I'm going to come in with a dissenting opinion.
First off, don't try to take a cavern/intro class in gear you just bought. You're likely to be very unhappy. Cave diving is strongly about skill refinement -- precise buoyancy, correct trim, careful maneuvering -- and it's VERY difficult to push the level of those things if you are trying to cope with equipment that is new to you. When my husband and I did our cavern class, we had a classmate who was doing his first dives in doubles, and he struggled. We had been diving them for over a year, and had done a couple of other classes in them, and we had a much easier time.
Second, there are a lot of things to learn in cavern and intro -- reel work will be new to you, and perhaps propulsion techniques, air-sharing, and certainly the drills like lost buddy and lost line. Doing your class in the shallow and quiet water of the Mexican caves will allow you to focus on these new things, without the distraction of depth, temperature, and flow. If you then decide that you WANT to do a lot of diving in Forida, take your Apprentice or Full there, or go and hire an instructor for a couple of days of mentoring.
Finally, the caves in Mexico are warm, shallow and generally very decorated . . . even during your class, you will be able to enjoy some of the beauty there. Caves in Florida are quite different, with their own beauty, but I think Mexico has more immediate "wow" factor. And you can easily do hour-long dives at the Intro level in MX!
First off, don't try to take a cavern/intro class in gear you just bought. You're likely to be very unhappy. Cave diving is strongly about skill refinement -- precise buoyancy, correct trim, careful maneuvering -- and it's VERY difficult to push the level of those things if you are trying to cope with equipment that is new to you. When my husband and I did our cavern class, we had a classmate who was doing his first dives in doubles, and he struggled. We had been diving them for over a year, and had done a couple of other classes in them, and we had a much easier time.
Second, there are a lot of things to learn in cavern and intro -- reel work will be new to you, and perhaps propulsion techniques, air-sharing, and certainly the drills like lost buddy and lost line. Doing your class in the shallow and quiet water of the Mexican caves will allow you to focus on these new things, without the distraction of depth, temperature, and flow. If you then decide that you WANT to do a lot of diving in Forida, take your Apprentice or Full there, or go and hire an instructor for a couple of days of mentoring.
Finally, the caves in Mexico are warm, shallow and generally very decorated . . . even during your class, you will be able to enjoy some of the beauty there. Caves in Florida are quite different, with their own beauty, but I think Mexico has more immediate "wow" factor. And you can easily do hour-long dives at the Intro level in MX!
