Filmmaker, Springs Advocate Wes Skiles Perishes in Diving Accident

Photographer Wes Skiles, whose work will soon grace the cover of the August 2010 National Geographic, loved water and braved countless dangers filming it.

He survived hurricanes, escaped collapsing caves and fended off sharks.

Peers compared him to Jacques Cousteau, another undersea photographer and environmentalist.

Mr. Skiles, an Alachua County adventurer with an international reputation, died Wednesday in a diving accident off Boynton Beach. He was 52. The cause of his death is unknown....

He made scores of films, including more than a dozen for major networks such as PBS. He directed the IMAX film Journey Into Amazing Caves, which takes viewers to Greenland and Mexico; and photographed underwater caves in Brazil, Puerto Rico and Australia....