How I started and why I continue to cave dive

[TSandM]

Looking forward to seeing the cenotes again, but the stress, not so much. At least I'm bringing a working back kick and helicopter turn to the table. I have this mental image of the instructor with a riding crop smacking me every time I drop my knees!

Ron, don't stress! I think you will find that, with the training and experience you already have, cavern will not be a big deal at all. Most cavern instructors expect to spend significant time teaching buoyancy, trim, and non-silting propulsion. I know ours was a little nonplussed at the skills we came in with, and I'm not sure he knew exactly what to do with us!

 

[InTheDrink]

Well I finished my Cave up yesterday and it's even better than cavern diving The course was the hardest I've done but well worth it. Going back for some dives in about a month or so, can't wait! Wish I could go earlier but this was my fifth trip since the start of the year and my partner really wants me to take a rest for a month so we can go away one weekend. Dying to get back with my camera.

Well done Sas, that's really brilliant news. Nice one.

J

 

[Sas]

Well done Sas, that's really brilliant news. Nice one.

J

Thanks! Your turn now!!

 

[Oside Jimc]

I'm off to Playa on Thursday for Cavern and Intro, and all I can say is that I'm a nervous wreck! Looking forward to seeing the cenotes again, but the stress, not so much. At least I'm bringing a working back kick and helicopter turn to the table. I have this mental image of the instructor with a riding crop smacking me every time I drop my knees!

I did mine in March. My instructor was Bil Phillips, demanding but NOT the riding crop type. My back kick sucked, but he simply demanded that I work, work, and work, by the end it was working!

 

[Peter Guy]

Back Kick -- I had the same instructor for Intro as for Full Cave and both times he had me do "death by back kick." He laid a square pattern on the bottom -- maybe 30 feet a side(?) and had me back kick from point to point -- helicopter turns both ways on each point -- rinse and repeat.

 

[boulderjohn]

Back Kick -- I had the same instructor for Intro as for Full Cave and both times he had me do "death by back kick." He laid a square pattern on the bottom -- maybe 30 feet a side(?) and had me back kick from point to point -- helicopter turns both ways on each point -- rinse and repeat.

One of the interesting thing about my early tech instruction was that the back kick was barely touched on. As I got deeper and deeper into it, I realized it was a really essential skill and worked on it. I have since been pushing it as something to master for all new tech divers. As a part of related conversations, I have learned that more that it is not uncommon for tech instructors--including cave instructors--to barely mention it--in stark contrast to your experience.

In my own cave training, the first time I had to set a deco bottle down before entering the cave, I put it in a corner area and backed out a ways to turn and start the dive. I also did a few backup in the course of some of the dives. Maybe my instructor watched that and decided I was OK at it already. Maybe. For whatever reason, we didn't do much with it at all.

 

[TSandM]

I remember reading something not too long ago from someone who had taken cave training through Full Cave, who wrote, "Why would I need a back kick, anyway?"

Other than German (the instructor Peter wrote about, who did death by back kick) none of my instructors have made us do specific back kick drills, but then again, you have to demonstrate a working back kick to get a tech pass from Fundies, so it is expected.

 

[Peter Guy]

John, whenever I talk about the back kick I think of my PADI OW instructor who fancies himself to be a big time photographer. (Note, he is pretty good technically but...) Anyway, one day we were talking about the back kick and why I thought it was valuable to which he replied, he didn't need to know that. If he wanted to back up, all he needed to do was push off.

 

[boulderjohn]

John, whenever I talk about the back kick I think of my PADI OW instructor who fancies himself to be a big time photographer. (Note, he is pretty good technically but...) Anyway, one day we were talking about the back kick and why I thought it was valuable to which he replied, he didn't need to know that. If he wanted to back up, all he needed to do was push off.

[Sigh]

I have said this many times, and maybe someone reading this will benefit from this: if in my early tech work I had been shown how to back kick and I had done the kind of drill Peter described above, I think the time it took me to get through those first classes would have been reduced by at least 1/3, even counting the extra time taken for learning the kick.

 

[Belmont]

I still remember the OH! moment when it kicked in (pun intended) the first time. I back kicked for a good fifty feet with a big grin on my face, so much that I was getting water in my mouth.