Cave Diving Guide to getting trained

[giles45shop]

One of the first things I would do is find a good mentor. If you are interested in Cave diving, find an experience cave diver and do a couple non-cave dives w/ them. There's lots of divers on this board that will likely dive w/ you. Ginnie Ballroom or Paradise are two that come to mind if you at least AOW. They will be a pretty good judge of your ability to maintain buoyancy and trim. Get feedback from them on what you did right or wrong. That may or may not be a reality check for you. You'll learn a lot more in a few real dives as opposed to cyber diving.

At the same time you are diving w/ them, start talking about equipment and configurations. If you go down the cave path, you'll almost for sure be diving a Backplate/wing set-up. So you might as well start w/ one of those in a single tank configuration. I started diving one at dive #20, so when I made the transition to doubles it wasn't real difficult (at least for me). You'll also likely end up w/ a 7' hose and bungeed back-up.

Be prepared to spend lots of money ($3K-$4K+), especially if your gear isn't already in a cave configuration. You can find deals on used equipment if you know what to look for, but you can't always get it when you need it.

As far as doubles, once again, talk to a mentor or instructor. Your physical size can play a part in what size tanks will work best for you. Bigger is not necessarily better. You'll also need to learn how to do valve drills and get familiar w/ the balance/trim.

Find an instructor, talk to them about what you want to do and dive w/ them if you can so they can assess your abilities and attitude. Attitude is important. In my class, the instructor almost refused to teach one student who was exhibiting a bad attitude. Technical diving is serious stuff, and the training reflects that. A lot of our class was "here's how you die", not "wow, look at the pretty fish". Once you start technical diving, the old recreation diving habits of just jumping in the water without a plan will seem kind of scary.

I just finished Basic Cave myself, so I've recently experienced much of what the others here have suggested and I can tell you they speak the truth. And if you want to see what can happen when you don't follow good advice, check out the thread on The Deco Stop about the two deaths last week in Wayne's World.

Best wishes in your training,

John

 

[LastMate]

Thanks john you all have been a big help. I didnt realize that there was this much involved. I guess my big mistake was thinking if I can swim into a dark hole one way in and one way out how can you mess that up? But after reading up on how important all the training there is involved just to swim into the dark hole kinda scares the #$%# outta me. I really was taking a huge risk. I guess we all learn one way or another. Next time I see any overheads its going to be on my first class room dive. Thats fo sho!!

 

[LastMate]

Just to fill you in on something. 3 years ago I took a trip to vortex to hang out and swim. After seeing there was a underwater cave there and you could dive it i was hooked. I pursued my OW as fast as money allowed and the first breath I took with my dive instructor out in the gulf I knew that this was for me. I have mistaken my skill level and made some dives i shouldnt have wanting to see what lead me to diving in the first place. Now that I have a little bit of that cave diving taste Im wanting to learn more. The first time I dove morrisons and vortex I was like a kid in a candy store!! Not knowing how dangerous it was and ignoreing that I could have died. But it truely was one of the best dives Ive had yet. Im sure some of you are thinking dang he hasnt seen nothing yet and your probley right. But what I havnt seen yet will keep my focus on getting trained to get to the point I can share my awsome experance with everyone. And you all are right with taking my time you gotta craw before you walk. I do plan on shareing my experance getting trained with you all and hopefully the next retard that comes through acting like I did might learn a thing or two before making a total ass of himself.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Definately ditch the AL100s, they're bigger and just as heavy as HP130(steels)... and the AL100s have horrible bouyancy characteristics.

That being said, if you're handling the AL100s fine, you can handle HP130s/LP104s/LP108s fine. If you want something slightly shorter, and ever so lighter, LP95s might be better. Lighter and smaller yet, HP100s/LP85s.





Do a search on cave maps, you'll notice very quickly that MOST caves aren't one way in and one way out, but more of a maze of zig-zagging, branching catacombs that require upmost attention.

 

[LastMate]

Im a big guy 6'4 240ibs the al100's feel light to me but i was thinking of going with steel 130's or 100's I noticed they were about 10 pounds lighter each. Ill dig around a bit and test the waters on what feels best though diving.

 

[TSandM]

I took a very organized and patient approach to cave diving. I took GUE Fundamentals, which is a superb, OW class to begin to understand the kind of skills you need to dive safely in caves, and how high the standard is. I took a wreck workshop, and as part of that, we did a blind line-following exit, where we died. By that, I mean we screwed up the exit (in part because we screwed up the line laying in the first place) so that none of us would have gotten out of the wreck or the cave alive. We spent 18 minutes laying the line, and 36 minutes trying to come out, and the instructors cut the drill when we had messed up so badly there was no possible salvage.

That experience really sobered me.

