Cave 2 gas questions

Can someone explain the Cave 2 gas component? The standards aren't clear how that works.

Assumptions:

From GUE's Standards page, Cave 2 students are supposed to have "enriched air training" as a prerequisite.
There's no mention of advanced or technical nitrox.

Cave 2 equipment standards require use of an O2 deco bottle.

Tech 1 equipment standards mention only a 50/50 deco bottle.

Tech 2 seems to be the first to allow O2 deco usage.


Questions:

Is recreational nitrox enough for Cave 2 students?

If so, what sort of training is there within the class for 02 deco procedures?

If recreational nitrox isn't enough, would that mean you'd need Tech 2 training first?

Or is O2 somehow preferable to cavers, while 50/50 is better for tech divers?

My experience with Cave 2:

Recreational Nitrox was enough to get into the class.

During the class we discuss the use of Deco bottles to accelerate decompression vs. using backgas. Oxygen bottles were taken for all of the dives except for 2 of them that were within 60'.

We went from tank markings, procedures and gas sharing scenarios.

I have been wondering the same thing about Oxygen vs 50/50 for Cave and Tech training.

I can tell you that it is much more practical to deco in 20' near the exit then at 70' some place back in the cave. The caves we did our traning in were 60-95' and multilevel in/multilevel out.

The better question is why still use 32% instead of 30/30 for cave classes. I guess you get more narced in open water then in caves...

I'll just stick to shallow caves for a while.

willanz once bubbled...
During the class we discuss the use of Deco bottles to accelerate decompression vs. using backgas. Oxygen bottles were taken for all of the dives except for 2 of them that were within 60'.

Click to expand...

Does the Cave 2 card get you O2 fills, or do you get a technical nitrox card from another agency along with it?