First Dive Trip Without Instructor - Need to Rent Gear & Help Planning

[PfcAJ]

In line with this, is there a list of good "Beginner Caverns" or even "Beginner Caves" (once I am certified) where the chance of a silt out for example is very, very low or where there are no restrictions or side tunnels, etc...?

Caverns:
Any of the high flow spots are good. Ginnie, Devils, JB, Little River. Even the low flow ones are fine IF you use proper cave technique and stick to your training limits. Peacock, Orange Grove, Paradise, Blue Grotto.

Caves:
Restrictions are outside of the scope of an intro or cave 1 class, as are side tunnels. Main line penetration only.

 

[CavernFrog]

@CavernFrogyou went right by it. It is right in the middle of the cavern, right before you tied into the gold line.

What you said "right before you tied into the gold line"....

Exactly... We never saw any of the parts of the cavern before where we tied into the gold line. We took a wrong turn in the very beginning and went on a route underneath the normal route through the cavern.

There were no signs on the route we took to the gold line. If there were, then we didn't see them.

I am not one to blame others for my mistakes, but if the community really wants to prevent divers from going beyond the cavern at Jackson Blue, we may want to put a new sign in there and I would be happy to help inform where it needs to go.

 

[tbone1004]

@CavernFrog it's smack dab in the middle of the cavern, can't miss it if you don't have blinders on. Talk to Edd about it, he controls the signs and where they are but it is quite prominent.

 

[WetRocks]

@CavernFrog it's smack dab in the middle of the cavern, can't miss it if you don't have blinders on. Talk to Edd about it, he controls the signs and where they are but it is quite prominent.

Tbone it sounds like he went onto the "lower cavern" area (where lost line drills are often completed). There's no sign there BUT you also lose daylight pretty quickly there too...

CaverFrog: As a cavern diver, it is your responsibility to always know if you are in the cavern zone or have ventured into the cave zone. As you should have been taught, the "cavern zone" can change based in time of day and even weather as the key rule is that big primary light in the sky should always be visible.

 

[CavernFrog]

 

[CavernFrog]

Tbone it sounds like he went onto the "lower cavern" area (where lost line drills are often completed). There's no sign there BUT you also lose daylight pretty quickly there too...

CavernFrog: As a cavern diver, it is your responsibility to always know if you are in the cavern zone or have ventured into the cave zone. As you should have been taught, the "cavern zone" can change based in time of day and even weather as the key rule is that big primary light in the sky should always be visible.

@WetRocks , yes, that was my main failing: Not paying attention to the sunlight disappearing behind us.

 

[tbone1004]

Tbone it sounds like he went onto the "lower cavern" area (where lost line drills are often completed). There's no sign there BUT you also lose daylight pretty quickly there too...

CaverFrog: As a cavern diver, it is your responsibility to always know if you are in the cavern zone or have ventured into the cave zone. As you should have been taught, the "cavern zone" can change based in time of day and even weather as the key rule is that big primary light in the sky should always be visible.

likely, but there is no "primary light" once you get out of the "Deco room", so anything deeper than about 30ft is outside of the cavern zone if you use sunlight as your "primary light"

 

[halocline]

In line with this, is there a list of good "Beginner Caverns" or even "Beginner Caves" (once I am certified) where the chance of a silt out for example is very, very low or where there are no restrictions or side tunnels, etc...?

We're back on this bus, huh?

There are no caves or caverns that are not a very dangerous place for a brand new diver with no experience and demonstrated willingness to exceed his training. That's you, buddy.

Is it an ego thing, that you are so seemingly against getting some nice, easy, relatively safe experience in open water before venturing into overheads? Why not take a few trips to the Caribbean; Cozumel is damn nice, and a breeze to get to from Atlanta. Bonaire is terrific too and you'd get valuable experience diving on your own.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Splitting a week or two vacation between Cozumel and cenotes on the mainland is a great way to do some of both types of diving while building up enough experience to begin an Intro course on a more solid footing. Maybe sticking with the guided cenote cavern dives for now will satisfy your lust for wet rocks? The cenotes are a different animal from the FL caves; as you may have discovered, some of the cenotes popular for the guided cavern dives have openings to daylight scattered along the cavern line, whereas there are few caverns in FL that don't get dark (and thus end the cavern zone) real fast.

 

[PfcAJ]

We're back on this bus, huh?

There are no caves or caverns that are not a very dangerous place for a brand new diver with no experience and demonstrated willingness to exceed his training. That's you, buddy.

Is it an ego thing, that you are so seemingly against getting some nice, easy, relatively safe experience in open water before venturing into overheads? Why not take a few trips to the Caribbean; Cozumel is damn nice, and a breeze to get to from Atlanta. Bonaire is terrific too and you'd get valuable experience diving on your own.

I agree.

Cave and cavern diving/training really isn’t appropriate for people with no open water experience.