I'm anxious, were you?

[mselenaous]

Leabrea, congrats on your upcoming trip. Try to relax and enjoy it.

I had and have my own anxieties about cavern/cave diving but am moving slowly. I did cavern class at Ginnie Springs in the spring. Here's my experience: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cave-diving/376927-cavern-class-capt-jim-wyatt.html
Then I did a couple of cenote dives in the summer and stuck like velcro to my guide (Natalie Gibb is awesome) - I even thumbed the last bit of the final dive when I got a little creeped out near the exit before looping through the 2nd half - rest of the team went on, I got out. The cenotes are truly special and I want to go back to see more of them and I know with more training/experience I will enjoy them more with a higher comfort level. I do find myself much more at ease penetrating wrecks now than I did before this additional training.

So, long build up...this week I'm preparing to move forward with "refresher" cavern dives on Fri, fun dives on Sat, & Sun, followed by Basic Cave on Mon & Tues. Yes, nervous a bit and anxious a bit.

My advise: be as frank as possible with your instructor - they've probably heard it before and have developed a way of talking you through your concerns. Everyone has them and frankly if a diver doesn't show at least some concern about diving overheads, that person may not respect the boundaries needed to dive those environments safely or have the mindset to not become a fatality. I choose to dive with the buddy who verbalizes their concerns & stay within their limits than to dive with the buddy who is fearless.

Let us know when you come visit FL Cave Country!

 

[Capt Tom McCarthy]

Congrats on making the first step Leabre. I remembered signing up for my course and not having a clue what to expect inside the actual cave. If I could go back and talk to myself before I started the course I would tell myself the following...

SLOW DOWN!!!

It took me a few cave dives to begin to realize this and once I did I became a totally different diver. It's not so much an issue in Mexico, but in Florida the flow of the caves gives you a feeling like you need to fight it to survive.

Yes try to make progress in your dive, but SLOW DOWN. An instructor once told me "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Don't forget that. It is not a race, you are there to learn and practice, you are not in immediate peril and nothing is chasing you. (unless there are gators then everything is out the window )

Most importantly though, have fun! Once I reached my full cave course I was so comfortable that the drills thrown at me became fun. I started realizing the instructor wasn't out to kill me but teach me!

 

[CaveMD]

Congrats on making the first step Leabre. I remembered signing up for my course and not having a clue what to expect inside the actual cave. If I could go back and talk to myself before I started the course I would tell myself the following...

SLOW DOWN!!!

It took me a few cave dives to begin to realize this and once I did I became a totally different diver. It's not so much an issue in Mexico, but in Florida the flow of the caves gives you a feeling like you need to fight it to survive.

Yes try to make progress in your dive, but SLOW DOWN. An instructor once told me "Slow is smooth, smooth is fast." Don't forget that. It is not a race, you are there to learn and practice, you are not in immediate peril and nothing is chasing you. (unless there are gators then everything is out the window )

Most importantly though, have fun! Once I reached my full cave course I was so comfortable that the drills thrown at me became fun. I started realizing the instructor wasn't out to kill me but teach me!

Cave sharks.

 

[b1gcountry]

I took Cavern at Ginnie after I had already gone through Adv Deco + Trimix, and three+ years of diving doubles. I really wasn't sweating Cavern.

Intro was a different beast. I did it in the middle of winter in Missouri, and our caves are not known for being very friendly. There were some mixups with logistics as well, and that added to the stress. I had some good anxiety built up before we got in the water, and I told the instructor that when he asked, so I guess it showed. The cave we were diving is very hard to find at the bottom of a lake with bad visibility. I was much more calm once we found the cave mouth and got into some warmer, clearer water.

I've always been sort of a cluster on the surface, but once I get in the water, I just do what comes naturally. I think maybe a lot of people are like that.

Tom

 

[leabre]

Well, today was Day 1 of 5! The caves were friggin' awesome, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. It is interesting to enter them with a view without the line yet, or just the gold line. But when you turn around and see 10 different ways you could exit, but the line is actually verticly up somewhere you'd least expect.... you know it is for real! To answer my own question: I was anxious! But being in an overhead didn't bother me. The line is the way home, PERIOD! It was enough to not lose it but as long as it was there the voices in my head didn't have any problems with being there!

This was just day 1! Tomorrow game is on!

 

[lv2dive]

Well, today was Day 1 of 5! The caves were friggin' awesome, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. It is interesting to enter them with a view without the line yet, or just the gold line. But when you turn around and see 10 different ways you could exit, but the line is actually verticly up somewhere you'd least expect.... you know it is for real! To answer my own question: I was anxious! But being in an overhead didn't bother me. The line is the way home, PERIOD! It was enough to not lose it but as long as it was there the voices in my head didn't have any problems with being there!

This was just day 1! Tomorrow game is on!

Congrats on getting through the first day! Keep us posted!

 

[ScubaSam]

How did you feel before taking your cave class? What rush of emotions over powered you?

I was hooked on caves after my first cenote dive in 2008 and returned for more in 2009 and 2010. I took Cavern and Intro to Caves this year and was only anxious about the class after the horrible shake-out dive the day before class began. Prior to the shake-out dive I knew I wanted to dive caves, was super excited and looked forward to the training.

My buddy and I had been out of the water for about 4 months and it was apparent during the shake-out dive. We walked into class with zero confident about our skills and told the instructor. He was supportive and understanding and proceeded with the Cavern class and we (instructor, buddy and I) determine we were able to proceed with Intro to Caves after our Cavern class.

I only felt anxious during the first dive of the class but it quickly subsided as the instructor added more skills and drills to each subsequent dive. We gained enough confidence and skills to go onto the Intro class after Cavern and passed both classes. Our instructor basically had to rebuild the confidence we lost during our shake-out dive in order for my buddy and I to succeed.

Well, today was Day 1 of 5! The caves were friggin' awesome, beautiful, and awe-inspiring. It is interesting to enter them with a view without the line yet, or just the gold line. But when you turn around and see 10 different ways you could exit, but the line is actually verticly up somewhere you'd least expect.... you know it is for real! To answer my own question: I was anxious! But being in an overhead didn't bother me. The line is the way home, PERIOD! It was enough to not lose it but as long as it was there the voices in my head didn't have any problems with being there!

This was just day 1! Tomorrow game is on!

Yay!! Great to hear you're enjoying your training.

How lucky to train in those beautiful cenotes!! Please keep us posted!!!

 

[TSandM]

I've got to ask what you mean by entering "without a line yet"?

 

[ScubaSam]

I interpreted it as the OP running his reel from the open water area outside the cavern opening to the gold line. His reel being the only line in the cavern area until he reached the start of the gold line.

 

[leabre]

I've got to ask what you mean by entering "without a line yet"?

I meant running the line from open water until the tie off on the gold line!