Why do you do what you do?

[jwelch_81]

I am still a little new to diving. I understand why people get into tech diving. I would love to go wreck diving and have the skill to go deep if I needed to. What I can't figure out is why caves and deep air.

What do you see in caves?
Why do your deep dives on air? Why not use a mix gas?

I would really like to know what you get out of it and why you do it. I learned to dive to see the reefs and the life on them. I also like the thought of wrecks especially when they are historical or might contain gold.

So why do you do what you do?

 

[DevonDiver]

I dive deep air (60-65m), mostly because of the scarcity and expense of helium on my island in Thailand. Of course, our diving is done in great viz, little current and warm water... I wouldn't replicate these dives in temperate or more demanding waters.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I took cave training to improve my wreck skills. Never thought I'd love it like I do. What you see is extremely hard to describe with mere words. It is an experience almost beyond description and that is exactly why many people do it. There is a cleanness, clarity and sense of peace and solitude in cave diving that you never find in the rusty remains of a wreck.

I did deep air because helium was hard to find and because quite frankly many deeper dives under the right conditions are do-able with an END in excess of 100'. Mileage varies and I won't suggest a limit for any particular diver or even any particular day but neither do I automatically and rigidly accept hard and fast limits based only on depth regarding when He needs to be used.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Cave diving for me has always been something I wanted to do ever since I saw pictures of systems. There are awesome rocks and features, but above all the feeling of deep penetration and all the challenges (gas, lines, silt, depth, time etc, etc) that come with it is what drives me. I love all aspects of cave diving, the planning, the logistics and the dives themselves. The challenge is what keeps me coming back for more.

 

[stairman]

The ocean with its wrecks and reefs are nice.So are the caverns and caves.Living in Florida I can do both.I choose the caves 98% of the time.Offshore diving requires you make reservations,be on time that morning,deal with high seas or current at times,possible seasickness,crowding on a boat,overheating on deck before your told to go.Im not complaining,thats all part of it.Going caving I share fuel cost with buddies,take turns driving,no hurry to get there,suit up in the shade,enjoy the fresh,cool clear water.More time to check over gear and safety checks then submerge.The ancient geology of the conduits are beautiful.Most all the life is albino and theres not much.Bedding planes,fissures,air pockets,solution domes thousands or millions of years old are passed over,under and through.The equipment and training is more intense to be there.If I see something up high I want to look at I swim up and check it out.Walking or climbing around with lights is dry caves is interesting to most,why not swim through them.We surface,gear down,eat lunch in the cool shade feeling clean and not sticky,gas up our doubles,visit with others and hed back,when we want,to another cave to explore.By taking turns driving I mean one week Ill drive my truck the next week they drive theirs.Cave trips for me are cheaper than boat charters.Now if I lived in Pompano or the vicinity things may be different I suppose.

 

[bletso]

Caves usually have great vis. Other divers cave certified generally have good skills across the board. IOW, no babysitting. No bad seas, no exhaust from the fantail. The downside is no pretty fishes.

Helium based gas I use a lot because I don't like being narced. It is affordable because I dive a rebreather. http://www.airheadsscuba.com/rbrsprt.html


Dale

 

[TSandM]

This is what I wrote after my first experience diving in the caverns in Mexico:

I felt as though I'd been transported out of myself, literally exalted and utterly joyful, aware of my skin all the way to my fingertips and totally in the moment. It was the most exquisite and intense pleasure I've had diving, and it was composed in part of the utter clarity of the water, the incredible beauty of the surroundings, and the complete peace of the place. Reef diving is visually and kinesthetically busy -- Life and water in constant motion, demanding your attention in every direction. The caves are meditative and internal, and I felt as though time dilated and even my heartbeat was slowed. I had some of the same reaction to floating between the walls of two billion year old rock, deep in the Grand Canyon, but this was ever so much stronger. This was truly a drug, and I will do whatever I need to do for another dose of it.

I haven't changed my mind

 

[jwelch_81]

Some good replys guys. I'm going to have to find some pics of some cave dives and check them out. Might not be my thing, but I'm one of those try anything once people.

 

[k-valve]

My thoughts on this are reflected pretty accurately in my signature below... It applies to all the diving I do whether it's the bottom of a Texas lake, deep in a cave, or in the ocean. Technical, recreational...whatever. I absorb the experience like a sponge.

If you have that "explorer gene" then I imagine you'll love diving beyond the recreational limits, caves, wrecks, etc.

 

[packman]

Cave diving is hard to put into words. I used to have no interest in caves and poked fun at friends who went down there to "look at wet rocks". Once I got certified and started doing it, my attitude changed. Diving in the caves is peaceful, exciting, and exhilarating. There are times when it's felt like my dive buddy and I are the only people on earth. There's the beauty of watching the air bubbles dance across the ceiling while moving down the bedding plane in Peacock. There's the joy of dropping down the chimney in Little River. There's the voices of curiosity asking 'what's around that next bend?'. The excitement in being somewhere that few people would ever dare venture.