How much dry caving did you do prior to cave diving?

[Tegg]

The biggest thing that dry caving can teach a cave diver is how to read a cave. An important skill that is not taught very well when there are lines in caves.

There are no lines in dry caves. You learn to look at the cave differently, so that you can find your way out, and so you can figure out which way goes forward.

There are also other smaller skills that are picked up, but that is the biggest one that stands out to me...

Of course my opinion is worth what was paid for it... but I find that having the dry cave experience has helped me in several situations I have found myself in while cave diving.

 

[TSandM]

That's a good answer. Reading the cave was actually stressed by my instructors, but I think it's something you only get good at by doing it, and thinking about it. It's all too easy to follow line.

 

[Doc Harry]

From a technique standpoint, I don't think that it really matters too much whether you came to cave diving from dry caving or scuba diving. All that really matters is that you are comfortable in the water and your technique is good.

I come from a technical dry caving background, so being in tight restrictions or being wa-a-a-a-y back in a cave doesn't bother me. But I've noticed that other people who got into cave diving from scuba diving are likewise comfortable in caves. Maybe because many of them were also accomplished wreck divers, too.

Perhaps the only difference is that, as a dry caver, I have instilled in me the cave ethics of dry cavers. I read story a while back where a cave diver scratched his initials into a clay bank deep in a Florida cave. A dry caver would never dream of doing such a thing. (You see a lot of graffiti in dry caves, though, because any yahoo can get into a cave, not just trained cavers.)

I am not saying that cave divers don't have proper cave ethics, I am just saying that dry cavers probably have a more rigid, engrained sense of cave ethics than scuba divers, in general.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Cave Divers successfully prosecuted the guy who carved his initials into the clay banks.

 

[drydiver]

The biggest thing that dry caving can teach a cave diver is how to read a cave. An important skill that is not taught very well when there are lines in caves.

There are no lines in dry caves. You learn to look at the cave differently, so that you can find your way out, and so you can figure out which way goes forward.

There are also other smaller skills that are picked up, but that is the biggest one that stands out to me...

Of course my opinion is worth what was paid for it... but I find that having the dry cave experience has helped me in several situations I have found myself in while cave diving.

I agree with the reading the cave bit, well, it has been a while since I dry caved, but I think I have a lot more questions rattling around in my head about rock stuff I see compared to others without the tourist/dry experience.

From a technique standpoint, I don't think that it really matters too much whether you came to cave diving from dry caving or scuba diving. All that really matters is that you are comfortable in the water and your technique is good.

I come from a technical dry caving background, so being in tight restrictions or being wa-a-a-a-y back in a cave doesn't bother me. But I've noticed that other people who got into cave diving from scuba diving are likewise comfortable in caves. Maybe because many of them were also accomplished wreck divers, too.

Perhaps the only difference is that, as a dry caver, I have instilled in me the cave ethics of dry cavers. I read story a while back where a cave diver scratched his initials into a clay bank deep in a Florida cave. A dry caver would never dream of doing such a thing. (You see a lot of graffiti in dry caves, though, because any yahoo can get into a cave, not just trained cavers.)

I am not saying that cave divers don't have proper cave ethics, I am just saying that dry cavers probably have a more rigid, engrained sense of cave ethics than scuba divers, in general.

Original thread intent was source of inspiration . . . .

One of the things stressed in my Intro class was cave preservation, so I am hoping whatever divers did not know previously, they picked up from their CI. OTOH, cave divers are in a unique position to do far greater damage than any dry caver and with much less effort or even despite their best efforts . . . (not including WNS)

 

[drydiver]

Cave Divers successfully prosecuted the guy who carved his initials into the clay banks.

I am just curious, what were the terms of his conviction?

 

[karstdvr]

I am just curious, what were the terms of his conviction?

Cash settlement between the CDS and the district attorney.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I grew up in TAG cave country and spent years as a kid trekking through dry caves. I remember spending entire weekends in dry caves.

The biggest thing that dry caving can teach a cave diver is how to read a cave. An important skill that is not taught very well when there are lines in caves.

Reading the cave can also be taught in water filled caves with lines if approached properly. I teach my students that being able to "Read A Cave" is part of the Art of Cave Diving. I agree with Joe Tegg that a lot of the Art of cave diving is not being taught these days, including how to read a cave.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

OTOH, cave divers are in a unique position to do far greater damage than any dry caver and with much less effort or even despite their best efforts . . . (not including WNS)

I disagree and wanna know how you came about that position?

Its possible for a cave diver to travel through a cave without making any contact whatsoever, the same can't be said in a dry cave.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Last dry caves I spent any time in were the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana.

Many years back I "explored" a cave in east Tennessee with some cousins ... it was about two hours in, partly wading through water, to the back of the cave, where the water came out of a hole in the rock. Sadly, the cave had been heavily vandalized and "decorated" with spray paint.

My interest in cave diving has less to do with the caves themselves as it does with just being able to experience diving in a different environment than I usually get to dive in. I like variety ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)