NSS-CDS Full Cave: The Live-Blog

[Marie13]

FYI... the OP is a gal.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Thanks so much for positing this. I will be following your progression as I am interested to see what a cave course is composed of. With TDI ANDP you did try to squeeze a lot into a short time but if you dedicate sufficient training time then you may be able to do it in one go. All the best!

 

[elmo]

Congratulations on starting your journey. I'm not going to chastise you for choosing zero-to-hero. But what I will say is some people 'get' the skills, and just as importantly the mentality, required for technical diving faster than others. The faster ones don't necessarily make the better divers. A good cave instructor will not rush you, so if you realize you're getting behind on your full cave and an/dp target don't be upset. Just enjoy the opportunity to dive and learn with a good instructor. There is heaps of great diving to be done with a lower qualification, and plenty of years ahead to get higher. The caves will still be there waiting.

 

[Doby45]

The caves will still be there waiting.

Unless it is Diepolder.

 

[Pullnglide]

2 words for your fingertips. Electrical tape! Good luck with your course!

 

[jstrang]

2 words for your fingertips. Electrical tape! Good luck with your course!

Good luck and enjoy.

For some reason guys who start Cave training always destroy their hands. we must try and muscle our way into the cave using our fingertips. The Ladies I know doing cave figured it out pretty quick - stay high, use your palms, take your time.

My fingerprint reader on the iphone wouldnt work for 2 weeks after cave class...

Enjoy the class.

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

Quick answers to questions before I start writing the Day 1 post:

• The first instructor whom I contacted was SB's own @Capt Jim Wyatt, after reading his website and several of his postings on his teaching philosophy. Our schedules didn't line up in my vacation window, so he referred me to Reggie.
• NSS-CDS standards do not require the use of the CDS textbook (they do, however, require the student workbook). Reggie's partner-instructor Harry Averill developed most of the manual, based on my discussions yesterday with Reggie and Harry.
• I created my ebooks by copying and pasting from the TDI e-Learning into Microsoft Word. With a little bit of formatting, it becomes an easily searchable reference.
  
• While finishing the Full Cave certification (along with AN/DP) is my goal, the plan is to do what I can with the time that I have. This might mean wrapping at Apprentice level and coming back for a refresher and checkouts in the late summer between quitting work and starting grad school. I only got my admissions decision last week, so I did not have this information when I planned my training.

 

[tursiops]

2 words for your fingertips. Electrical tape! Good luck with your course!

Also, do NOT go out for hot wings for dinner after your pull-and-glide sessions!

 

[Doby45]

Also, do NOT go out for hot wings for dinner after your pull-and-glide sessions!

Hush now, that is REQUIRED. Good ole Pepperoni's!!

 

[dewdropsonrosa]

True story: when I was arriving town on Saturday, I saw the Pepperoni's sign and thought it was a really unusual name for a dive shop (and completely missed the CCDS sign on the next block while lost in sausage-related thought).