Why do divers Cave dive ?
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If you're not attracted to the notion of going into a cave, then you're not missing anything. But not everyone dives for the same reason ... whether it's on a reef, in a quarry, or inside a cave. Some folks are attracted to marine life ... while others couldn't care less about it. Some folks just love blowing bubbles and feeling weightless, whether it's on a gorgeous tropical reef or at their local quarry. Some see diving as a thrill, and seek out ways to challenge themselves ... and those challenges can take many forms depending on what satisfies the individual's ego. I've even met people who got into diving because they were instinctively afraid of water, and decided it was a good way to overcome their fear (I don't agree with them, but that's another topic).
Often what attracts us to diving is what's available to us as divers ... whether it's quarrries, wrecks, caves, or reefs.
So the answer of what attracts divers to caves really depends on the diver. Personally what got me into caves was that I dive a lot, and like variety. Cave diving was just another new thing to experience ... it's a nice change of pace from the type of diving I normally get to do ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
JamesK
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Great post! I agree. Unlike you, I started diving with the sole purpose of cave diving. I did not care about the ocean. I was the opposite. Cave diving got me more in to diving and now I love any hole with water in it.
You can't imagine the feeling of crawling through some low bedding plane and having it open up in to some HUGE room that makes you feel like you are in some sports areans somewhere. Like walking out of the tunnel at the Georgia Dome in to the playing field. Amazing. I still remember my very first dive in to Peacock III. That is what it felt like to me.
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PfcAJ
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Cave dive Florida- Hole in the Wall - YouTube
Thats why
I enjoy all aspects of it, from the environment, the wonder of 'whats around the corner', the science/conservation side of it, executing the dive, even the equipment behind it is fun for me. There is something VERY special about being the first person to see something (which is getting harder and harder to do these days).
Thats why
I enjoy all aspects of it, from the environment, the wonder of 'whats around the corner', the science/conservation side of it, executing the dive, even the equipment behind it is fun for me. There is something VERY special about being the first person to see something (which is getting harder and harder to do these days).
Mark Michaud SELAUSAR
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or this......... In the Realm of Fangorn Forest on Vimeo
ianr33
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Quarries are boring and saltwater stings my eyes.
mdax
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Cave diving forces me into the moment and allows me to experience environments that are unlike anything else in my day to day life.
It's an unbelievably addicting and fulfilling activity that can cause you to spend more money on training and equipment than you realized you had. Some of us get hooked so badly we up and move to north florida/mexico regardless of career paths/opportunities as diving caves every week pulls that strongly.
I love the times in the cave with my wife more than any other moments I experience and hope to be able to do it for as many years as possible before I die of old age.
I'd never encourage someone to do it, either it's for you or it's not
It's an unbelievably addicting and fulfilling activity that can cause you to spend more money on training and equipment than you realized you had. Some of us get hooked so badly we up and move to north florida/mexico regardless of career paths/opportunities as diving caves every week pulls that strongly.
I love the times in the cave with my wife more than any other moments I experience and hope to be able to do it for as many years as possible before I die of old age.
I'd never encourage someone to do it, either it's for you or it's not
A cave is a living museum. Besides the preserved geological formations I have seen human skeletons dating from the last ice age. Bones from animals long extict from this planet such as Giant Ground Sloth and North American Camel, and Mastadon
There is an amazing sense of discovery when you see something only a few people have ever seen.
There is an amazing sense of discovery when you see something only a few people have ever seen.
Of all the videos out there, this one captures why I cave dive better than any other, I think: Reflections - Through a Mirror Darkly - YouTube
When I was a kid, I loved bouldering up streams . . . even though one rock is very like another, there was always the lure of "What's around the corner?" One might find a waterfall, or a stunning view . . . or it might be more rocks. Cave diving has a lot of that. What's around the corner? Mastodon bones? Huge rooms? A slope of intricately curved and woven travertine dams? There is a place in one of the cave systems in Mexico, where you have been swimming for 15 minutes through very decorated but very dark passage. The rock is tannin-stained, and the water has an eerie, greenish cast. Suddenly, you swim over a rock rib and down through the halocline. Once your vision clears, you are in an ENORMOUS hallway, maybe forty feet high and about the same wide. The vertical walls, ceiling and floor are pure white, and the water is a deep, cobalt blue. The walls are decorated with draperies of golden flowstone, and the floor is punctuated by elegant pillars. The sudden contrast makes you gasp, the first time you see it.
The ONLY thing in the movie Sanctum that was real, was the team coming through that restriction in the beginning, and bursting out into that amazing room.
When you add the very defined technical challenges of doing cave diving well, the romance of seeing places few people have or will ever see, and the camaraderie of people who cave dive, you add to the appeal.
But in the final analysis, it's what Karen said: Cave diving requires you be utterly present. Drenched in the moment, you are insulated from every other concern. That type of concentration is very addictive.
When I was a kid, I loved bouldering up streams . . . even though one rock is very like another, there was always the lure of "What's around the corner?" One might find a waterfall, or a stunning view . . . or it might be more rocks. Cave diving has a lot of that. What's around the corner? Mastodon bones? Huge rooms? A slope of intricately curved and woven travertine dams? There is a place in one of the cave systems in Mexico, where you have been swimming for 15 minutes through very decorated but very dark passage. The rock is tannin-stained, and the water has an eerie, greenish cast. Suddenly, you swim over a rock rib and down through the halocline. Once your vision clears, you are in an ENORMOUS hallway, maybe forty feet high and about the same wide. The vertical walls, ceiling and floor are pure white, and the water is a deep, cobalt blue. The walls are decorated with draperies of golden flowstone, and the floor is punctuated by elegant pillars. The sudden contrast makes you gasp, the first time you see it.
The ONLY thing in the movie Sanctum that was real, was the team coming through that restriction in the beginning, and bursting out into that amazing room.
When you add the very defined technical challenges of doing cave diving well, the romance of seeing places few people have or will ever see, and the camaraderie of people who cave dive, you add to the appeal.
But in the final analysis, it's what Karen said: Cave diving requires you be utterly present. Drenched in the moment, you are insulated from every other concern. That type of concentration is very addictive.
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