Is cave diving safer than Open Water

[The Chairman]

My point was that, as a recreational diver in open water, my buddy and the rest of the group are rarely right behind me where a simple head dip would allow me to locate them.

Yeah, I get that. What's acceptable in OW is often bad ju-ju in a cave. What's acceptable in a cave, is almost always fine in OW. I almost always dive like I'm in a cave. I don't know how else to put it.

In a cave, I expect my buddy to have good light discipline. In OW, I expect my buddy to be close enough for me to hear their breathing. That's how I dive. I don't expect that of everyone. If we're going to be SOBs, then let's establish that before we splash. FWIW, I almost never follow the leader. Groups just aren't for me. I dive to explore, not to follow.

Spoiler: SOB???

SOB = Same Ocean Buddy

 

[BlueTrin]

Yes, I think I was. I don't remember when I started cave diving. But I have less than 100 dives in the ocean ever. Pretty fish aren't my thing. I really enjoy shipwrecks and caves.

Is that because you trained in the Great Lakes though?

 

[Tracy]

Is that because you trained in the Great Lakes though?

I don't know. The Great Lakes are local to me and I enjoy the wrecks. I have dove in the ocean, it just isn't really my thing. I don't have a problem traveling for diving. I spend 4-6 weeks per year in Mexico diving and another 4-6 in Florida diving. People just have different interests. I am taking a group to Truk Lagoon next year for wreck diving. There is an instance where the ocean offers what I enjoy doing.

 

[rexman24]

If your a cave diver, good if you enjoy that. In case of incident, Personally I will take floating, breathing, even a trip to the chamber over clawing my fingers down to bloody nubs at the top of some cave as my last desprate act.

What is your training/experience that would lead you to this conclusion? Or lend any validity to it?

I cannot comment about diving itself, but my way of thinking/understanding states that after required amount of training with proper instructor, I strongly believe cave diver is “safer” in the cave than open water diver in the sea or lake.

 

[rexman24]

Not a tough choice - just a question that requires interpretation as there is no one answer. In my opinion, it’s actually more about risks than safety. I’ve already said I think cave divers are nuts, but can think of dives in OW that are equally crazy!

BTW - The Op’s exact question was “I would live to hear your opinion on what you personally find safer and why?” - so the OP appeared to be expecting qualifiers and did not ask for “an all things being equal” answer!

Well it doesn't really make sense, in any case, to compare apples to oranges does it?

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I'm talking about the sign at the surface, when you arrive at the site. Here's one:

View attachment 765640

I think most of these kinds of signs have now been replaced to avoid the confusion. They tend to say "cave-trained only" now instead of "no open water divers."

In "light" of this discussion, here are some cave "warning signs" that are modified for ocean diving. Cheers!

 

[Lorenzoid]

Well it doesn't really make sense, in any case, to compare apples to oranges does it?

People often ask questions that I don't think make sense. I can either interpret the question in a way I think makes sense and post a reply, or I can ignore it and move on. Sometimes I enjoy the challenge. Sometimes I'm not in the mood.

 

[rexman24]

I disagree - we should not have to determine or interpret any “unspoken context”. The Op’s question was far too general for there to be any “correct/one” answer - therefore, folks need to add context/qualifiers to their answers/opinions as safety is very much dependent on the specific conditions being compared.

In my opinion, cave diving and OW diving are quite different activities so I really don’t think that you can easily have an “all other things being equal” scenario?

The comparison should be an average OW dive to an average cave dive. As he quoted comparing the worst case scenario in OW to the best case scenario in a cave makes zero sense. Apples to oranges.

 

[Rayk]

If your a cave diver, good if you enjoy that. In case of incident, Personally I will take floating, breathing, even a trip to the chamber over clawing my fingers down to bloody nubs at the top of some cave as my last desprate act.

What is your training/experience that would lead you to this conclusion? Or lend any validity to it?

Firstly I am not overhead trained (yet) but my OC Tech instructor is so some insight is there.

Again, my opinion or understanding is once one have some technical training under the belt, once one comprehend concepts cause and effect and of course big aspect of redundancy, chances for the situations going out of control reduces drastically.

That doesn’t necessarily mean all open divers are incompetent, but advanced level knowledge and understanding helps conducting riskier activities even safer than mediocre stuff. Yes open water diver may float but cave/tech diver won’t let the situation develop to even that point. Prevention is always easier than cure.

There was a DAN study (not quiet sure about figures right now) states that vast majority of unfortunate fatalities happened to divers after basic (open water) training within very first periods of their diving career. If I can find I will share it.

 

[arew+4]

Yes open water diver may float but cave/tech diver won’t let the situation develop to even that point.

Tell this to the widows and orphans of those that have died in caves.

Also I would wager that 90% plus of those cave fatalities would not have been fatalities in open water. (allowing 10% for medical issues even though cave divers are likely in better physical condition on average than many OW divers)

As in any endeavor you will find there are old cave divers, bold cave divers, but very few old and bold cave divers, aside form the terminally ill trying to call in on a policy.