Which first--full cave or normoxic trimix?

[TSandM]

What kind of diving do you want to do, that you can't do now? If the goal is general skills refinement, I'm with James . . . Take a Fundies class. You'll be asked to step up to the skill level of cave diving, but without the expense of major travel, and without the helium costs of a trimix class.

On the other hand, if your budget and ambition includes significant travel and you think you would enjoy the caves, book a trip to Mexico, do Cavern and Intro, and then spend a glorious week in paradise, exploring what you can dive with that certification (which is a LOT!).

I can't see a reason to do a trimix class, unless there are some specific dives you contemplate doing that you cannot do without it.

 

[mathauck0814]

250 dives total (even if all dives were in a drysuit) does not represent a significant amount of diving experience. Training is best when there is a goal in mind. It's up to the instructor to weigh the validity and achievability of the goal, but if I had presented an instructor with the goal of, "Earning a card because I have two weeks off" they'd have pushed me in a different direction.

Said diver should spend 2 weeks diving, and then dive a lot more. When said diver has exhausted the diving opportunities within their current level of training or identified a specific goal that diver should seek additional knowledge and have a far more specific set of questions in mind.

 

[Teller]

Number of dives has nothing to do with this. His instructor will judge his skills on dive one whether its the cave route or trimix route. I hate when people assume your skills are not up to par because you dont have 1000+ dives. Mabey you were just a slow learner, did you ever consider that?

 

[TSandM]

I don't know; I think 250 dives, especially if many of them are in cold water, and some experience with doubles, is a pretty good experience base to contemplate some further training. I do agree that the training should be chosen with a goal in mind; again, if skills refinement is the goal, there are other ways to do it than to go into an overhead or heavy deco obligation.

I have seen people with far less than 250 dives who were ready to go on; I have seen people with more whose skills were pretty woeful.

If I had two weeks of vacation, wanted to travel and do some fun diving AND learn something and improve skills, I'd really consider (for the oP) something like a trip to the Red Sea and a Fundies class. Good learning that wouldn't eat the whole vacation time, and fun diving in warm, clear water. Sounds like a win-win!

 

[mathauck0814]

Number of dives has nothing to do with this. His instructor will judge his skills on dive one whether its the cave route or trimix route. I hate when people assume your skills are not up to par because you dont have 1000+ dives. Mabey you were just a slow learner, did you ever consider that?

It's more the lack of a goal that got my goat. "Should I do full cave or full trimix" is like asking a barkeep, "Should I get the lambic or the smoked porter".

 

[Taliena]

Funny discussion.
What must be your goal in your diving? If you want to dive on places where most divers never come, is that a wrong reason? I don't think so. Deeper wrecks, caves. That is nice. And yes, sometimes you need to travel, but then you can make really nice dives. And that is all worth. Not all people have nice divesites in their backyard.
Of course you need to practise to improve your diving, but that is no problem.

 

[DCBC]

"Should I do full cave or full trimix" is like asking a barkeep, "Should I get the lambic or the smoked porter".

"Normoxic Trimix" isn't "Full Trimix." As to the Beer, it would depend upon if I was in Belgium or the States; I usually drink the local brew...

 

[Dive Bug Bit Me]

I don't think it matters if you do full cave or hypoxic mix first. The skill requirement for either is about the same; pin point buoyancy skills, mastery of finning techniques, a clear head under task loading and stress. To be honest as has been said; pretty much everything in a good Fundies or intro to tech class, but to an even higher standard.

Once you have mastered these, the rest of the skills in a tech class aren't that difficult. Whether you are tying a jump line or switching deco gas, as a stand alone skill this is easy. Situational awareness and ability to task load (when things go wrong) are more important. Whether the task loading is while on a deco stop or on a jump line in a cave matters not. You need to be aware and to do the skills without losing focus on the big picture.

You need to react to problems in a way that won't make them worse. A free flow in a cave is irritating. Dropping to your knees to deal with it and creating a silt bomb causes a dangerous situation. Today my O2 free flowed a bit as I turned it on. Popping to the surface while I dealt with that might have crippled me.

Therefore do which ever excites you first.

As an aside, a big difference between tech diving and recreational diving is that I find tech more physically gruelling. I can happily do a live aboard with five dives a day for a week. After about four days of tech diving (two, or three a day) and my body is physically tired. Just saying, maybe only do normoxic Trimix or Intro to cave. Then slow down and enjoy what you've done.

Maybe consider leaving full cave or full Trimix for a subsequent trip.

 

[Taliena]

Maybe better not to tell what I did: I said: technical diving will be my thing. I saved a lot of money, and after 200 dives, I started technical diving, first advanced nitrox, then 1 week later I went on holiday for 2 weeks cavediving (cavern, intro-to-cave, full cave), then 6 weeks later I did my normoxic course, and 3.5 month later I did my full trimix on a holiday. From beginning to end took 10 months (including winter with icedives, but no coursedives), and I did 270 dives in that period.
So I only can suggest: it doesn't matter what choice, if you want to do it, go for it. and I told that to my friend.

 

[syntaxerrorsix]

Number of dives has nothing to do with this. His instructor will judge his skills on dive one whether its the cave route or trimix route. I hate when people assume your skills are not up to par because you dont have 1000+ dives. Mabey you were just a slow learner, did you ever consider that?

It's not such a huge leap to assume low dive count would equate to less skill in the water. As a matter of fact I'd say it's a great indicator for the most part. Maybe you just don't dive with enough really good divers to understand what true skill in the water and proper reactions to multiple situations looks like