Cave 1

[Rainer]

Looking online, seems to be that C1 is usually done over five days. Is that standard? Do people feel that's enough time? I know some T1 classes are now running seven days (mine did).

How are the costs (incidentals) for doing the class in FL vs. MX for someone coming from the West Coast?

Finally, for those who did the class down in MX, you pick your instructor, or just signed up for a date and were assigned one of the three?

 

[rjack321]

5days is still standard although at least in MX they are willing to do semicustom 6,7day schedules.

MX is gawd awful expensive now. Its not the airfare, its the 2.5-3x greater cost of lodging that is brutal.

Nowadays, Chris, Danny, and Fred have given up trying to assign themselves to particular classes. It was too much work. So you can't pick one as "your" instructor anymore. Kinda too bad, but also not that big a deal.

All that said, I have done all of my cave diving in MX and wouldn't have it any other way. The systems are shallow with very little flow so you get substantive (20+min) dives before thumbing it and having issues begin.

 

[nadwidny]

Looking online, seems to be that C1 is usually done over five days. Is that standard?

I believe so.

Do people feel that's enough time?

I could've used a day off in the middle to decompress a bit because outside of fundies (which wasn't a real course back then), I hadn't done any GUE courses like Tech 1 so Cave 1 was a bit of overload. The guys who did Tech 1 then Cave were fine.

Finally, for those who did the class down in MX, you pick your instructor, or just signed up for a date and were assigned one of the three?

Signed up for a date and was assigned an instructor.

 

[PerroneFord]

Looking online, seems to be that C1 is usually done over five days. Is that standard? Do people feel that's enough time? I know some T1 classes are now running seven days (mine did).

I have not seen a T1 class run, but you can get a LOT of time at the caves. No boats to deal with, no coming in and out of gear, fills readily available, etc.

 

[Rainer]

Thanks to all for their posts. What, if you don't mind, does a week down in MX cost (*not* including the course fees, which I can look up)?

Are people really ok with not being able to choose their instructor? I don't know any of the three down there, but I'd have had a real tough timing signing up for T1 if my instructor was going to be by lottery.

Finally, I see a lot of advantages in going to MX for C1, mainly due to the shallow and low flow nature of the caves. That said, if time down in MX is really so expensive, I'd likely be doing most of (any cave diving; mostly interested in the course as pertains to wreck penetration) my caving in FL. Still worth doing the class in MX if one is mostly going to dive in FL?

Thanks, again!

 

[TSandM]

If you are going to do most of your cave diving in Florida, do your class there. Handling the depth and flow and the different rock type is quite different from what you do in Mexico. I did my original cave class in MX and my first cave diving TRIP to Florida, and it was a rude shock!

Lodging in MX isn't that bad, if you can share a place. We're renting a 2 bdrm condo right on the marina, near the beach, with a ginormous, gorgeous swimming pool. The place has its own laundry facilities (something which is AWFULLY nice for divers) and is within a 2 minute walk of all the restaurants in PA. The cost will be $240 a week per person, with five of us. Now, if you rent a cottage at Dive Outpost and share it with three or four people, it will be cheaper, but much more modest. Motel rooms in High Springs will run you the same or more, and will not have kitchens or laundry facilities.

Car rental in MX is brutal, if you buy all the insurances. Your American Express card will cover the liability insurance, but you'll have to have enough room on the card to set aside the cost of the car to avoid the collision insurance.

Food's pretty cheap in either place, but I'd rather eat cheap Mexican food than cheap American food. That's just me. Floyd's has GREAT food.

I think tank rental runs about the same in both places.

Our cave 1 was five days, and they were five REALLY LONG days. It would have been nicer to have done it in six or seven, but I think that's hard for the guys to schedule. We started at 7:30 a.m., and a couple of nights, we got back to the condo around 9 pm. Luckily, we had my husband to cook for us!

I have never dived with Chris, but I did Cave 1 with Danny, and did Cave 1 redux (diving as a buddy with a friend who was doing a reeval) with Fred. They are both excellent instructors. I'd have no problems taking Cave 2 from either of them (yes, I realize Fred doesn't teach Cave 2 yet). They do have different personalities, though!

Overall, having dived in Florida and dived in MX, I prefer MX, because you get much more bottom time with the low flow and the shallow depths. I think the caves in both places are beautiful, although they are different. I also think it's a great idea to get some experience in both places.

 

[lamont]

Looking online, seems to be that C1 is usually done over five days. Is that standard? Do people feel that's enough time? I know some T1 classes are now running seven days (mine did).

C1 is basically all bottom work and no ascents, and most of the bottom work will be familiar from T1 (light failures, valve failures, OOG, etc), with only lost-buddy and lost-line really being completely new. The class is long enough to introduce the failures very systematically -- on-land, in open water, in the cavern zone, and back in the cave.

C1 in 5 days is *much* more doable than T1 in 5 days. There's enough time in C1 to do a dive and mess something up (e.g. having the guy in the rear systematically lose all their lights without repositioning them) and be able to redo it on a later dive and get it right -- while in T1 it seems more like every mistake digs you in deeper.

 

[TSandM]

I'm with Lamont. I know this is heresy, but after Rec Triox (I haven't done T1 -- shoot, I haven't PASSED Rec Triox) Cave 1 wasn't hard. What was hard was the stamina. What Cave 1 really shows you is where your situational awareness is faulty.

 

[MonkSeal]

I'm planning Cave 1 for next year and I still can't decide about location: France or Mexico. I've heard all prons and cons and I've put them in personal context. The only issue that's still opened is safety - I plan to go with wife and kids and they will want to visit some palces while I'm enaged with class. I don't have any doubts about France - it's quite safe country, I'm there few times a year for business reasons and we've been there few times as a family visiting different places. Regarding Mexico, I don't have any idea besides (bed) news I hear from time to time. Be so kind to share your thoughts.

 

[TSandM]

The only problems I have heard about in the Yucatan area where the caves are is theft. And some of that has been truly petty -- lunches, for example. It's a very heavily traveled tourist area (and tourism is essentially all the economy has) so I suspect the government is pretty careful to keep it patrolled. The resort properties are all gated, which provides a certain degree of control of who goes in and out, too.

I wouldn't worry about safety. You can worry a little about food and water -- Each time I've been down there, somebody in our group has had a little stomach upset, but it's generally been minor and limited to one day.