OK gang, I got my new cavern card in the mail today only to read some threads on SB about PADI divers having to go thru cavern again when they wanted to do Intro, as a lot of instructors feel PADI Cavern Divers have not been sufficiently trained. Others chimed in saying it is the instructor not the card. But I do get the feeling this PADI Cavern Card is looked upon by the majority as generally not up to standards.
Another poster listed his experience during his recent Cavern and Intro long weekend. I thought I would chime in and relay my experience with my PADI Instructor, Johnny Varner and DM Kerry Chambers. First off, I was OW and advanced trained under NAUI but the LDS is PADI so that is how I ended up doing cavern under PADI. Second off, my instructor and DM are both full cave, the instructor is 70 and has been diving caves....forever...the DM is retired Drill Sergeant and has been cave diving since 1992. Two hard but fair guys who don't mind giving you.....a piece of their minds.
We used the NSS-CDS Cavern/Intro manual as our training manual. Time was spent in the LDS classroom going over the manual along with line laying drills dryland in the back of the shop. After this training we moved to the pool where all three of us were required to dive in doubles with the standard overhead environment equipment setup and backup equipment. In the pool we did line laying drills, S drills, modified S drills, mask off, eyes closed line OK around three different tieoffs with arrows on the line, jumps line and cookies to cross us up, air sharing touch contact, 1st, 2nd and 3rd team member responsibilities from running line to compromised team member whether equipment or physical. Much discussion took place afterwards in debrief.
The morning of our first cavern dives, we assembled our gear, checked one another and then had our equipment checked by our instructor. Again, all three of us were in doubles with two spare lights, spare mask per team, line cutting devices all equipment arranged the same. Matter of fact, all three us were diving Dive Rite dual bladder wings. A full brief was conducted on the surface so we knew...or thought we knew....what was going to happen. Our first trip into the overhead environment was at Peacock 1 with the instructor going in first laying line with a 2nd. and 3rd team member being the newbees. The DM swam alongside watching the goings on. At the conclusion of this 1st dive, 2 became 1, 3 became two and entry was once again made into P1. At the end of line laying and after the dive turn signal, it was then time for the gremlins (instructor and DM) to appear out of the dark and provide "problems" to the team. On a side note, the three of us had a debrief dinner two nights ago where we decided to always do a emergency training scenario, whether a light out, valve problem, whatever before ending any future training we do independently. After three dives in P1, we moved to Orange Grove where in addition to line laying and retrieval, we had to use our training in what to look for in locating the entrance to the cavern/cave along with horizontal 15' safety stop, no holding on to anything..horizontal, fins up, hands out...stay there!! Sunday was a repeat performance at The Eye with line laying, OOA, etc. followed by an experience dive into The Ear. We moved up in the first alcove and peered over watching a three man cave team do their final checks before moving in the cave system.
As you can see, our first experience was in low flow, large cavern P1, followed by deeper cavern entrance, more flow at Orange Grove, to even more flow at The Eye to max flow at The Ear.
While I know 6 cavern dives in two days is not enough to convince me to dive in haphazard past the reaper, I do feel a lot of what you get out of this training is who you train with..as in the person..and how much dedication you put into the thought process. I know my manual didn't leave my bedside table, or floor in front of the toilet....for 4-5 weeks. I did find an occasion to revert back to my studies in the caverns. With all that said, no matter the card (I started diving in 1988), I would fully expect my next overhead environment instructor to evaluate my performance before we took the next step, no matter what card I was carrying. I would want him to do so.
I have my new card in front of me as I type.......Cavern Diver!!, this is one card I am proud to have earned!!
See ya in the dark
Another poster listed his experience during his recent Cavern and Intro long weekend. I thought I would chime in and relay my experience with my PADI Instructor, Johnny Varner and DM Kerry Chambers. First off, I was OW and advanced trained under NAUI but the LDS is PADI so that is how I ended up doing cavern under PADI. Second off, my instructor and DM are both full cave, the instructor is 70 and has been diving caves....forever...the DM is retired Drill Sergeant and has been cave diving since 1992. Two hard but fair guys who don't mind giving you.....a piece of their minds.
We used the NSS-CDS Cavern/Intro manual as our training manual. Time was spent in the LDS classroom going over the manual along with line laying drills dryland in the back of the shop. After this training we moved to the pool where all three of us were required to dive in doubles with the standard overhead environment equipment setup and backup equipment. In the pool we did line laying drills, S drills, modified S drills, mask off, eyes closed line OK around three different tieoffs with arrows on the line, jumps line and cookies to cross us up, air sharing touch contact, 1st, 2nd and 3rd team member responsibilities from running line to compromised team member whether equipment or physical. Much discussion took place afterwards in debrief.
The morning of our first cavern dives, we assembled our gear, checked one another and then had our equipment checked by our instructor. Again, all three of us were in doubles with two spare lights, spare mask per team, line cutting devices all equipment arranged the same. Matter of fact, all three us were diving Dive Rite dual bladder wings. A full brief was conducted on the surface so we knew...or thought we knew....what was going to happen. Our first trip into the overhead environment was at Peacock 1 with the instructor going in first laying line with a 2nd. and 3rd team member being the newbees. The DM swam alongside watching the goings on. At the conclusion of this 1st dive, 2 became 1, 3 became two and entry was once again made into P1. At the end of line laying and after the dive turn signal, it was then time for the gremlins (instructor and DM) to appear out of the dark and provide "problems" to the team. On a side note, the three of us had a debrief dinner two nights ago where we decided to always do a emergency training scenario, whether a light out, valve problem, whatever before ending any future training we do independently. After three dives in P1, we moved to Orange Grove where in addition to line laying and retrieval, we had to use our training in what to look for in locating the entrance to the cavern/cave along with horizontal 15' safety stop, no holding on to anything..horizontal, fins up, hands out...stay there!! Sunday was a repeat performance at The Eye with line laying, OOA, etc. followed by an experience dive into The Ear. We moved up in the first alcove and peered over watching a three man cave team do their final checks before moving in the cave system.
As you can see, our first experience was in low flow, large cavern P1, followed by deeper cavern entrance, more flow at Orange Grove, to even more flow at The Eye to max flow at The Ear.
While I know 6 cavern dives in two days is not enough to convince me to dive in haphazard past the reaper, I do feel a lot of what you get out of this training is who you train with..as in the person..and how much dedication you put into the thought process. I know my manual didn't leave my bedside table, or floor in front of the toilet....for 4-5 weeks. I did find an occasion to revert back to my studies in the caverns. With all that said, no matter the card (I started diving in 1988), I would fully expect my next overhead environment instructor to evaluate my performance before we took the next step, no matter what card I was carrying. I would want him to do so.
I have my new card in front of me as I type.......Cavern Diver!!, this is one card I am proud to have earned!!
See ya in the dark
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