I wanna do it all

[victorzamora]

Hahaha, good! Adrenaline in Cave and Tech diving means something went wrong!! The best feeling I get is the excitement of seeing some place new or knowing that I've safely achieved my goals and done so in a manner that's proven how far I've come in my diving.

That "conquering" feeling is why ALL of my diving is practice for serious dives, and why Cave Diving and Tech Diving really require people not be rusty.

 

[shellmoundal]

I was not trying to draw any conclusion but I apologize if it came across that way. So glad to read what you had to say. The dive community is close and non of us want to read a blog where one of our dive buddies has drowned.
You are right in the 2 things you said, go slow and dive safe.
Keep that fire of diving and one day you may even be an instructor. Personally it is more fun to be a recreational diver then an instructor.
I keep a piggy bank for my dive gear. Amazing how much you can save when you only spend it on your diving hobby.
Merry Christmas and have a great 2015 under water year.

 

[hedgehog47]

what is gue utd

 

[Superlyte27]

Sigh...
I read all these posts, and frankly, I see a cowboy too. But, so was I when I first started out. I wouldn't let cost persuade or dissuade you at all. I know a guy who is single, no kids, no debts that makes $15.00/hour. He moved from recreational diving to cave diving earlier this year. After seeing me in a rebreather he decided he wanted one. So he worked a good deal on a used one, worked a bunch of overtime and this year has a rebreather. That's after buying cave equipment earlier this year. But it takes dedication and singular focus. It doesn't happen overnight. And if you kill yourself, it really isn't going to happen. So don't cut corners, but do look for good deals.

The other thing is, if you're not an a-hole, people will bend over backwards to help you out in this community. Lots of people donated time, energy, classes and gear to me when I was starting out. In turn, I've done so for others. Be a good guy and this hobby will come easy. Trust me, there's so few of the good guys, people are really willing to help the non-aholes in cave diving.

And I've said this 100 times. This is not a sprint. It's a marathon. Today I have 2 rebreathers, more tanks than I can count, and a reg to go on everyone of them, drysuits, wetsuits, half a dozen masks, etc. etc. etc.... it didn't come overnight. It came after almost 2 decades of diving. Start now, take your time, make good decisions and you'll be where you want to be before you know it.

I think the first step would be in taking a good cavern course. You can do it in the equipment you own right now. It will give you some insight into whether you will even like cave diving. After-all not everyone is cool with being underwater and underground hours away from fresh air. And you simply don't know it until you try it.

 

[victorzamora]

what is gue utd

GUE and UTD are two training agencies. GUE was founded upon the principles of DIR (Doing it Right) which were based upon simple and functional and constant, nicknamed "Hogarthian" after one of the biggest initial drivers of that concept. UTD is a spinoff of GUE.

I think the first step would be in taking a good cavern course. You can do it in the equipment you own right now. It will give you some insight into whether you will even like cave diving. After-all not everyone is cool with being underwater and underground hours away from fresh air. And you simply don't know it until you try it.

Yeah, don't take some random PADI Cavern course from some dude that's seen a cave that one time. Take a cavern course from a proper Cave instructor.

 

[decompression]

what is gue utd

They are two IMO "progressive" agencies that use a phrase, begin with the end in mind. Their basic open water courses utilize skills that form the foundation of all their courses up to CCR/Adv Cave.
Global Underwater Explorers
Unified Team Diving


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Superlyte27]

Yeah, don't take some random PADI Cavern course from some dude that's seen a cave that one time. Take a cavern course from a proper Cave instructor.

Exactly my thoughts...
I taught a cave course to an OW instructor recently. The guy was a friend of mine who has spent a couple of years working towards a full cave cert. He finished his classes with me and a week later was teaching a PADI Cavern Class. Apparently PADI only requires you to be full cave with X amount of dives to teach cavern. This does make a good cavern instructor. Find someone who's been cave diving forever and been teaching it for almost forever. Only with time and experience can we really portray what can/might/will go wrong in technical diving.

 

[Subcooled]

Diving is not an achievement but a journey.

1) Get a Y-valve (not expensive) and one extra first stage now (not a fancy/expensive one). Learn to reach and use the Y-valve (or teach your buddy to help you). This gives you more redundancy. You will be safer under the ice (you have an ice diver cert, right?) and the freeflows become more manageable. Real and immediate benefit at reasonable price.

2) Later, when you have the money, get two cylinders. Depending on your existing gear, you might be able to carry these. Historically, side mounted cylinders have been carried using a jacket. I am not saying that it is easy or safe or something... but this paragraph would lure you to get the cylinders

3) Now that you have two cylinders and two regulator sets, getting a backplate and a wing, or a proper sidemount harness, would be the next step. This would again allow you to do more.

Ok, so in reality you will need a lot of money, but you could achieve a small immediate improvent now, then dive a little bit deeper, then improve on equipment, repeat. This allows you to take the first step into the right direction. When you take that first step, you will feel better, and you will have more time to weigh the options. I belive this is a healthy and fun path (better than diving deep on bcd+single tank), unless you can do a major purchase right now.

 

[tomfcrist]

While I agree that certain instructors are a better bet for quality training, I disagree with only looking for one that has been diving/teaching cave diving forever....

Remember that there was no such thing as a cave cert when these guys started teaching cave...they made it up as they went along...just like every other niche in diving.
Look at wreck diving: 20 years ago you would be called suicidal to run a line inside a wreck.

1) Get a Y-valve (not expensive) and one extra first stage now (not a fancy/expensive one).

If you know where to get good y valves(the ones with actual knobs), please post a current link. I haven't seen one on the market in ages.

 

[swimmer_spe]

1) I have regs that are designed for cold water. I will have to figure out what a Y valve is.

2) I already have 2 120s. Are you saying have 2 more?

3) That was something I was contemplating, getting a backplate and wing.

Sound advice from everyone.