I've been asked by several people to give a "report" on how my first cavern/cave experience went. So.......here goes.
When I began diving the one thing I said I would never do was go into a cave, too dangerous so I thought. I went downt to Florida to take my AOW class and happened upon an instructor who also was into cave diving. At the time I was confident that I didn't really want to do anything involving caves, but the others I was diving with convinced me that taking a cavern class would be good for my wreck diving skills, I signed up.
The first day of class came and we met Nick Leone who was going to be our instructor. We sat in our little trailer at Jackson Blue and ate girl scout cookies and went through the workbook. I was thinking "how hard can this possibly be", little did I know. We finished the workbook and Nick told us to be up bright and early the next day and be prepared for a full day. That night we configured our gear, this was the beginning of my problems. At the time I did not have anything other than my recreational gear, a Diva BC which is an XS in size. But, the guys I was with helped me attach everything the best we could to meet the criteria that Nick had asked us to meet. The next day we did line drills outside in the yard and really learned a lot. We were ready to get in the water. Everyone I was with was diving doubles and technical gear. I was diving a single tank with an H valve and using a set of borrowed older regulators. There was not one piece of gear I was using that I was familiar with. My first big mistake. We spent lots of hours in the water that day, most of them outside the cavern working on the same line drills we did outside of the water. We spent time laying on our belly's on picnic tables learning to frog kick, get back in the water, do it again, if it's not improved, back out to the picnic table. I will say that Nick was a tougher instructor than I had expected, which was a good thing considering the seriousness of the cave environment. I struggled through this day with gear that wasn't right for the dives and decided that something needed to change for the next day if I was going to do this class right. At that point Nick offered to bring a BP/W setup for me the next day. I took him up on that offer even though I have never been diving with one before.
Day 2 of cavern class - Nick came and got me set up with the BP/W. The night before we had taken apart my Legend's and set them up on my tank so I had regs that were comfortable for me. As soon as I put on the new gear I could already tell this day would be much better for me. I immediately fell in love with the new setup as soon as I got into the water. The first dive we spent a lot of time in the cavern, taking turns with the primary reel and learning the environment of the cavern. I got caught too far away from my "buddies" and was asked to do an out of air drill. Following that drill, and after I got a good breath, I was able to see clearly why you stay closer to your buddies. We also worked on valve shut downs, things like that. It was a good dive, my only problem, the cavern was beautiful, but after swimming around it for a while, I found myself hovering around the sign and shining my light as far as I could see past it. When we got to the surface I asked what I needed to do to go past the sign. This was the point that I became hooked.
We finished our cavern class and everyone passed. At that point Nick asked if we wanted to go into the cave as he could take us as an instructor one level past our training. Of course we said yes. I was so excited about this, but nervous, especially when he told me I would lead the dive. We went into the cavern, tied off at the main line and started into the cave. It was amazing.
We made it back to 500 feet before we had to turn. I was sad because I could have done that all day if I had the opportunity, I wanted to go farther. We finished the dive and discussed how the dive went. I had a problem because I was the one who turned the dive being that I was diving a single tank, my problem was that I usually have an excellent sac rate .36, so I didn't bother to check my SPG very often thinking that I couldn't possibly have used much air. Not thinking that I was 93 feet deep or that I was kicking at a pretty good pace to get back there, I just didn't check it. When I turned the dive I was 400 PSI lower than I should have been to stay in my thirds. When we finished the dive, I was still within my thirds however. At this point Nick asked us how much air we had and we told him. I decided not to tell him that I broke thirds. I came back to the trailer and told the other guys I was with. One of them who is an experienced cave diver told me how bad that was that I had done that. I soon realized the seriousness of it and felt guilty for not telling Nick. The next day I decided to tell him.
Needless to say, Nick was not happy with me about this situation. We went for a walk and had a very long talk about the rules of cave diving, why they are there, why you NEVER break them and how serious this was. He did it in a very nice way as not to upset me, but made it clear that I had really done a bad thing. I got it. We went down to the shop and bought "Blueprint for Survival". I was told to read the book, write an essay on why these rules are so important, and email it to Nick when we got back home. I wrote my essay. I had a lot of time to think about my mistakes and what led me to make them. I got my card in the mail and am now IANTD cavern certified. I will be going down to FL in June to do Intro to Cave, with Nick. I also now have a Diverite backplate and rec wing and a set of doubles to take on the next trip. This was my first purchase when I got home. I learned so much in this class, more than I have learned in any class I have taken so far. It really makes you a better diver overall. It was one of the best experiences I've had since beginning diving and I can't wait to go back down and get back into the cave! In the meantime, you will find me in the quarry, working on my skills to make sure that Intro to Cave goes well! It's amazing how the one thing I said I would NEVER do as a diver, is the one thing I can hardly wait to go back and do!
