of the trunk was big enough for six divers to swim abreast. A 'tight' spot led then to the main trunk with a 'very narrow' place between that and the Deep Chamber. The floor was very silty. There was a small Middle Exit, with sunlight visible only when directly below it. The three chambers came in order beyond the Middle Exit, and all on the same side of the main passage.
All the divers were using 80 cubic foot cylinders filled to 3,000 psi. Robinson would lead, filming, with Sue at the rear. At the Middle Exit an air check would be performed - if any had less than 1,500 psi, they would return to the boat. This check was done and all proceeded.
At the Deep Chamber, Colan saw that he was down to 600 psi and reported to Robinson, wanting to exit. Baird saw this, and that he was also down to 600 psi and that visibility was deteriorating. Robinson led these two out the third entrance. On the way, Colan's sonic alarm went off and he had to share air with Robinson. At the surface, only Baird had air left, 100 psi.
Meanwhile in the Deep Chamber, visibility had gone to near zero - one could see only the glow of lights from other divers. Sue signalled for them to exit the room. Nakan did so, with difficulty at the restriction and Penny apparently had to be pushed through. Sue emerged in a cloud of silt.
Nakan and Sue then exited via the Middle Exit. When Robinson noticed a diver was missing, he took an extra cylinder and returned with Penny a few minutes later. Efforts to revive Penny were unsuccessful.
The victim was found on the bottom, with a camera in one hand and a light in the other, his gear in place but no air in his cylinder. He was in a portion of the cave with good visibility.
Prosser points out the many deficiencies in the party: no formal cave-dive training, no specific emergency-escape planning, a too-elaborate plan for their air supply or their ability to coordinate, lack of guide line, lack of two-thirds air supply to exit on, etc. At their mid-exit air check at least half the group were at or beyond the accepted limits for safe cave diving.
As Prosser says, "This was an accident waiting to happen - it was most fortunate that the entire team did not perish.
"One should be especially cautious about undertaking a hazardous adventure with people you don't know - it might even be safer to do it alone.
A group of tourist divers went on an ill-prepared dive and one diver, Preston Penny, died as a result.