Looking for advice for intro to cave/cave 1 equivalent

[chrisch]

I would say go to IANTD, and do it in France, then you can do intro to cave and full cave for less than the price of just cave1. And I know the prices in Europe as I teach cave too. You can do it in backmount or sidemount, no fundamentals or so needed.
If you want to dive the mines in German you have to look for an agency that is accepted there. If you have questions, you can sent a pm.

If you do the IANTD cave courses in sidemount you need to have done the IANTD sidemount course. Normally the route would be cave then sidemount. Either way it is more cost.

Backmount is great for the Lot region. That would be my choice as well. (the cheese and wine and food are a big factor if I am honest though... )

 

[Germie]

If you do the IANTD cave courses in sidemount you need to have done the IANTD sidemount course. Normally the route would be cave then sidemount. Either way it is more cost.

Backmount is great for the Lot region. That would be my choice as well. (the cheese and wine and food are a big factor if I am honest though... )

Backmount is great in the Lot, I agree. But you are allowed to do a cave course without specific sidemount course. This is at the instructors discretion. But for some divers a sidemount course prior to a cave course is a good idea

And yes, France is a nice place. But not too much alcohol during a course please You still must practise safe diving.

 

[lostsheep]

I don't understand why people continue to fail reading the "It's not the 1k that is the issue, it is the constant 1k+ extra for each course that is"

I have already spent over 10k in diving and I am no fool, tech is expensive, but I don't need to make it more expensive without any good reason past "Oh I cannot be arsed to put in the research and find a org/instructor that will work as well as GUE for me"

And that is why I came here to ask about orgs and instructors

I don’t have specific recommendations for you but I can sympathize with cost being a factor. I’ve had to hustle to keep up with a lot of my dive buddies, whether that’s scouring classifieds, bartering with shop owners, trading, or otherwise , I feel your pain.

Don’t buy the non sense that just because you pay more you get more and don’t listen to the tone deaf fan boys here. I did the fundies to other route and have no regrets. My GUE instructor was decent but by no means some kind of Superman diving guru; he certainly was not the best instructor I’ve had.

Edit: anyone who tells you they (or their org) are the best is someone you should avoid; I’ve never once met an actual badass who felt the need to spray about it; I’ve met many who weren’t, but do.

 

[Kitzy]

I would say go to IANTD, and do it in France, then you can do intro to cave and full cave for less than the price of just cave1. And I know the prices in Europe as I teach cave too. You can do it in backmount or sidemount, no fundamentals or so needed.
If you want to dive the mines in German you have to look for an agency that is accepted there. If you have questions, you can sent a pm.

Thanks!

 

[Kitzy]

Have a chat with Jani Santala at Plura Valley. I am not sure of his class schedule atm, but he is a good instructor. Normally lives and teaches in Plura/Norway, but also teaches in Långban MIne and Tuna Hästberg Mine in Sweden, Montola MIne in Finland, or in Molnar Janos Hungary.
At least for the mines in sweden, I know there are cheap accomodations on site.

Seems very mine focused, not sure if that would extend to cave ?

 

[Kitzy]

I don’t have specific recommendations for you but I can sympathize with cost being a factor. I’ve had to hustle to keep up with a lot of my dive buddies, whether that’s scouring classifieds, bartering with shop owners, trading, or otherwise , I feel your pain.

Don’t buy the non sense that just because you pay more you get more and don’t listen to the tone deaf fan boys here. I did the fundies to other route and have no regrets. My GUE instructor was decent but by no means some kind of Superman diving guru; he certainly was not the best instructor I’ve had.

Edit: anyone who tells you they (or their org) are the best is someone you should avoid; I’ve never once met an actual badass who felt the need to spray about it; I’ve met many who weren’t, but do.

Thanks! Yeah, my buddy makes way more then me but, though I shouldn't say it, he is finally feeling it too due to wanting to buy a house in this ****** up economy, so it's become a bit more of a even play ground.

That is partially why I want to hear what org, why, and what instructor first and foremost.

A instructor from IATD who matches your vibe and can tickle your learning needs just right is 100 times better then a GUE instructor who can't, and vice versa. (Same for any other org)

 

[rddvet]

The obvious choice might seem like GUE and I'd love too, but the worlds going to **** and money is tighter then ever, GUE not being the cheapest sadly it's about time we part ways (Several hundred to over a thousand more per course will add up, let alone in the long run)

W

Instructor is always more important than agency number one.
But I will give you my two cents. I've been cave diving somewhere around 15 years now. All my initial training was NAUI or NSS-CDS and at the time I thought I was getting amazing instruction. As my cave diving career progressed and my dives got much more complex I could start to see the holes in some of my training. I was still what I think most of my peers would consider a good diver, but I just wasn't fully satisfied and wanted to be as good as I could be. I turned towards GUE training to get there. I spent alot of time and money that could have been better served going GUE the whole time, but I was told GUE was a cult and all d-bags (which was much truer then than now). So I would say save your money and start GUE. Then if you want to branch out to sidemount or other philosophies for things like DPV you will have the skills to progress easily. Good example is I was always told light on right hand was fine. Throw in a DPV and that sh-t aint true.
Ken Sallot (kensuf here) is an exceptional non-gue instructor. James Draker, Jon Bernot, and a couple others are excellent as well. You can definitely find good non-gue instructors. GUE just makes it easier to get the same quality instruction no matter the instructor (obviously there will always be outliers).
I say stick with GUE so you have an excpetional foundation for the future.

 

[Kitzy]

Instructor is always more important than agency number one.
But I will give you my two cents. I've been cave diving somewhere around 15 years now. All my initial training was NAUI or NSS-CDS and at the time I thought I was getting amazing instruction. As my cave diving career progressed and my dives got much more complex I could start to see the holes in some of my training. I was still what I think most of my peers would consider a good diver, but I just wasn't fully satisfied and wanted to be as good as I could be. I turned towards GUE training to get there. I spent alot of time and money that could have been better served going GUE the whole time, but I was told GUE was a cult and all d-bags (which was much truer then than now). So I would say save your money and start GUE. Then if you want to branch out to sidemount or other philosophies for things like DPV you will have the skills to progress easily. Good example is I was always told light on right hand was fine. Throw in a DPV and that sh-t aint true.
Ken Sallot (kensuf here) is an exceptional non-gue instructor. James Draker, Jon Bernot, and a couple others are excellent as well. You can definitely find good non-gue instructors. GUE just makes it easier to get the same quality instruction no matter the instructor (obviously there will always be outliers).
I say stick with GUE so you have an excpetional foundation for the future.

Thanks for the names, I have fundies so that should help and I also have a few gue - cave certified buddies, I can most likely always bounce things off of them/how they were taught and why ^^

 

[pisauron]

I cannot tell if this is sarcasm xD

If not, why would you recommend this?

Why not?

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Thanks for the names, I have fundies so that should help and I also have a few gue - cave certified buddies, I can most likely always bounce things off of them/how they were taught and why ^^

Keep in mind that those GUE-trained buddies might be happy to dive with you know (on I assume simple recreational profiles) but might now want to dive with you later on more complex overhead dives, if you go with substandard training. People get very picky once the diving gets real .

What you could do is look at a bit deco diving in the ocean instead of cave - you will be able to get good training locally, it doesn't need to be GUE T1 and there would be less travel involved. Less travel and diving locally means more money for the actual diving. And then look at cave a bit later once you earn more.