Cave Divers with NO CAVES

[brutus_scuba]

My question is to the cave divers that dont' live in Cave Country? How much of your diving is cave diving vs. local OW diving? How often do you make the trip to cave country? I live in Ohio and ever since I have taken my cavern class just can't wait to get back to N. Fl. but can't afford to very often on a college salary.

 

[karstdvr]

I do 100+ cave dives a year and 1 OW dive because my wife makes me. It is tough for the people who live out of town because it can be difficult to maintain the proficiency level.

 

[JimC]

My question is to the cave divers that dont' live in Cave Country? How much of your diving is cave diving vs. local OW diving? How often do you make the trip to cave country? I live in Ohio and ever since I have taken my cavern class just can't wait to get back to N. Fl. but can't afford to very often on a college salary.

This year, I have over 70 cave dives and about 10 OW. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada over 2000 km from Florida. The answer for me was to find and dive caves locally. There are caves everywhere, if your willing to look and willing to dive what you find. I guess my point there is there are no cave divers with no caves, only those who choose to (or are lucky enough to be able to!) only dive warm, clear water cave. Hint, find out where your local dry caving groto is, and be prepared to pay your dues. You might get lucky, I did - and how.

 

[T-Dog]

In an older thread Mike Ferrara had some good info on this topic.
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=34823
Check it out.

 

[GDI]

This year, I have over 70 cave dives and about 10 OW. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada over 2000 km from Florida. The answer for me was to find and dive caves locally. There are caves everywhere, if your willing to look and willing to dive what you find. I guess my point there is there are no cave divers with no caves, only those who choose to (or are lucky enough to be able to!) only dive warm, clear water cave. Hint, find out where your local dry caving groto is, and be prepared to pay your dues. You might get lucky, I did - and how.

What caves are in the Ottawa area? Besides Black Bay

 

[JimC]

What caves are in the Ottawa area? Besides Black Bay

There are a number of karst areas around Ottawa, such as 31 Mile Lake which has hundreds of caverns and leads but lacks exploration. Most of them I am not privy to, or not open to discus because I have not had the time to get hooked up with the local caving groups doing this stuff. There is one area that has over 30000 feet of surveyed passage and likely more undiscovered in the area. Were the water clear it would give Ginnie a run for its money (and likely win).

 

[brutus_scuba]

As a college student I'm thinking about using a summer and seeing if I can get a job in North Florida just to get some time down there to go get the training to get full cave during the summer and get some time in the caves to get comfortable with the enviroment. Even if I spend a summer delievering pizzas it would be awesome just to get a chance to have a dive intensive summer. My parents will freak.

 

[fdog]

I'm definitely not a caver, but I am pretty sure that SCRET has a cave simulation in the Seattle area that is complete with lines, stage drops, scooters etc. The general idea is that the dives are conducted just as they would be in a real cave, from setup dives to end-of-the-line pushes. I had heard that the "penetration" was out to about 3 miles.

A cool way to keep sharp for the real thing.

IIRC, it's called something like the Alkali Plains Project.

All the best, James

 

[grazie42]

I´m a really new cave-diver but my feeling is that I´ll need to spend at least a full week a year cave-diving (somewhere around 20 dives) just to stay somewhere near competent. In addition to that, I´ll be diving wrecks and mines regularly to "keep in shape"...

If you don´t live near diveable caves, you need to find some way to "practice cavediving"" during your regular dives, otherwise you´ll need to start really slow once you hit the caves (you should anyway)...

ymmv

 

[Dive-aholic]

I travel to cave country at least 3 times a year (just bought a house there recently). I'm usually there for at least 2 weeks each visit, which puts me at between 15-25 dives per visit depending on what else I have going on. I don't do more than 2 dives a day because of deco obligations, and sometimes only one because of honey do obligations. But the honey is a cave diver, too, so the obligations aren't that important.

I also do some wreck diving when I get a chance. My local OW dives account for about 1/3 of my annual dives. I'm teaching during many of these, but I also set aside a few dives in between my cave country trips to keep on top of my skills.

I've searched high and low for wet caves near me. There is a sump about an hour's drive from me. The sump is about 900' back in the dry cave and I just can't see myself carrying gear back that far. Unfortunately, the dry cavers have explored that cave all they want to. I don't think I could convince them to sherpa my gear in for me. :frown: Although, one day I may just head back there with a 40 and go for a quick little exploration.

I have heard of other sumps in Arizona, but haven't found them yet. The next closest cave is in the Blue Hole of Santa Rosa, NM, but that's not open yet...