Prep for Cavern/Intro

[Watthem]

I’ve booked my Cavern and Intro to Cave courses and would love to hear recommendations on how best to prepare over the next few months to have the best chance of success. For context I am AN/DP/Tec SM/SM Essentials, and typically only dive SM. Thanks in advance!

 

[Josh the diver]

I’ve booked my Cavern and Intro to Cave courses and would love to hear recommendations on how best to prepare over the next few months to have the best chance of success. Thanks in advance!

where are you taking it, Mexico, Florida, or some where else?

 

[InWay2Deep]

If you have someone to practice with just go run some lines anywhere in the open water. Hopefully you already have a lot of seat time in your doubles configuration of choice (reg switches, valve drills, etc), if not, get that. Practice being task loaded and maintaining buoyancy/trim.

 

[Johnoly]

... on how best to prepare

Gear, & rigging pictures. I wish I had sent very detailed closeup pictures/video of my gear, knots, clips and everything to my instructor before arrival. It allows him/her time to comment on changes they would like to see done. Most will be simple, some maybe not so. It will just save you time when you arrive so things don't have to be changed. That 1st day is long and lots to do.

 

[Watthem]

where are you taking it, Mexico, Florida, or some where else?

Taking it in Florida, mainly at Ginnie

 

[Thrutch]

One of the biggest things for me was figuring out how to do everything with a light on one hand and held steady. Switching regs (sidemount), mask clearing, laying line, dumping air from the wing, and other things I'd either practiced a bunch or was very familiar with all became more complicated.

 

[VsubT]

Just did both Cavern and Intro classes recently in north Florida, and a few things that come to mind are:

- talk to you instructor about your gear now - @Johnoly 's advice above is great
- get a bunch of small (or whatever size works in your gear) bolt snaps with swivels and some cave line
- learn how to tie bolt snaps onto gear (lights, reel, etc.) and replace any hard connections or plastic ties now
- as mentioned above, make sure you're pretty comfortable in whatever tank configuration you plan to dive
- get appropriate exposure gear for the water temperature (72F in Florida caves) over *multiple hours*
- glue on some big pockets if you don't have them already
- figure out your weighting in the exposure gear and tank configuration and get trimmed for both full & empty tanks
- bring trim weights and bungee, in case you're not fully dialed in and need to adjust
- get comfortable with how your reel & spools work, including how they're stowed on your rig / in your pockets

Both classes were a lot of fun, but they would have been much more demanding if I hadn't been doing tech training in the ocean for the last year or so. An Intro to Tech or equivalent class could be helpful for anyone just starting out with back-mount or side-mount doubles. Not sure if some instructors cover that same ITT material in Cavern/Intro to Cave?

Lance

 

[inquis]

Make sure your trim is solid. You should be able to hover with torso/tanks horizontal without sculling your hands and minimal wiggling of your fins. If your body rotates legs-down when you stop kicking, move lead headward. Ask a buddy for honest feedback or video yourself hovering.

 

[Rilelen]

I would second the advice on just focusing on being a solid diver in your chosen gear configuration (buoyancy/trim etc rock solid). If your diving is solid, adding the line and cave skills isn't that hard. If it isn't, well...

I entertain myself on OW dives watching folks conducting cavern/intro classes. By far the most common "diasters" I see are students who fly in for cavern/intro, and who can't frogkick, maintain buoyancy, trim, etc. They end up at Royal or Catfish doing remedial laps around the spring basin, instead of the cavern/intro they signed up for...

 

[Scott]

You want your course to be about learning to dive at the cavern and intro level, not the basics. Make sure you're squared away with all your skills.
Spend time in four or five feet of water performing basic skills and those you've learned in AN/DP and tech SM. Mask retrieval, spool retrieval, shutdown drills, gas switch, hovering..