Instructor_Tom
Contributor
after 15 overhead environment dives, 965 minutes of bottom time, in two different systems ( Ginnie and Peacock) I finally finished up my IANTD Cave cert this past weekend. funny thing is that we ran so many exits with instructor induced failures that by the end of the course I was more comfortable exiting in a lights out, share air drill than just exiting normally.
even so we still had a few unplanned failures/issues during the training.
1. flooded primary light.
2. several spool entanglements (always carry a backup)
3. buckle release entanglement
4. computer miss configuration
none of these would have been life threatening do to the redundancies but they did open our eyes to gear, gear configuration, and personal preferences. I'm actually working out a bungee system to tuck my travel bottles back out of the way.
I want to send a personal thank you to Jim and Marrisa for holding the doors open at Cave Country multiple times to let Rudy, Nic and I get gas fills in the evening and for helping to lighten the load in my wallet with all the fine toys i could not live without. speaking of which I'll be up there Nov 1st looking for a Xerotherm XL complete suit.
all in all it was extremely fulfilling with the catacombs at Ginnie and the peanut tunnel at Peacock being the most fun for me. playing tunnel rat was fun.
now all I need is 85 more successful cave dive to really consider myself a cave diver.
T.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
even so we still had a few unplanned failures/issues during the training.
1. flooded primary light.
2. several spool entanglements (always carry a backup)
3. buckle release entanglement
4. computer miss configuration
none of these would have been life threatening do to the redundancies but they did open our eyes to gear, gear configuration, and personal preferences. I'm actually working out a bungee system to tuck my travel bottles back out of the way.
I want to send a personal thank you to Jim and Marrisa for holding the doors open at Cave Country multiple times to let Rudy, Nic and I get gas fills in the evening and for helping to lighten the load in my wallet with all the fine toys i could not live without. speaking of which I'll be up there Nov 1st looking for a Xerotherm XL complete suit.
all in all it was extremely fulfilling with the catacombs at Ginnie and the peanut tunnel at Peacock being the most fun for me. playing tunnel rat was fun.
now all I need is 85 more successful cave dive to really consider myself a cave diver.
T.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Congrats on your cert but 100 dives does not make one a cave diver. It's the lessons you learn along the way and the experiences you gain. Trust me I have learned many lessons, many the hard way. At 100 cave dives I just really started getting comfortable and it was then that I began to fully realize everything that my mentors and peers were trying to tell me all along about gaining experience before moving to the next level. A couple "coming to Jesus" moments also helped to put things in perspective. I have nearly 200 full cave dives now and I'm perfectly content in gaining experience before I move on to trimix, deep, or scooter cave dives. Plenty of cave to see without all that. Enjoy the journey, have fun, and be safe. Again congrats. 
