In Memoriam: Wes Skiles, Explorer, Photographer, Colleague and Friend
Wes Skiles, photographed at Ginnie Springs in 2001, shortly before departing to co-lead a National Geographic-sponsored expedition to Antarctica to document and photograph the largest iceberg in history. Photo by John Moran.
By John Moran
World-class explorer and image maker Wes Skiles, 52, died July 21 in a reef-diving incident in Palm Beach County, where he had been working on assignment for National Geographic.
Wes was best known for his work in educational and adventure science films and for his pioneering exploration and documentation of Forida’s springs. His death comes days before publication of his cover story on the Blue Holes of the Bahamas in the August National Geographic.
Over the past 20 years, Wes created and produced more than a dozen films for major networks including PBS and was a pioneer in the field of high definition imaging, employing innovative techniques as both an underwater and topside shooter. In addition to his acclaimed Water’s Journey series of films, he directed the IMAX film “Journey into Amazing Caves” and led a major National Geographic expedition to Antarctica to film the largest iceberg in recorded history. His primary goal was to focus public attention on the earth’s most important resource, water.
Wes successfully filmed where no one had before. His unstoppable spirit of adventure led him to exotic destinations and fantastic voyages. At ease with both motion and still photography he divided his time working on assignment for National Geographic Magazine and with television’s top producers of science, adventure and natural history programming.
Wes’s devotion to the study and protection of Florida’s springs led him to serve as the education chairman of the Florida Springs Task Force. His work in exploration and survey within Florida’s groundwater systems has been widely published in scientific journals and publications. He established both Karst Environmental Services and Karst Productions in order to pursue a career centered on his primary interest.
His bio goes on and on, with tales of escaping shark attacks and collapsing caves and dodging hurricanes over many years, all the while making fantastic pictures and managing to come home in one piece. Skiles’s life story reads like a screenplay from a Jules Verne movie.
So how did he get this job? This is my favorite part of Wes’s story. He’d be the first to tell you that in spite of an early love of science, he barely made it out of high school, and never went to college. He enrolled in the School of Life and pursued a degree in “curiology,” as he called it. Shortly thereafter he had a boat and was running a diving business in Haiti, setting the stage for a life of adventure to follow.
Along the way he developed sound business acumen and figured out how to actually get paid to shoot the pictures he loved to shoot. Wes’s adventures took him all over the world but his first love, apart from his family, was exploring the waters of Florida: the rivers, lakes, coasts, swamps and especially the springs. The writer Loren Eisley said that if there’s magic to be found on the planet, it is to be found in water. Eisley and Skiles would have found much in common.
Wes was about more than just adventuring for the sake of a good time. He was a man on a mission, and his mission was to educate and to inspire the people of Florida; to show us and teach us about our remarkable array of water resources and how each of us has a role to play in safeguarding this precious resource.
Wes largely directed his efforts to reach out to people who generally paid little attention to the environment, and was equally at ease talking to schoolchildren, dairy farmers and governors. He knew his work made a difference when he got letters such as the one that read, “You’ve done for the springs of Florida what Jacques Cousteau did for the oceans.”
Wes was a towering inspiration. His work took us places we could never imagine, and helped us to see and appreciate the world in a new light. His impact lives on. And for that, Wes, on behalf of my grandchildren yet unborn, and for all the people of Florida who never had a chance to personally acknowledge the important work you did, I say thank you.
I met Wes and his colleague at a Palatka meeting about the St. John’s River, asking him if he knew the caves and cenotes of Yucatan where I had worked in archaeology some years ago. Will there be a memorial service?
Comment by Harold McKnight — July 22, 2010 @ 2:01 pm
I am in shock regarding Wes’s passing. His dedication and passion to our precious waters is inmeasurable. He was a fellow High Springs neighbor, and brother of my friend and boss. To the dear family and friends of Wes, I extend my heartfelt sympathies.
Comment by Ann — July 22, 2010 @ 2:03 pm
[...] popular and well known underwater explorer has sadly been lost to the diving world. According to reports, Wes died while filming underwater during a dive off Florida on 21st [...]
