NSS-CDS Full Cave: The Live-Blog
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OP
(Part 1 of ?).
Day 1: Soup Sandwich Special
Oooooooh, boy. If you want to see a soup sandwich in action, go watch someone on the first serious day in backmount doubles. I’ve done a little bit of noodling in borrowed doubles in pool sessions over the years, but nothing disciplined. Today was a big learning experience – there was flailing, there was cursing through the regulator, there was some cursing on the surface for good measure…
We started this morning in 39°F weather, which is ridiculously inappropriate by Florida standards. Getting into the 70°F water after futzing around assembling doubles for the first time was a sheer delight, which only lasted until first dunk.
My best guesses for harness measurements were in the right neighborhood, but not close enough for me to get good balance. Figuring out if I was tail-heavy or nose-heavy took an exceedingly long time because I couldn’t really get into horizontal trim. The point at which I felt “flat” was close to twenty-five degrees off the perpendicular.
We popped out of the water (45°F air was an improvement) to adjust my gear in the sun. After a lot of tweaking and two-person testing, we thought we had something and went back into the water. BINGO! Adding a little bit of slack into the shoulder straps and taking the waist in a bit did the trick. I felt much more stable and the back-arching that I needed to get into better trim was more comfortable.
There were a couple of other issues to resolve:
Day 1: Kick Drills
Once we had settled the issue of being balanced in the water, we moved onto kick drills. Doing circles around the basin, I had to demonstrate modified flutter kick, frog kick, shuffle kick, modified frog, pulls, and helicopter turns. These exercises went okay (merely okay) because I was adjusting to the new fit of the doubles and behavior of the wing.
One of the ongoing goals of the course will be to continuously clean up my kick technique (I have some lazy OW diver habits to fight) so that I’m performing at the level expected for Full Cave Certificate.
Day 1: Cavern Zone
Our next step was the big one: we went for a cavern dive. We tied off in the basin near the right-side entrance to the cavern. The purpose of this dive was to get acquainted with the environment and practice deploying my safety reel.
Reggie drove the primary reel and we wandered in. He highlighted the fissure in the ceiling, the bedding planes in the walls, the start of the novice line (NB: there is a huge permanent line installed for cavern divers), and a few other features. I noticed a very mild flow here in the upper reaches of the cavern around 25’. We ran our reel almost all the way to the back so that we could stop by the grate.
I set eyes upon The Grate and squealed to myself, “I saw this on YouTube!” and followed Reggie to a planned stop to look at some geothite. I wandered in front of the outflow. A tornado enveloped me, my house landed on top of someone in Kansas, and monkeys flew. A lion and a tin man advised me to start kicking if I wanted to make it back to a handhold.
Day 1: Soup Sandwich Special
Oooooooh, boy. If you want to see a soup sandwich in action, go watch someone on the first serious day in backmount doubles. I’ve done a little bit of noodling in borrowed doubles in pool sessions over the years, but nothing disciplined. Today was a big learning experience – there was flailing, there was cursing through the regulator, there was some cursing on the surface for good measure…
We started this morning in 39°F weather, which is ridiculously inappropriate by Florida standards. Getting into the 70°F water after futzing around assembling doubles for the first time was a sheer delight, which only lasted until first dunk.
My best guesses for harness measurements were in the right neighborhood, but not close enough for me to get good balance. Figuring out if I was tail-heavy or nose-heavy took an exceedingly long time because I couldn’t really get into horizontal trim. The point at which I felt “flat” was close to twenty-five degrees off the perpendicular.
We popped out of the water (45°F air was an improvement) to adjust my gear in the sun. After a lot of tweaking and two-person testing, we thought we had something and went back into the water. BINGO! Adding a little bit of slack into the shoulder straps and taking the waist in a bit did the trick. I felt much more stable and the back-arching that I needed to get into better trim was more comfortable.
There were a couple of other issues to resolve:
- My backup lights are too big (and honestly, they’re AL-body clunkers that make great primary lights for wreck diving) and take up too much real estate on my harness.
