How many cave divers said they would never be cave divers?

I was talking about diving with a friend of mine, and a comment I hear a lot from new divers (myself include) came up: "I would never dive in caves". And so I got to wondering, how many of you cave divers, way back when you first got your OW cert, said you would never dive caves? What made you change your mind?

I'm not a cave diver yet. I suppose if I moved to North Florida and it was right there in my back yard I'd learn to dive what I had. That said, after 13 years of diving I still only see myself doing cavern at most.

I've seen some really beautiful videos of caves and I fully appreciate the appeal. I just don't see myself ever doing it.

I said I would never be a cave diver as little as 5 years ago.

It was not that I didn't want to be a cave diver--I just figured it wasn't in the cards. I had not been doing technical diving long, I live in a state with no cave diving nearby, and I was getting on in years. I also figured that my lack of proximity to caves made taking the necessary trips for training and diving too difficult and expensive.

The first thing that changed was my wife and I both retired and decided to spend a month in Florida each year. I decided to take some classes. I already had a couple of years of technical training under my belt, and I was used to trim, kicks, and doubles, so my training went faster than it would take the average person. (It was still no zero to hero experience.) I was also shocked at the price. I got a package deal from the instructor that included lodging. When I did the math, I realized that an average day (with lodging) of intense cave diving training cost me less than an average day (including lodging) of 2 tank boat dives on the Hawai'ian vacation I had taken the year before. I figured that even if I never did a single cave dive after certification, it was worth it.

What has only recently dawned on me, showing that I was not an economics major, is that typical cave diving is way cheaper than typical boat diving and especially deep decompression diving. This makes my trips much more affordable than I had expected them to be. I have therefore already been able to accumulate far more post certification cave dives than I ever thought would be possible, given my advanced age.

When I got OW, I thought I'd be a vacation diver, diving once or twice a year while at a resort/tropical/warm water location. I never expected to dive locally in the northeast nor in cold water, until I joined SB the following year. SB exposed me to cold water diving and a ton of fantastic local northeast buddies.

The same year I joined SB, I went to Mexico with a bunch of non-diving friends. A co-worker heard I was going to Mexico and asked if I was going to dive a cenote. It piqued my interest so in addition to a few days of reef diving I booked one day of cenote diving and was HOOKED. The cenotes sold my heart and has yet to return it.

I spent the next two years switching over all my recreational gear to cave compliant gear, and getting the necessary training/practice. I switched from my BCD to BP/W, long hose, bungee octo, doubles, drysuit, can light, etc, with a goal toward cave training.

This is my second year as a cave diver and I love it as much as that first cenote tour. Fortunately, for me, not everyone wants to cave dive which is fine by me...can you imagine how crowded the caves would be with all those divers.

I'm an accidental cave diver. I had been doing mix dives on some of the deeper shipwrecks when several life changing events happened to the folks I dived with. After that and the closure of the shop I worked in, I was forced to find another technically oriented shop for gas and dive buddies. Enter cave diving.

As boulderjohn mentioned, the cost of my diving dropped significantly. Very little call for mix, no boat fees and a new group of local dive buddies all within 2-3 hours of home.

Also guilty. I never thought I would even attempt it. I never believed I would check-in at Ginne Springs as a Full Cave Diver, but it happened (and you get a discount). Now, I'm thinking I really should add on my CCR Cave.

The thing about Cave is you can finally justify (rationalize) the cool lights, and scooters, and stuff.

Mememe!
I completed Cavern 28 yrs after I started diving. Last Fall I completed Basic and hopefully will keep going forward with my training.

Aaand I was never going to dive cold water, silly me. God had a sense of humor when I got a job teaching scuba in SoCal. HE knew this old dog needed to learn some new tricks.

Happy Diving!
Elena

Guilty. When I was certified in 1974 the back of my NASDS open water card had various "specialties" that you could be "certified" in. I completed all but two -- cave diving and ice diving. I swore I would never do either of those! Then, 30 years later I started cave diving. Probably be another 30 years before this Florida warm water wimp goes ice diving, though!

Guilty on many counts.

A trust me dive with a very experienced cave diver ten years ago (not the best decision of my life I know). Came out thinking it was a bit pointless. No fish, no colour. Actually nothing but rock.
Knew I would never do it again.

Now I can't wait for my next trip to cave country (and I've abandoned trust me dives as a bad idea).

I said I would never be a cave diver.