When is a cave a cave?

[nannymouse]

When is a cave a cave?
When there is a hole in the terrain?
When there is a channel between two rocks that you could drive a truck through?
When you have to take off your tank and push it ahead of yourself?

There is interesting texture in my part of the ocean, and I want to check it out. But I realise that things can go wrong, and that I should be made aware of what those things are, and how to deal with them.

Is thick kelp an overhead environment?

 

[driftwood]

Actually, I just dove in a thermal spring in Mexico where the vegetation growth over the channel would qualify it at a overhead obstruction. Not a cave because we could always see light, but a cavern.

 

[Blackwood]

When it's ajar?

Oh wait, that's when a door is not a door.

 

[djanni]

When is a cave a cave?
When there is a hole in the terrain?
When there is a channel between two rocks that you could drive a truck through?
When you have to take off your tank and push it ahead of yourself?

There is interesting texture in my part of the ocean, and I want to check it out. But I realise that things can go wrong, and that I should be made aware of what those things are, and how to deal with them.

Is thick kelp an overhead environment?

Are you asking... how long does a swim threw need to be before it becomes a cave and does diameter make any difference?

What about a swim threw not quite long enough to be a cave but it makes a 90 degree right turn and you can't see the end?

BTW: I don't know.

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

When you go into an overhead environment and you can't turn around and see the light from outside. So yes, a cavern dive at night is a cave dive.

 

[Papa_Bear]

130ft from the entrance or loss of light from the opening witch ever comes first! And no Kelp is not!

 

[seaducer]

130ft from the entrance or loss of light from the opening witch ever comes first! And no Kelp is not!

Are you sure about the kelp? I have seen (pictures) of kelp on the surface so thick there is no way you could swim through it. Not sure if you would be able to dive underneath it, but if you could that might qualify as overhead, no?

 

[cmufieldhockey8]

If I didn't think I can swim through it I'd treat it as an overhead.

 

[Papa_Bear]

Are you sure about the kelp? I have seen (pictures) of kelp on the surface so thick there is no way you could swim through it. Not sure if you would be able to dive underneath it, but if you could that might qualify as overhead, no?

Been there done that! Bull Kelp in Northern Cal is the thickest in the world and I have practiced going over it and under it is no problem at all!

 

[Dive-aholic]

130ft from the entrance or loss of light from the opening witch ever comes first! And no Kelp is not!

Some standards allow 200'. It's agency dependent...


Technically, a cave is no longer a cavern once you are out of the day light zone. If you can't see day light from where you are, you are there. However, people can also die in the cavern zone. Any overhead environment presents a higher risk than OW. A silt out can instantly turn a cavern into a cave and prevent you from being able to see your exit. Unless properly trained, don't go into an overhead.