Donna, thanks again for the report. As I am considering taking a class this year it was nice to read.
Class Report - Cavern/Intro with Rich Courtney
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I am not so sure. I do not like crawling through tight spaces in DRY land caves!
I took PADI Wreck, simply BECAUSE I am pretty darned terrified of tight spaces, and it was a challenge.
I guess that means I will eventually do this cave thing too. DAM!
Well, you stop growing and challenging yourself, you quit living, I guess.
I took PADI Wreck, simply BECAUSE I am pretty darned terrified of tight spaces, and it was a challenge.
I guess that means I will eventually do this cave thing too. DAM!
Well, you stop growing and challenging yourself, you quit living, I guess.
OP
Thanks Lew
I am not so sure. I do not like crawling through tight spaces in DRY land caves!
I took PADI Wreck, simply BECAUSE I am pretty darned terrified of tight spaces, and it was a challenge.
I guess that means I will eventually do this cave thing too. DAM!
Well, you stop growing and challenging yourself, you quit living, I guess.
LOL and well, we grew a lot this past weekend
now where the hell is Sammie's class report, she was supposed to post right behind me
Apologies for late appearance in this thread as I just got home from dinner.
As Donna stated it was originally a dive chickie weekend in some warm tropical locale for her birthday not a cave training class during Florida’s monsoon season. The shakeout dive with Perrone the day before our class was a disaster and shook our confidence. Donna and I have been out of the water since Oct and Nov, respectively and were definitely “off” during the infamous shakeout dive which shall not be named. With honest feedback from Perrone, we questioned if we should attempt an intro cave certification.
On the first day of cavern class, we told Rich our concerns and the disaster shakeout dive we had the day before. He was surprised but supportive and said we would revisit proceeding to Intro to Cave class after Cavern. The Cavern class included running lines and working with the reel on land and in the water, no mask swim, touch contact, OOA drills, primary light failure, gas management/planning, dives at Ginnie Springs. Intro to Cave dives were all the Cavern drills/skills along with cookie and arrow placement, lost diver and lost line drills with dives in Peacock Springs (Peanut and P1, Olsen line).
Rich Courtney is an incredibly skilled instructor with scary mind-reading abilities. During the feedback he was able to tell us what we were thinking in the cave which was both comforting (predict potential hazards before they spiraled out of control) and eerie/unnerving (cause I felt very exposed). His constructive feedback were always spot on even if it made us squirm and we squirmed plenty!
The scariest part of the class were the dives at Devil's Ear. During the first dive at Devil's Ear, Rich went first, Donna second and I was last in but got caught behind a CCR diver hanging out at 30 ft which placed me right in the middle of the flow. I struggled for what seemed like hours pulling myself down to where Rich and Donna were. There were seconds/minutes when I thought I would over-breath my regs or load up on C02 so I had to mentally tell myself to breath in and out slowly and to not panic. I've never been in flow or current like that in my dive experience. My hands, particularly my finger tips were so badly scraped and cut up from Devil's Ear that I showed up for class the next morning with white medical tape on all 10 digits.
Rich was upset that the CCR diver got between Donna and I during our first dive in Devil's Ear so before we descended into Devil Ear's for our second dive, he yelled over to a diver standing at the shoreline, "Hey, Larry, do you know the CCR divers?" Larry replied, "Some northerners.", to which I yelled back at Larry, "Hey, we're northerners!!!" Rich promptly put me in my place when he said, "Um...Sam, that's Larry Green." D'oh...:shocked2: :blush: Rock stars at every corner of cave country. Jill Heinerth during our lunch break and Larry Green before our last dive of that day....ya gotta love cave country!!
I would encourage those who have been out of the water for a few months and headed into any type of training, especially caves, to do a shakeout dive days or a day before class to work out any gear issues, clean the cob webs out of the brain and refresh the muscle memory. If it were not for Perrone’s insistence and his offer to dive with us to work out the issues before class, Rich would have had a cluster flock on his hands Day 1 and I doubt we would have passed Intro.
Many thanks to Perrone:kiss2: and John:kiss2: for their help/support before, during and after class. Both reached out to me when I was a SB newbie interested in caves in 2008 so thanks to Scubaboard for connecting us. Rich Courtney for our solid training as we start down the cave path. There should be some instructor certification for putting up with "northerners" throughout our grueling training schedule. DNYers for their supportive texts and calls during the class. And to my class mate Donna who laughed, snipped and suffered with me during the long drive to and from Fl, during the 11 hr+ long class days and our hellish shakeout dive which must not be named, I love you to pieces.
We will practice, practice and practice within our training limits cause there are lots of gold line to visits in FL. Look out cave country, Rich Courtney has unleashed two northerners upon ya!
