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In that range yes... but you will find that many of the local waters here dont get much above 4degC / 39F even in summer, at depth that is. Dont be fooled by the water temperature you read on the web, this is often for swimmers and measured at the surface. Some places might be warmer and get to...

This. I live in Munich and I only started diving locally after I got a dry suit. There are folks here that dive the local lakes in wetsuits, but 98% of them are Open Water students and about 90% of them look somewhat miserable unless its in the middle of August ...

Maybe one comment regarding the different gas rules that come with various flavors of Cave 1 / intro to cave / etc: It was pointed out above that a gas rule of 1/6 can be very limiting, and that hence it's better to go for full cave straight away. I disagree, and the various reasons for getting...

As far as a hand held primary light is concerned, I agree. In the cave backup light arena, I still think its one the the best, if not the best one. I may be a bit biased because here in Europe they are significantly cheaper than the Halcyon scouts, and imho also more robust. E.g. the Heser has...

Fair point ... reg service is coming up soon anyways. Any pointers as to what to watch out for when buying pocket masks? Overheard a discussion that some models arent good at making full seals, so victim effectively ends up breathing something like 60% (even though you have 100% in the bottle).

This debate comes up a lot. I can only share my personal view, with no claims about universal applicability, and certainly without any intention of wanting to doubt any of the present instructors abilities: With other agencies, there seems to be a lot more variation in instructor quality. There...

A few other pointers, make of it what you want - When I did my GUE Cave 1, there was a student on a parallel cave 1 course, who was already a full cave diver with another agency. GUE classes are expensive, and for sure he didnt do it sgain because he was bored - Some of the local mines here...

Unfortunately not the first time ... for neither fatality nor HQ reaction ... Another accident in Tulum Cave Diving

Interesting perspective, and definitely useful to have some knowledge on this handy. For the diving I am thinking about, ie local shore dives in cold water (ie 4degC or 39F), I'd think it's not so ideal. Different story on a boat where you have no easy way to get to a chamber. Then it would be...

I was almost ready to pull the trigger on the RescuEAN, but then it got me thinking about the regs that I would use it with ... I dive OC, so the only regs that I maintain oxygen clean are deco regs, and these dont have an LP inflator hose. One could work around this, by moving an inflator hose...

The only hard requirement for fundies is pure OW. If you are shooting for a tech pass, then I would add to the requirement that you should be comfortable with buoyancy management of the drysuit. I wasnt when I took fundies - fundies was my 5th dive in a drysuit and I struggled like never before...

Good point. I have added the “both” option. Yesterday I found the RescEAN online for the first time. This looks like a clever idea. Any pros/cons or other considerations for getting this vs a conventional medical reg? I am talking about these two: RescEAN, connects to a scuba LP hose...

Yet one more option:

I have a question for those of you that keep extra O2 around in case something happens. Do you use a scuba regulator for that, or do you have a dedicated medical regulator with face mask, constant flow etc? Wondering if I should buy a medical type reg and adapter to use on a spare oxygen scuba...

Sort of yes. Only regs used with deco gas will need to be O2 clean, ie stage regs you use with 50% or 100% oxygen. Backgas regs dont need to be, doesnt matter if you dive Nitrox32 or Trimix 21/35 or air for that matter (also 21%...) What does matter are hoses and hose routing. So you will need...

Looking at the video again, two more comments: Your frog kick is almost half way to a modified frog kick. Keep the idea but develop it into the two distinct different versions. When you turn ... you might want to look into the helicopter turn ;-) (you seem to be doing a half helicopter: you do...

I’m not a tech instructor but have cave training, so take it for what it’s worth: Your trim in the above is very good. If you want to check during the practice session without the video, that’s easy: just descend and see what part of your body touches the ground first. If it’s your belly, that...

Expanding on the above... while I dont have dedicated spares, I do try to maximize redundancy. E.g. all my regulators, for doubles and stages, are the same (eg Apeks DST first stages). So in case of an issue I can swap them around. Also means keeping less spare part kits, and easier servicing...

Maybe the better question is what spares are must haves/should haves ;-) At the moment I dont have any. Only regulators kind of qualify, because eg having 2 stage regs means I have 1 spare if I’m on a 1 stage dive but no spare on a 2 stage dive ;-) Having said that, my next investment as far...

Well, first of all welcome and congrats on taking the next step. Mexican caves are truly amazing, you will have an awesome time. I’ve been to Mexico twice, and stayed/trained/dived out of Zero Gravity, which I recommend most highly. Awesome people, awesome facilities with everything you want...