Question Cave Diving Courses advice
- Thread starter Mohowael
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- cave diving cave training
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ginti
Contributor
You are not doing them any favours by calling them a gue shop. It's not true and many people will avoid a gue shop. 'gue shop' also it means that they are charging way more than normal shops for the same service.They are actually quite open to divers from any agency, but feel free to do as you wish
My point was more in terms of training, but as you can see above, I was not very precise (instructors from other agencies regularly teach there)
ginti
Contributor
I don't know what is your idea of GUE vs. not-GUE dive shop, but they are a GUE premium dive center:
GUE AFFILIATED DIVE CENTERS
Whether joining conservation initiatives like GUE’s Project Baseline, partaking in one of many exploration projects, or just enjoying a range of social experiences, our communities offer purpose, challenge, and personal enrichment. GUE dive centers are a critical link in the growth, support, and...
www.gue.com
They choose it and are happy with it. Whether some people want to avoid them or not, for whatever reason, is none of my business, and they surely considered it carefully before choosing the affiliation.
Anyway, I am digressing - this is a bit OT, I'll stop it now
Base1 is on the list as gue divecenter. That does not mean you are not welcome. It does also not mean that rental gear is more expensive.
But it does mean that if you want to do a cave course that a gue course is more expensive than others.
I have rented gear from Zero Gravity in Puerto Aventuras, they asked me for a cert and could not believe I did not have any gue cert, but it was no problem to rent tanks. Also it was not a problem to find buddies.
Base1 has also a non gue owner. I am for sure all divers are welcome.
But if the TS is based in Egypt, do you dive a drysuit or not? If not, France is maybe a little bit cold, 13 degrees. But otherwise it can be an option.
Forget Malta, there are no caves, only caverns. So even intro to cave is not possible there. It is a nice country with nice diveplaces, nice caverns, but not caves. Even Billinghurst is no real cave.
Florida has high flow caves, and they are quite deep. Not that you need trimix, but you will reach ndl easy. Of course peacock is shallower and almost no flow.
Mexico is shallow, so long dives are possible.
Spain is maybe also an option.
But also think about Thailand, I learned cave diving there.
Just doing intro to cave is an option. But from what I see here in Europe is that within 5 dives over 98% of the divers go over their officiall limits. First it is the gasrule which is most times not 1/3rd. Then it is the no decompressiondives rule. And also no jump rule is ignored. So in that case it is better to choose for a full cave course all in once.
The gasrule will not be a problem in Mexico for nice dives, but it will for sure in Florida or France.
Some divers can do it all to full cave, others better can stick with intro to cave first. From behind a screen we cannot tell you what is best, we don't know how experienced you are in sidemount and decompressiondiving. Because if you are not, these skills also need to be mastered and then maybe it is too much.
But it does mean that if you want to do a cave course that a gue course is more expensive than others.
I have rented gear from Zero Gravity in Puerto Aventuras, they asked me for a cert and could not believe I did not have any gue cert, but it was no problem to rent tanks. Also it was not a problem to find buddies.
Base1 has also a non gue owner. I am for sure all divers are welcome.
But if the TS is based in Egypt, do you dive a drysuit or not? If not, France is maybe a little bit cold, 13 degrees. But otherwise it can be an option.
Forget Malta, there are no caves, only caverns. So even intro to cave is not possible there. It is a nice country with nice diveplaces, nice caverns, but not caves. Even Billinghurst is no real cave.
Florida has high flow caves, and they are quite deep. Not that you need trimix, but you will reach ndl easy. Of course peacock is shallower and almost no flow.
Mexico is shallow, so long dives are possible.
Spain is maybe also an option.
But also think about Thailand, I learned cave diving there.
Just doing intro to cave is an option. But from what I see here in Europe is that within 5 dives over 98% of the divers go over their officiall limits. First it is the gasrule which is most times not 1/3rd. Then it is the no decompressiondives rule. And also no jump rule is ignored. So in that case it is better to choose for a full cave course all in once.
The gasrule will not be a problem in Mexico for nice dives, but it will for sure in Florida or France.
Some divers can do it all to full cave, others better can stick with intro to cave first. From behind a screen we cannot tell you what is best, we don't know how experienced you are in sidemount and decompressiondiving. Because if you are not, these skills also need to be mastered and then maybe it is too much.
ginti
Contributor
As far as I know, there are multiple owners. One is the GUE IE working there, the other is another diver; they are buddies, so GUE or not (I actually think he is), the other owner is comfortable with GUE standards. They initially did not want to be a GUE diving center for a series of reasons; indeed, I was surprised when they became one, but this is not important for the sake of this discussion.
And, as you said, the fact that they are associated with GUE does not mean anything - everybody is welcome, and even instructors from other agencies gave courses there.
Even in Sardinia, the freshwater zone is a bit cool. Some people are okay with a wet suit, but most are not (I met only one girl going there with a wetsuit). But this is a great point for the OP.
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