DIR- GUE Is it worth taking Fundamentals this late in the game?

[crofrog]

But under GUE you will be stuck doing your 20-25 dives, which is mega annoying if you have to travel.

I have never felt like I was "stuck" doing cave dives, or that C1 dives are mega annoying. I'm ready to see more of the cave now after ~30 C1 dives though.

3-4 cave dives a day are pretty easy to do at the C1 level because you can get 2 dives at least out of a set of doubles. You can then go get lunch and fill up in Flordia or switch tanks in Mexico and do another set of dives somewhere else.

We've spent quite a few days in Flordia, where, in the morning, we went to Peacock and dove Olsen Sink and Peanut on one set of doubles. Then, we went to Extreme Exposure and had lunch. In the afternoon, we hit Ginnie twice. Depending on how good you are running the primary, it was sometimes possible to get farther on the second dive because you could just swim in and not mess around in the flow with the line.

We did 11 C1 dives in Flordia in 4 days and 12 in 3 days in Mexico, and they were all enjoyable dives, we got better at cave diving skills and more comfortable in the cave environment and had fun.

I hardly feel like 8 days of C1 diving is this massive burden if you don't live near caves... Frankly, if you don't live near caves and it's such a burden to travel down to a cave diving destination for 25 dives, maybe it's not for you. I have a hard time seeing how you're going to be able to stay proficient, especially considering you're planning on undertaking more intense dives on these limited trips.

I'm just a baby cave diver, but I've already seen some other divers in the caves who have me scratching my head.

I may on the less-talented end of the bell curve, so it took me a long time to get from OW to C2 relative to more talented divers, but no one should expect the journey to be quick or economical. It

or maybe the standards are objectively higher and that it takes time to develop the skills and comfort needed to meet them.

 

[iliketopetsharks]

If C1 dives are "annoying" why even bother diving caves at all?

 

[Lorenzoid]

If C1 dives are "annoying" why even bother diving caves at all?

He said "if you have to travel" it can be mega annoying. I get it. It's not easy or economical. Then again, it's never felt annoying once I'm in the water. As a C1 diver, it was all new and all pretty amazing. I still feel amazed on every cave dive.

 

[Underwater Tourist]

@Lorenzoid I wanted to reply to each of the points you made, but the post is just getting stupid long and is turning into a novel like @Germie likes to write sometimes. Some topics are a little too difficult to fully type out and argue online, so I will make a total chicken move and not really reply

 

[NothingClever]

This thread is making me count my blessings.