Just arrived back from a month in Mexico where I ended up taking a GUE Cave 1 class. Since Lamont said I’d post a class report – I guess I should 
but I’ll try to keep this short.
The cenotes stole my heart last summer, but didn’t feel quite ready for cave class, so headed back south of the border mid November for what I thought was another week of cavern tours with Zero Gravity and my future instructor Danny Riordan. Then the plan was to stick around for the GUE convention. Well apparently Danny and the ZG guys had different ideas.
Monday Danny and I were back gliding through the beautiful cenote caverns running line and playing with the wondrous halocline, Tuesday caverns, more line and talk of cave class. Surprise! There just happened to be a space open in Cave 1 for the next week. Wednesday more cavern, update GUE profile and register for Cave 1! Thursday more line, more cavern, practice some skill. After 30 cavern dives heading in deeper was a natural progression.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday = a manic dash to read/finish course material/warm up for swim test and buy my first arrows and cookies. It was hard to believe that we were finally going to be allowed to penetrate into those exquisite dark velvet liquid chambers beyond the cavern zone!
Monday Cave 1!
We had a class of two with a third joining on one day. It was quite good fortunate that my classmate was also a Fundies instructor. I felt intimidated, unprepared and wondered how I was going to keep up with his skill, but soon learned teamwork is not about competition or keeping up, it’s about sharing strengths and resources with the team and working together. Throughout the class we both stepped up in different ways and there was opportunity for each to contribute plenty. Thanks so much to my supportive classmate Olof who greatly enhanced the experience!
Kathy and Olof
I am so incredibly grateful to Danny and GUE, and can not imagine a better instructor or training program. During cavern dives Danny introduced me to the cave environment, instilling strong safety ethics, and revealing the magic and wonders of the caverns. Throughout Cave 1, Danny’s lessons were unforgettable. In class Danny shared lots of laughs, incredible generosity, endless patience, and a great concern towards our safety. He instilled great respect for the cave environment and helped us understand why all the skills and rules are so important to follow
In those 5 days, he skillfully led our class of two deeper and deeper into to those dark passages and into more complex failures and skill scenarios. Danny made learning fun, challenging, rewarding, incredibly informative and, as only a master instructor can, worked very hard to make passing quite obtainable. In his humble words, if a student can not learn, it's the teachers failure.
In the end I was thrilled to learn both Olof and I earned a full Cave 1 pass!
I’d like to thank all of you for your support and inspiration over the past year. Huge thanks to those of you like Lynne, Peter, Kirk, Ben, Jen and Lamont who put up with my mid-class stress and offered so much encouragement, support and tips down in Mexico. You and many others on this forum have all been great inspirations! Another thanks to GUE, my fantastic classmate and all the outstanding instructors and mentors who have been so helpful, supportive and encouraging. A special thanks to my incredible Fundies instructor Beto Nava who has continued to encourage and support every step on the GUE path, including this journey into the caves!
I was pretty exhausted for a couple of days after class, and just wandered aimlessly around the desolate beaches of the Bio preserve in Tulum, till Fred’s nudges reminded us to get back in the water.
Bio preserve in Tulum.
The first time my classmate and I (joined by another Cave I diver) slipped into the water without Danny and glided back through the dark portal of the underworld, it almost felt like sneaking – it was so hard to comprehend we were ALLOWED to be there!
Post class cave diving
Valve failure anxiety and jumpiness faded with the first couple of dives, but when a primary light actually failed - training kicked in and we effortlessly reordered the team.
I logged 22 post-class Cave 1 dives on this trip and kicked many beautiful passages, including an incredible glide through decorated chambers and archeological history past an ancient huge pot and fire remains dating back 800 years. Am just back in the USA one day and already very excited to return back to Mx for more!
It was great fun to walk into the GUE convention as newly minted C1 divers, meet members & instructors from around the world and listen to their presentations about radical cutting edge exploration and conservation. What a fantastic experience with so many positive, helpful people, & so many new global connections!
