How do you know if you're ready for Cave Training?

[FreeFloat]

Apologies to anyone who may have read this elsewhere......... Thought I'd ask the question here as well to learn from a different set of people.


How does a diver know if they're ready for Cave (or any technical training for that matter)?

I've seen divers who felt they were all that and a Twinkie, too, get their eyes opened at great expense - financial as well as the blow to their diving ego. Courses like DIR-F come to mind as a great way to take a diver down a peg or three.

Admitedly some days I've felt the urge toward putting some challenge into my diving. Other days and other dives are interesting enough without anything added.

Caves are something I personally am interested in, and motivated to pursue, but I am on a somewhat limited budget. While I don't intend to scrimp on the training itself I certainly do intend to get the best "bang" for my buck and to me that entails being absolutely sure I'm as prepared as I can be, so that I don't end up wasting the instructor's time and my money on what could become frustrating and disappointing for me.

I also intend to take cave training at a conservative pace - Cavern, then practice diving for a while before taking intro, etc.

This is all to begin sometime in the future - I hold no delusions that I would be ready right now to begin training.

But how does one know when they're ready?

 

[MikeFerrara]

I'm not sure.

I know people who learned to dive specifically because they wanted to dive caves. They went streight from OW training to cave training and now have hundreds of cave dives but could literally count their OW dives on their fingers.

Others are never ready.

Personally I had hundreds and hundreds of dives (I don't remember how many exactly) and previous technical training and experience before I entered into cave training. That was primarily because I never had any interests in caves until I got a look into some of the springs.

 

[Mako Mark]

I got int cave diving as I trained as a cave hydrologist, then ran away to the circus to become a dive instructor. It seemed the natural path for me.

From the photos on your profile, if that is you it appears that you are bp/w and have a good position in the water, so give it a go.

Part of me is saying, sign up for the full cave course, and after training, go through the cavern, intro, full cave progression from the dive experience perspective rather than the training perspective. I dont really think cave overhead is something that you can or should learn by steps or parts. You either comit to doing it or dont. JMHO.

If you are not sure, and you do not feel comfortable completing full cave training, then you should probably look for a different diving activity (and not be ashamed about it, being underwater, underground is not for everyone) But remember that if you dont try, you dont know.

If you are looking for instructors, PM me, and I will give you a name or two around here.

 

[Diver Lori]

You also might think about contacting a cave instructor and doing a dive with them to assess your current skill level.

 

[FreeFloat]

You also might think about contacting a cave instructor and doing a dive with them to assess your current skill level.

Now there's an idea - would you happen to know any good ones preferebly in this area?

 

[Diver Lori]

I assume you mean Florida? Rose Meadows at Ginnie; Herb Sugden at Cave Excursions; Tyler Moon (freelance).

You can find contact info on all of them at www.nsscds.org

 

[FreeFloat]

I assume you mean Florida? Rose Meadows at Ginnie; Herb Sugden at Cave Excursions; Tyler Moon (freelance).

You can find contact info on all of them at www.nsscds.org

Unfortunately, no. I would have to travel to Florida for the training, most likely, but the "area" I meant was Ontario, Canada, preferably somewhere between Toronto and Brockville/Kingston.

Me having to arrange an entire trip to travel to Florida is yet another reason I want to be good and sure I'm not wasting my time.

 

[novadiver]

Unfortunately, no. I would have to travel to Florida for the training, most likely, but the "area" I meant was Ontario, Canada, preferably somewhere between Toronto and Brockville/Kingston.

Me having to arrange an entire trip to travel to Florida is yet another reason I want to be good and sure I'm not wasting my time.

Hey freefloat,plan a learning vacation , and go to ginnie spings. what you learn in nss-cds will stay with you always. To answer your question about being ready, no ones ever ready. This is learning at it's very best. Is it easy? NO. Will you be a better diver? 100% yes, Contact a good instructor and get the workbook early , so you can study. Read basic cave diving-a blueprint for survival by Sheck Exley and the NSS cave diving manual. After the cavern course you can decide if full cave is for you. I've read your post on other boards and you seem like your open minded and smart enough to handle this. I'd give this advice to very few divers.
With respect nova!

 

[wetvet]

Hi Freefloat:

Just an opinion from someone nearby. I went last November to do my course. I had 150 dives or so, most of them in Georgian Bay and Lake Huron.
My advice is to get REALLY comfortable in the water, in full cave gear. The 3 of us who did the course did "practice" dives in the cold water while we were carrying all our reels, slates, lights, etc. Learning how to trim out is the biggest issue. Once you get that down, cave diving is far more mental than physical.

On another note, we did the entire course (Cavern, Intro and Full) at one time. I'm not sure what the benefit would be to take the course step-wise, when you have no opportunity to practice in the meantime. Learning cavern skills, then staying out of caves for a year, then learning intro skills (after re-inforcing cavern stuff that you haven't used in a year), then not diving in a cave.......you get the idea. I think that learning the skills as a "set" makes it easier to keep it all together if you are going to be out of caves for an extended time. The three of us just went back to the caves for our first "non training" cave dives in June......5 months after we had been trained. There are no caves around Ontario that I am comfortable with yet......heard about some sidemount, silt channels that you can squiggle through, but that is not for me.

If you have any questions, send me a PM.....I was in almost exactly your position a year ago.

Wetvet

 

[Michael Schlink]

You can test yourself, but you should know if your ready.
Do you have good buoyancy skills-can you hover motionless, can you dive without ANY sculling or hand movement-Can you raise and lower yourself with breath control within inches. Can you position yourself in the water with subtle movements- Can you perform a hover in a multitude of positions without moving your fins
Does having your mask removed and no regulator in your mouth bother you.
How far can you swim with no mask and no regulator, comfortably
Do you have good air consumption
Can you follow rules without fail
I'm sure there are many more "skills" that you can evaluate for your self but this would be a good start.
Contacting a good cave inst. in the N. Fl area is excellent advice as they can give you an idea of what they are going to be looking for
I love cave diving -it's challenging, fun, exciting and the water is beautiful, make sure you get good training, practice ,practice, practice and you may decide that it's the best kinda of diving you can do.-M