Is cave diving safer than Open Water

[tursiops]

No need to be a smart**s about it. I know the distinction between the two. It is not rocket science.

So were you actually in a sea cave, or was it a sea cavern?

 

[arew+4]

Definitely wired differently - I think the cave divers I see in videos squeezing/crawling through crazy tight restrictions deep underground are completely nuts !

I do like to watch their videos, and flying through the large halls and rooms with a scooter looks like an awesomely fun time...

At the end of the day for me personally it's a huge amount of risk mitigation and equipment faith to go and check out wet rocks in the dark. I just cannot get my self there. Daylight penetrations in prepared wrecks I'm in, cave diving i'm out. But a big thanks and thumbs up to you that do it and the videos you all provide.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

My opinion is that I guess it depends on the cave. I think that a clearly marked, lined and previously mapped cave dive in benign high vis warm water conditions is far safer than a cold water, low vis, high current deep dive to an entanglement rich wreck dive in the Pacific NW........

Yikes!
Yeah, that’s how people die.
Class, remember Sheck’s accident analysis that determine 5 rules of cave diving. The rule broken that led to the most fatalities was LACK OF TRAINING.

Maybe I didn't properly clarify my intended point above. What I meant was that the safer dive may depend on the actual dive conditions of either dive..

 

[freeflowigb]

So were you actually in a sea cave, or was it a sea cavern?

It was a sea cave. Zero light after about 50 feet from the entrance. Current, not very strong, going in the direction of the exit, it gave us a nice ride on our way back into the sea. The cave itself, reportedly, is not particularly deep, I guess we only reached like 15 feet of depth, and it is located inside a rocky island in the middle of nowhere.

 

[freeflowigb]

It was your initial post that made me think that you might not understand the cave diving environment, so please prove me wrong. Tell us about your experience diving in caves, including what is the distinction between cavern and cave, and what your cavern/cave training is, if you have any.

I have no experience in cave diving except the couple of dives we did in the sea cave I mentioned. Most of my diving is limited to warm tropical waters, volunteering in aquariums and some stinky murky lakes when there is no other choice.
Caves as such are nothing new to me. I was born in the region that is home to the deepest caves in the entire world, and I spent a lot of summers of my childhood playing hide and seek with my buddies in the caves in the mountains around our home town. Some of them were dry, some semi-flooded. Some even had tiny lakes but we never swam there. There was also this pretty lake that would completely disappear in the autumn. Only recently I realized it is being fed by an underwater cave. Not really interested in being the first one to explore it - it is completely virgin.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

It was a sea cave. Zero light after about 50 feet from the entrance. Current, not very strong, going in the direction of the exit, it gave us a nice ride on our way back into the sea. The cave itself, reportedly, is not particularly deep, I guess we only reached like 15 feet of depth, and it is located inside a rocky island in the middle of nowhere.

I assume there was no guide line in that cave?

 

[freeflowigb]

I assume there was no guide line in that cave?

Hm. I don’t know that - I never looked for it. We were following our DM and he somehow knew where to go (forward).

 

[halocline]

I have no experience in cave diving except the couple of dives we did in the sea cave I mentioned.

Presumably that was with single tank, open water gear. I don't think you and the trained cave divers on this thread (I'm one) are talking about the same thing at all. Cave diving involves traveling thousands of feet back in underwater river systems with absolute darkness and complex navigation to return to the exit, and is always done with specialized gear and extensive, cave specific training.

You might very well feel comfortable in the confines of where you were diving and there is a certain stability to cavern and cave zones. But what you're talking about is very different than actual cave diving as defined by the various cave training agencies.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Hm. I don’t know that - I never looked for it. We were following our DM and he somehow knew where to go (forward).

Oof, that could have gone south QUICK. Vis goes to zero and you’re dead in 15 feet of water 50 feet from the entrance….

 

[freeflowigb]

Oof, that could have gone south QUICK. Vis goes to zero and you’re dead in 15 feet of water 50 feet from the entrance….

The more I read these replies, the more I am liking the open sea. I have no interest in perishing in the guts of the earth, might as well play the torpedo and possibly earn a chamber ride if it comes to that