The freedom to glide through those spectacular decorated caves with great confidence in my training, partner and equipment, and connect with this welcoming extended global community -- is a very sweet reward for all the skill training!
but I’ll try to keep this short.
The cenotes stole my heart last summer, but didn’t feel quite ready for cave class, so headed back south of the border mid November for what I thought was another week of cavern tours with Zero Gravity and my future instructor Danny Riordan. Then the plan was to stick around for the GUE convention. Well apparently Danny and the ZG guys had different ideas
. Monday Danny and I were back gliding through the beautiful cenote caverns running line and playing with the wondrous halocline, Tuesday caverns, more line and talk of cave class. Surprise! There just happened to be a space open in Cave 1 for the next week. Wednesday more cavern, update GUE profile and register for Cave 1! Thursday more line, more cavern, practice some skill. After 30 cavern dives heading in deeper was a natural progression.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday = a manic dash to read/finish course material/warm up for swim test and buy my first arrows and cookies
. It was hard to believe that we were finally going to be allowed to penetrate into those exquisite dark velvet liquid chambers beyond the cavern zone! Monday Cave 1!
We had a class of two with a third joining on one day. It was quite good fortunate that my classmate was also a Fundies instructor. I felt intimidated, unprepared and wondered how I was going to keep up with his skill, but soon learned teamwork is not about competition or keeping up, it’s about sharing strengths and resources with the team and working together. Throughout the class we both stepped up in different ways and there was opportunity for each to contribute plenty. Thanks so much to my supportive classmate Olof who greatly enhanced the experience!
Kathy and Olof
I am so incredibly grateful to Danny and GUE, and can not imagine a better instructor or training program. During cavern dives Danny introduced me to the cave environment, instilling strong safety ethics, and revealing the magic and wonders of the caverns. Throughout Cave 1, Danny’s lessons were unforgettable. In class Danny shared lots of laughs, incredible generosity, endless patience, and a great concern towards our safety. He instilled great respect for the cave environment and helped us understand why all the skills and rules are so important to follow
In those 5 days, he skillfully led our class of two deeper and deeper into to those dark passages and into more complex failures and skill scenarios. Danny made learning fun, challenging, rewarding, incredibly informative and, as only a master instructor can, worked very hard to make passing quite obtainable. In his humble words, if a student can not learn, it's the teachers failure.
In the end I was thrilled to learn both Olof and I earned a full Cave 1 pass!
I’d like to thank all of you for your support and inspiration over the past year. Huge thanks to those of you like Lynne, Peter, Kirk, Ben, Jen and Lamont who put up with my mid-class stress and offered so much encouragement, support and tips down in Mexico. You and many others on this forum have all been great inspirations! Another thanks to GUE, my fantastic classmate and all the outstanding instructors and mentors who have been so helpful, supportive and encouraging. A special thanks to my incredible Fundies instructor Beto Nava who has continued to encourage and support every step on the GUE path, including this journey into the caves!
I was pretty exhausted for a couple of days after class, and just wandered aimlessly around the desolate beaches of the Bio preserve in Tulum, till Fred’s nudges reminded us to get back in the water.
Bio preserve in Tulum.
The first time my classmate and I (joined by another Cave I diver) slipped into the water without Danny and glided back through the dark portal of the underworld, it almost felt like sneaking – it was so hard to comprehend we were ALLOWED to be there!
Post class cave diving
Valve failure anxiety and jumpiness faded with the first couple of dives, but when a primary light actually failed - training kicked in and we effortlessly reordered the team.
I logged 22 post-class Cave 1 dives on this trip and kicked many beautiful passages, including an incredible glide through decorated chambers and archeological history past an ancient huge pot and fire remains dating back 800 years. Am just back in the USA one day and already very excited to return back to Mx for more!
It was great fun to walk into the GUE convention as newly minted C1 divers, meet members & instructors from around the world and listen to their presentations about radical cutting edge exploration and conservation. What a fantastic experience with so many positive, helpful people, & so many new global connections!
The freedom to glide through those spectacular decorated caves with great confidence in my training, partner and equipment, and connect with this welcoming extended global community -- is a very sweet reward for all the skill training!
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