Considering moving forward with cave training in February, advice?

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jlcnuke

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Location
acworth ga
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So, to date I have a little over 200 dives (warm water, cold water, clear vis, low vis, ocean/springs/quarry, wetsuit and drysuit) and the following certs done:
OW, AOW, nitrox, rescue, drysuit, deep, self-reliant and cavern. I did my cavern cert through Adventure Outfitters (PADI cert) in Tampa last year and haven't done any real overhead diving since then. I've done the classroom portion of my TEC 40 class so far and waiting to reschedule my dives for that class (had to postpone due to work). I live outside Atlanta and have some vacation in February (a week off) and am considering flying down to Mexico to continue moving towards full-cave cert. I get off work Friday afternoon and have to be back at work 10 days later on Monday morning (so definitely no diving after Saturday afternoon).

I really loved diving the cenotes in Mexico, and I don't have much interest in diving "tight passages" in caves (but I realize that the skills are probably necessary for the cert anyway) or fighting strong currents, and hence am considering doing the training down in PDC or Tulum. If you were in my shoes and getting ready to continue, what would you be doing knowing what you know already (though I'm not interested in GUE for personal reasons).
 
I'd be asking Natalie Gibb of Under the Jungle (https://www.underthejungle.com/en/natalie-l-gibb/) of how to best prepare, what her entry requirements/expectations are.

There's also Edd Sorenson in Florida. I've been considering Edd as the caves in Florida are similar from what I've seen on film (as I'm obviously not cave trained to see for myself) to Greece (minus the high flows).
 
Are you going to do most of your cave diving post class in Mexico or Florida? That should be your biggest concern, IMO. No sense in getting trained in Mexico if you're going to be spending most of your time in FL caves (and vice versa). The training will be similar, but the environments can be very different. Can't speak much to Mexico, as I don't have any experience there, but I've seen experienced cave divers absolutely humbled by ginnie and little river their first time in Florida.

It's good to get experience in both ultimately, but just starting out, I'd say learn where you're gonna dive most often and branch out from there.
 
I'd be asking Natalie Gibb of Under the Jungle (https://www.underthejungle.com/en/natalie-l-gibb/) of how to best prepare, what her entry requirements/expectations are.

There's also Edd Sorenson in Florida. I've been considering Edd as the caves in Florida are similar from what I've seen on film (as I'm obviously not cave trained to see for myself) to Greece (minus the high flows).

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll reach out.
 
Are you going to do most of your cave diving post class in Mexico or Florida? That should be your biggest concern, IMO. No sense in getting trained in Mexico if you're going to be spending most of your time in FL caves (and vice versa). The training will be similar, but the environments can be very different. Can't speak much to Mexico, as I don't have any experience there, but I've seen experienced cave divers absolutely humbled by ginnie and little river their first time in Florida.

It's good to get experience in both ultimately, but just starting out, I'd say learn where you're gonna dive most often and branch out from there.

I've been to cave country, but haven't dived in any of the caves personally at this point (just the cavern areas of Ginnie, Paradise Springs, and BG so far down there). In general, I'm a lot more interested in the Cenotes from what I've seen of them and the video's I've seen of the Florida cave systems.
 
If you dont have a certification that allows decompression diving, I would look at Tulum, Playa Aventuras areas. I used to think the training in Florida was superior but the number of full time cave divers in Mx is actually greater. There is just so much to see there. ie lots of cave - lots of big wide open passages, lots of interesting cave for exploration thus lots of instructors to choice from. You wont be taken to a tight passage area until well into your cave diving career.

For Florida you need to be able to deco on 100% O2 - so at least tec45 if you are following the Padi route - before you finish full cave.

Lots of previous discussions regarding the merits of training in Mx, Fl or both are available on SB. In my opinion you get to run more primary lines in Mx. The gold line is often several 100 feet from the entrance. In Florida you have deeper caves, more flow, more decompression to deal with.

Have fun,
j
 
For Florida you need to be able to deco on 100% O2 - so at least tec45 if you are following the Padi route - before you finish full cave.

Of course AN/DP is a great thing to have before you start cave training in FL, but it’s hardly a requirement. Plenty of people were trained to full cave long before I’ve ever heard of an AN/DP cert.

When diving 32% you can easily stay within NDL limits through Intro and apprentice. And at the full cave level you can get there with a little planning and creativity. Especially diving sites like Peacock, you have to really work at it to get into deco diving 32%.
 
Personally I believe too many people are in a rush to move forward with training when what they really need is to dive at their current level before moving on. My wife and I were cavern for a year with well over 40 cavern dives before moving on. We were cave 1 for a year with over 60 dives before moving to full cave. Learning in a course and then putting that knowledge to use are 2 very different things. Running a line on your own without an instructor watching isn't the same as doing it with a buddy. At this point, scheduling a class for february may limit your choice in instructors. It's the busy season and most GOOD instructors are going to have limited availability in Feb. My advice is slow it down, take this opportunity to come down to cave country or mexico, do some fun dives with people (post on cdf you need a buddy), learn to use your skills, then move on.
Are you in doubles yet? That's an important thing if you're not.
Lastly, no offense, but most padi cavern courses aren't that great and being a local from St Pete, Adventure Outfitters is far from the first place anyone in this area would think of as being a cavern/overhead shop. You may find diving with other divers that you learn alot. Alot of times when you post on cdf, full cave divers are happy to dive with you. Make a mentor when you're down diving. My mentor taught me more than my instructors did.
 
If you dont have a certification that allows decompression diving, I would look at Tulum, Playa Aventuras areas. I used to think the training in Florida was superior but the number of full time cave divers in Mx is actually greater. There is just so much to see there. ie lots of cave - lots of big wide open passages, lots of interesting cave for exploration thus lots of instructors to choice from. You wont be taken to a tight passage area until well into your cave diving career.

For Florida you need to be able to deco on 100% O2 - so at least tec45 if you are following the Padi route - before you finish full cave.

Lots of previous discussions regarding the merits of training in Mx, Fl or both are available on SB. In my opinion you get to run more primary lines in Mx. The gold line is often several 100 feet from the entrance. In Florida you have deeper caves, more flow, more decompression to deal with.

Have fun,
j

Sounds like Mexico for at least the next step is more intriguing to me, which seems to be what I was thinking to begin with. Though honestly, while I believe from my reading there are merits to getting training in both places based on significantly different environments, the cave diving in the Cenotes seems to be (from video/pictures) more along the lines of what interests me in general than the typically video'd Florida caves. While I have booked through Tec 45 so far, it may be the end of next year before the classes are done based on trying to match up schedules.
 
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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