Question If you had to do it all over again?

[TexasDiverClave]

Howdy yall,

I’ve been reading on the forums for a long time but would love some feedback based on where the world/dive industry is.

A little background, I have been diving for ~15 years, all recreational. My dive partner has been diving for a little over a year and has been progressing very strongly towards being a relaxed, trimmed, comfortable, safe diver. We are both in love with the sport and want to continue for the rest of our lives. We do environmental conservation diving and of course all the fun dives in local lakes and also Caribbean resorts. We both own BPW rec setups.

So now to the question. We both love diving, we both love wrecks, and we both love caves. Logic says we’ll eventually want to get into cave diving. If you had to go through the gear/training/learning experience again what order and path would you go? Straight to CCR or do open water tec first? Open to thoughts and ideas.

Thanks to everyone for your input.

 

[option12]

The first step will likely be an intro to tech class of some kind, such as a GUE Fundamentals, etc. I can assist with arranging either Fundies or a NAUI Intro to Tech, if you are still in the San Antonio area--I can't think of anyone down there that is doing any TDI classes, but I know some folks up toward Austin/Dallas, if you are more interested in that path. ( I am in San Marcos)

my opinion about the path would be to get the core skills down first, and get a better idea of the training paths available--I'd suggest that starting with at least up to an intro Tri-mix class before re-breather would be a good idea--if there is any problem, a CCR diver becomes a OC diver...it's probably good to have those skills locked in. but I don't have much of any real experience on that side. we don't get a lot of excuse to use them in Texas waters, other than practice, so I haven't gone that way.

You can begin the overhead training path at around the same time-- the progression on that side is fairly straight forward, and mostly comes down to the path the instructor you use teaches (or GUE). once overhead trained, you can extend that into wreck or further into cave.

perhaps the first step is to find an instructor/mentor who can help you start working on a path that works for you!

 

[AeroSpartacus]

I would probably start with the open circuit technical courses first, but I would personally say once you get to helitrox/trimix not to do those courses open circuit. To be honest, the gas is just prohibitively expensive to do open circuit at this point. My personal progression so far looks like this, and I feel like I would probably do it the same if I did it over. For reference, this was over 1.5-2 years or so:

1. Intro to Tech
2. Cavern (not required, but it let me know if I wanted to continue cave)
2b. I switched over to primarily sidemount (with a course) between cavern and cave
3. Apprentice Cave (NSS-CDS)
4. Full Cave + Advanced Nitrox / Decompression Procedures (can't do full cave without deco in FL)
5. CCR with Helitrox diluent added on

If you plan to do cave training in FL, there are instructors for every agency so I would focus more on the individual instructor than agency. I can recommend a couple instructors I'm familiar with if you were planning to train in that area. I haven't done any wreck penetration diving myself, but if you wanted to do that I would probably throw in something like TDI Advanced Wreck with an instructor that regularly does those dives (that part is important for any level of training). Decompression is also a lot different in a cave than in the ocean, so if you wanted to focus on wrecks I'd also recommend taking AN/DP or equivalent there too.

 

[dylanfromwinnipeg]

My personal progression looks like this:

1. Sidemount
2. Cavern + Intro Cave
3. Full Cave
4. Advanced Nitrox + Helitrox
5. Stage Cave
6. CCR
7. CCR Cave

6&7 I haven't done yet, but have them booked for this winter.

I had planned on waiting a bit longer before doing CCR, but my instructor (and most others) gave me the advice that if I know I'm going to end up on a CCR eventually, don't wait, make the jump ASAP to build up experience.

If I had to do it all over again I might consider going CCR before the cave training, but the challenge would have been at the time I didn't know how much I would fall in love with cave diving, and want the benefits of a CCR. If you asked me last year I would have said I'm definitely going to end up on CCR eventually, but if you asked me a few years ago before my cave training I would not have said the same thing. There's plenty of caves you can enjoy without a CCR, especially if you bring a couple stages and a DPV.

