Considering moving forward with cave training in February, advice?

[jlcnuke]

Is Cave 1 in Mexico and Cave 2/Full Cave in Florida an option?

It's an option. Though honestly I was looking more for feedback on the general training plan and time rather than locations for the training. Perhaps, based on responses, I wasn't that specific. More specific questions could have been:
Would people say that the PADI cavern training is equivalent (for real, not just on an "equivalency" chart from the agencies) with TDI etc, or am I going to already be "behind the 8-ball" going into a TDI etc intro to Cave class?
Is the lack of backmount training/experience going to hold me back or is that covered just fine during Intro to Cave?
Is TDI etc intro to tech during/before the trip recommended? necessary?
any other considerations I probably haven't thought about for the next step?

 

[Caveeagle]

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.

Total agreement. I dove for well over a year at the apprentice level, and I am local to N.Fla so I got a lot of time in. During that time I dove with several divers who cam into town for a week or two, planning to cover 2 or 3 steps in one visit. I remember one guy in particular who had just finished his full cave the prior week and asked me to run the primary at Little River because the flow was too challenging for him.

If I was an aspiring cave diver living in Ga, I would take full advantage of being close to North Fla caves.

 

[jlcnuke]

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.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not in doubles yet, though I'm just about there (I'll be in them for the tec 40 dives and plan to have my own before the tec 45 course later next year). To be clear, I'm not looking to just go full bore straight to full cave in that week, as I don't know that I could learn all the skills well enough to pass such a class in that short a period of time (though I do see it offered some places).

I wish I had a buddy that was also cavern certified, but so far none of my friends/buddies are interested in pursuing that path, and there aren't any cavern dives "close by" anyway. I honestly never considered that "hey, I'm going to Mexico, any experienced cae divers want to spend some of your time doing dives in the cavern zone with me?" would get any interest, as cavern really seems to just be a stepping stone certification to actually move into caves/see if you want to (in my head at least that's what I was thinking when I took it). Perhaps I should have considered that option though, so thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate you mentioning that and will look into it in the future.

Being over 5 hours away from cave country (north of Atlanta here), and working full-time (and more), plus personal obligations, doesn't really give me the option to just head down there without taking an actual vacation to do so. And honestly, if I'm going to go on vacation, I'd much rather be in Mexico's Cenotes or the reefs in the Caribbean than hanging out in the light zone of GS or BG etc. I can practice the skills from the course by myself at the local quarry though (minus buddy breathing/moving, but that isn't really that hard to do). Running lines, following them, closed eye moving, etc don't need an overhead environment or spending my vacation to keep those skills up. I'm sure doing it with someone who is full cave certified would likely get me some better advice/tips/feedback though, so maybe I'll see if someone wants to tool around with me sometime. If any cave certified divers want to practice with me running lines etc in the local quarry north of Atlanta though, PM me and I'd be happy to do so.

I honestly foresee (with my limited understanding right now) my training/experience to go something like this:
Do next set of training (intro to cave, maybe with intro to tech?), get a little practice actually doing some simpler cave dives and do some self-practice at home without the overhead environment. Then get the next set of training (full cave). Then do guided cave dives in Mexico for a few vacations. Then maybe consider getting with locals or a guide for some of the easier Florida cave diving. Perhaps I'm naive in thinking that will work though?

I don't plan on making cave diving my primary diving, or doing it more than a couple weeks per year, but I'd like the training, knowledge, experience, and option to do the dives so I can experience some of the more beautiful caves out there. More like a "vacation cave diver" that bones up on the skills before going, and avoids the more "advanced" caves out there. Perhaps that will change after spending some more time in the environments, but that's my thoughts right now.

 

[The Chairman]

Learn in Florida and Mexico should be easy. In cave country see @kensuf or @Capt Jim Wyatt. In Mariana Edd is your best bet. In Mexico, Natalie Gibb is your best bet.

Big difference between the two places are fast currents in Florida but you probably won't get sick. I've gotten sick twice in Mexico. Montezuma loves to have his way with us gringos.

 

[rddvet]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm not in doubles yet, though I'm just about there (I'll be in them for the tec 40 dives and plan to have my own before the tec 45 course later next year). To be clear, I'm not looking to just go full bore straight to full cave in that week, as I don't know that I could learn all the skills well enough to pass such a class in that short a period of time (though I do see it offered some places).

