If you could get certified anywhere....

[Augustus]

Right now I actually live in Mexico City. I am a military diplomat at the US Embassy. While I am already in Mexico, Mexico City is still a decent trip to any good diving. I do speak Spanish, however with something as POTENTIALLY hazardous as cave diving I would like to have an English speaking instructor. To those of you recommending Mexico, any English speaking schools?

Along the coast of Quintana Roo from say Playa del Carmen to tulum there are quite a number of cave instructors to chose from. Some are mexican but i would say most are gringos. My experience has been with Kate Lewis who teaches out of Akumal. Her husband, Steve Gerrard is another instructor who's resume speaks for itself. Web site.http://www.steve-gerrard.com/
Villas de Rosa is another option though they seem more of the GUI approach. My recomendation would be first to decide the style of instruction you want. If it is GUI then you dont have that many options. NACD has quite a few instructors working in this zone. http://www.safecavediving.com/ I did a full cave with Kate back in 99 and would recomend her 100%. Ditto that for Steve though I did not do the cave cert with him. Hope this helps.

 

[LoneWolf]

Thank you everyone. You have been a big help.

 

[Mako Mark]

Mexico. Its warmer, more decoration, and less weather issues.

YEAH BABY!!!,


kinda like florida without the guns, drugs or urban sprawl.

 

[Wijbrandus]

What? No guns?

What do you do on your surface intervals?

 

[in_cavediver]

Hello everyone. I am AOW certified and I hope to have enough diving experience by this time next year to take up cave diving. When I do get certified I want to take the full course all the way through to get my full cave diving certification. I will take enough leave to have time to do this (I'm in the military). My question is, if you could go anywhere for your certification, where would you go? I am hoping to get some ideas for some cave diving schools to look into. If it is in the United States, even better. Thank you.

First, read up about it. Get as much info as possible. Then look for a good instructor from a reputable agency. Talk with them well before the class for information about what's expected and appropriate gear. Then dive, dive again and dive some more.

If you do full cave, you should be comfortable in double's etc. The cave class is not the best time to learn how to dive doubles or work out issues with new gear. Do as much of this as possible before your class. You will be glad you did.

Mike

 

[roakey]

What? No guns?

Sure there's guns: The bad guys, the millitary and the police. But I repeat myself, to paraphrase Mark Twain.

I don't know if Temple of Doom is open again yet, but last time I was down there banditos were robbing people at the site. Police solution? Close the site.

Roak

 

[dvoodoo83]

lol thats y a carey my dive knife for my local diving because the sharks in colorado are the worst j/k.

 

[VaPadiDiver]

I too would recomment Ginnie Springs in High Springs, FL. www.ginniespringsoutdoors.com My instructor was Rose Meadows assisted by Ralph, and my opinion is that she is an excellent instructor. She will not pass you unless you meet the standards and show the attitude required for this type of diving. My advice though, do your intro class, get some dives under your belt, then come back to do the apprentice and full cave. Beleive me, if you do it all at once, you may not retain all the information you would if you take it a bit slower. Experience comes with practice, practice comes in time. Just a thought.
GUE on the other hand.... well, your in the military now, so it may not be that bad a way to go. I have studied GUE's methods and I will be very honest... GUE puts in place very strict, tough standards which will make divers either love or hate them. They have been compared to the military when it comes to their training. I have a very good friend that trained GUE and did the WKPP for a while and he will also tell you that GUE training, because of their no BS methods is considered by some to be the best training agency out there, especially for cave. On the down side, some of the instructors seem to have that Drill Instructor attitude or God complex. What GUE teaches makes sense and is VERY in depth. My only complaint is that GUE (to me) seems to be just a way to sell Halcyon and if you don't dive Halcyon they treat you like your gear is not good enough for their club. Halcyon gear is good, but GUE needs to separate itself from one main manufacturer. Even though the head of GUE and Halcyon are the same person (JJ).
Hope my info helps.

 

[hotprestwich]

Hi lone wolf,
yeah,come down to Tulum q.roo, get on a plane to cancun, and head south to the town of, tulum i live here, and cave dive every day, i can put you in touch with some great instructors who speak english, this is where i trained to cave dive and its full of beautiful caves.

 

[hotprestwich]

Temple of doom is now open they just put a guy there who charges an entrance fee now, b4 it was free, no probs since it reopened not even theft.