Just curious too "see"....

[SandyRobinson]

Going in a different direction, there are three great organizations to consider joining - the NACD (National Association for Cave Diving), NSSCDS (National Speleological Society-Cave Diving Section), and the NFSA (North Florida Springs Alliance. You can get more information at their websites - www.safecaveding.com, www.nsscds.org, www.northfloridaspringsalliance.org. Seems like you can join all three for $94 a year.

If you can spare the time, the NSSCDS has their annual workshop in Wakulla County (just south of Tallahassee) Memorial Day weekend. The main event is Saturday May 25. This year they have some great speakers lined up. The NFSA will have a workshop on August 24, 2013 at Wes Skiles Peacock Springs Sate Park. Also the NACD will have their annual seminar in the Fall - probably October or November. These workshops all have some good information, vendors, prizes, a chance to meet and greet other divers, etc.

I have not had training from Rich but know him. He is a great guy and I know a few of his students who have been very complimentary of his classes.

FWIW, the one thing I wish I had done was to talk about equipment more with my instructor before making my purchases. If I did it again, I would discuss every piece of equipment needs from reels to tanks to regs to buoyancy to computers.

Fianlly as previously mentioned, you can not say enough about trim and buoyancy control.

 

[Tessunderwater]

I just finished cavern this past week. I spent a lot of time the previous year working on trim and bouancy. I also spent a lot of time getting use to my gear modifications for the class. What I do wish I had worked on more was running a reel. I did well and the class definitely kicked my @$$. The biggest thing I took away from my class was how unforgiving an overhead environment can be. Also I left humbled and absolutely mesmerized by the rock formations and beauty of the caverns. I had Rob Neto as my instructor and can't say enough good things about his class. Even if you take the class and never go into an overhead again, it makes you a better diver.


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[Dive-aholic]

Thanks for the kind words Tess. Your reeling skills were above average. So I wouldn't be too concerned with that. It takes practice. You were fortunate enough to have someone be able to give you good pointers on running a reel prior to class. Not everyone has that. So practicing reel work might not be feasible and might even build bad habits that then have to be undone. So, while Tess' advice is great, only do this if you have someone you can trust to teach you how to run a reel properly. Unfortunately, it's difficult to assess this since you don't know the basics to begin with. There are cave divers that still don't know how to run reels properly unfortunately.

Maintaining neutral buoyancy and horizontal trim while task loaded is the best skill you can come to a cavern class with. If you have that the rest will be much easier. I'm sure Tess can attest to that.

 

[USFpsychDiver]

I guess I always do things backwards. My trim was bad and I couldn't seem to get it dialed in on my own. Thought about a class specifically for trim, but decided to do cavern, mostly to work on trim but also to see what the overhead was like. After two days of running line and following line in a blackout mask and the like my trim was pretty much nailed down (or so I thought; I took cavern in my OW gear; when I put on a drysuit and doubles the first time I got a rude awakening). Of course, my instructor, being a good salesman, took me in for a peek at the cave, as far as pothole in Peacock and through the lips at Ginnie, which was as far as 1/6ths on my AL80 would take me, and that sold me; I was back for cave a few months later (as soon as I could handle the drysuit and doubles). I guess the difference was that I wasn't sold on taking cave training yet when I took cavern. I look at cavern as the 'Discover Scuba' of cave training. Anyway, overhead training has helped my bouyancy and trim more than anything else (and I've still got lots of room for improvement a year and several dozen cave dives later). I expect to still be improving skills years from now.

 

[TracyN]

I guess I always do things backwards. My trim was bad and I couldn't seem to get it dialed in on my own. Thought about a class specifically for trim, but decided to do cavern, mostly to work on trim but also to see what the overhead was like. After two days of running line and following line in a blackout mask and the like my trim was pretty much nailed down (or so I thought; I took cavern in my OW gear; when I put on a drysuit and doubles the first time I got a rude awakening). Of course, my instructor, being a good salesman, took me in for a peek at the cave, as far as pothole in Peacock and through the lips at Ginnie, which was as far as 1/6ths on my AL80 would take me, and that sold me; I was back for cave a few months later (as soon as I could handle the drysuit and doubles). I guess the difference was that I wasn't sold on taking cave training yet when I took cavern. I look at cavern as the 'Discover Scuba' of cave training. Anyway, overhead training has helped my bouyancy and trim more than anything else (and I've still got lots of room for improvement a year and several dozen cave dives later). I expect to still be improving skills years from now.

Hehe! LoL! I still remember the dive at Catfish Hotel when you were practicing with your doubles and drysuit!