No Deco Cave Diving... worth it?

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phoenix31tt

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Location
Trinidad and Tobago
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Hi All,

It's pretty early but i thought i throw it out there. Most likely i'll be doing some technical training next year. I'm interested in cavern, cave, wreck, deco procedures etc. My wife doesn't want to do deco diving but she really likes the idea of cavern and then cave diving. So the question is this...

In your cave diving experience, are there enough opportunities to do cave dives within "recreational limits" to make the training worth while?

forgive me if i'm ignorant but most of the time i read tech forums or even books that mention cave diving they speak about doing deco stops...

Thanks

M
 
In florida you're going to be limited at the full-cave level to relatively short dives. Still fun though.
 
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plenty, however I would recommend an/dp regardless of whether or not you intend on doing decompression diving, because it removes the psychological impact if blowing NDL's. It gives you the freedom of "going another 200 ft" if you have the gas etc. That said there are plenty of dives that can be done well within NDL's with no issues so it's not a requirement by any means, but I do recommend an/dp for all divers just because the removal of that concern about NDL's is worth it.
 
The short answer is "yes, there are plenty of wonderful no-deco cave dives."

The long answer is... without the availability of direct access to the surface the potential for a planned no-deco dive to turn into a deco dive (purposely or inadvertently) is always present.
 
Where do you plan on doing your cave diving? Some places like Mexico have great no deco cave dives others the no deco sites are more limited but they are there.
 
I recently did a two hour cave dive in Mexico that did not exceed NDLs. There are lots of very shallow caves there that require no decompression. All the rest of my cave diving has been in Florida and the Bahamas, and I have done deco pretty much every time in those locations.

Even if you decide to do all your diving in shallow Mexican caves, there is a good reason to do some technical training before cave training. In that training, you will learn the good buoyancy, trim, and propulsion skills you need for cave diving. Your cave training will go much, much better if you are not trying to learn that the same time you are trying to learn cave skills. For example, in your cave training, you will need to be able to hover in horizontal trim while tying in a jump line. If you can't do that when you start that training, you will be very frustrated.
 
In your cave diving experience, are there enough opportunities to do cave dives within "recreational limits" to make the training worth while?

No, none. Because "recreational limits" means more than staying within NDL, it also means you have direct access to the surface. Not possible in a cave, by definition.

But I don't think that is what you meant.

Maybe you meant, can I be cave-trained and cave-dive without doing deco?
Yes, with some agencies you can be cave-trained, but this is a really bad idea as discussed in earlier posts.
But, can you find interesting caves to dive without doing deco?
Yes, especially in Mexico.

Best advice; get the full cave training, including deco, and then you have a choice NOT to use it but will find it comforting to have the knowledge....just in case.
 
ahh... makes alot of sense... overhead environment runs the risk of doing deco even if it wasn't planned. I take your points in doing deco procedures/adv nitrox etc.

Even if you decide to do all your diving in shallow Mexican caves, there is a good reason to do some technical training before cave training. In that training, you will learn the good buoyancy, trim, and propulsion skills you need for cave diving. Your cave training will go much, much better if you are not trying to learn that the same time you are trying to learn cave skills. For example, in your cave training, you will need to be able to hover in horizontal trim while tying in a jump line. If you can't do that when you start that training, you will be very frustrated.

definitely.. that's the intention... we have been practicing open water like that though... i think we are well on our way to being ready (the planned instructor said i'm ready, and my wife needs some more dives and practice). Regardless we are going to make sure we meet the requirements of "intro to tech" before moving on to anything else.
 
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What they said^^^.

In Florida, there are shallower caves like Peacock Springs where you can get an hour+ long dive at 60+/- ft with no deco.

In Mexico, I recently did a 2 hour dive at NaHoch, Max depth 25 ft, no deco...one long safetly stop. :)

There are plenty of cave dives where your limiting factor is the amount of gas you carry & your gas consumption, not deco obligation.
 
biggest thing to think about regarding unplanned deco is this.
You plan a dive to NDL's using full thirds, or even sixths, but we'll use thirds because that's full cave limits. So you go in a third, out takes about a quarter usually, but you turn assuming it will take same amount of time in and time out. Say 20 minutes in, 15 minutes out, puts you 5 minutes ahead of your NDL's. What happens if you have a siltout, lose your buddy, have an emergency where you are out of air, and it takes 10 minutes to fix that situation and now your exit instead of 15 minutes is 25 minutes. You've just blown deco on a dive that shouldn't have gone in. Now you have the psychological issue of having blown NDL's without being deco certified compounding the other issues that have already happened. You aren't likely to run out of gas, but just because you're deco certified doesn't mean you have to do planned decompression, just that if it happens, it's no big deal.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/
http://cavediveflorida.com/Rum_House.htm

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