Do you have to be 18 to do cavern or cave diving for all agencies? From what I have seen you do but I was hoping people here might know places where you dont have to be 18 as long as you have a certain certification or something.
Age Limit
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Most cert agencies want you to be at least 18 before starting cave training. They also want you to have a significant amount of dive experience, usually somewhere around 100 dives past OW. by the time you get the one, you probably won't have to worry about the other.
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18 is the minimum age requirement for most agencies. Even PADI requires you be 18 to take their cavern specialty. But based on your profile, it's not age that will hold you up. It's experience. You will need lots more dives before pursuing overhead environment training.
TDI Standards and Procedures
15.5 Student Pre-Requisites
The student must:
1. Be at least age eighteen (18) or fifteen (15) with parental consent.
2. Show proof of a minimum certification as a certified diver with a minimum of twenty five (25) dives.
NACD Standards and procedures
Cavern Diver Course
3. PRE-REQUISITES:
A. Open water certification.
B. Minimum age 16, with signed parental consent. Provisional status certification for younger divers with written approval of NACD training director only.
PADI Cavern Diving Specialty
Prerequisites
To qualify for the Cavern Diver course, an individual must:
1. Be certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or have a qualifying certification from another training organization.
2. Be 18 years of age or older.
You will still need to talk with your instructor to see what he/she would recommend as these S&P's are the minimum.
15.5 Student Pre-Requisites
The student must:
1. Be at least age eighteen (18) or fifteen (15) with parental consent.
2. Show proof of a minimum certification as a certified diver with a minimum of twenty five (25) dives.
NACD Standards and procedures
Cavern Diver Course
3. PRE-REQUISITES:
A. Open water certification.
B. Minimum age 16, with signed parental consent. Provisional status certification for younger divers with written approval of NACD training director only.
PADI Cavern Diving Specialty
Prerequisites
To qualify for the Cavern Diver course, an individual must:
1. Be certified as a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver or have a qualifying certification from another training organization.
2. Be 18 years of age or older.
You will still need to talk with your instructor to see what he/she would recommend as these S&P's are the minimum.
You can do Intro-to-cave at 16 as well, however I wouldn't recommend it. I did both cavern and intro at 16, and didnt learn nearly as much as I would have now.
My suggustion would be to wait, get some experience in a bp/w with a 7 foot hose, then start when you feel comfortable.
My suggustion would be to wait, get some experience in a bp/w with a 7 foot hose, then start when you feel comfortable.
surlynkid:
OP
My plan was definitely not to try to do one of those courses right now. I am thinking about buying gear after this coming summer and I have been convinced to get a bp/w. I will take the rescue course in that gear and do some more dives and then maybe winter next year i was thinking about doing a trip down to ginnie or somewhere in florida to take the cavern course. The reason I wanted to ask was because I am hoping to take a lot of classes before I get out of high school so I can learn as much as possible while I am in a good financial position, where all the money I make becomes spending money because everying else is paid for. But I would still not want to risk taking classes that I don't feel comfortable taking.
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