Intro Cave Suggestions

[benjammin17]

I have my intro cert and want to get a lot of experience in before doing full cave. Any suggestions on caves to dive in FL? Also looking for dive buddies if anyone is interested. Thanks in advance!

 

[tbone1004]

I'd recommend focusing time in the peacock area since you are limited on gas and time. The shallower caves will do you much better than some of the deeper caves where you are going to have short dive times due to N2 and gas consumption at 4ata's instead of 2-3 ata's

 

[king_of_battle]

Depending on where you're coming from in Georgia, Peacock is a great intro cave since its relatively shallow so you won't hit turn pressure as quickly and usually low flow.

 

[benjammin17]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have dove P1 and orange grove a couple times. I have also been in little river once. I can definitely do P1 some more. Nice point tbone, shallower dives are definitely preferred.

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have dove P1 and orange grove a couple times. I have also been in little river once. I can definitely do P1 some more. Nice point tbone, shallower dives are definitely preferred.

There is a LOT of cave in P1 within the limits of Intro to Cave. Enough for well over 100 dives before you have truly seen and absorbed everything.

Remember the limits of your cert. You are restricted to a sixth of penetration. That does not mean that you have to return with 2/3's of your gas. You can take 20 minutes to penetrate when you hit sixths and take an hour or more to come out. The hallways in Olsen are HUGE and very intricate. There are tons of cool things on the ceiling and many things hidden in the walls. Go down the passages and see if you can find all of the unmarked jumps, learn that part of the cave. They truly are stunning but so many skate right down the halls at full speed and never take the time to truly take it all in.

I don't know what kind of lights you have, but do the dives only on your backup lights to see what the exploration would have been like back in the day.

Practice lights out exits, practice lights out gas sharing, etc.

TONS of things to do in those passages

 

[CaveSloth]

• Little River
• Ginnie (Devil's Ear)
• Ginnie (Devil's Eye)
• Jackson Blue
• Madison (Main)
• Manatee (Catfish Hotel)
• Peacock (Main)
• Peacock (Orange Grove)

 

[CaveSloth]

Also I just realized that Cow Springs downstream is recommended for anyone with Cavern certification or above, with an NSS-CDS membership.

Combined NSS-CDS Property Management Plan - NSS CDS

 

[PfcAJ]

Upstream Emerald is really cool.

 

[The Chairman]

Lots to do in Peacock.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

I agree on P1 - also the front part of Ginnie so you can practice your propulsion / pull/glide skills in high flow.