Bodies Of Two Cave Divers Found In Weeki Wachee
The bodies of two cave divers have been recovered in Weeki Wachee.
According to Hernando County Sheriff’s Office, the two divers were reported missing on Sunday around 6 p.m. Patrick Peacock and Chris Rittenmeyer, from Ft. Lauderdale, were pulled from Eagle’s Nest.
Eagle’s Nest, also known as Lost Sink, is a large cave system located off of Cortez Blvd.
Justin Blakely was a diver that was there with Peacock and Rittenmeyer. He told deputies that he and his two friends traveled to Eagle’s Nest for a three-day dive.
Blakely also told deputies that Peacock and Rittenmeyer were both experienced divers and had been to Eagle’s Nest several times in the past.
All three divers entered the water at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Blakely, who was the most inexperienced diver, agreed to remain closer to the surface while the other two explored the caves. The plan was for all three of them to check in at a predetermined location at 3 p.m.
Blakely arrived at the location and waited, but they did not show up. He went back 30 minutes later and they still were not there. He checked back every 30 minutes and they never showed. At 6 p.m. he called 911.
A group of rescue divers entered the water in an attempt to locate Peacock and Rittenmeyer on Sunday night but were unable to find them.
A new group of rescue divers entered the water in an attempt to locate Peacock and Rittenmeyer at 9 a.m. on Monday. The divers were found near each other in 260 feet of water in a very dangerous and complex area of the cave system.
Once the bodies were removed from the bodies of water by rescue divers they were turned over to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
This is not the first tragedy at Eagle’s Nest. In 2013 father and son Darrin Spivey, age 35, and Dillon Sanchez, age 15 drowned in the cave system on Christmas Day.
