Variety or repetition

[Belmont]

For my next 10 day trip to Mexico this summer, what would you recommend:

Dive a different cave everyday or stick to the same but explore different directions?

I guess this question could also apply to my first visit to Florida's cave country next year.

I have my intro to cave with 25 dives at that level.

I will be accompanied by my cave instructor but not taking the formal full cave course yet.

I prefer to get more experience at my level but it would not prevent us from doing one or two conservative full cave level dives. IE: not more than one jump or T, minor restrictions.

 

[ucfdiver]

In FL, I would rent a boat from Ed and dive Twin, Hole in the Wall (up and downstream), and Jackson Blue...that's 1-2 days easy. Stay the night in Tally and then head to Madison Blue for a dive that morning, then I would head to Peacock, do each mainline passages in p1. The next day, do Orange Grove and then I would dive Telford in the AM (it's a swim up river). Migrate to high springs that night where you could do Manatee in the morning and drive back to Ginnie for a late dive. That would basically give you 8 different caves and never more than 2-3 hours of driving at a time.

Taking a class should be to learn more to expand your comfort level. It shouldn't be about taking a course to get permission to dive 1/3rds or turn left/right. That being said, 25 intro dives isn't a whole lot to be expanding things. Use your head and have fun

 

[Belmont]

In FL, I would rent a boat from Ed and dive Twin, Hole in the Wall (up and downstream), and Jackson Blue...that's 1-2 days easy. Stay the night in Tally and then head to Madison Blue for a dive that morning, then I would head to Peacock, do each mainline passages in p1. The next day, do Orange Grove and then I would dive Telford in the AM (it's a swim up river). Migrate to high springs that night where you could do Manatee in the morning and drive back to Ginnie for a late dive. That would basically give you 8 different caves and never more than 2-3 hours of driving at a time.

Taking a class should be to learn more to expand your comfort level. It shouldn't be about taking a course to get permission to dive 1/3rds or turn left/right. That being said, 25 intro dives isn't a whole lot to be expanding things. Use your head and have fun

Thank you, I'll put that on file for my trip to Florida. I intend to drive down and bring all my gear, tanks and all, and stay a month.

"Have fun" that's exactly what I want to do before going ahead with full cave.
That will likely happen after my Florida dives because I want to experiment both types of environments (Mexico and Florida) first.

 

[Crush]

Belmont,

If you do do a course, it will probably be with your previous instructor. However, if you are looking for a different instructor in Florida, I would recommend Johnny Richards (NACD) very highly. He is courteous, knowledgeable, focused, and delivers material in an concise manner rather than trying to win you over with stories about wrestling alligators or some such feat of male bravado.

 

[ucfdiver]

Belmont,

If you do do a course, it will probably be with your previous instructor. However, if you are looking for a different instructor in Florida, I would recommend Johnny Richards (NACD) very highly. He is courteous, knowledgeable, focused, and delivers material in an concise manner rather than trying to win you over with stories about wrestling alligators or some such feat of male bravado.

If memory serves me correctly, Belmont frequents the DIR forum. If that's his diving style, I think Dan Patterson would be the instructor that would fit his diving style the best.

 

[Belmont]

I intend to hire an instructor as a guide when in Florida. I will contact him before leaving.
Fun dives with very instructional debriefings
Thank you.

 

[Crush]

If memory serves me correctly, Belmont frequents the DIR forum. If that's his diving style, I think Dan Patterson would be the instructor that would fit his diving style the best.

From Belmont's public profile:

Dive Equipment

• Hog harness, long hose etc, ScubaPro MK25/S600 reg and octo, double 130 HP tank, Henderson Hyperstretch suit, DUI TLS 350 dry suit, Halcyon wing and plate, Jet fins.

Yup, ucfdiver, if I were a betting man I would say that he sure looks like a DIR fellow... In order to be sure I would have to know if all his gear (save for the HP 130s) is black.

Too bad I didn't check out his profile before I posted. Oh well.

Enjoy the diving!

 

[Dive-aholic]

In FL, I would rent a boat from Ed and dive Twin, Hole in the Wall (up and downstream), and Jackson Blue...that's 1-2 days easy.

1-2 days?!? I've been diving the Mill Pond caves for over 4 years now and am still seeing new stuff in all of those caves every dive, and that includes new stuff in the front! You could spend an entire month diving these caves and never get bored.


To the OP, do a mix of both. Schedule a couple of days in each cave. Don't switch caves during the day. This will save you on commute time. And doing multiple dives in a few caves will help you develop your situational awareness and learn the caves. If you dive 20 different caves in 10 days, or even 10 different caves in 10 days, you're not going to get a whole lot out of that in the way of developing your diving. Sure, you'll get to see a lot of cave, but it just won't do much for preparing you for the next level of your training. Even at the Intro level, there are quite a few things you can do to learn the caves.

 

[Belmont]

Thank you Rob,

I guess this applies to Mexican caves as well.
Last time I was there I did eight places in ten days. The experience was unforgettable but I guess next time I will concentrate on one or two. The problem will be to decide witch.

What would be a nice "first cave" to start with in Florida? Twin, Hole in the Wall and Jackson Blue like UCF Diver mentioned or is it like Mexico: a tough one to answer.

 

[Dive-aholic]

If you're coming down for 10 days, I would split the trip between Marianna (Twin, Hole, JB) and Peacock area. Spend 5 days in each. You essentially have 4 caves in Marianna (Hole has 2 ways to go). Peacock area gives you about the same - P1 Peanut Line, P1 Olsen Line, Orange Grove, and Little River. You also spend less time driving and more time diving.

As for Mexico, I have limited experience there, but I would recommend Ponderosa (for the halocline), Cenote Grande, and Nahoch.