When I began diving the one thing I said I would never do was go into a cave, too dangerous so I thought. I went downt to Florida to take my AOW class and happened upon an instructor who also was into cave diving. At the time I was confident that I didn't really want to do anything involving caves, but the others I was diving with convinced me that taking a cavern class would be good for my wreck diving skills, I signed up.
The first day of class came and we met Nick Leone who was going to be our instructor. We sat in our little trailer at Jackson Blue and ate girl scout cookies and went through the workbook. I was thinking "how hard can this possibly be", little did I know. We finished the workbook and Nick told us to be up bright and early the next day and be prepared for a full day. That night we configured our gear, this was the beginning of my problems. At the time I did not have anything other than my recreational gear, a Diva BC which is an XS in size. But, the guys I was with helped me attach everything the best we could to meet the criteria that Nick had asked us to meet. The next day we did line drills outside in the yard and really learned a lot. We were ready to get in the water. Everyone I was with was diving doubles and technical gear. I was diving a single tank with an H valve and using a set of borrowed older regulators. There was not one piece of gear I was using that I was familiar with. My first big mistake. We spent lots of hours in the water that day, most of them outside the cavern working on the same line drills we did outside of the water. We spent time laying on our belly's on picnic tables learning to frog kick, get back in the water, do it again, if it's not improved, back out to the picnic table. I will say that Nick was a tougher instructor than I had expected, which was a good thing considering the seriousness of the cave environment. I struggled through this day with gear that wasn't right for the dives and decided that something needed to change for the next day if I was going to do this class right. At that point Nick offered to bring a BP/W setup for me the next day. I took him up on that offer even though I have never been diving with one before.
Day 2 of cavern class - Nick came and got me set up with the BP/W. The night before we had taken apart my Legend's and set them up on my tank so I had regs that were comfortable for me. As soon as I put on the new gear I could already tell this day would be much better for me. I immediately fell in love with the new setup as soon as I got into the water. The first dive we spent a lot of time in the cavern, taking turns with the primary reel and learning the environment of the cavern. I got caught too far away from my "buddies" and was asked to do an out of air drill. Following that drill, and after I got a good breath, I was able to see clearly why you stay closer to your buddies. We also worked on valve shut downs, things like that. It was a good dive, my only problem, the cavern was beautiful, but after swimming around it for a while, I found myself hovering around the sign and shining my light as far as I could see past it. When we got to the surface I asked what I needed to do to go past the sign. This was the point that I became hooked.
We finished our cavern class and everyone passed. At that point Nick asked if we wanted to go into the cave as he could take us as an instructor one level past our training. Of course we said yes. I was so excited about this, but nervous, especially when he told me I would lead the dive. We went into the cavern, tied off at the main line and started into the cave. It was amazing.
We made it back to 500 feet before we had to turn. I was sad because I could have done that all day if I had the opportunity, I wanted to go farther. We finished the dive and discussed how the dive went. I had a problem because I was the one who turned the dive being that I was diving a single tank, my problem was that I usually have an excellent sac rate .36, so I didn't bother to check my SPG very often thinking that I couldn't possibly have used much air. Not thinking that I was 93 feet deep or that I was kicking at a pretty good pace to get back there, I just didn't check it. When I turned the dive I was 400 PSI lower than I should have been to stay in my thirds. When we finished the dive, I was still within my thirds however. At this point Nick asked us how much air we had and we told him. I decided not to tell him that I broke thirds. I came back to the trailer and told the other guys I was with. One of them who is an experienced cave diver told me how bad that was that I had done that. I soon realized the seriousness of it and felt guilty for not telling Nick. The next day I decided to tell him.
Needless to say, Nick was not happy with me about this situation. We went for a walk and had a very long talk about the rules of cave diving, why they are there, why you NEVER break them and how serious this was. He did it in a very nice way as not to upset me, but made it clear that I had really done a bad thing. I got it. We went down to the shop and bought "Blueprint for Survival". I was told to read the book, write an essay on why these rules are so important, and email it to Nick when we got back home. I wrote my essay. I had a lot of time to think about my mistakes and what led me to make them. I got my card in the mail and am now IANTD cavern certified. I will be going down to FL in June to do Intro to Cave, with Nick. I also now have a Diverite backplate and rec wing and a set of doubles to take on the next trip. This was my first purchase when I got home. I learned so much in this class, more than I have learned in any class I have taken so far. It really makes you a better diver overall. It was one of the best experiences I've had since beginning diving and I can't wait to go back down and get back into the cave! In the meantime, you will find me in the quarry, working on my skills to make sure that Intro to Cave goes well! It's amazing how the one thing I said I would NEVER do as a diver, is the one thing I can hardly wait to go back and do!
