Doug, I highly respect both your advice, your skill, and your concerns. I really do. So I hope you do not take my responses as contrite, sarcastic, flip or disrespectful. The lack of instruction isn't a major factor to me, as the skill sets are the simpler skills; lost fin, lost mask, following a line in those circumstances, sharing gas, or working on buoyancy. No double tanks, no advanced tech drills. All are merely done in caverns where we are allowed to be, or on land. We respect the rules as they stand, we do not venture into caverns where we are not allowed, nor do we venture into caves.Tyler, my son, understands the very important reasons for this, and has even voiced his own logic on this, which match conventional cave diver thinking. He is not parroting what he has read or heard, he is giving his thoughts on the matter. And he firmly understands that the drills and training we do are to merely make him safer in caverns where OW divers have died, despite the conventional thinking that they are save caverns. He understands that they are to help him know that he can survive in a critical incident if things go sideways if he keeps his head about him, and relies on what he knows, and does not panic. Above all else, he knows he should do everything he can to keep from becoming a statistic.
We've both read the analysis of the Vortex death you reference, we've both opined on that death, and how it could have been prevented. I think the guy was way in over his head, poorly trained, diving in conditions he had really no business in at all, and not even in a place where conventional thinking gave him grace to be. All that disregards the fact he was alone. He lacked proper equipment and training and a buddy or team to rely on. yet there are distinct differences in him versus us. While I agree that there really is no such thing as a OW safe cavern, I'm willing to use them to train so that I'm a better cavern diver when we take the course. But you will not catch us in caverns or caves where we are not supposed to be. We respect the rules, we respect the caves. We understand the reasons for the training. Are we using a technicality to get into caverns, yup, but so have scores of cavern and cave divers before us, and even as we speak, I'm sure there are some pre-cavern divers in Ginnie doing a galaxy dive or night dive.
As for Tyler diving without me, he knows he is only allowed to dive with me until he is an adult, and by then, he will be well on his way towards being a tech diver. I'm not willing to relinquish my responsibilities as his parent to another, and not be there to safeguard him. Because no other diver, no matter how well trained, will be willing to safeguard him in the manner that I will and do. They are welcome to dive with us, but not exclude one of us, we are by definition, a team. He understands that. He wants that team dynamic, because we understand each other on a dive in ways other divers take months or years of dives to develop. He understands the reasoning behind our training and dives. He knows that I'm not being cavalier, that I'm being intentional. He knows where the hard lines are drawn, and why those lines exist. I hope you see that Tyler and I communicate on a level that most fathers and sons wish they could communicate, and that we understand what we are doing, we understand the dos and don't s. I know there isn't a lot that i can say to sway your concerns. But I can promise you, we won't be statistics anytime soon. The day is coming where we will breath the 'rare air' of divers that I respect and call friends, after having earned our stripes as it were. But in the meantime, we are stuck doing what the recreational divers do. We just try to do it better.
Again, nothing but respect to you, and thank you for your concern. But its our intent to not let anyone, including us and our family down.
Tao, without instruction, how do you know that your practice drills are being done correctly, instead of developing a strongly ingrained habit of bad techniques? You say yourself "When I enter those caverns, its to learn and drill, until every motion is by memory". I truly am impressed with your excitement, and I don't want to tear you down, but the mindset you are projecting in the above post is EXACTLY that of the type of diver that gets themself or someone else into trouble (not those "touristy type of divers"). This message board has hundreds of posts referencing a young man who "possibly" died in Vortex who had the same mindset. Also, what if down the line, your son goes on to dive without you? You have taught him that diving beyond his training without an instructor is an acceptable way to gain experience. Could he perhaps think "Dad and I did "drills" in the caverns all the time before our cavern course, and now I have my into to cave under my belt. There is no reason I shouldn't do a few line jump "drills" in the cave, and I think I can maybe try a few no-mount "drills" too!". It seems to set a dangerous example for him. A cavalier approach to proper training is easily inherited from a parent. Those "touristy sort of divers" you mentioned may not know any better but I get the impression that you do. I wish you and your son continued luck and hope you dive safely.
