Cavern course?

[SandyRobinson]

Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park and the Mill Pond in Marianna are good sites. Both locations have multiple caverns with a variety of conditions and size. Have fun.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park and the Mill Pond in Marianna are good sites. Both locations have multiple caverns with a variety of conditions and size. Have fun.

He wants to take a Cavern course and is looking for suggestions for instructors.

 

[rddvet]

Ken Sallot at Dive Gainesville is a good choice. Whatever you do, don't take a PADI cavern course.

 

[tbone1004]

Ken Sallot at Dive Gainesville is a good choice. Whatever you do, don't take a PADI cavern course.

I'll second @kensuf

 

[Josh the diver]

Ken Sallot at Dive Gainesville is a good choice. Whatever you do, don't take a PADI cavern course.

what's wrong with a PADI cavern course if all they plan on doing is cavern.

 

[SandyRobinson]

He wants to take a Cavern course and is looking for suggestions for instructors.

I was responding to post 5.

 

[rddvet]

what's wrong with a PADI cavern course if all they plan on doing is cavern.

Because as a general rule they're not good classes. A high percentage of people aren't coming out of a padi cavern class with the skills they need to move further in the cave. It's a generalization, and there are some good padi instructors. For instance Capt Jim Wyatt used to teach padi's tech courses. I don't know if he teaches their cavern course or not, but if he did it would likely be a million times better than most other padi cavern courses. It's really about having a good instructor. In most cases, there are better instructors than most padi cavern instructors.
Capt Jim, Ken, Edd, and multiple others are good choices.

 

[Marie13]

Scott Davenport with Earth Immersion is excellent. Reggie Ross was his instructor trainer. I did three days of guided dives with Scott in December. However, he is fully booked through sometime in August.

 

[Josh the diver]

Because as a general rule they're not good classes. A high percentage of people aren't coming out of a padi cavern class with the skills they need to move further in the cave. It's a generalization, and there are some good padi instructors. For instance Capt Jim Wyatt used to teach padi's tech courses. I don't know if he teaches their cavern course or not, but if he did it would likely be a million times better than most other padi cavern courses. It's really about having a good instructor. In most cases, there are better instructors than most padi cavern instructors.
Capt Jim, Ken, Edd, and multiple others are good choices.

that's what I though. I was only asking cause my fiancé wants to get a cavern cert but does not want to cave dive.

 

[tbone1004]

what's wrong with a PADI cavern course if all they plan on doing is cavern.

Cavern is now considered a recreational level specialty vs. the first step of true cave diving instruction. Unless things have changed, the bar for becoming a PADI cavern instructor is quite low, essentially a PADI instructor who is full cave certified can request to teach cavern the same as any other specialty. This is very different than taking a cavern course from a cave instructor who will likely teach it far differently.