What do I need to know about cave diving?

I will be visiting my Dad in Crystal River in January and I think that I am going to take the cavern course while I am down there. I went on a guided cave dive in Dominican Republic years ago and I think that I would enjoy getting into that discipline. Is there anyone that can give me an idea how to ease into it? Between what I think is three courses not to mention the change over of equipment, I am guessing that I am looking at around $2500 and I think if anything that is an optimistic estimate. I am just not sure when I would be able to afford everything at once. Is the backplate and wings set up the first thing I need to invest in? If so what do I need to look for when I am trying to find one? Any help would be great. Thanks.

Contact this guy. He will answer all of your questions.

Mark Fowler Scuba | Certified Scuba Instructor

Take a cavern course first, then decide if you want to take it further. That will be a minimal cost to you and give you an accurate idea if this is for you. I really like Cave Country Dive Shop or, a bit further north and west, Chipola Divers.

Crystal River is the home of Birds' Underwater. Bird's Underwater Manatee Tours - BOOK ONLINE!

Call for Bill - he is the owner of Birds' Underwater and a great cavern & cave instructor.

Another option is to take an intro to tech class with a cave instructor. This will help you get configured as far as gear is concerned for cave diving. If you are just interested in cavern diving and want to explore the possibility then take a cavern class in your current configuration (with some minor changes to make it overhead safe). If you think you will progress beyond cavern then get your gear sorted out along with some experience in it and then take a cavern class.

The great thing about cavern diving, is that most of the equipment is the same as open water. There is limited cost aside from reels and lights for extra equipment, and it will give you a feeling of how ready you are for going cave. The best thing to practice is buoyancy and be comfortable swimming without a mask. Aside from that everything should come with time! I just completed my Cavern/Intro to Cave about a month ago and those were the biggest parts to work on for myself.

Teller:

Contact this guy. He will answer all of your questions.

Mark Fowler Scuba | Certified Scuba Instructor

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Why not look for a guy who is local to the area where you'll be taking instruction, so you're not paying an out of town instructor's expenses?

---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 08:56 PM ----------

Capt Jim Wyatt:

Crystal River is the home of Birds' Underwater. Bird's Underwater Manatee Tours - BOOK ONLINE!

Call for Bill - he is the owner of Birds' Underwater and a great cavern & cave instructor.

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I too would recommend Bird's Underwater or Capt. Jim Wyatt himself. Both have been doing this stuff in the area longer than just about anyone. You won't find more thorough instruction. FYI, Jim owns Cave Country Dive Shop that Netdoc just recommended.

Superlyte27:

Teller:

Contact this guy. He will answer all of your questions.

Mark Fowler Scuba | Certified Scuba Instructor

Click to expand...

Why not look for a guy who is local to the area where you'll be taking instruction, so you're not paying an out of town instructor's expenses?

---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 08:56 PM ----------

Capt Jim Wyatt:

Crystal River is the home of Birds' Underwater. Bird's Underwater Manatee Tours - BOOK ONLINE!

Call for Bill - he is the owner of Birds' Underwater and a great cavern & cave instructor.

Click to expand...

I too would recommend Bird's Underwater or Capt. Jim Wyatt himself. Both have been doing this stuff in the area longer than just about anyone. You won't find more thorough instruction. FYI, Jim owns Cave Country Dive Shop that Netdoc just recommended.

Click to expand...

Mark is local. Hes down here diving more than he is in VA.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I had guessed that Mr Fowler spent a good deal of time in Florida considering his extensive cave diving resume so thanks Mr Teller. I guess Captain Wyatt is an humble person which you probably need to be with cave and tech diving. Thanks for the recommendation of Bird's. My Dad's bridge partner had been through the intro to cave with him and recommended him, but I wonder about anybody that plays a card game where you can't talk including my Dad. It is good to get a second to the recommendation. Thanks to NetDoc Superlyte27 for your recommendations as well. As for Dive-aholic and Aviator, I am fairly certain that I will go all of the way through to Full Cave, it is just a matter of time frame. I believe that my buoyancy is generally pretty good and I don't have contacts so swimming without a mask does not bother me. My issue with tighter spots in the past has tended to be with perception. I will feel like I am closer to the bottom than I am and will catch my tank or I will just think that the opening is bigger or that I have more space or whatever. You can understand that things appear closer, but when you don't interact with them then your mind does not get use to moving within the confines of things. Maybe it is just me but that has been my biggest problem.

If I am fairly certain that I will continue through with cave diving, what should be the equipment that I should look into first. I am guessing a stop at Cave Country Dive Shop might be a good start, but I would like to research things before I head down so that I don't feel like a complete idiot. Am I right that switching to a backplate and wings would be the first step?

Really it depends on what direction you eventually want to go in. A backplate and wing is a great first step. Another gear configuration to consider is sidemount. You'll see a lot of sidemount divers in cave country these days and there's no point in spending several hundred dollars on backmount gear only to decide later down the road that you would prefer to dive sidemount. That being said, choosing sidemount will limit your instructor options. Not all instructors dive sidemount and you'll need to find one that does and can teach in sidemount. And sidemount doesn't necessarily mean tight spaces. While there is that aspect of it, it really is only a configuration. But there are things specific to sidemount that need to be understood that an instructor who has little to no experience in sidemount just doesn't know enough about to properly pass that on to students.

I recommend getting into your new gear, building some experience in it so that comfort and muscle memory are there and then begin your overhead training. In the meantime, start interviewing instructors. There are quite a few good instructors out there. There are also some different teaching styles. Find an instructor with the teaching style that works well with your learning style.