Cave Diving Certification

[roughwater]

Hi,

I was wondering what agencies offer an internationally recognised Cave Diving Rating. I believe PADI has a cavern course, but not a cave course?

Other questions I have are:

a) Does that agency recognise other agency qualifications. (ie, if I'm a Basic Cave rating now, is that recognised), and

b) Do they have expiry dates, or is the license perpetual?

Thanks

[mania]

Well, I'm not a representative of any agency but what I know is that:
IANTD, TDI, NSS and NACD certs are widely recognized among the cave divers community, all around the world.
And what I also understand is that Apprentice is the one that expires (it's valid for a year, and then you have to do the full cave).
Basic cave/intro to cave issued by one is recognized by all these mentioned above (at least in my case:))))

Mania

[caver]

Hi,

I was wondering what agencies offer an internationally recognised Cave Diving Rating. I believe PADI has a cavern course, but not a cave course?

Other questions I have are:

a) Does that agency recognise other agency qualifications. (ie, if I'm a Basic Cave rating now, is that recognised), and

b) Do they have expiry dates, or is the license perpetual?

Thanks

Here's what comes too mind --- NSS-CDS NACD TDI IANTD NAUI GUE - there may be a few more. All offer FULL CAVE certs. Only GUE has a time limit that it is good for. All others are good for life. As far as Appr. Cave, it is good only for one year - you have to move on to Full Cave within a year.

[roughwater]

Thanks all for your replies. Looks like I can go TDI very simply from here.

Cheers for your help!

[DA Aquamaster]

Most agencies offer the option of doing Cavern, then Intro to Cave either separately or together, then either Apprentice cave in 2-3 days or the longer Full Cave course in one 4 day shot.

If you are ready for Full Cave, it makes snese to just do it and get it out of the way.