Pingback by Wes Skiles « TecRec Blog — July 22, 2010 @ 11:19 pm
Thanks, John, for a beautiful eulogy. My deepest condolences to Wes’s family. Wes was the one who made the concept of the aquifer real to Floridians through his videos. We will miss him.
Comment by Deborah Green — July 23, 2010 @ 2:24 am
Although I did not know him personally, there are many of us who have shared his passions for life, and exploring the quiet and abundant life down under. Wes was an explorer, an inspiration and offered us so much pleasure. He introduced countless individuals who will never experience the worlds of diving, and he kept our surface intervals between dives, calm and feeling at home.
My heart felt sympathy to his family
Comment by Rob Zwang — July 23, 2010 @ 6:27 am
As a fellow cave diver who knew Wes I just want to say that Exploration is the poetry of life and Wes was one of the greatest poets. I am in shock over this great loss and my deepest sympathys to his family. I share your grief along with all the dive community and those who admired his work and efforts.
Comment by Rob — July 23, 2010 @ 7:05 am
My condolences to Wes’s family and all who loved him.God bless him and take care of him.
He will be always remembered for all his courageous and talented efforts in all his work.
Comment by Jill Kubinski — July 23, 2010 @ 7:33 am
I met Wes in Branford at the ’89 NACD meet. What a great guy. He showed us some side-mount tech and then we watched the video ” Little Devils ” a film he made at Ginnie Springs.
What an inspiration he was to me !!
Dave
Comment by David Cichra — July 23, 2010 @ 7:54 am
John – I am saddened at the loss of Wes Skiles. He was truly an artist in his field, and a geniunely nice fellow. Diving is hazardous and he dove alot, but what a sad story to end a great career.
Comment by Katharine — July 23, 2010 @ 8:24 am
I knew Wes. I am a cave diver. He would have been the last person that I would have thought something like this would have happened to. I cannot believe it. He was the absolute best at what he did.
Comment by Bruce O'Connell — July 23, 2010 @ 8:37 am
I met Wes in Florida and down in Mexico where I live. I am a cave dive and has been fashinating to hear him talking and being able to watch his documentaries listening to him discussing the images at the end of the show. We lost a geat film make and cave dive buddy.
Comment by Alessanda Figari — July 23, 2010 @ 1:46 pm
The loss of Wes comes as a complete shock. He was an absolute giant in the cave diving community, and held a particularly special place in my heart due to his interaction with my own cave diving father (Bill Hurst, died diving in Peacock Slough in the early 70′s) when Wes was just a teen. Beyond his endless resume of incredible accomplishments, Wes was a sweetheart of a guy, and an absolute riot to be around. I only had the please of getting to know him in recent years due to the connection we had from when he’d learned a bit about underwater cave mapping from my father in the early 70′s, but I felt as if I’d known him my whole life. My heart goes out to his loving family and tight knit diving community: The world is a far emptier place with West gone, but his legacy lives on in his work on behalf of the environment. RIP Wes
Comment by Tom Hurst — July 23, 2010 @ 2:24 pm
My heart goes out to Wes’s family. This is such a hard time for them, but I hope they know how much he was appreciated.
Wes was full of passion and good nature. He was always so generous with his time, be it for the environment, students or people who shared his love of the water. He came to my aid several times and had a strong impact on my little household. In the last 24 hours I have talked to several other people who knew him and the reactions are all the same, loss and appreciation for all he did.
John, that is a wonderful piece you wrote, thank you for sharing it. It says so much about a very good man whose passing will effect so many.
Comment by David Hackett — July 23, 2010 @ 5:33 pm
John, that was beautiful. Thanks. I met Wes at his office in Ginnie Springs to get some of his wonderful manatee footage for a short video at the Big Ben Environmental Center. I think the video is still being used there. It was called Manatee Dreams. In the world of underwater filmers, Wes was the best. He was one with his environment. He told me he never used tanks with manatees, that he’d just hold his breath and dive. And you could see it in his footage. They would come up close to the lens. My condolences to his family. We were all lucky to have had him. He absolutely loved Florida.
