Published: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.

A 20-year-old student from Atlanta who survived a near drowning at Ginnie Springs on Saturday remained in critical condition Monday.

Emergency officials credited quick thinking by others at the springs, as well as immediate attention from a physician, a retired respiratory therapist and others trained in cardio-pulmonary resuscitation for the young woman's survival.

According to the Gilchrist County Sheriff's Office, Shannon Lewis, 20, remained in the intensive-care unit at Shands at the University of Florida on Monday with stable vital signs but in critical condition overall.

She was first spotted by Mike Woods of Inverness. Woods, a diving instructor, was preparing to float down the Santa Fe River with his wife and was wearing snorkel gear.

"I saw a dive buoy but I couldn't see any scuba diver's bubbles coming up so I swam over there to the entrance to Devil's Eye," an underwater cavern, Woods said. He said his plan was to descend to the cavern's entrance, but when he got about 10 feet below the surface, he saw a woman's face looking up at him.

"I realized that she was in dire emergency status - she was pressed up against two submerged logs and I understood my limit," Woods said. "A rescue attempt would have put me in danger."

He ascended to the surface and signaled another diver, Steven Howe of Lakeland for help. The Sheriff's Office reported that Howe and another unknown diver went down after Lewis. Woods shouted for others to call 911 and find out if a doctor was available.

When Lewis was brought up out of the water and carried to a platform, Dr. Edwin Jackson of Tampa, who had been staying at the springs, began monitoring her vital signs, noting that she had no pulse initially, according to Deputy Tracy Taylor.

"I was at Ginnie Springs on a special detail and an EMT from Gainesville, Michael Johnson, was there because he works at Ginnie Springs part time," Taylor said.

Also at the springs was John Sheehan, a retired respiratory therapist from St. Petersburg.

Woods and Sheehan took turns performing chest compressions, first to get as much water out of Lewis' lungs as possible and then to get her heart beating and her lungs working again while Johnson administered oxygen.

By the time a Gilchrist County ambulance reached the springs at 4:52 p.m., Lewis was breathing on her own and had a relatively steady pulse, Taylor said.

The ambulance crew took Lewis to a nearby landing zone so that she could be flown to Shands.

Taylor, who was spending Monday afternoon writing his report on the near drowning, said he had been in touch with the Lewis family earlier in the day.

"Every time I hear from her mom, she tells me that Shannon is getting better and better but she is still sedated and hasn't regained consciousness," Taylor said. "She had the right group of people there to help bring her back."

Taylor said that based on his interviews, it appeared Lewis had been diving with two other people but was having problems with her equilibrium and had returned to the entrance of the cave to try to resolve the problem, while the two other divers went back to the cave. What happened in her moments alone at the entrance to the underwater cave is unknown.

Karen Voyles can be reached at 352-359-5656 or kvoyles@gmail.com