Budapest Intro-Cave dive for non certs
- Thread starter Boyan
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Been there, dived there, don't think that there is any point in the "tourist" part of the cave that is 200+ M from the entrance, but there is lots of interesting passageway in that homeycombed cave to enjoy.
Michael
Michael
Putting aside whether it is an interesting dive or not, how would you compare it to the Mexican guided cenote diving in terms of safety? I think the cenote diving could be a useful reference for comparison. As I mentioned above, the cenote dives have an excellent safety record, but the cenote diving does have some characteristics that may make it unusual in the world--perhaps very different from what the OP is considering.
Do you remember what the first "tourist" 200m are like? Is it a cavern or full penetration? Is it silty? Is there enough space?
Does the dive operator not inform you what gear configuration their clients are expected to use? The Mexican cenote diving guides inform their clients what is needed and give a briefing (like a mini-intro-to-cave course) on how to use it. The cenote dives are normally done on a single AL80 tank.
But really, if there is no set of rules/procedures in place for this dive that the dive operators/guides adhere to, and if you are therefore considering using a gear configuration that is new to you, to help improve your safety in a cave, you might consider not doing this dive until you actually complete a cave training course using the proper equipment.
Yes, they expect backplate wing double tank configuration with 3 lights, full suit and hoody. I think I should be fine with my GUE setup, they have GUE on their website so they probably will accept it. Double tank is not new to me, but I usually dive single tank, which is why I need to have my first stages done for double. Double tank experience is a prerequisite. Though cave cert isnt. They said they will check everyone with a quick dive in the open part and only continue if they are sure everyone is up to the task. So its not guaranteed. They reserve the right to send you home or only keep you in the open for example. Which is reasonable I guess.
I believe you said you took Fundies. Did you learn to handle failures in the doubles? I did not learn that until Cave 1.
"Cavern" is usually defined as the part of a cave where you can still see daylight, at least faintly, and most agencies define it more strictly as about 30m maximum linear penetration from an entrance/exit. Unless this cave has multiple exits, like many of the Mexican cenotes, it seems unlikely you can see daylight 200m into the passage. It sure sounds like a cave to me, and I would discourage anyone from cave diving without actual cave training, even if the dive has been done thousands of times as a guided "tourist" dive without incident.
I will bow out of this thread. Maybe @michael-fisch can elucidate.
We did valve drills, however we were told, those are unnecessary, since if something happens, you go to your buddy and don't rely on playing with your valves. So instead of woriiying about valves, better plan well and dive with people who will honor the buddy system. But yeah, if push comes to shove, I could lock the manifold isolating both tanks, turn one off or the other.
They don't want to describe the dive for me, they say you have to be here to see the environment etc. So I have still no idea what that dive actually is. Maybe Ill just go and back off if its not what I expect.
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