Only a month to go before cave class!

[tstormdiver]

In about a month, I'll be going down to cave country to go through a cave course (both intro & full) . To be honest I'm getting pretty pumped up about it. Of course, I know it will not be easy & I will be tested in all manners. Although I will certainly do my best & give it my all, even if I am not successful, I know I will come out as a much better diver. This last weekend I was able to dive with the gentleman I will be going through the course with. We decided to dive to become familiar with each other. We even practiced running some reels in the the quarry we were diving. I'll admit that it wasn't easy as we had another diver join us on the second dive. As I was preparing to tie off on a rock, this other diver lost his buoyancy control & came crashing down to the bottom next to the rock, silting out the whole area. hmmmmm.... I found another rock, tied off to it & a secondary tie off. As I was running the reel, I suddenly found myself pinned momentarily to the bottom by this other diver, as he again, lost control of his buoyancy & came crashing down on top of me. I'm guessing he was curious as to what we were doing (although I explained that we would be running reels on that dive- he was cool with it) & trying to get close to see what we were doing. I kind of gave him a bit of a dirty look & he backed off a short distance to give me & the gent I will be going through the cave course with, the room we needed to work. With all the silt- outs from our other diver & trying to work with 5mm gloves (the water was 45 degrees), it wasn't pretty, but we managed to get it done & to get the reel rolled back up. I'm hoping I might get 1 more chance to practice before going down, but I'll have to see what my work schedule does. Anyway, I can't wait to learn some new things & to be challenged.

 

[TSandM]

Tammy, have you had somebody show you the proper way to handle the reel and put in ties? If not, you might want to wait until your cave instructor does. It's hard to break habits you've ingrained, especially if they're bad ones -- I know!

The best practice I can suggest for cave is lots and lots of precise buoyancy work. Swim under anything you can; hover over stuff, and do lots and lots of task-loading stuff like S-drills and valve drills. If you do run line, do practice swimming along it with your eyes shut, so you can find out if you tend to turn upside-down, like I did.

You will have a ball. It won't be easy, and it shouldn't be easy, but it is so worth it. Diving in the caves is the most wonderful thing I've ever learned to do.

 

[stairman]

Working reels in a silt storm is good experience.Luckily you wont need the gloves.Im curious which agency your going through to skip apprentice.

 

[tstormdiver]

It was covered in my cavern class by the same instructor I will be going though cave with. Most of my problems is simply being a bit out of practice, as I haven't had the opportunity to practice it much since cavern. But, yes, you are correct, bad habits are difficult to break. It seems like it has taken me forever to teach myself to quit trying to use my hands (sculling). I was basically just trying to see what I could remember from cavern. We will be covering all this again very soon (within the next week or 2)in the classroom, on land & in the pool. Yes, I did follow the line down & back again with eyes shut. I have been working the buoyancy very hard, not only for the cave class, but I also had to have it down pat for OWSI course (same instructor, once again). I've practiced going through swim throughs located in the quarry, including a horizontal tube (a PCV culvert pipe), That's just big enough for me to fit through. I try to go through it without touching anything. Still not perfect, but it is improving.

I am going through IANTD. I'm not sure if there will be an apprenticeship that we will be covering during that week or not. We will be there for about 8 days.

Thank you for the encouragement. From what I've heard & been told, it's a dangerous & rare beauty down there. To see some of the Creator's handiwork in such natural beauty, I can imagine must be the most peaceful feeling there can be.

 

[timle]

IANTD does not have apprentice - therefore you are not skipping it.

 

[tstormdiver]

Timle, thank you for clarifying that. I wasn't sure.

 

[timle]

No problem - I did my IANTD Intro just over a year ago - hope to do full this year. The training was challenging but lots of fun. Have a great time and be safe.

 

[Peter Guy]

I've found that practicing line running on the surface was almost as helpful, if not just as helpful, as trying to run it in cold water. I'm not as worried about my buoyancy control (although maybe I should be!) as just getting the feel for tension and getting back into doing the ties. Since I don't wear gloves in the cave I just concluded that it made more sense to practice reel work on dry ground.

 

[stairman]

I practiced in the backyard at night.Its very dark back there.You gotta get the feel of it.I did trip over a wheelbarrow but that shouldnt happen in a cave.

 

[tstormdiver]

LOL! No, I wouldn't think I'd have to worry much about wheel barrows in a cave. In my back yard, the worst things back there are the "land mines" left by the dog.