Just did both Cavern and Intro classes recently in north Florida, and a few things that come to mind are:
- talk to you instructor about your gear now -
@Johnoly 's advice above is great
- get a bunch of small (or whatever size works in your gear) bolt snaps with swivels and some cave line
- learn how to tie bolt snaps onto gear (lights, reel, etc.) and replace any hard connections or plastic ties now
- as mentioned above, make sure you're pretty comfortable in whatever tank configuration you plan to dive
- get appropriate exposure gear for the water temperature (72F in Florida caves) over *multiple hours*
- glue on some big pockets if you don't have them already
- figure out your weighting in the exposure gear and tank configuration and get trimmed for both full & empty tanks
- bring trim weights and bungee, in case you're not fully dialed in and need to adjust
- get comfortable with how your reel & spools work, including how they're stowed on your rig / in your pockets
Both classes were a lot of fun, but they would have been much more demanding if I hadn't been doing tech training in the ocean for the last year or so. An Intro to Tech or equivalent class could be helpful for anyone just starting out with back-mount or side-mount doubles. Not sure if some instructors cover that same ITT material in Cavern/Intro to Cave?
Lance