Edd Sorenson (born October 17, 1959) is a

technical Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

cave diver Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other ...

known for numerous rescues of lost or trapped divers in the underwater caves of Florida, particularly in

Vortex Spring Vortex Spring is a commercially operated recreation, camping and dive park located near Ponce de Leon, Florida. It is the largest diving facility in the state of Florida. The spring Vortex Spring is a cold, freshwater spring that produces approxi ...

and

Blue Spring State Park Blue Spring State Park is a state park located west of Orange City, Florida, in the United States. The park is a popular tourist destination; available activities include canoeing, SCUBA diving, kayaking, fishing, camping, hiking, wildlife watc ...

. He is well known for being one of the most experienced cave divers in the world.

Career

Sorenson began diving in 1995 and within a few years expanded to

cave diving Cave-diving is underwater diving in water-filled caves. It may be done as an extreme sport, a way of exploring flooded caves for scientific investigation, or for the search for and recovery of divers or, as in the 2018 Thai cave rescue, other ...

. In 1999, he joined International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery (IUCRR) as one of the original members and later founded Cave Adventurers

dive center A dive center is the base location where recreational divers usually learn scuba diving or make guided dive trips at new locations. Many dive centers operate under the guidelines of ISO 24803, in which case the facilities must meet the ISO mi ...

Marianna, Florida Marianna is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Florida, United States, and it is home to Chipola College. The population was 6,102 at the 2010 census. In 2018 the estimated population was 7,091. The official nickname of Marianna is ...

in 2003 near

Florida Caverns State Park Florida Caverns State Park is a state park of Florida in the United States, part of the Florida State Parks system. It is located in the Florida Panhandle near Marianna. It is the only Florida state park with air-filled caves accessible to the pu ...

. Sorenson became a local hero in 2012 after four rescues that year and was featured in the

Duracell Duracell Inc. is an American manufacturer of alkaline batteries, specialty cells, rechargeables and smart power systems, owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The company has its origins in the 1920s, through the work of Samuel Ruben and Philip Mallory, ...

series ''Quantum Heroes''. For his efforts in 2012, Sorenson was awarded the Diver’s Alert Network Hero Award, Heroic Merit Awards and the Instructor Trainer of the Year from the Professional Scuba Association International. Due to his experience with the Vortex Spring cave system, Sorenson was involved in the 2010 search for missing diver Ben McDaniel. After an extensive search Sorenson believed that McDaniel was not trapped in the cave because of lack of evidence and disturbance to the cave commonly seen after a diver passes through. He stated, "The last place I searched was pristine, without a mark that a diver had been there. It would be impossible to go through that restriction without making a mark on the floor or ceiling. He's not in there." In February 2019 Sorenson, along with Mike Young, successfully conducted two body recoveries from Dudú Lagoon in the Dominican Republic. In April 2019 Sorenson successfully rescued Josh Bratchley, a British cave diver who assisted in the

rescue Rescue comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or the urgent treatment of injuries after an accident or a dangerous situation. Tools used might include search and rescue dogs, mounted search and rescue ho ...

of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a Thai cave, from Mill Pond Cave in Flynn's Lick, Tennessee.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sorenson, Edd 1959 births Living people American cavers American underwater divers Cave diving explorers People from Marianna, Florida