Well, I like to think my progression, and now that of my son is an earnest, sincere, diligent pace. We still have to wait a year and a half for him to turn 16 so we can take our cavern course. In the meantime, we continue to dive in caverns that people have claimed are "Open Water safe." I know, I know, most of us do not subscribe to that sort of thinking. Which is why I would not even let him enter into caverns until I knew he was able to do cave and cavern drills. Because I knew that oddly enough, his OW instructor chose Blue Grotto and Devils Den for his checkout dives... So I wanted to make doubly sure he would be safe. I've always dove these caverns, in fact "OW safe" caverns and black-water dives are all I know. My intent was always to go the legit route towards cavern, and cave, but I always held out, waiting for my son to be old enough to join me. I even waited to get him certified at 14 to make sure there were a few more years of maturity to him, before I strapped a tank on his back and called it good. Waiting for him I believe has served a dual purpose; it allowed me time to feel comfortable, to be ready to be his safety net. My son has shown a comfort in caverns and in the water in general that belies his age. His first time in a tight crawl in Devils Den, and his eyes were wide with amazement, and I knew that the cave bug had bit him like it bites the rest of us. But when he talks of caverns, there is a respect in his words, in his voice, that lets me know he is making the right choice for him. He misses the caverns when we are away, and yearns to return, even schemes up ways we can do a day trip or whatnot. So I know there is a love for them. And the discipline he is learning by having to wait for his cavern course is truly a virtue, and I remind him of the need for patience while cave diving, to never hurry the dive for the sake of hurrying it. But even as we drill in a darkened room, or in a pool, he knows what he is working towards, and it is a valued goal to him, and myself.