What do you think of cave/cavern diving?

[Hank49]

I'd love to try diving in one of the big cenotes with 300 foot vis...although going in caves on dry land isn't really a thrill for me...but as someone stated, floating in a room sounds really cool.
But, I can hear my loving, understanding wife. "OK, go do it. But first sell the boat, some of your guitars, two spearguns...."

 

[MichaelBaranows]

I have dove cenotes a few times and they were really never my cup of tea but then one time things just clicked and it was the most amazing thing to me. So now I am booking a trip and will be in Mexico in 6 weeks starting me cavern and cave training.

It isn't for everyone and I never thoult it was for me. I started diving to spear fish and since then I have found that there are so many wonderful things about being under water. I have been know to spend hours in the pool just making bubbles cause I can.

 

[Thalassamania]

Its funny this comes up just now, I was thinking about it just the other day.

I don't really cave dive. A while back I had a wenie's tour of Wakulla and some of the Yucatan sites, and I enjoyed them. I have considered learning more (beyond reading the books), in fact I have now twice scheduled training, both times with much jockying of schedules with a well known cave diver and friend. Both times, before we could get together for lesson one, I lost that friend to a cave diving accident. The third time another friend offered to teach me, I just declined.

As I think about it, my hesitency with cave diving is that you truly are completely dependent on the environment being static and your equipment, it matters not how good you are with the gear, but if all the gear goes south (I know, that's unlikely given backups and buddies) you die ... it doesn't matter how good you are in the water. I've lost two good friends, both as good a diver as I am, or better. One to an unpredicatable change in the enviroment and the other to ... well ... we'll never really know. They both did everything right, but they died anyway. I think I'm going to pass and take my little hand holding tours when I get the chance.

 

[Jim Ernst]

God, no. The concept terrifies me. They die in there you know!

Me Either!!

No way, Call me a sissy if you want!

 

[SailNaked]

I took a Cenote tour and it was vary nice, the water haloclines were very interesting, but the whole time I had the same feeling I do when I fly, sort of a "well my life insurance is paid up, the kids will miss me but at least they will get to go to college" sort of feeling,

I have read the books on diving deep wrecks and many of the deaths that happened there but what really scared me was reading about a guy in a cave that was not very far in but just sort of stopped living, he did not even try to get air from his buddy or any of his bail out tanks. I guess what he was breathing was just wrong and it messed with his mind or something(CCR) or maybe he had a heart attack.

I am about to read Sheck Exley's book and maybe I will understand what you nutters find in caves, I have never been all that interested in rocks so maybe not. I sort of get the been someplace no one has ever been thing, but I am to old to use that line in bars.

 

[Teamcasa]

As I think about it, my hesitency with cave diving is that you truly are completely dependent on the environment being static and your equipment, it matters not how good you are with the gear, but if all the gear goes south (I know, that's unlikely given backups and buddies) you die ... it doesn't matter how good you are in the water. I've lost two good friends, both as good a diver as I am, or better. One to an unpredicatable change in the enviroment and the other to ... well ... we'll never really know. They both did everything right, but they died anyway. I think I'm going to pass and take my little hand holding tours when I get the chance.

Hence my comment:

I'm not a fan of diving anywhere where a simple oops moment kills me.

 

[Paladin]

One year, when I was just a kid, my family went to Tennessee for vacation. While we were there, we visited Tuckaleechee (sp?) Caverns. From that time on, I was fascinated by caves. By the time I reached my early twenties, I had spent thousands of hours exploring underground and crawling through some pretty tight places. I even became a member of the Tri-State Search and Rescue Team, specializing in cave rescue.

So, when my friend and I discovered a cave in the rock wall of a man-made lake where we were diving (I'm not going to say where because I don't want to tempt anyone), we decided to check it out.

Yeah, I know. We were young and stupid. I should've known better.

Anyway, Fuzz led the way and I followed him into the cave. The passage was tight and Fuzz kicked up the sediment to the point where I couldn't see squat. I groped along behind him, hands out in front, trying to keep up. Then, I suddenly found myself in clear water and Fuzz was nowhere in sight. I switched off my light to see if I could detect his light. Nada. Black as Hades. At that moment, I felt my tank grate against the ceiling for an instant, then come free.

I realized that I must have taken a side passage and was separated from Fuzz. I started to back out, but couldn't. I was stuck. My tank was lodged in a depression in the ceiling and I couldn't move. My first thought was to simply unbuckle my harness and slip out from under the tank, then pull it out of the cave after me but the passage was too tight and I couldn't get my hand down to my waist to release the buckle. I thought about cutting the harness away at the shoulders but my knife was strapped to my leg, out reach.

Out of options, all I could do was watch the needle of my SPG as my air slowly ran out. I thought about my parents and my girlfriend. I thought about how stupid I was and I wondered how long it would be before someone found my body.

At 500 psi, my J valve started honking its low air warning. At 300 psi it would cut off and I couldn't reach the rod to turn on the reserve. Panic was about to set in when I felt something moving along my left leg. It moved up to my waist and I felt a tug at my harness buckle. Then, something grabbed my ankles and yanked me backward and free. I pulled my tank after me and followed Fuzz back out to open water. On the way, I had to open the reserve. When we were back on the boat, I had this overwhelming urge to give ugly ol' Fuzz a kiss. I settled for a hug and a handshake.

I've explored caves since then, but they've all been full of air, not water. I have a world of admiration and respect for you cave divers out there. Your sport is considerably more dangerous than some people might think. My hat is off to you!

 

[Hank49]

Ever since my brother and his friend sat on the lid of our toy box thing with me inside...brrrrr. Being trapped inside something....But I want to try it just to overcome that fear. Someday, I hope to jump out of an airplane...with a chute.

 

[Doc Harry]

It helps to be dry caver first... you don't mind squeezing into tight holes 3,000 feet back in a flooded cave...

I don't start getting claustrophobic until my head gets wedged. I'm okay as long as I can turn my head left and right.

 

[Paladin]

I WAS a dry caver first! I think maybe that's why I was so (over)confident about going into that damned hole in the first place! There's an old saying that goes something like "Familiarity breeds contempt." If I hadn't spent so much time exploring dry caves (a relative term as most caves have at least some water in them), I might have been more reluctant to try it.

The conditions are vastly different between dry and submerged caves and there is much less room for error when one is both underground AND underwater. In a dry cave, if something unexpected happens (like getting lost), there is usually ample time to work out a solution or just sit tight until somebody comes to find you. I have participated in a number of underground search and rescue operations and all but one had a happy ending. But the key word here is "time." Fill a cave full of water and everything changes. Time is now at a premium and a situation that would have been little more than an inconvenience in a dry cave becomes a matter of life or death. I learned a valuable lesson about cave diving from my experience: Unless you've had the training, stay out!