Quick question, I'm going for my Cavern certification next week and it got me thinking. Is it legal, ok or whatever for my instructor to escort me on a cave dive? Of course assuming we have all the required equipment. I was thinking that I'd want to get a feel for it.
Can a certified cave diver escort a non cave diver
- Thread starter Tigerpaw
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
PfcAJ
Contributor
It is generally ok for a cave instructor to take someone one level up from their current certification.
It is not ok for a non-instructor to do so.
Example: I am a cave instructor. You are a cavern diver. Probably ok to take you on an intro-to-cave level dive provided you have the right gear, technique, etc.
Example: I am a full cave diver. You are a cavern diver. I should not take you on an intro-to-cave level dive, regardless of you gear or technique.
Rationale: cave instructors by their very nature are taking divers up to the next level. They have specific training and experience to do so. Non-instructors do not formally have this training and experience, nor the insurance for it.
It is not ok for a non-instructor to do so.
Example: I am a cave instructor. You are a cavern diver. Probably ok to take you on an intro-to-cave level dive provided you have the right gear, technique, etc.
Example: I am a full cave diver. You are a cavern diver. I should not take you on an intro-to-cave level dive, regardless of you gear or technique.
Rationale: cave instructors by their very nature are taking divers up to the next level. They have specific training and experience to do so. Non-instructors do not formally have this training and experience, nor the insurance for it.
In my opinion, anyone ....... at anytime...... can dive anywhere they want as long as the site is not under the legal control of others.
How often do you cave dive?
So that probably excludes most caverns, caves, boat dives, quarries.....
That’s very egalitarian view. It’s easy to have that view when you don’t have any skin in the game. People without cave training died in caves at a very high rate. Luckily training has solved that otherwise there may not be any caves that it was legal to dive in.
Similar threads
