Quero is a Cave Diver!!!!!!!!!!

[boulderjohn]

Congratulations!

Different people can have remarkably different thermal needs, especially on longer cave dives. I just finished a week of cave diving with Natalie Gibb in the Youcatan. I just wore a 5mm suit and no hood, and I was toasty warm, even on dives approaching 2 hours long. Natalie was heavily dressed in layers of neoprene, and she said she has never been warm in a cave.

I got Ginnie Fingers when I was training. I had some of that first aid stuff that you can spread on the would with a brush, forming something like a new layer of skin. It helped. After that I learned to do it more with the palms of my hands and without using the fingers.

 

[Quero]

Congrats!

Not to be a jerk, but...... With that much neoprene and (presumably steel) tanks, what was the plan for a wing failure? Were you using a double bladder?

I'm guessing drysuits are a rarity in Thailand?

I was diving aluminum 80's with a small weight strapped to the bottom of each tank, and that was all the lead I took down; I really had very little gas in the wing anyway. I wasn't worried about a wing failure.
And yeah, drysuits in Thailand are definitely a "conversation piece."

Congratulations Marcia! I hope you don't think that 72 degrees is cold water though...

Actually, it was 68°, I guess because of lots of rain over the winter. And YES, I thought it was cold :cold:. However, despite all that extra rubber, my supposedly deficient tropical training stood me in very good stead, Wayne.

---------- Post added June 26th, 2013 at 08:24 PM ----------

Congratulations!

Different people can have remarkably different thermal needs, especially on longer cave dives. I just finished a week of cave diving with Natalie Gibb in the Youcatan. I just wore a 5mm suit and no hood, and I was toasty warm, even on dives approaching 2 hours long. Natalie was heavily dressed in layers of neoprene, and she said she has never been warm in a cave.

I got Ginnie Fingers when I was training. I had some of that first aid stuff that you can spread on the would with a brush, forming something like a new layer of skin. It helped. After that I learned to do it more with the palms of my hands and without using the fingers.

I went to the drug store looking for that stuff but didn't find any. Instead I got these clever little bandages with bubbles over the fingertips and tiny little strips to hold them on over the nails. They slip around a little bit when I have to wash my hands, but at least I can touch stuff without wincing. My instructor, bless his heart, didn't warn me to use the palm instead of the fingers. I've learned the lesson (and maybe, just maybe, it's one of those initiation things?).

 

[TSandM]

During my C2 class, I lay awake at night, trying to decide which hurt more -- my butt muscles, from flutter kicking, or my fingers!

Congratulations on joining the ranks of wet rock addicts . . .

 

[victorzamora]

Congrats, Quero!

Quick tip: Liquid skin bandages are just super glue. Dribble a little bit on the tip of your finger and quickly wipe it over the rest of the fingertip. If you get good at that, you can create a perfect little film over any wound. Super glue is used in open heart surgery. As long as you clean the wound first (as anyone should with any wound), super glue is a GREAT fix. The chemical in super glue is Cyanoacrylate, btw....which is the terminology used in "professional" documentation.

 

[drbill]

Congratulations, Quero... now try something really challenging. Dive our kelp forests in winter when the temperature hits the low 50s (or even the high 40s). Tee hee. One of my Harvard professors dove Antarctica back in 1957 with 13mm of neoprene wetsuit.

 

[DCBC]

...Dive our kelp forests in winter when the temperature hits the low 50s (or even the high 40s).

Sounds like warmer water to me Bill. How about the high 20's/low 30's with pack ice and freezing spray. In any regard, in the Winter it's colder outside of the water... A good reason to dive dry, don't you think?

 

[BabyDuck]

congrats! yes, ginnie fingers are a rite of passage, though for full effect lunch afterward should have salt & vinegar potato chips.

(you'll get better at pull & glide quickly & it won't happen so bad again. )

 

[BluewaterSail]

Why wouldn't a cave diver wear gloves?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Congratulations Marcia ... now that you've experienced Florida caves, you should sign up for a trip to Mexico. The caves are different there, the water's a bit warmer, and you won't have to pull and glide to make it inside the entrance.

I commiserate on the Ginnie Fingers ... I think most of us who took the class in Florida know exactly how you feel.

If I may ask ... who did you take the class with?

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[ianr33]

Why wouldn't a cave diver wear gloves?

Harder to OK a skinny little line during a no viz exit. I've often used fingerless gloves.