For CCR diving, what I hear all the time is that if you are not a frequent diver you probably shouldn't go CCR. It's not the sort of thing that is forgiving if your skills get rusty from not diving often.

 

[crofrog]

I'd do exactly what I did again and do GUE Fundies and then Cave 1.

Tech diving is more of the same of what you've been doing, but cave is an entirely new environment and has been really rewarding, and is frankly just really relaxing compared to boat diving and technical.

You can get super long cave dives even in the cave 1 gas rules in Mexico, and we've had a few 1hr cave 1 dives in Florida as well all just on open circuit and cave 1 gas.

Doing cave first is a nice progression into the failures and other skills taught in tech 1, with out having to struggle with buoyancy and time pressures as much.

 

[halocline]

I would decide where you want to dive and then seek training for that specific environment. I wouldn’t bother with CCR training or anything involving helium until you are quite experienced in overhead diving, either real (as in caves) or deco-based (as in deep ocean diving.

If you wanted to dive in caves, a good progression might be: 1) Some guided cavern dives to see how you like the environment. 2) Some training in either sidemount or backmount doubles. If you are interested in Mexican caves (which are amazing, BTW) then I’d probably go for sidemount, and the best scenario in that case would be to get trained by a cave instructor. 3) Cavern, then Intro to cave. This progression presumes you are competent in either SM or BM doubles. 4) Lots of practice dives at the Intro level. That means penetration to 1/6 of your gas, and staying on a permanent mainline. Another very nice thing about the Mexican cave systems is that there are many, many enjoyable dives that support intro level divers. 5) Full cave. 6) I would then do at least 50-100 full cave dives independently, maybe mixing this in with guided cave dives. Only at that point would I then go for 7) stage cave, and shortly thereafter advanced nitrox/decompression procedures. Again, this is the advantage of Mexican caves; many are so shallow that you can easily do a 3 hr stage cave dive without going into deco.

By then you’ll have a very detailed understanding of what sort of diving you’d like to progress to.

 

[oya]

OC vs CCR --- I'd argue strongly on the side of OC first. I went back and forth on this for more than a decade until I heard a CCR manufacturer say, at a conference about this very issue, "If your rebreather breaks you're on open circuit; you better be real good on open circuit."
Learn the complexities of the dive with OC first, then how the dive gets easier when you move the complexities to the equipment later.

Open water vs. Overhead --- Do you like shipwrecks or caves more? You'll use most of the same skills in both so learning one or the other first is going to make the other easier anyway. I'd argue in favor of caves... but that's because I like cave diving more than wreck diving.

Some Intro to Tech/Fundies/Sidemount type course --- Can be useful. Can also be figured into something like a Cavern/Intro class or an AN/DP class. IF (and that's a big "if," that's what the capital letters are for)... IF you are really familiar with the gear coming into class, have some measure of buoyancy and trim dialed in, and are pretty comfortable with a team-member in class. Then you can skip over some sort of Intro to Tech/Fundies/Sidemount course.

You say you've got a bp/w? And perhaps long-hose reg routing? But no experience with doubles (I'm reading between the lines)? I'd go with the prep class.

 

[mr_v]

I wish I started diving CC or cave sooner. Both aspects changed my attitude for the better and re-inspired me to train harder and do more as a diver.

CC - longer, deeper dives with moist warm air; that was enough to make me a convert. Cave diving is diving without boat schedules, blown out dives, or salt. I have become allergic to salt water. Other regrets include not buying a used rebreather when I could and not getting a scooter until recently.

Here are some non-regrets: focusing on physical fitness and dive skills. @CoachWade ensured that kicking 3500' into high-flow wasn't going to be an issue for me. My dive buddies (who aren't on SB) helped me sharpen dive and mental skills. I would not be here without friends who supervised my crazy mental drills like swimming w/o a mask for a long distance and performing cave/CC drills in adverse conditions.

Whether you choose to do OC or CC first is up to you, but make CCR Cave + Trimix + DPV your goal if you want to see the world beyond your imagination. It will cost you time and money - a small price to pay for creating your own Dicovery channel.