How many dives before cavern?

[Gator Diver]

Thanks. I will pass along the information to her. Hard to believe she is one
of the few persons without easy internet access, so I agreed to some leg work for her...Happy Diving.

 

[Wet Willy]

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!

I would think it would depend more on her skill level rather than just the number of dives. Also, her motivation for going cavern diving in the first place . I just recently finished intro to cave and am certain the course was benefical in several ways. One was mastering skills that you normally don't have to be extremely proficent in during normal OW diving; i.e., propulsion techniques , bouyancy control.

I wanted to dive in the Florida springs and the potential for getting into trouble around cavern/cave areas was another reason to take the class. In addition, in some spring areas you are not allowed in unless you have attained certain certification levels. A lot of OW and AOW in cavern areas see the mouth of a cave and believe that if they go in just a little way that there would not be much danger...unfortunately this isn't the case.
So let's sum up...she learns several new skills, enhances current skills, reduces her risk for getting in trouble and has an opportunity to have fun... only real down side is cost.
On balance in my opinion -- Go for it!

 

[karstdvr]

The more squared away you are with basic bouyancy then the more time can be spent aquiring the skills that are learned. One thing that receives minimal consideration is how to learn cavern diving and reduce the impact to the cave. If bouyancy skills are poor then the student slams into the ceiling,walls or floor which causes damage.

 

[H2Andy]

One thing that receives minimal consideration is how to learn cavern diving and reduce the impact to the cave.

not my instructor (i had the same instructor for both cavern and cave 1)

that was probably his biggest emphasis. low vis as a result of poor trim/bouyancy
was secondary to him, with damage to the cave coming first

i guess it depends on the instructor

 

[amaze]

Cavern is an introduction to techniques and gear configuration required for overhead diving and as such is not overly demanding. As others have said you should have enough dives so that you are comforatble in the water with your gear and have good skills. The course will allow you to explore alternative gear configurations and add line reel tasks to your basic skills. Where experience comes into play is more in the transition from cavern to intro to cave. If overheads are interesting to you at all then i would suggest a cavern course asap. Bill

 

[pickens_46929]

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.

You can always do a "cavern" dive as part of your AOW... it would be the first of the four and count towards the AOW now... and towards the Cavern later.

I took Cavern with about 80 dives under my belt and thoroughly enjoyed it. Would I have been ready at 40? Probably not but I'm a slow learner and not great at bouyancy control. But that's about how many I think several of my friends in the class had under their belts.

What did Cavern teach me?

1) Bouyancy control is key -- dropped 2 lbs off my weight belt
2) You don't have to fin / kick hard to be efficient -- frog kick is one of my favorites now
3) Don't PANIC -- as long as I have air, STOP and THINK before doing anything
4) Have fun -- it's all about fun in the end, turned out to be a really fun class with a great bunch of people

BTW, took the class in Crystal River with Sean Bradley from American Pro Diving. Did most of our dives in King Springs, Manatee Springs (Catfish Hotel) and Blue Grotto. Most of us also got a couple of other certifications that long weekend as well.

 

[Flamebug818]

as far as i can see every agency requires 18yrs or older for the class, is their any exception? Also why? I have seen a 15 yr old dive absurdly well, and some 40 yr olds dive with horrid bouyancy and no comfort in the water, and the reverse, it seems like experiacnce and skill should be the defining feature. Not age

 

[mattmexico]

When teaching a cavern course the basics of cave training are being put into place in regards to communicatin, trim, buoyancey, awareness, some of th mergency drills and cave conservation. All in all it is summing up to be a lot of tasks, with it coming task loading. If youhave to deal with a lot of issues and still do them all right you don't want to check out where the strap leads you are holding in your hand.

Its hard to put a number on, I had cavern students with 30 dives and I had some with 400 dives. Some could dive and some couldn't. I don't want to sound cooky here but a little body coordination is needed to get cavern diving right, have a good time, see it all, be able to react and conserve the environment from our actions.

If you are comfortable and have good buoyancy you could give it a try, just keep in mind that the cavern course is going to be a little demanding on your basic skills. Sure enough you will learn a lot and you may feel it is not for you. If you do, please be honest to yourself and stop, get some more experience and come back. Your instructor willfeel the saem. To put a number on it ?. Don't know, gotta look at the student underwater, 50 - 100 would be nice though.

Matt
www.protecdiving.com

 

[Wreck]

....One was mastering skills that you normally don't have to be extremely proficent in during normal OW diving; i.e., propulsion techniques , bouyancy control. ....

This is a great reason to take the course, if for nothing else. Even if you don't pass the course, you should have learned what good buoyancy, trim, line skills, and situational awareness is. It's a bit of task loading, but will make everyone a better diver.

I'd go with an independent instructor. That way you have time to practice what you're learning and gain some proficiency with it before adding more task loading to the mix.

If there were two areas in all my training that I really thought were worthwhile for anyone and everyone, it was gas management and cave techniques.