Cave Diver on “Ice Age” Girl Discovery, Diving Pyramids & Thai Cave Rescue | Gus Gonzalez • 368
Julian Dorey · 23 Dec 2025 · 2h 55m
Guest: Gus Gonzalez · Host: Joey Def, Julian Dorey
A cave diver and co-host of a diving-focused YouTube channel walks through how he went from a first scuba certification in Iceland to exploring virgin cave systems in Mexico. He explains the technical mechanics of diving — dry suits versus wet suits, nitrogen narcosis, decompression sickness, rebreathers versus open-circuit tanks, and how cave lines and arrows function as the only way to navigate zero-visibility passages. He describes a near-fatal entanglement in a Mexican cave called El Diablo, and recounts secondhand detail on the 2018 Thai cave rescue, including conversations with two of the actual rescue divers about how sedated children were carried out through miles of flooded passage. He also critiques a widely circulated story from a retired UFC fighter about a cave diving near-death experience, arguing point by point that the account contradicts basic cave-diving procedure and training. Other stretches cover diving in flooded mines, sunken wrecks, and the ethics of leaving recovered or unrecovered bodies in places like Egypt's Blue Hole and Belize's Blue Hole. The conversation also drifts into shark and orca myths, speculative dives under Sudanese pyramids and Chernobyl, and a personal segment on immigrating from Venezuela and views on the current political situation there. Throughout, the guest repeatedly separates showmanship from the actual, rule-bound discipline that keeps cave diving statistically survivable.
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What comes up
Timestamps link into the episode on YouTube.
- Getting certified, diving in Iceland
- Dry suits vs wet suits, pressure and gas physics
- Decompression sickness and nitrogen narcosis
- Technical diving, gas mixes, saturation divers
- Rebreathers explained
- Progression into cave diving, meeting Woody
- Thai cave rescue details
- Sheck Exley and cave diving history
- Critiquing Donald Cerrone's cave diving story
- Bodies left in Blue Holes (Belize, Dahab)
- Wreck diving, mines, and Chernobyl/pyramid dives
- Leaving Venezuela and current political views
Said on this episode
Quoted from the auto-generated transcript, which mishears names and technical terms. podcite.com reports what a show said; it does not endorse or fact-check it.
“Cave diving is not for superhumans. It's just super dangerous.”
“I mean, the whole cave is trying to kill you. And I remember I was really close to probably dying.”
“No, that's the complete opposite of reality. My buddy Woody came behind me and he found me completely entangled in line”
“He's like, you know, one of the main unspoken rules of cave diving is that if you get into trouble I'm leaving like I'm going out. It's better for one of us to die than both of us to die.”