What happens if one person gets stuck or panics?
This is a nightmare scenario.
I would never go farther than looking inside from the outside.
Follow the leader. Trust the Coach. Major factors.
Not chickening out when everyone else is doing it.
I remember how paranoid I was as a Camp Counselor. This does seem like a case of someone in charge deciding “what hasn’t happened can’t ever happen”. As far as getting them out through water? They don’t know how to swim and their muscle strength must be just about gone. I wonder if they could do any more than crawl out and keep their balance. Crazy thought....could they put them in induced comas and carry them out?
You do it to see what’s there. Exploring is human nature... and humans have explored caves for thousands of years, depending on them for shelter and protection, water, and food storage. Caves can range from duds to extremely gorgeous, even surreal, though even a dud cave can be a welcome relief from oppressive summer heat. There’s beauty like nothing else on earth in crystal formations and flowstone and seemingly bottomless crystal water in many of them. And if you like waterslides and mud and such as boys do, they are quite fun. But it’s true you have to be very aware of the weather in the region, not just locally, when exploring them, since caves are created by water from underground streams and distant sink holes that can be 25 miles away or more.
This cave is a well known tourist attraction, which may be why the coach was so complacent. He was familiar with the cave though apparently not with precautions.