How to practise cave skills with no caves?

[Johanan]

My main interest in diving is caves. Alas, there are no submerged caves closer that 3000 km from my place and no natural environment where I could practise cave skills to keep them honed. Do you have any suggestions how to arrange a training field for cave divers in a quarry with a muddy bottom, with only few rocks and stones? What would you use for belays? Perhaps already a tested and proven scheme of lines? I can think of everything except for something to practise the lost line drill with going with a spool up a wall and ceiling in order to catch the lost line. Any solutions for that?

 

[karstdvr]

My main interest in diving is caves. Alas, there are no submerged caves closer that 3000 km from my place and no natural environment where I could practise cave skills to keep them honed. Do you have any suggestions how to arrange a training field for cave divers in a quarry with a muddy bottom, with only few rocks and stones? What would you use for belays? Perhaps already a tested and proven scheme of lines? I can think of everything except for something to practise the lost line drill with going with a spool up a wall and ceiling in order to catch the lost line. Any solutions for that?

I remember there was a group in a similar situation as you that set up a course in the bottom of lake with permanent lines. They had jumps, T's and circuit, but very close to the bottom of the lake, which gave them instant feedback if they were silting. Plus, it gave them the low visibility of a cave.

 

[JohnnyC]

Silt stakes or, if that's not possible, small plant pots filled with concrete with a piece of pvc out the top makes reasonable tie offs.

 

[northernone]

Enjoy! It's an enjoyable journey.

Night dives in low viz are great over silt bottoms. Plan and execute the dive with overhead contingencies and line protocol. If you can include some man-made junk for a few restrictions and a little over head, all the better.

Cheers!
Cameron

 

[Marie13]

I’ve heard of divers practicing cave skills under raised training platforms at the local quarry, if that is an option.

 

[TONY CHANEY]

Kinda of a weird question. Not picking but I do almost all of my diving just like I was cave diving. Practice line drills on the surface (heck I do it in my backyard all the time). Underwater, run a hundred yards of line and you and your buddy can practice OOA, light failures, buddy contact while one diver is OOA following the line, all finning techniques, lost buddy drills, lost line drills, valve shutdown, lost mask, etc. Make the diving fun for you and your team. After you have it down, then surprise each other with a drill or two. Practice light and hand signals.
You never said what your current level is but if you have not taken an advanced Nitrox / decompression class then do so.
Just my thoughts, but since I have hundreds of dives at our quarry and nothing new to see, then have fun with the drills.
Go to the NSS-CDS site and download the FREE book, Basic Cave Diving a Blueprint for Survival. A must read for a current and future cavers.
I hope that this helps.

 

[Johanan]

You never said what your current level is but if you have not taken an advanced Nitrox / decompression class then do so.

Thanks, your suggestions make sense and many things I'm already doing. However, for some skills I have not found a method how to practise them in open water. Especially the lost line drill to the full extent. I hoped, somebody had figured it out. I am RAID Cave 2 (Full Cave) and Adv.Nitrox/Deco Procedures certified, but only about 20 cave dives so far.

 

[Johanan]

Thank you, everyone for ideas and suggestions. I appreciate that!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Thanks, your suggestions make sense and many things I'm already doing. However, for some skills I have not found a method how to practise them in open water. Especially the lost line drill to the full extent. I hoped, somebody had figured it out. I am RAID Cave 2 (Full Cave) and Adv.Nitrox/Deco Procedures certified, but only about 20 cave dives so far.

You can do a lost line drill in any body of water that offers the right topography. I used to dive in mountain lakes and reservoirs where there would be rock walls that in effect give you a half cave to work with. Most quarries offer similar areas. Lay a line, have your buddy take you off the line 10-15 feet and have at it. You can use clues like the slope of the bottom toward the wall, or if not, search in one direction far enough to establish you are running away from or parallel to the line, turn 90 or 180 degrees and rinse and repeat.

I work with divers every summer teaching them to run a line - making primary and secondary tie offs, making line placements, following lines in lights out drills including gas sharing, practicing lost line drills, and practicing complex navigation.

Even if all you've got is a flat mud bottom , you can still drive PVC stakes and run a set of lines with jumps, T's etc and then practice line related cave skills.

 

[rjack321]

Lost line drills are shockingly hard in a muddy lake/quarry. There is really nothing to reference off of - no walls, no flow, the floor is all the same texture...