Using Rebreathers in Caves

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bobthegoalie

Contributor
Messages
124
Reaction score
15
Location
St. Louis, Missouri
# of dives
100 - 199
I was wondering how many people are cave diving with rebreathers. Also how many hours did you have on your unit before taking the class and what was your certification level at that time? (Mod 1,2,3) I have heard the positives and negatives of such practice so I am not interested in that.
 
I was already cave certified when I started diving CCR.
 
My suggestion is to pick out a cave instructor and talk to him/her. They will tell you how much experience they require before they will take you in their cave class. I would say that if you are comfortable with your CCR, have decent buoyancy and can keep your fins off the floor that you are a candidate for starting your cave training now.

Caving is all about learing how to get out of a cave alive (while respecting the cave), so find an instructor who will challenge you during your training. Then when everything goes south on a subsequent cave dive you will be more prepared to find an exit solution.

I had been cave diving for almost 10 years when I went to a RB. That's a lot of cave time, so I may not represent the type of diver you are seeking. I was CCR certified and didn't take a CCR-cave crossover course; I started in caves with about 40 hours on my RB. I never noticed any difference, other than my profile was a little larger with the RB.

So, just depends on you and your instructor. Good luck.
 
I had been cave diving for almost 10 years when I went to a RB. That's a lot of cave time, so I may not represent the type of diver you are seeking. I was CCR certified and didn't take a CCR-cave crossover course

That's pretty similar to my situation. I did inquire about taking a ccr/cave course from several others I knew with cave and ccr experience as well as instructors and was told there's nothing really new presented in the course that I hadn't already learned. I do tend to err on the side of caution and carry more bailout than I anticipate needing though. I figure no one ever died from having too much gas.
 
I have a couple instructors in mind and have been in contact with them. The reason I ask is because I got into a breather before deciding to go towards cave training and would prefer to take the course using ccr than going back to doubles.
 
When I started diving my rebreather in a cave no one was doing it. In fact the first time I showed up a bunch of WKKP guys waited about convinced they would have to do a body recovery. Now it is in contention with sidemount in popularity. I have been MCCR cave diving since 2001 and have never been trained in either MCCR or CCR cave. We have developed our own safety protocols.

I may mention that I dive my own unit and no training was or is available for my unit.

As far as safety, I have had more incidents OC than on my rebreather in the cave environment.

Safe Diving

Dale
 
I have been MCCR cave diving since 2001 and have never been trained in either MCCR or CCR cave. We have developed our own safety protocols.

I may mention that I dive my own unit and no training was or is available for my unit.
If you're willing to start a new thread on the topic back here, I'm definitely interested in hearing more about your unit, how you developed it and what the protocols you use are and how you came up with them.
 
I do tend to err on the side of caution and carry more bailout than I anticipate needing though. I figure no one ever died from having too much gas.

You know, not all cavers on RBs agree with you. Personally, I think they're nuts. +1 for your post.
 
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