Best time for training?

I have come to the point where I want to venture into cave diving, I have been diving off and on for 12 yrs now and have been routinely diving under the ice here in Michigan. I went to Ginnie last February and spoke to the young lady working the counter at the dive shop. I got a short list of instructors from them, and wanted to get a little info about each. I am not trying to start a "this one is better than that one" thread. Just some particulars from those who have used them, but more importantly is there a "best time" to start training, IE October etc and why?

The first instructor I was given was Edd Sorenson, based on my brief research so far Edd has accomplished some pretty amazing feats in the last year or so, I am a member of the National Speleological Society, and just joined the CDS, their newsletter spoke pretty highly of him, but mentioned nothing about his training.

The second I see is a member and posts frequently, Capt Jim Wyatt, he was recommended not only by the dive shop but by a friend and mentor.

I am not sure if it matters but one of my main interests in learning to Cave dive is to enable my research and help build overall skills, also I was told that I need to avoid GUE because there are several research programs that do not abide by their gear requirements and hence I would not be able to dive with them. What are the thoughts?

First off, the stuff about GUE and research is suspect. What kind of research do you do and why would it prevent you from diving with GUE? One of the pillars of GUE is research/science, so I would raise an eyebrow to those assumptions without further info.

Moving on, for timing, my best answer is "not right now". EVERYTHING is un-divable except Ginnie springs and probably Manatee (not the greatest for entry-level training, imo), and diving only 1 location will not give you a good base cave education. When winter rolls around and things dry up, the caves will clear. Winter is almost always a favorable time for cave conditions.

Thanks, I am looking more at November time frame or February? As far as GUE It was my understanding that it is not a GUE issue at all. The directors of the two research programs I am interested in do not abide by GUE, so I was lead to believe I would not be permitted to dive with them if my certs were from GUE. I have never had dealings with GUE so I am not familiar with their regulations/standards

What research programs are you interested in? PM me if you want. If you have a GUE cert, you can dive with whomever you want.

PM sent

Both of the instructors whose names you were given are well-established and respected people. I have a number of friends who trained with Jim; I don't know anyone who trained with Edd (he didn't start teaching again until recently) but I know him, and he is a well-respected diver. I don't think you could do wrong with either of them.

But the information you were given about GUE is specious, I think. There are some deep and divisive dive politics in cave country, and GUE as an organization is not well liked by a lot of people, because of their exclusive access to Wakulla. GUE training is good training -- you could do FAR worse than to take a Fundamentals class with Doug Mudry, prior to applying for any cave training, just to get some skills refinement. Other than requiring sidemount, I can't imagine any cave research program that would object to GUE's equipment configuration -- it's pretty standard.

Fwiw, GUE does not have access. The Woodville Karst Plain Project does.

While there are similarities between GUE and WKPP, and some shared history, they are not the same and each functions completely independent of each other. GUE training is a prerequisite for membership in the WKPP except for very rare instances that are carefully looked at on a case-by-case basis. That said, simply having GUE training is not a sure-fire ticket onto the Project.

I should have said, "GUE is disliked because they are associated with the WKPP, that controls access to Wakulla."

The bottom line is that there are a lot of political issues in cave country, and you have to take what you hear from any one person with a grain of salt, until you can crosscheck it for validity. Each and every person or organization mentioned in this thread will be badmouthed by SOMEBODY.

I mentioned to AJ in a pm that the info I got was from a friend that dives but he is not GUE, so AJ filled me in a little on how it works. I called Edd and he said he had openings in November, I should pm Jim though because I have called twice with no response, perhaps I was given the wrong number. I will check in with the instructor you gave me also AJ. I will also look into the fundies class, I know I could benefit greatly from it. Thanks guys.

Even if you don't go down the GUE cave route, the Fundamentals class is great. Jim is diving today, maybe try again later