Comment by kristy andersen — July 24, 2010 @ 6:26 pm
I had the opportunity to meet Wes and see his work a number of times at Our World Underwater in Chicago. He was a wonderful photographer, cinematographer, and speaker. He will be missed.
Comment by Hale Landes — July 25, 2010 @ 1:49 pm
On Wednesday one of my heroes died. Wes Skiles was the consummate caver diver, adventurer, photographer and videographer. His death comes as National Geographic features one of his images on the cover of the August issue and a long feature inside about the wonderful blue holes in the Bahamas. Without checking I think he’s been a photographer for at least 4 major articles in the Yellow covered magazine.
Wes survived many adventures against all odds and his favorite quote on facebook really sums up what he was about.
Actually a advertisement for Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success”. Pretty much reflects my real life…
A modest man that found public speaking a hurdle to deal with he always said to his friends. “Let me know I’m talking to my friends give me a big “Hey Now” when I get up to the podium.”
I can’t say his loss is unexpected, rather I’m surprised he made it as many years as he did.
I think Wes felt the same way, a sense of wonder that he was still here after some really amazing expeditions.
I spent a lot of time caving with the National Speleological Society and even more time diving as a PADI instructor and underwater photographer, but when I tried cave diving I found the avocation that just had odds stacked to badly out of my favor. It was one of the few crazy things I’ve done that made me say “No this isn’t a good idea”. Wes did this for decades and created wonderful images, added greatly to our knowledge regarding the underwater and subterranean world from Australia to his home in the Florida springs.
I see the luminescence from his fins lighting the dark sea as Wes strokes ahead of us leading the way through the darkness on the ocean at night. Wonders to see and new frontiers to explore. There are rare chances for someone to be the first person to see a place never before visited by man. Wes was one of the few of us to enjoy that thrill.
At Ginnie Springs on Wednesday his friends will gather to celebrate the life of Wes Skiles. I wish I could be there and shout out “Hey Now”
And Wes in turn I expect you to reply and let us know you reached the other side and shout out a big “HEY NOW”.
RIP for Wes Skiles
Comment by Don Harper — July 27, 2010 @ 11:29 am
I am deeply saddened by this news. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family. I got to know Wes through working with him during the last few years.
Wes had such a way about him that within a short time of having met him-you started feeling like you had known him for many years. Wes invested
his time and energy into everyone around him.
He was one of the most caring and generous people that I have ever known- and he will be greatly missed.
Comment by Tim McGarvey — July 29, 2010 @ 11:08 am
Wes’s hauntingly beautiful images in both still photography and films allow the world to explore the mesmerising springs of Florida and other parts of the world. He contributed to the education of both adults and students through his series of PBS Water’s Journey films which focused upon man’s impact on the aquifer. His volunteer work extended from the educational realm to recovery of divers lost to caves. He was heroic on many levels. Wes begin his quest as a young person, and later was a “big kid” at heart who bought the magic of the springs and the importance of conservation to all who viewed his work.
Comment by Shirley Spohrer — August 1, 2010 @ 3:43 pm
Wes’s hauntingly beautiful images in both still photography and films allow the world to explore the mesmerising springs of Florida and other parts of the world. He contributed to the education of both adults and students through his series of PBS Water’s Journey films which focused upon man’s impact on the aquifer. His volunteer work extended from the educational realm to recovery of divers lost to caves. He was heroic on many levels. Wes begin his quest as a young person, and continued through adulthood to bring the magic of the springs and the importance of conservation to all who viewed his work.
Comment by Shirley Spohrer — August 1, 2010 @ 3:45 pm
John, Thank you for your kind words and attendance at the memorial service for Wes. I know Wes admired your work and enjoyed your company while diving and comparing shots. The two of you would have made a great team capturing the beauty of Florida from above and below! I look forward to adding some of your shots to my brothers collection and speaking with you soon.
Comment by jimbo skiles — August 3, 2010 @ 7:01 pm