How do you get

[Fishkiller]

Cave certified?

All the shops around here are PADI and PADI has no Cave certification, only cavern?


Then a related question, Deep diving on air alone. Is there a limit to the depth of a dive on air alone no mixes? And would using a rebreather count as diving on air? The rebreathers I have personally seen had a Nitrox bottle attached.

 

[Lost Yooper]

Guess you'll have to travel to Florida for a GUE cave class for a vacation. I bet I don't have a cave certified instructor for a thousand miles, much less a GUE instructor. Someday, I'm going to take that course when I'm vacationing in Florida.

There's no real gentle way for me to describe deep air solo diving, so I won't. :nono:

There's a lot to rebreathers. A few guys around here know quite a bit about them. You can use a rebreather (depending on the RB) with air, O2, nitrox, trimix, or heliox. Physics stay the same with a rebreather -- meaning narcosis and Oxtox are still concerns. There are semiclosed and closed RB's. The WKPP use the Halcyon SCCR (semi closed circuit rebreather) for the most extreme cave dives ever done, and they don't have too many good things to say about CCR's (closed circuit rebreather) that I've seen. RB's is a huge subject to learn about.

Later.

Mike

 

[Fishkiller]

Originally posted by Fishkiller


Then a related question, Deep diving on air alone.

another reason I failed that English test
What I meant was ,, with a buddy, how deep can you go using just compressed air?


Do I have to go GUE with the cave cert?

 

[Lost Yooper]

Fishkiller,

I am not a supporter of deep air diving or solo diving. It is my opinion that END's (Equivalant Narcosis/Narcotic Depth) should be less than 130' (<100' preferred). So, I would say that air should be maxed out at 100' and nitrox and trimix END's at 100' or less.
There's no shortage of people who will tell you that narcosis on air can be "handled" to depths exceeding 200'. The statistics and body counts say different -- not to mention common sense. N2 and CO2 narcosis cannot be "handled" when things go terribly wrong -- which they can do. I've argued (I mean debated ) this subject with a few guys here. You might try to search the archives.

No, GUE isn't the only agency offering cave training, but I have very little respect for most other agencies. GUE offers no BS courses and has very high standards. If you can pass a GUE course, you WILL be ready -- which is what you really want, right? You might get lucky and find a good instructor from IANTD or someone else who is utilizing GUE standards and philosophy though.

Mike

 

[TwoBitTxn]

What do the people in Mexico around the Cenotes teach in the way of cave diving?

Tom

 

[Lost Yooper]

Tom,

I don't know the diving scene down there, of course, but GUE's web site shows there being three GUE overhead instructors in Mexico (presumably in the cenote area). One of these guys has a web site to look at.

http://www.gue.com/info/instruct.shtml

Might work you too, FK.

Mike

 

[Rick Murchison]

oops..
tried to delete but it won't let me.

 

[watergal]

Did mine in Mex. I went NSS-CDS caused I like the instructor, but several good folks teach NACD. I have met Nicolai and understand he is teaching GUE in Akumal. IMHO, all these agencys have established a through training program. LIke anything, what you actually get depends on the instructor. There are other certifying agencies, but I am not informed enough about them to comment.

I am absolutely not a GUE Nazi, but had it been around when I was looking for formal classes, I may have gone that way instead.

Problem with cave cert in most places is there aren't enough suitable caves. Hence most US instruction is in FL. Some try to teach in quarrys etc., but I don't see how that can be very helpful.

Think I will stay out of the deep air can-o-worms except to say for the GUE crowd that I did do a deep air class with JJ in the pre-GUE days. I respect him a lot. Actually, the card might say "deep diver". If I can figure out where I put it, I will look.

Where is Roak when you need him? Oh, right, he is packing to go caving in Mex! He should have some current info for you in 2 weeks. I'm heading back in Feb.

 

[Fishkiller]

For the Info Folks

I actually paid attention while reading through the GUE website and I can safely say that I won't intentionally dive past the 130 foot mark anytime soon.

in the mean time I will be on the look out for a instructor.