Technical Diving

[mer]

If you are a DAN member, you can provided some good data to our student friend from: https://www.diversalertnetwork.org/medical/report/

I was going to join just now but found that DAN has taken the insurance benefit out of the membership cost and the cost of insurance is WILDLY CRAZY in addition to the membership dues. Maybe somebody that is already a member will get the data for YoungDiver 100.

Wildy expensive?? I have the highest level insurance they offer and I pay less than $100 a year for the combination of DAN membership and insurance. Cheap piece of mind considering that treating a DCS episode costs $3000 -$30,000. Just buy the insurance or say above 30'.[/rant]

 

[GDI]

The training you receive is always subject to the instructor you select. Most people do not know what questions to ask until after they have taken the class. The PADI cavern class can be a good class given that you have the correct instructor. HOWEVER and this is a big one. Most of the other agencies NACD, NSS-CDS, IANTD (I'don't know about GUE but I will assume they are the same) do not accept the PADI cavern certification should someone come along and request additional training towards the full cave level. One has a hard enough time going from one instructor to another within the above agencies(NACD, NSS, etc) attempting to move ahead in certification let alone showing up with a PADI Cavern card.

The cavern class is not a glorified AOW class and should not be looked upon as such. It should be perhaps one of the most intense and demanding training levels of the cavern to cave certifications. Divers need to develop their buoyancy and trim, propulsion techniques, reel work, emergency handling techniques and an awareness of the cave environment, and dive planning practises. Each level after this further develops the diver and hones those skills. At cavern and Intro there should be little difference in the skill requirements with intro having even higher expectations. Going onto to Apprentice will include yet more development and the introduction of jumps, gaps, traverses and simple navigation in the cave environment. At full cave you better have your act together otherwise you should not have become certified as a cavern diver.
The NACD is coming out with a new student manual and we believe that the issues of standards, knowledge and skills expected for each level has been addressed. Due out in January 2005. Cavern will be a demanding class.

 

[jlayman800]

Wildy expensive?? I have the highest level insurance they offer and I pay less than $100 a year for the combination of DAN membership and insurance. Cheap piece of mind considering that treating a DCS episode costs $3000 -$30,000. Just buy the insurance or say above 30'.[/rant]

Yes, maybe you are right. I was just thinking that they are only covering a very few hours a year for accidents that occur very seldom. I believe the insurance used to be included with DAN membership and was the primary reason for being a member. The research was a side line. Sometimes insurance is worth the cost. At the cost DAN is charging for what is being offered, I'll stick to being self insured.

 

[cornfed]

At the cost DAN is charging for what is being offered, I'll stick to being self insured.

If you ignore the price of the membership the DAN insurance is roughly half the cost of what is offered by diveinsurance.com. What are you paying for insurance and what does it cover?