Cave Diving On PBS

[J-Vo]

Anyone else see this? The message is good surrounding both the dangers and skills needed for cave diving, and the environmental needs of the cenotes. That said, when I saw him in the water all I could think was that he was not ready to be in overhead, so the example as set is bad.

Let's ignore the full face mask for this conversation. We all know that was a requirement for filming, although I think voice overs would have been fine.

Mexico – Flooded Caves | Season 1 Episode 4 | Expedition

EXPEDITION
Mexico – Flooded Caves
Episode 4 | 50m 53s

Dive into a network of unexplored caves under the Yucatan Peninsula with Steve Backshall. After trekking through kilometers of scorpion-infested Mexican jungle to reach the caves, he faces the terror of being lost in an underwater silt cloud.

 

[Josh the diver]

yes, I am not a cave diver yet. and I could see problems with his diving.

 

[<*)))><]

First, I'm not a cave diver so what do I know.

Pro's:

Love watching diving trips and expeditions on TV, they're pretty rare.
There seemed to be less "manufactured" drama than some other shows (looking at you Expedition Unknown)
Watching made me want to travel and dive the cenotes (no overheads yet) in Mexico

Con's:

Underwater camera work seemed sub par. I'm comparing the cave diving scenes to what I've watched the on Nat'l Geo channel. Perhaps thats an unrealistically high std and unfair.
Host mentioned he had 1000's of dives but little to no cave diving experience. I mention that because he's much more experienced than I. I would have liked to have seen more of the what and why of the cave training and evaluation dives he did at the beginning.

Overall I give it 4 out of 5 starfish. Compared to regular cable programming I give it 999,999 out of 1,000,000 starfish

 

[Jack Hammer]

I think he is new to sidemount and has some bad habits that make it look worse. Some skills refinement could be beneficial. His bouyancy wasnt bad, he just touched things a lot, skulled with his hands, has wonky kicks, and seemed out of his element. I didn't care for the adrenaline junkie tone. Overall I enjoyed the show. The other divers looked solid.