Cavern training!

[SmileMon]

Wow.. that was a ride, just like an army training day..

I had a lot of fun, some stress, a lot of new things to see, experience, learn and train.

I now have a lot more respect for you people that do this, go deeper, darker, more overhead, restrictions, reel, zero viz, etc', the phrase task loading doesn't begin to describe what I felt and to know its only the begining...

I would like to express my appreciation for Johnny Richards, I felt he's a pro and he tried to transfer as much knowledge and accident information to us new divers.

I don't know how ready I am for serious cave diving, but cavern is still in my comfort zone, learning to handle a 7' hose for the first time, reel, lights, buddy awareness and better bouyancy skills, was a lot.

I would like to say I look forward to my next training, but I feel that at the moment cavern is all I'll be able to handle, I need to work on the new skills and the new setting of my equipment before I'm headed even deeper.

Thank you for taking me even further in my curiosity and fun levels.

If there are other cavern divers looking for buddies in Florida's springs, shoot me a PM, I'll be glad to join you for another ride.

 

[karstdvr]

I would like to say I look forward to my next training, but I feel that at the moment cavern is all I'll be able to handle, I need to work on the new skills and the new setting of my equipment before I'm headed even deeper.

Good for you. The more practice you get,the more additional training later will be spent concentrating on new skills,not remediation of old skills. Glad you had a good class.

 

[Jason B]

Congrats! With only 0-15 dives listed in your profile, I would recommend that you not go any further at this point. Stay at cavern and gain some experience before moving on. In fact, I'd suggest taking that reel with you on every dive (even OW dives) from now on and make sure you run it every dive. With practice comes proficiency. The stress factors and the task loading really increase at each level from this point on. Make sure you have all the skills taught in cavern down pat before moving forward.
Oh, and most of all, have fun!

 

[scubafool]

Cavern was a fun class for me as well, and I found Johnny's instruction to be excellent.

I agree with taking the time to get the skills down pat before taking the next step, along with building your comfort level.

When next you get up to Cave Country, keep me in mind. I try to make the drive at least once a month, and usually more often, and would like to dive with you.

Cheers,

David

 

[PerroneFord]

Were you at Ginnie (Devils Eye) Sunday? If so, I saw your group there and talked to Johnny for a while. That was about 2pm.

Wow.. that was a ride, just like an army training day..

I had a lot of fun, some stress, a lot of new things to see, experience, learn and train.

I would like to express my appreciation for Johnny Richards, I felt he's a pro and he tried to transfer as much knowledge and accident information to us new divers.

 

[SmileMon]

My biggest problem was the flow issues, I was trying to keep my bouyancy under control but was afraid to crash the reg/tank/valve on the ceiling because of the flow and poor vent out of my BC, so I found myself slightly negative doing pull and glide most of the dives, its ok if you have a high flow cave, but on a low flow it caused some silting..

The whole combination of this issues plus pulling a reel and fighting with a regular light rather than a goodman handle was the problem, for the next one I'll be a lot more prepared as far as equipment goes, leaving me more room for other tasks and minimizing the efforts needed to perform relatively simple tasks which were made more complicated than they should have been.

I'll be better off practicing bouyancy in OW, changing my regs to DIN, shorting my power inflator hose and working on better trim before I'm headed in there again.

David, I appreciate your offer, I'll send you a PM when I feel I'm comfortable enough for another ride like that, this time I'll bring my own tanks because I'm used to them and bouyancy is not an issue with them (heavy steel tanks).
Also a good light and several other things, like a spare mask and my own primary reel will make those dives more fun and concentrate on the important parts rather than the parts that should come natural.

I never did so many practices under water in OOA and Mask clearing in my entire diving career, it gave me so much more confidence (especially the unplanned drills which were made like real emergencies - the instructor was happy with all of the students performance on these drills, apparently we handled them quickly and efficiently) that I can handle them in a real life problem.

(Johnny doesn't like the word emergency, he always says, if its an emergency you're on the helicopter... )

I don't want to start a huge argument, just opinions from a few SB members, should I dive the 7' hose in OW to get used to it or should I keep it for tech/caves only?
It was a lot easier donating air with a 7' hose than from a backup reg... (which will have to go since its so bad I wouldn't want to add stress to the diver breathing off it).

 

[H2Andy]

smilemon, it's a steep learning curve, don't let it intimidate you ... we all go through that. congratz on your class!

and johnny is an awesome instructor ... just awesome

once i switched to the 7-foot hose, i just stuck with it. my idea was to
always dive the same setup (with minimal changes only, such as not
taking reels on OW dives).

that helped me get familiar with it and it became second nature.

 

[SmileMon]

Were you at Ginnie (Devils Eye) Sunday? If so, I saw your group there and talked to Johnny for a while. That was about 2pm.

Yep, I was the one with the bright yellow fins.. I probably looked tired (the tank plus all the extra weights I added for the high flow...)

Also seeing one of the woman almost stepping on my buddy's head wasn't fun...he was actually terrified...

 

[PerroneFord]

I was the dark skinned guy at the bottom of the stairs. I remember someone had forgotten their weights... but we were in the water by the time that guy came back.

Glad you guys had a good time. It was pretty busy at the springs!

 

[SmileMon]

Yep, that was me..

First I forgot the glasses on, so I went back, then I forgot the weights and went back again.. man I was exhausted when I got to the water, took me 10 minutes to relax, but it was dive planning stage so it was ok.

Where did you guys go in that dive?