Apprentice Class @ Peacock Springs and Jackson Blue

[ucfdiver]

Did my Apprentice class this weekend at Jackson Blue and Peacock. Obviously the tragic event at JB Friday night was a sad start to the weekend, but we had a great class. I took my class with Ryan and Brian, who were great dive buddies. I won't go into the details of the class, as I know instructors don't like all their secret's shared, but I'll share the pics.

Photos-
Jackson Blue-

Peacock-

Here's what happens when heavy narcosis sets in-

All the class-

Dives for the class included the Olsen Loop (Peacock, 1 setup and actual dive), Young Siphon (JB) and Horseshoe Loop (JB). Total bottom time during class was 346 minutes, or almost 6 hours underwater! :shocked2: I waited 40 something dives after basic, and it seemed to be a good decision, class was certainly task loading, but everything was do-able. HUGE thanks goes out to my basic instructor, who helped me a LOT to get prepared for this class, and my OW/Cavern instructor who got me diving for the first time exactly 9 years ago last Sunday at Blue Grotto.

JB nad hear endless viz, and Peacock had around 50+ft. The peacock basin is clear, and you can actually detect a ever so slight flow now!

I have no idea who took what pics (the camera was handed off several times) so if you want to claim them, feel free!

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

congrats on the certification, and what sounds like a great class

 

[stairman]

Congratulations James.No more 6ths on doubles.Theres alot more cave to see now.We camped at Ginnie this weekend and I did a nice solo dive through the catacombs.Too snockered on saturday to dive.Were sure to bump into you sooner or later.Happy cavin!...Randy

 

[Divenutt315]

sounds awesome Ryan is my cousin If you see him tell him his cousin Jordan from ft.myers says hi

 

[ianr33]

Congratulations !

One question if I may: why apprentice rather than full? Never really understood the point of apprentice. (probably missing something obvious though!)

 

[ucfdiver]

Congratulations !

One question if I may: why apprentice rather than full? Never really understood the point of apprentice. (probably missing something obvious though!)

I'm not sure I understand it a whole lot better than you do the difference between the two, but here were my thoughts.

1- Apprentice was a 2 day course, so it worked with my school schedule since I couldn't get 4-5 days off for a full cave class.
2- Splitting them up gave me the chance to add another instructor that I've worked with to the list, you learn something new from all of them, as I've now done Cavern, Basic and Apprentice with 3 different instructors.
3- Splitting them up allows more time to dive and practice the skill sets, so that by the time Full Cave comes around, I can get critiqued on more advanced things, maybe things like dive planning.

Now, the things that Apprentice allows me to do that Basic did not:
-1/3 of doubles instead of 1/6
-Jumps
-Gaps
-Traverse's
-Circuits
-o2 deco in the cave.
-130ft instead of 100ft depth limit (although with no trimix training, I'm kinda stuck at 100ft)

To my knowledge, the things that Apprentice cannot do, are multiple deco stops/gases, complex circuits, stage diving, and dpv use.

 

[Rich Courtney]

I'm not sure I understand it a whole lot better than you do the difference between the two, but here were my thoughts.

1- Apprentice was a 2 day course, so it worked with my school schedule since I couldn't get 4-5 days off for a full cave class.
2- Splitting them up gave me the chance to add another instructor that I've worked with to the list, you learn something new from all of them, as I've now done Cavern, Basic and Apprentice with 3 different instructors.
3- Splitting them up allows more time to dive and practice the skill sets, so that by the time Full Cave comes around, I can get critiqued on more advanced things, maybe things like dive planning.

Now, the things that Apprentice allows me to do that Basic did not:
-1/3 of doubles instead of 1/6
-Jumps
-Gaps
-Traverse's
-Circuits
-o2 deco in the cave.
-130ft instead of 100ft depth limit (although with no trimix training, I'm kinda stuck at 100ft)

To my knowledge, the things that Apprentice cannot do, are multiple deco stops/gases, complex circuits, stage diving, and dpv use.

Hey James!

Congrats on your new cert and remember that you need to change your signature to Teen cave now......

Safe diving,

Rich

 

[ucfdiver]

Hey James!

Congrats on your new cert and remember that you need to change your signature to Teen cave now......

Safe diving,

Rich

Very clever, I like it.

Signature updated

 

[contender]

Hey James!

Congrats on your new cert and remember that you need to change your signature to Teen cave now......

Safe diving,

Rich

Hey Rich,
Can I make a suggestion on what you should have as a signature line. ROFLMAO

 

[LiteHedded]

nice visor james