- With my initial hose routing, I couldn’t actually read my SPG once I got in the water – it wanted to settle under my left boob. I just can’t see there from here.
Day 1: Kick Drills
Once we had settled the issue of being balanced in the water, we moved onto kick drills. Doing circles around the basin, I had to demonstrate modified flutter kick, frog kick, shuffle kick, modified frog, pulls, and helicopter turns. These exercises went okay (merely okay) because I was adjusting to the new fit of the doubles and behavior of the wing.
One of the ongoing goals of the course will be to continuously clean up my kick technique (I have some lazy OW diver habits to fight) so that I’m performing at the level expected for Full Cave Certificate.
Day 1: Cavern Zone
Our next step was the big one: we went for a cavern dive. We tied off in the basin near the right-side entrance to the cavern. The purpose of this dive was to get acquainted with the environment and practice deploying my safety reel.
Reggie drove the primary reel and we wandered in. He highlighted the fissure in the ceiling, the bedding planes in the walls, the start of the novice line (NB: there is a huge permanent line installed for cavern divers), and a few other features. I noticed a very mild flow here in the upper reaches of the cavern around 25’. We ran our reel almost all the way to the back so that we could stop by the grate.
I set eyes upon The Grate and squealed to myself, “I saw this on YouTube!” and followed Reggie to a planned stop to look at some geothite. I wandered in front of the outflow. A tornado enveloped me, my house landed on top of someone in Kansas, and monkeys flew. A lion and a tin man advised me to start kicking if I wanted to make it back to a handhold.
OP
Day 1: In Reel Trouble Now
Not only is that a terrible pun, but I am sure that some of you deserve it.
On our way out of the cavern, Reggie picked a spot on the line for me to tie in my safety reel. I successfully made the loop, spooled out a couple kick-lengths, and then reeled myself back to the main line. I screwed this up in two ways: I accidentally wound it to the top of the spool (which causes jams), rather than to the bottom. When I finished, I didn’t have the ball totally secure against the line guide. Reggie provided very detailed feedback on the surface about how using the proper technique avoids reel jams and possible entanglements.
We took a short surface break and then set up a circuit that started near the right entrance to the cavern, ran behind the pillar, came out the left entrance, and then circled the basin with many different placements. We used this circuit to run about a half-dozen drills for negotiating placements and performing touch-contact exits.
I did well enough on negotiating placements with my eyes open. I even did well negotiating placements on a solo run with my mask off and eyes closed. I performed reasonably as a follower on touch-contact exit with my eyes closed. Alas, I struggled mightily and frustratingly with two things and nearly let them ruin a really productive day.
When leading into the right-side entrance, I kept getting pushed into the small recesses on the pillar, which made it difficult to hold my position and trim. I had difficulty figuring out the order of stops that were best for approaching it, negotiating the complex placement there, switching sides of the line (with or without buddy), and not getting blown upside down out of trim. I could not figure out how to do it in a buddy team.
My second issue (a big issue, I know) is conducting touch-contact exits during air-sharing. With my minimal experience, negotiating a line with my eyes closed and using proper technique is a big task load. I have trouble remembering to bring the hose with me after I cross a placement, or put it in my other hand, or switch line hands, and…. it’s not a pretty situation. I nearly cried on the steps when we took a surface break.
We drilled this a few more times, but I tapped out on my ability to focus and we then ended the day with a successful no-mask solo line swim. We plan to practice this again tomorrow after a full night of sleep. We’ll also be at a different site with lower flow and fewer depth changes along the course, so I’ll get more practice in gentler water.
Day 1: Conclusion
This was the single-hardest day of diving in. my. life. I felt better when Reggie explained that Day 1 is always the longest and hardest day for everyone as they adjust to new expectations (and in many cases, new gear).
It was useful to see, understand, and start to practice the level of performance required to pass the course. I’m ready to get my butt kicked for the remaining thirteen days.
Coming tomorrow… some real cave!
Not only is that a terrible pun, but I am sure that some of you deserve it.