I wish I had a buddy that was also cavern certified, but so far none of my friends/buddies are interested in pursuing that path, and there aren't any cavern dives "close by" anyway. I honestly never considered that "hey, I'm going to Mexico, any experienced cae divers want to spend some of your time doing dives in the cavern zone with me?" would get any interest, as cavern really seems to just be a stepping stone certification to actually move into caves/see if you want to (in my head at least that's what I was thinking when I took it). Perhaps I should have considered that option though, so thanks for the suggestion, I appreciate you mentioning that and will look into it in the future.

Being over 5 hours away from cave country (north of Atlanta here), and working full-time (and more), plus personal obligations, doesn't really give me the option to just head down there without taking an actual vacation to do so. And honestly, if I'm going to go on vacation, I'd much rather be in Mexico's Cenotes or the reefs in the Caribbean than hanging out in the light zone of GS or BG etc. I can practice the skills from the course by myself at the local quarry though (minus buddy breathing/moving, but that isn't really that hard to do). Running lines, following them, closed eye moving, etc don't need an overhead environment or spending my vacation to keep those skills up. I'm sure doing it with someone who is full cave certified would likely get me some better advice/tips/feedback though, so maybe I'll see if someone wants to tool around with me sometime. If any cave certified divers want to practice with me running lines etc in the local quarry north of Atlanta though, PM me and I'd be happy to do so.

I honestly foresee (with my limited understanding right now) my training/experience to go something like this:
Do next set of training (intro to cave, maybe with intro to tech?), get a little practice actually doing some simpler cave dives and do some self-practice at home without the overhead environment. Then get the next set of training (full cave). Then do guided cave dives in Mexico for a few vacations. Then maybe consider getting with locals or a guide for some of the easier Florida cave diving. Perhaps I'm naive in thinking that will work though?

I don't plan on making cave diving my primary diving, or doing it more than a couple weeks per year, but I'd like the training, knowledge, experience, and option to do the dives so I can experience some of the more beautiful caves out there. More like a "vacation cave diver" that bones up on the skills before going, and avoids the more "advanced" caves out there. Perhaps that will change after spending some more time in the environments, but that's my thoughts right now.

I understand that you weren’t going to go zero to hero full cave. But if you havent done any cavern dives since class and arent in doubles yet, moving to intro in feb is rushing. You would serve yourself well to get some dives in and have fun. Get comfortable diving caverns and diving doubles, then take the next step. We already have enough bad cave divers that rushed through classes and didnt take time to perfect their skills. You dont want to be another one.
Its not that hard to find buddies to dive with. Cdf will get you buddies. If you decode you want to work on your cavern skills in fevruary, I’ll find time to do a couple dives with you.

 

[elgoog]

I don't know if it's necessary to get cavern experience before going for Intro. Definitely do ITT or CDS Basics or similar and get super comfortable in doubles (and drysuit, if that's what you're going to use in Intro and beyond). Your cave classes will be much, much more enjoyable and you'll be able to focus on cave skills a lot more if you have a stable platform and it remains stable when you're task loaded (S-drill, valve drill, practice SMB deployment also even though you don't use it in cave). You can easily do this locally without having to drive to N FL.

 

[Stoo]

I'm not a cave diver, and have little inerest in it. I"d much rather chase fish around on my vacations, and there really isn't much cave diving around here.

Having said that, when I look at Tom St. Georges images of the MX caves, it's tempting af... They look gorgeous.

Tom St George (@tom.st.george) • Instagram photos and videos

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@jlcnuke

Is heading up to Lake Jocassee close enough for some preliminary training?

 

[Caveeagle]

I don't know if it's necessary to get cavern experience before going for Intro....

Yes, and no...

It is possible to actually do Cavern and intro back to back. So it’s true that you don’t really need x# of dives between the two. But it’s a very case by case basis as to whether it’s a good idea. If your are considering the back to back, method, or are thinking of moving forward with limited experience diving at the current level, I think you should do an honest self assessment and (hopefully) your instructor will also try to determine if you are ready.

Like it or not, some divers just tend to take to things faster than others. Some divers were taught to dive streamlined and frog kicking starting right off the bat at OW divers. If you are used to diving a streamlined, primary donate in single tank model your transition to backmount doubles might be pretty easy. Or, it could throw you for a loop and make you feel like you are starting over from square one. This is why I don’t like arbitrary rules like needing X# of dives from point A to point B.

 

[rjack321]

I would do at least a dozen cavern dives in FL before heading to MX
Desirable instructors are booking 6+ months out. You might sneak in on an opening 2 months from now, but top notch training is going to take foresight (plus time and money)