Diving in overhead environments is great, when all goes well. One of my instructors even told me that, if he had to choose one kind of diving to do for the rest of his life, he'd choose Mexican cave diving. I asked, "Because it's fantastic?" and he answered, "No, because it's EASY." And it is. If you have the skills, and you're careful, and you dive with good buddies, and you don't push limits, it's easy and fun and beautiful. But that easy fun can turn to a nightmare in a few seconds when the silt gets kicked up.

I completely empathize with your desire to dive in the caves; cave diving is one of the most wonderful things I have ever learned to do in my life. But it really does need to be approached with humility. Other people can recommend specific classes, instructors and sites; I just recommend a very respectful attitude, toward the caves and the training.

 

[caver]

Ok so what does someone have to do to go abouts getting all the training needed to be able to get cavern certified? Now I know theres a few different levels but going 100ft under a overhead just doesnt really do it for me. Im talking deep caver certified, Im looking to get all training needed to check out these underwater wonder lands. DA hooked me up with a link to his site and im looking into that. If you all know of any other good sites to get me started on the right track let me know. Thanks!!

Lastmate,
You want to know a good site to get started? Check this one out:
IUCRR - Accident Analysis
Click on "agree" and you can check out the reports.
As I read in a prior post belonging to you, you claim you "count on your dive buddies to be your safety net". Thus allowing you to do 'crazy' things. I hope sometime in the future your wife won't have to read your name on the IUCRR website. Next, take the 'slow track' towards being full cave certified. Do it over a period of extended time. Get Cavern Certified and spend a good bit of time doing just that. Then move on to Intro To Cave and spend some time there. Once you get to Full Cave you can spend years doing shallow caves, forget the deep stuff. Save the deep stuff for years down the road. Master deep OW, then Deep Caves.

 

[ianr33]

VERY pleased to see you coming to your senses!

As regards tanks, LP104's/ HP130's are very popular ,almost a cave standard.

Dont know if you have read this post or not but it illustrates the dangers of too far too fast pretty well
The Deco Stop

 

[Dive-aholic]

LM, the first thing you need is the right attitude. It seems like that part is coming around, but the most common reason for failing a cavern/cave class is the wrong attitude. It will be several years before you can dive a deep cave. Most of the deep caves are restricted and require a guide. You'll need 100 cave dives post training plus trimix training and experience. If you're not diving doubles right now, you need to get some experience in doubles. I'm not talking 3-4 dives, I'm talking 3-4 dozen dives. Don't waste your money on any doubles right now. Rent a few different sets and see what works for you. When I was diving backmount doubles regularly, I dove 85s, 95, and 108s. They all worked fine. I also tried some 104s, but they were monster heavy. I eventually started diving sidemount but returned to backmount recently on certain occasions. I have been diving in both 108s and 85s since returning. I prefer the 85s. My RMV is 25% better in 85s than in 108s. I can do the same dive using 20cf less in my 85s than my 108s and they feel better on my back. The lesson here - bigger is not always better. Come dive with me, dude. I'll give you an honest assessment of what you need to do to be where you should be at the beginning of a cavern course.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

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Diving in overhead environments is great, when all goes well. One of my instructors even told me that, if he had to choose one kind of diving to do for the rest of his life, he'd choose Mexican cave diving. I asked, "Because it's fantastic?" and he answered, "No, because it's EASY." And it is. If you have the skills, and you're careful, and you dive with good buddies, and you don't push limits, it's easy and fun and beautiful. But that easy fun can turn to a nightmare in a few seconds when the silt gets kicked up.

This is the original press release for the still current DVD I encourage people to look at.

The Cave Diving Section (CDS), a section of the National Speleological Society (NSS), the world's oldest organization dedicated to the exploration, study, and protection of caves has announced the most unusual training video ever distributed to dive industry professionals, A Deceptively Easy Way to Die.

The CDS in cooperation with PADI, DSAT, Sheck Exley Safety Foundation and Karst Productions has produced this video to educate divers to the hazards of overhead diving, and the need for specific training, experience, and equipment.

Lamar Hires, the Chairman of the CDS tells the story of two open water divers that tempt fate and enter a cave without the proper training, experience or gear - and go to their deaths. Lamar concludes that "if we have scared you, then we have done our jobs, and this video is a success". Producer, Karl Shreeves of PADI's Diving Science and Technology (DSAT), states that "It's our hope that dive professionals will get this video tape and show it to students and current divers." Keeping untrained people out of caves and the overhead environment is one of the primary goals of the Sheck Exley Safety Fund, which helped fund the video.

"A Deceptively Easy Way to Die" does not discourage cave diving, nor cast a dark shadow on diving in general. This video does hammer home the precautions that must be taken to do this sport safely. Copies of this video are available for $10.00 ($3.00 S&H or $5.00 Foreign) from the CDS. Send to NSS-CDS Administrative Office, Cave Diving Section of the National Speleological Society