As Donna stated it was originally a dive chickie weekend in some warm tropical locale for her birthday not a cave training class during Florida’s monsoon season. The shakeout dive with Perrone the day before our class was a disaster and shook our confidence. Donna and I have been out of the water since Oct and Nov, respectively and were definitely “off” during the infamous shakeout dive which shall not be named. With honest feedback from Perrone, we questioned if we should attempt an intro cave certification.
On the first day of cavern class, we told Rich our concerns and the disaster shakeout dive we had the day before. He was surprised but supportive and said we would revisit proceeding to Intro to Cave class after Cavern. The Cavern class included running lines and working with the reel on land and in the water, no mask swim, touch contact, OOA drills, primary light failure, gas management/planning, dives at Ginnie Springs. Intro to Cave dives were all the Cavern drills/skills along with cookie and arrow placement, lost diver and lost line drills with dives in Peacock Springs (Peanut and P1, Olsen line).
Rich Courtney is an incredibly skilled instructor with scary mind-reading abilities. During the feedback he was able to tell us what we were thinking in the cave which was both comforting (predict potential hazards before they spiraled out of control) and eerie/unnerving (cause I felt very exposed). His constructive feedback were always spot on even if it made us squirm and we squirmed plenty!
The scariest part of the class were the dives at Devil's Ear. During the first dive at Devil's Ear, Rich went first, Donna second and I was last in but got caught behind a CCR diver hanging out at 30 ft which placed me right in the middle of the flow. I struggled for what seemed like hours pulling myself down to where Rich and Donna were. There were seconds/minutes when I thought I would over-breath my regs or load up on C02 so I had to mentally tell myself to breath in and out slowly and to not panic. I've never been in flow or current like that in my dive experience. My hands, particularly my finger tips were so badly scraped and cut up from Devil's Ear that I showed up for class the next morning with white medical tape on all 10 digits.
Rich was upset that the CCR diver got between Donna and I during our first dive in Devil's Ear so before we descended into Devil Ear's for our second dive, he yelled over to a diver standing at the shoreline, "Hey, Larry, do you know the CCR divers?" Larry replied, "Some northerners.", to which I yelled back at Larry, "Hey, we're northerners!!!" Rich promptly put me in my place when he said, "Um...Sam, that's Larry Green." D'oh...:shocked2: :blush: Rock stars at every corner of cave country. Jill Heinerth during our lunch break and Larry Green before our last dive of that day....ya gotta love cave country!!
I would encourage those who have been out of the water for a few months and headed into any type of training, especially caves, to do a shakeout dive days or a day before class to work out any gear issues, clean the cob webs out of the brain and refresh the muscle memory. If it were not for Perrone’s insistence and his offer to dive with us to work out the issues before class, Rich would have had a cluster flock on his hands Day 1 and I doubt we would have passed Intro.
Many thanks to Perrone:kiss2: and John:kiss2: for their help/support before, during and after class. Both reached out to me when I was a SB newbie interested in caves in 2008 so thanks to Scubaboard for connecting us. Rich Courtney for our solid training as we start down the cave path. There should be some instructor certification for putting up with "northerners" throughout our grueling training schedule. DNYers for their supportive texts and calls during the class. And to my class mate Donna who laughed, snipped and suffered with me during the long drive to and from Fl, during the 11 hr+ long class days and our hellish shakeout dive which must not be named, I love you to pieces.
We will practice, practice and practice within our training limits cause there are lots of gold line to visits in FL. Look out cave country, Rich Courtney has unleashed two northerners upon ya!
Last edited:
Scott L
Contributor
Drydiver, do both of you desire to continue cave training?
Thanks Lew
LOL and well, we grew a lot this past weekend
now where the hell is Sammie's class report, she was supposed to post right behind me
Why is it that "growing" in this sport, seems to follow on the heels or "humbling" experiences? I think I an beginning to see a painful pattern here.
I was out having dinner with a nosebreather and talking about ya!!!!now where the hell is Sammie's class report, she was supposed to post right behind me
Baby steps there, Scott, we just got a learner's permit so let us take it out for a spin before deciding on apprentice and full.
Personally, I would assume yes given how much I love the sport but I won't know until I've taken my learner's permit out for a good long spin.
Great report by both of you and congratulations again on the accomplishment! 
OP
I agree on the painful bit
Baby steps there, Scott, we just got a learner's permit so let us take it out for a spin before deciding on apprentice and full.
Personally, I would assume yes given how much I love the sport but I won't know until I've taken my learner's permit out for a good long spin.
what she said
Great report by both of you and congratulations again on the accomplishment!
thanks!
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