Cave diving Cert Agencies

[Belmont]

we get sensitive about our caves
you can't even see the mexico caves with all those silly formations in the way

 

[Dive-aholic]

Bozell hits 150'? Damn... did not know that.

Yep, gotta get that 'mix training! And next time I'm diving 'mix there! :shocked2:

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Meh... its probably further out than I need to worry about right now. I haven't gotten much further than the 3rd nav decision there... :/

 

[rjack321]

Erm, losing your right post and losing your wing are one in the same....jus sayin

I guess you could still orally inflate, but i think killing the right post proves the point pretty well.

Actually the "balanced rig" point gets across REALLY well when your inflator hose comes off the elbow. Probably more so than a mere right post failure.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Hello cave divers! I'm looking for recommendations on a cave diving training agency! So please feel free to tell me which agency you recommend and why!

When I graduated from college, I was given an exit interview in which one of the questions I was asked was, "Did you sacrifice learning for grades?" The answer to that was a definite, "Yes!" There were classes that I could have taken or projects that I could have taken on in which I may have learned something, but the trade-off may have been a few dents in my grade point average. The first thing I learned in college was the Socratic belief that "the unexamined life is not worth living." The last thing I learned was that education should never be sacrificed for the illusion of personal growth such as G.P.A.'s, diplomas, C-cards, or whatever.

Scuba training at the cave level is the best opportunity to invest in yourself. The majority of instructors at the cave level are high quality instructors and divers. Each instructor places emphasis on different aspects of cave diving. Some will drill you more than others. Some will give you more experience with less drills. Some will stick to basics. Others will introduce you to tools such as stage and deco work.

The more diverse your education the more tools you will have to be a better diver. Most cave divers tend to split cave training into cavern and intro and then gain experience before doing apprentice and full cave. Some choose to switch instructors and agencies such as doing NACD cavern/intro then taking NSS-CDS apprentice/full. Both NACD and NSS-CDS do a lot for the sport of cave diving and I believe the community should support these organizations through membership if not training. In regards to training, most everything is the same except NACD standards (to my knowledge) require guidelines be run to open water while the NSS-CDS allows guidelines to be run to "safe exit" (unless that has changed).

Some divers choose to go from cavern to full cave with only one instructor. Others choose to take cavern, intro, apprentice, and full with 4 different instructors and agencies. Many DIR divers trained by GUE, UTD, NAUI and PDIC will tend to take non-DIR training through NACD, NSS-CDS, TDI, IANTD, PSAI, UDT and others for the information and change in philosophy. Don't confuse UTD (Unified Team Diving) with UDT (Universal Diver Training) with US Navy UDT (Underwater Demolition Teams - "Old School"). Both UTD and UDT have cave courses.

Coming into a cave class with the basics of trim, buoyancy and anti-silt/anti-damage propulsion and an understanding of double tank diving can reduce a lot of the training stress. There are many intro to tech style courses that teach these concepts. The GUE Fundamentals course is among the best of these due to the quality-control within the organization. However, UTD, NAUI, and PDIC also have similar training with similar standards. There are instructors from other organizations that have graduated from GUE courses (for example) who teach solid intro to tech programs that will prepare you for cavern/cave training while in open water.

While the GUE/DIR reputation for high standards is deserved, it doesn't mean that the philosophy is superior nor does it mean that divers are superior. If we compare GUE standards to football, a GUE coach would not allow players to gain experience until the basic techniques were more or less mastered. Other organizations will keep you out of the game if you can't play well enough that you'll get hurt, but they will let you play without being perfect to gain experience while your trim, buoyancy and propulsion improve.

Excellent feedback is what is required to improve. This can come from a knowledgeable dive buddy, diving with different cave divers with greater experience levels and training and learning from them, or through taking classes or hiring a cave guide and asking him or her to assess you and help you improve. Tipping for the extra coaching would be appreciated.

Some instructors teach through only one agency. Others teach for several. It is possible to get multiple C-cards from one instructor. For example, you can finish a full cave course and get TDI, NACD and NSS-CDS C-cards for the work you did in that one class from one instructor.

With the variety of valid cave specialties out there, you can collect education from many sources and end up with enough C-cards to make your political life in the cave community happy.