Cavern dive instructor recommendations

[ucfdiver]

Do you mind going into specifics about your insurance and how you got it. There are some loop holes if you got a smallish policy (usually around 3x annual salary) through an employer where there are no questions asked through the group policy and then converted the group policy to your own personal ownership, but for the most part getting life insurance for a cave diver is extremely difficult. You should definitely check out your policy paper work and the application you signed, they all have questions about dangerous activities (flying, hiking, mountain biking, scuba diving, sky diving, etc) in their policies, if you failed to mention your you were cave certified and one of the questions clearly stated you should have, you would be guilty of fraud and the insurance company can legally deny the claim if you die in a cave.

Here are a few links. I also have some experience in the insurance industry

I applied for life insurance through my financial adviser. No questions were asked on paper about scuba diving, but I did have to check yes to flying on non scheduled flights as I had flown a couple of times on re-positioning flights and certification flights when I worked at an airline, as well as I had taken some flight training. During a phone interview, they asked about SCUBA, cave diving, how deep, etc and I answered honestly.

I have a split policy, some term and some whole (with the option to extend the coverage later). I acquired my coverage through my Northwestern Mutual financial adviser. Because I work in software development, I chose to NOT rely on employer coverage for life/disability insurance due to the fact that I'll surely switch jobs often during my career and might not always have continuous coverage, and I didn't want to risk leaving my wife with nothing if my death fell inside one of those gaps.

FWIW I was also 24 when I got my coverage, so that might make it easier? If you're struggling to find coverage I'll PM you the advisers contact information, or if someone here has a specific question about the policy I'll do my best to find any answers I can to help.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I also have some life and disability insurance through Northwestern Mutual. Showed up to the meeting in my motorcycle gear while my wife was busy telling the agent about our weekend of cave diving.

A whole sheet in the file is details on our certifications but they didn't even ask about it during the follow up phone call.

Every time j see my agent she asks if I have any new cave diving photos to show her, and the rates weren't too bad. I'm not going to make anybody rich if I die but it'll pay the house off and then some.


But the question was instructors? Lots of good ones, try to meet them and make sure you get along. Going through intro is not a bad idea but if you do it with a different instructor it could help validate your skills in diving and in picking instructors


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[USFpsychDiver]

I took stand-alone cavern not because I wanted to spend a lot of time diving caverns but because I wanted to improve my skills, wanted to have a few more options open for diving when the winds were up and the boats not going out, and I thought I might maybe maybe not want to check out cave diving. My two-day cavern course, which I did in open water gear (mostly), improved my diving skills more than anything else I'd done to that point. And my instructor gave me a peek into the cave and I was hooked -- he was kind of like a heroin dealer, just gave me a taste and I was hooked. I used the same instructor for Cave I and different instructors for Full Cave and Sidemount Cave, not because there was anything wrong with my instructors but because every instructor teaches pretty much the same stuff but from a different perspective, so I learn a little bit differently from each instructor. For the record my instructors were Ken Mejean (Cavern, Cave I: NAUI; I don't think he's active any more -- he was a Bert Wilcher student but I haven't seen him in cave country for a couple of years); Paul Heinerth (overhead sidemount; wanted to switch to sidemount before doing full cave); Rich Courtney (Full Cave). They all had strengths and weaknesses, but I learned a lot, have my 100+ post-full cave cave dives in an am still alive, so that's a testimonial.

 

[stuartv]

This is a timely thread for me. I'll be heading home (to Tallahassee) for a couple of weeks at Thanksgiving. I expect to have just completed TDI AN/DP at that point (using back mount doubles).

I was hoping to make arrangements and take Cavern from Edd while I'm down there.

- If I dive back mount doubles, should I be considering to take the course from someone different? An earlier post implied that Edd was the man for side mount, but left it open as to whether he would be a good go-to for back mount.

- What does Intro get me beyond Cavern? I looked at the course descriptions on CA's training site and it doesn't really detail that. I'm not really planning to start doing much, if any, cave or cavern diving. I really enjoyed the cenote dives I did in MX and would do that again, if I were down there. The course is as much for improving my dive skills as anything. Though I am originally from north FL and expect to continue to visit regularly, so I suppose cave diving could happen...