On our way out of the cavern, Reggie picked a spot on the line for me to tie in my safety reel. I successfully made the loop, spooled out a couple kick-lengths, and then reeled myself back to the main line. I screwed this up in two ways: I accidentally wound it to the top of the spool (which causes jams), rather than to the bottom. When I finished, I didn’t have the ball totally secure against the line guide. Reggie provided very detailed feedback on the surface about how using the proper technique avoids reel jams and possible entanglements.
We took a short surface break and then set up a circuit that started near the right entrance to the cavern, ran behind the pillar, came out the left entrance, and then circled the basin with many different placements. We used this circuit to run about a half-dozen drills for negotiating placements and performing touch-contact exits.
I did well enough on negotiating placements with my eyes open. I even did well negotiating placements on a solo run with my mask off and eyes closed. I performed reasonably as a follower on touch-contact exit with my eyes closed. Alas, I struggled mightily and frustratingly with two things and nearly let them ruin a really productive day.
When leading into the right-side entrance, I kept getting pushed into the small recesses on the pillar, which made it difficult to hold my position and trim. I had difficulty figuring out the order of stops that were best for approaching it, negotiating the complex placement there, switching sides of the line (with or without buddy), and not getting blown upside down out of trim. I could not figure out how to do it in a buddy team.
My second issue (a big issue, I know) is conducting touch-contact exits during air-sharing. With my minimal experience, negotiating a line with my eyes closed and using proper technique is a big task load. I have trouble remembering to bring the hose with me after I cross a placement, or put it in my other hand, or switch line hands, and…. it’s not a pretty situation. I nearly cried on the steps when we took a surface break.
We drilled this a few more times, but I tapped out on my ability to focus and we then ended the day with a successful no-mask solo line swim. We plan to practice this again tomorrow after a full night of sleep. We’ll also be at a different site with lower flow and fewer depth changes along the course, so I’ll get more practice in gentler water.
Day 1: Conclusion
This was the single-hardest day of diving in. my. life. I felt better when Reggie explained that Day 1 is always the longest and hardest day for everyone as they adjust to new expectations (and in many cases, new gear).
It was useful to see, understand, and start to practice the level of performance required to pass the course. I’m ready to get my butt kicked for the remaining thirteen days.
Coming tomorrow… some real cave!
Thirteen consecutive days or are there breaks every few days?
OP
There will be rest days, but we're going to schedule them as we go in response to weather and fatigue levels. We may do some half-days if we need to get back on track.
Good luck, I enjoy reading your blog. Thank you so much for sharing and taking the time to do it.
I too am enjoying your updates!
After resisting adding advice... Here's something I learned along the way:
Please remember to pace yourself. Diving (and dive training) can be delightful fun. Push too hard and it gets grim quickly. Cave diving is challenging, but can be joyful in all the problem solving if it isn't overwhelmingly too much too soon.
Sure is a lot to learn!
My apprentice cave course was with Reggie. His post dive systematic retelling of the dive in the form of a debrief and learning points is exceptional. Clear and direct.
Cameron
After resisting adding advice... Here's something I learned along the way:
Please remember to pace yourself. Diving (and dive training) can be delightful fun. Push too hard and it gets grim quickly. Cave diving is challenging, but can be joyful in all the problem solving if it isn't overwhelmingly too much too soon.
Sure is a lot to learn!
My apprentice cave course was with Reggie. His post dive systematic retelling of the dive in the form of a debrief and learning points is exceptional. Clear and direct.
Cameron
The NSS-CDS does teach basic decompression procedures as part of our Apprentice/Cave Diver course curriculum, but do not offer a stand-alone decompression certification -- our "Cave Diver" certification is actually a decompression cert as well as a cave diving cert. 20 years ago, a person could show an NSS-CDS cave diver certification and be allowed to do dives requiring staged deco. That's changed now, so more and more students are asking for a supplemental decompression certification.
Additionally, while the NSS-CDS has a student workbook, we encourage our instructors to use additional supplemental materials to augment the courses they teach. I use the TDI Overhead book as my student text because I find it well written, Reggie uses the NASE materials, others use the IANTD book.
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