Vortex Springs Cavern Class

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eandiver

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Has anyone taken the NACD Cavern class at Vortex? If so what was your opinion of it? Class, cavern, instructors and dive site.
 
I'm not clear on what you mean by " at vortex". I know lots of people who have taken NACD training (including myself). I know some people who have done portions of the training at vortex.

Is vortex offering cavern training? Who is the instructor?

IMO, Vortex doesn't have much of a caver. As soon as you turn the corner at the stop sign, you're pretty much out of the cavern zone and into the cave zone and there isn't much cavern outside the cave entrance.

That's not to say that it wouldn't be useful for training in a pinch but someplace like Peacock would be a lot nicer.
 
MikeFerrara:
I'm not clear on what you mean by " at vortex". I know lots of people who have taken NACD training (including myself). I know some people who have done portions of the training at vortex.

Is vortex offering cavern training? Who is the instructor?

IMO, Vortex doesn't have much of a caver. As soon as you turn the corner at the stop sign, you're pretty much out of the cavern zone and into the cave zone and there isn't much cavern outside the cave entrance.

That's not to say that it wouldn't be useful for training in a pinch but someplace like Peacock would be a lot nicer.
According to Vortex's web site they offer the NACD Cavern course there at the spring. Don't know who the instructor(s) is/are.
 
Its clear, man made tubs for practice. line control, reels. the actual cavern itself is alright. (meaning i would have to agree, to peacock being the best). But it is a nice place. lots of fish to look at. Large enough to defently work on your boyancy-Sand bottom, give you some pent, practice kicks. The campgrounds are well kept. a tad bit expensive on the mixes,. you know how that is.
Not sure on the instructers, sorry.
 
I would recommend going elsewhere for Cavern training. I won't teach Cavern at Vortex unless I absolutely, positively do not have any other option. The cavern there has been so altered by man as to be almost unusable for Cavern training. It is an exceptionally inferior training site in my opinion.
 
chickdiver:
I would recommend going elsewhere for Cavern training. I won't teach Cavern at Vortex unless I absolutely, positively do not have any other option. The cavern there has been so altered by man as to be almost unusable for Cavern training. It is an exceptionally inferior training site in my opinion.

Since I have not been there would you go into more detail as to why not? Can you recomend a better location? I got the hint on Peacock and intend on checking it out.
 
The cavern at Vortex has been extensively altered by the owner's of the property. The roof was blasted out at some point in time, so you swim over a lip of rock and descend down into what *once* was a large cavern, now it is an open area. Swimming toward the back of this area, you will eventually encounter a small area with an overhead, but are forced to turn almost immediately to the right and swim down a tube shaped tunnel. As a cavern diver (or student) you are limited in penetration distance to the area where you can see natural daylight- once you make that turn, you are no longer in the "cavern zone"- hence, your available area for exploration and training is extremely small. Additionally, there are artificial lights added to the length of the cave to the grate (approx. 500'), and a large plastic tube run along the floor.

Vortex is the closest area I could train divers for Cavern, but I opt to drive farther to reach a better dive site. I just feel it is an inferior environment for training divers. I would suggest looking at Ginnie Springs- which is significantly closer to you anyway. Peacock is also a great cavern site. I can give you some names of instructors if you are interested in that. Also- most cavern/cave instructors don't work for a facility (a la Vortex or Ginnie)- we are independant. Check out the NACD website (http://www.safecavediving.org) for a list of current instructors.

Good luck,

Heather
 
I recently did the cavern course and my instructor insisted on taking me and my girlfriend to Vortex. Funny thing, my house is on Merrit's Millpond! I think Vortex is probably a bit small for cavern training, I mean, we had to kind of just run our line in a circle and puddle around in the entrance. Nevertheless, we got the first day done there then went to Jackson Blue and Shangrila for the second day.
 
n2thebluec,
That doesn't sound too much like a cavern..... think I'll take a ride up there and check it out.

Thanks for the names Heather.
 
chickdiver:
The cavern there has been so altered by man as to be almost unusable for Cavern training.

I was told by Doc (the owner) that when he baught the place it was a mud hole with no flow and no cave. He baught it because of a very old picture he saw of the place and he thought he might be able to restore it. Doc is like a mad scientist...inventor kind of guy. There had been a mill on the property and the dam stopped the flow and the cave filled in.

Doc started digging. At first they used scuba and buckets. As they dug, little by little the flow started to push through and things started to open up. The process continues and that's what those pipes are that run back to the grate.

So, yes it was altered by man. A man built a mill that plugged up the cave and made it non-existand. Then another man came along and tried to repair the damage.
 
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