How many dives before cavern?

[Gator Diver]

Hi all,
Just a quick ? to the forum. My friend is considering taking a Cavern
course. She has only about 40 logged dives (over about 2 years). Personally,
I feel she needs more experience before taking the course. She thinks
she should take the course now so she can learn proper techniques early. I
was just wondering what the groups' thoughts were about this. I, myself, am very content with my AOW and Nitrox certifications, and would not be taking the course with her. Thanks and happy diving!

 

[H2Andy]

i took cavern when i had 49 dives. when i finished the class, i had 53

it got me thinking about some key skills, such as trim, bouyancy, and silt control

if she is comfortable enough to do it with 40 dives, then she should do it.
she won't really know until she tries.

i would say go for it

 

[Kim]

My wife started Eanx Overhead Environment which is a slightly extended Cavern with only 16 dives. She had 32 by the time she finished it. Many of the practice dives were only for bouyancy control. The instructor insisted that she could hover just off the bottom for 5 minutes without using any hand or fin movement. It took a lot of practice. By the time we were laying line in the overhead her control was excellent.

 

[Spoon]

in our local Iantd they require a minimun of 100 dives.

 

[lackingcreativity]

Once the minimum number of dives is met it really depends on the comfort level felt by the diver and seen by the instructor. If both of these are met then by all means go for it.

 

[StSomewhere]

Depends on the instructor and agency, if its a good cavern course it should cover a fair bit of buoyancy, finning, line following, etc. and will be challenging. Note that not all agencies go to that depth, esp. some of the rec agencies where its a more lightweight specialty.

If its not a NACD or NSSCDS cavern course, then it should probably be based on one of their courses (like TDI, IANTD, etc.). Shouldn't be hard to find something like that in your neck of the woods I wouldn't think.

 

[Gator Diver]

Thanks for the responses so far. I have been doing some leg work
for her about a good Cavern course and from reading the
threads, it appears people rec. particular instructors rather than specific
agencies. Can an instructor tell her to take the course later
if she isn't ready (I'd hate for her to blow her cash and not complete the course).
BTW, is there a rec. for an instructor who is good with the newer divers.
I read the other threads on rec. but it was hard to tell which instructor
works with more advanced divers versus beginners for cavern teaching.

 

[Jason B]

Thanks for the responses so far. I have been doing some leg work
for her about a good Cavern course and from reading the
threads, it appears people rec. particular instructors rather than specific
agencies. Can an instructor tell her to take the course later
if she isn't ready (I'd hate for her to blow her cash and not complete the course).
BTW, is there a rec. for an instructor who is good with the newer divers.
I read the other threads on rec. but it was hard to tell which instructor
works with more advanced divers versus beginners for cavern teaching.

If you are looking an agency go with NACD or NSS-CDS.

As for hating her to blow her cash, something to be prepared for when you enter this road of training is the reality that paying for the class does not mean you will pass. When I took cavern, only two of us in my class of 4 passed.

 

[Tom Winters]

You're right up there already in cave country so she can palaver with whomever is going to be doing the teaching. She can sound them out, discuss her level of experience and competence, and take the measure of the other. This way, when she does opt for a class, there will be a good student/instructor fit - both sides will be happy.
It's not the number of dives that you do either. I've dived once with more than a few "highly seasoned/highly trained" divers - and only once. I've also had newbies that could dive right out of the box like water puppies.
Finally, women as a gender tend to listen to the instuctor and work on the fundamentals much better than most guys do. She should do fine.

 

[simbrooks]

Thanks for the responses so far. I have been doing some leg work
for her about a good Cavern course and from reading the
threads, it appears people rec. particular instructors rather than specific
agencies. Can an instructor tell her to take the course later
if she isn't ready (I'd hate for her to blow her cash and not complete the course).
BTW, is there a rec. for an instructor who is good with the newer divers.
I read the other threads on rec. but it was hard to tell which instructor
works with more advanced divers versus beginners for cavern teaching.

While your friend might not have many dives, i would leave it up to her and the instructor to work out what she can get out of the class, whether she passes it or not, if she has a good instructor she'll learn a lot. Some classes based out of cave country shops are more rigid in their time than independant instructors, hence with the shops you might pass/fail, whereas independants might just give you some homework and come back again when you've practiced. I did 8/9 dives for my cavern course over 3 days, just due to issues being covered. I also did 6 for my intro over 2 days, all for the same price. I could have done it in fewer, but we wanted to be thorough and we repeated many tasks over and over to near mastery.

Some instructors might look at her in the water, assess that x or y needs to be worked on before they go into a cavern course weekend with her, who knows, but until you or she asks you wont know. As for numbers of dives, i had about 50 and my ex had about 25 when we took cavern together 6 months after getting certified. I had about 80-90 for intro a few months later. I need more cave diving experience to feel ready for full cave some time in the future....