Cavern Equipment/Restrictions ( Long Post Sorry)

[Doubles]

I'm doing my cavern this weekend and I see some differences in the material I am reading from what is in this post. Here they are

Cavern Divers -

Not allowed to wear doubles except when with an instructor or with a waiver

Minimum vis 30'

Max penetation 200 feet from the surface

Max Depth 100'

Only require 2 lights as the sun is their primary

Required to carry safety reel

Must have a continuous guideline

Must remain in a NDL status

looking forward to it, and I already feel like I own a scuba shop, need a new garage for the truck as the scuba gear has taken it over.

Cheers

 

[Dive-aholic]

What agency are you going through? Cavern viz used to be 40' and penetration 130'. The sun is the primary, but you still need a light to see. The cavern zone can get dark. The sun just tells you the way out. Continuous guideline is your reel. Anyone can get into Ginnie cavern with doubles anytime, even OW divers.

 

[Doubles]

NACD is the agency, and sure I would wear 3 lights, but you are only required 2. I was only mentioning the differences in the requirements.

I will have to confirm it with my instructor, but the manual reads as though every diver must have a safety reel. The chapter on reels refers to Cavern/Cave but doesn't spell it out specifically. But there is a sentence that says NACD strongly recommends that each diver have a backup safety reel

cheers

 

[karstdvr]

I thought safety reel was required by all divers for all agencies. This is for lost line and lost buddy searches among other things.

 

[brutus_scuba]

I'm doing my cavern this weekend and I see some differences in the material I am reading from what is in this post. Here they are

Cavern Divers -

Not allowed to wear doubles except when with an instructor or with a waiver

Minimum vis 30'

Max penetation 200 feet from the surface

Max Depth 100'

Only require 2 lights as the sun is their primary

Required to carry safety reel

Must have a continuous guideline

Must remain in a NDL status

looking forward to it, and I already feel like I own a scuba shop, need a new garage for the truck as the scuba gear has taken it over.

Cheers

According to YMCA Max Depth = 70'
I think they only required 2 lights but my instructor liked 3
minimum vis i know was 40'
and linear penetration 130'
a NDL status

these standards were also reinforced on cavediving.com when I did a google search for cavern definitions

 

[Doubles]

Thanks Brutus, it must simply be a difference between our agencies.

Cheers

 

[brutus_scuba]

Any bp/w set up will let you switch between doubles and single tank. You just need an STA to dive single tank. All I dive now it bp/w.

As for the ambient v. direct sunlight, the terminology is the day light zone. Basically, the way it was explained to me when I took cavern was if you can see day light, you are in the cavern zone (as long as you're within the other limitations). You were still in the cavern zone on the exit side of the sign in the Ear. BTW, there is a spot in Ginnie cavern that is outside of the cavern zone.

Yeah when I googled the cavern defitions cavediving.com reffered to it as being able to see the exit to open water clearly. Which I definatly could at my further point in b/c I remeber turning around at the sign and thinking that they errored on the sign of caution, and maybe the time of day played into it but I could see the exit and light very clearly from the exit side of that sign.

Dive-aholic do you have a picture of the sign in Devil's Ear. I saw the sign in your avator and was like Hey I saw that sign too. There really was no cavern for that cave entrance though it was pretty much like you decended in the hole and the sign was right there.

 

[brutus_scuba]

Thanks Brutus, it must simply be a difference between our agencies.

Cheers

yeah I knwo the YMCA tends to be very conservative. Take a look at the Y tables they're NDL are based on a 12 hour flush out instead of 6, they teach a lot of water rescue classes in OW they still teach buddy breathing they are very very cautious and conservitive in respect to safety

 

[mattroz]

are you also doing your adv. deco with YMCA? do they have a minimum number of dives? according to your profile you were just certified in march and have done less than 15 dives. ( I know we haven't been able to update).

 

[Dive-aholic]

NACD is the agency, and sure I would wear 3 lights, but you are only required 2. I was only mentioning the differences in the requirements.

I will have to confirm it with my instructor, but the manual reads as though every diver must have a safety reel. The chapter on reels refers to Cavern/Cave but doesn't spell it out specifically. But there is a sentence that says NACD strongly recommends that each diver have a backup safety reel

cheers

Every diver must have a safety reel. It's not a recommendation. It's mandatory for safety reasons. As has been pointed out, it's to be used for lost line/buddy situations. Only one diver in the team needs a primary reel, though.

Dive-aholic do you have a picture of the sign in Devil's Ear. I saw the sign in your avator and was like Hey I saw that sign too. There really was no cavern for that cave entrance though it was pretty much like you decended in the hole and the sign was right there.

No, I don't. I'm not that steady with the camera in high flow yet. Exit shots are okay. Entry definitely are not. I'm still working on it. The sign in the eye is actually in the overhead. You do have to venture in a few feet to get to it. I believe the reason the sign is where it is in the Eye is because the passage gets a little tight and if you don't go the right way, you can get wedged in there.


Here's a link to the other discussion on this subject:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=155791