- Someone mentioned combining Cavern (? or Intro?) with side mount training. What are more details on doing something like that? Would I expect to spend an extra day (or more) doing side mount training? Or would it just be integrated right into Cavern, requiring no extra days of classroom and no additional dives? Basically, just the extra cost of renting a side mount rig and cylinders?

- It sounds like doing Cavern back mount is fine. Is Intro also okay to do in back mount? Or, at what point in the Cave progression would I really NEED to be diving side mount?

I'm not really expecting to switch to side mount, but I do like learning new stuff, so learning how to dive side mount would be cool. At least, if it doesn't cost me a lot of extra time and money.

 

[uncfnp]

Stuartv. As a beginning SM Intro Cave diver here is my take.

You can do Cavern in modified recreational gear so doing cavern in BM is no problem. For Intro, you need doubles. Either BM or SM. As I understand it. There are only a few caves where SM is specifically preferred and my advise is to do it in the gear you plan to do most of your diving.

If you are just curious about caves and skills, take Cavern and Intro in BM. If you are curious about caves and SM, take a SM cavern course from Edd. Plan on 2 days SM and 2 days Cavern. Add another 2 for Intro. And I mean full days.

 

[bamafan]

Stuart Edd only teaches sidemount. There is no need to do any class through full cave in sidemount. If you are set on diving sidemount then you can certainly do your classes in sidemount. I would recommend just taking the classes in bm from someone else in the area. Rob Neto teaches both bm and sidemount and is a good one in the area.

Rob Neto

 

[stuartv]

Stuartv. As a beginning SM Intro Cave diver here is my take.

You can do Cavern in modified recreational gear so doing cavern in BM is no problem. For Intro, you need doubles. Either BM or SM. As I understand it. There are only a few caves where SM is specifically preferred and my advise is to do it in the gear you plan to do most of your diving.

If you are just curious about caves and skills, take Cavern and Intro in BM. If you are curious about caves and SM, take a SM cavern course from Edd. Plan on 2 days SM and 2 days Cavern. Add another 2 for Intro. And I mean full days.

Thanks. I am currently diving back mount doubles. So, you're saying I could do Cavern and Intro in BM. Cool.

And you're saying if I wanted to learn SM, plus do Cavern and Intro, then I would have to allow 6 full days for all that. I'd say... not gonna happen. I guess I'll just stick with BM for now.

Stuart Edd only teaches sidemount. There is no need to do any class through full cave in sidemount. If you are set on diving sidemount then you can certainly do your classes in sidemount. I would recommend just taking the classes in bm from someone else in the area. Rob Neto teaches both bm and sidemount and is a good one in the area.

Rob Neto

Thanks. So, if I want to do Cavern and Intro in BM, Edd won't accept me as a student?

I'll check out the link for Rob Neto.

---------- Post added September 22nd, 2015 at 05:11 PM ----------

Still wondering what Intro gets me beyond what Cavern gets me. Is it just further penetration (i.e. more than 200 feet from the surface)?

 

[boulderjohn]

Still wondering what Intro gets me beyond what Cavern gets me. Is it just further penetration (i.e. more than 200 feet from the surface)?

Cavern limits you to the cavern zone. It is really a recreational dive certification. Intro gets you into the cave--and it can be fairly far into the cave, depending upon the agency rules and the depth of the cave. (You are limited by gas use, not specific distance.)

 

[uncfnp]

Cavern limits you to the cavern zone. It is really a recreational dive certification. Intro gets you into the cave--and it can be fairly far into the cave, depending upon the agency rules and the depth of the cave. (You are limited by gas use, not specific distance.)

I will add that it also introduces additional cave skills and your instructor is likely to hold you to a much higher standard including buoyancy, trim and kicks. At this level you will be cave diving and cave instructors that I have met take this very seriously. And if you don't meet their standards they can/will Fail you.

 

[nakatomi]

I'll check out the link for Rob Neto.

Rob was my instructor for Cavern and Intro, which I did in backmount. I highly recommend considering Rob as an instructor.

Still wondering what Intro gets me beyond what Cavern gets me. Is it just further penetration (i.e. more than 200 feet from the surface)?

Intro will get you beyond the daylight zone and into the cave. The experience is, compared to cavern, much more intense. You'll get to see some really cool stuff!
And as uncfnp mentioned, you will be held to a stricter standard for intro, which to me is always good.