Getting this board started

[happydiver]

Hi Tavi,

This is a post of mine from earlier in the year that I thought you might be interested in reading. Enjoy: )

Hi all,

Just got back from High Springs, Florida. My group of four went down to Ginnie Springs after signing up for the two day Cavern Course. They were two long days (12 hours each day not including driving time). We had about 8 hours of classroom training and homework the first night. We also did a "homework" dive the first night. We did 3 dives the next day after on land line drills and no vis drills.

The course was outstanding and the caverns at Devil's Eye and Devil's Ear were absolutely incredible!! We are so excited about practicing our newly acquired skills this summer so that we can sign up for the Intro to Cave course early next year.

Ginnie Springs was a beautiful place to dive and to just hang out. Even if you don't want to get cavern certified, you can still dive in the main Ginnie cavern and throughout the non cavern and cave areas.

One sidenote is that they won't let you take lights into the water around Devil's Eye and Ear and Spring if you are not cavern or cave certified. This keeps out (or is at least intended to keep out) untrained divers and helps saves lives.

Scheck Exley's accident anaylisis says that most divers die in caves and caverns due to:

Lack of training
Failure to lay a continuous guideline
Run out of air
Depths
Light failure

Well, just wanted to share my new experience with you all in case anyone was wondering about it!

Safe diving!

 

[Ber Rabbit]

A picture of the warning sign that is at the mouth of some caves? I believe it has the grim reaper on it and skeletons with dive gear at his feet and it says something like "You will lose your life if you pass this point, there is nothing in here worth dying for"

Would like to use it as an overhead during one of the lectures I'll have to write for my instructor cert. It would be a good lead-in for encouraging continuing education courses beyond OW.

If you have it, PM me and I'll send you my email address or if you know where I can go on the web to get it that would work too.

Thanks!

Ber

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by Ber Rabbit
Would like to use it as an overhead...

Pun intended?

The NSS-CDS sign:

http://www.cavediver.org/img/GRIMREAP.GIF

Roak

 

[Tavi]

Thanks for sharing that with me.

We plan on spending two weeks in Florida next year. I think checking out the caverns there would be great! (besides I can only take a day or two of Disney, it keeps the wife happy). If we do check them out, we might as well go for the certification.

Thanks again,

 

[roakey]

NSS-CDS also has a great tape titled "A Deceptively Easy Way to Die" that has re-enactments of diver's clawing at each other etc. as they run out of air.

Of course, showing that to a OW class would cause a huge attrition rate.

Roak

 

[Ber Rabbit]

That's what I was looking for! Although I missed the pun! (WAAAAAH!) I think that video might be good for the occasional student who wanders in with an attitude problem. Heck, I bet I've got just the candidate too!

Just out of curiosity is the video available on a web site somewhere? Thanks again!

Ber

 

[Iguana Don]

Hello,

Because it's stepping back in time and seeing things as they were millions of years ago, before man was around. The bones, the shells etc. Traveling through time.

Instructors are among the highest deaths because, just because you are an instructor, you are not a cave diver. Cave diving takes hundreds of hours of training, practice, practice and more training, not just 100 dives.

Frozen Iguana Don

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by Ber Rabbit
Just out of curiosity is the video available on a web site somewhere

NSS-CDS "Gift Shop":

http://www.dayo.net/secure/cds/order1.htm

And if you want to cruise it from the top, the NSS-CDS site is:

http://www.cavediver.org/

Roak

 

[Okiecaver]

and I this!

GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR (just kidding)

Time to contact the Northern WI grotto of the NSS. Hey Tamara in Madison would probably know, and I've met Nathan her DM in Missouri. Yeah- they'd know.

later buddy
Brock

 

[roakey]

Originally posted by Okiecaver
and I this!

GGGRRRRRRRRRRRRR (just kidding)

I don't talk to people that rip off my name.

Roger Oakey, caver.