Simple Question For Cavers

[Meister481]

Adv. Nitrox/Deco is a requirement with some instructors in order to take full cave. Started my Adv. nitrox/deco class right before cavern and finished it before Intro to cave. I have to say the cavern class helped me with the deco class. I did about 5 cavern dives before intro class, 40 intro dives before Apprentice/full class.

The Cave classes teach a higher skill set but the deco classes give you a better knowledge base with regard to decompression obligation and safety. If you can pass the intro class I took you can pass a deco class.

In IANTD's standards, intro and Advanced nitrox are considered sport diving classes, not technical classes.

Make sure you have the proper gear for tech diving before you begin your class. Also be sure you are proficient in that gear, without fail. It's all fun and games til your instructor drops you in peacock III, where a single bad fin kick can wipe out vis for quite a while.

Florida's Cave Diving Resources

 

[GLENFWB]

I agree with everything you said. I have been very fortunate to have great mentors since taking cavern a year ago. I have had some Full Cave buddies that have been very patient with helping me along the way. They have always been willing to dive at my level, while at the same time allowing me to benefit from their experience. Hopefully, I can continue to benefit from others while diving Intro.

Taking 'breathers' in between levels to gain experience is a good thing. Deco comes in at the Apprentice/Full cave level, unless your SAC is so low that you can get into deco at current level guidelines.

Find a mentor to take you round some systems. They can not only help with dive planning and such, they can also help with 'reading the caves' and little known tips and tricks. Tagging along with an experienced cave diver will dramatically increase yours as well.

 

[H2Andy]

Specifically I am wondering if Advanced Nitrox/Decompression would be a good next step while I working on my skills and experience??

that's exactly what i did, and it worked out very well

i'd definetely do it again

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I am also a big advocate of taking a year off between Intro and Full Cave as it lets you refine the skills you learned in Intro so that you are ready to learn the navigational aspects and other more challenging things that are convered in Full Cave.

I also agree that diving with more experienced divers is a great idea and a great way to get experience in new cave systems. But it also requires some discipline and some assertiveness skills. You want to ensure you fully understand the dive plan and what to expect and in that regard the pre-dive briefing and prep is usually the difference between safely gaining experience ina new system versus just doing a "trust me" dive. And you need to avoid the temptation to exceed the limits of an Intro cert.

Also, as much as possible, continue to get experience in doubles rather than a single tank.

When you take Adv Nitrox and Deco procedures, there are some real advantages to taking it in a cave environment as deco and the mixes used tend to vary from the choices in open water. Also, some agencies will cert you for up to 50% but not 100% and 100% O2 is pretty much the gold standard in Florida cave country for a single deco gas dive. That greater flexibility in gas selection makes TDI a good choice for the advanced nitrox/deco procedures training.

 

[ucfdiver]

I think a year is a lot of time between full cave if you dive regularly. I racked up my first 50 dives in a matter of a few months. We would do 3-4 intro dives a day, sat/sun, and at that rate it takes 7 weekends of diving. With sites that are open after work hours, you can do it a lot faster than that. There really aren't many new skills in full cave, it's just refining those that you should have been practicing at the intro level, because jumps can lead to more challenging and dangerous passages.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree a year may be more than is needed for a local zip code diver, but the majority of people reading the thread won't be.

3 or 4 dives per day is potentially it can be hard on you physically in terms of sub clinical DCS synmptoms (fatigue etc), and statistically, I think it is more common for cave divers to suffer a hit on dive 3 or 4 as opposed to dive 1 or 2. Getting into a habit of doing 3 dives per day at the intro level could be problematic if carried over to 120 minute plus full cave dives later on.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Time frame isn't as important as experience in the water. Get lots of Intro dives in, and do them at different locations with different conditions. Diving the same site 100s times doesn't really give you the experience you could potentially have by diving a larger quantity of sites/conditons.

 

[ucfdiver]

3 or 4 dives per day is potentially it can be hard on you physically in terms of sub clinical DCS synmptoms (fatigue etc), and statistically, I think it is more common for cave divers to suffer a hit on dive 3 or 4 as opposed to dive 1 or 2. Getting into a habit of doing 3 dives per day at the intro level could be problematic if carried over to 120 minute plus full cave dives later on.

Getting bent is free with DAN, making multiple trips costs gas $$$ and entrance fees!

Sheesh, don't you know anything about managing money!?!

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

LOL.. Thats a good one.

Getting bent is free with DAN, making multiple trips costs gas $$$ and entrance fees!

Sheesh, don't you know anything about managing money!?!

 

[packman]

Advanced nitrox and deco procedures makes sense as at the full cave level the dives are long enough that some deco is common. Given that it is encountered, dec is covered to some extent during the full cave class, but taking the class first gives you a leg up and lets you focus on cave aspects of the class. More importantly, it lets you understand what parts of the deco planning and execution are adapted to the cave environment.

Excellent advice and reasoning. I got my Advanced Nitrox/Deco between Basic and Full. We definitely went into deco on several dives during my full cave class and planned for it on nearly every dive. Already having that training and experience made that part of the planning a breeze.