Taking the plunge

[Oside Jimc]

It's amazing the paths that life takes us.

2 Years ago I went to PDC to enjoy the reefs, swim with the fishies. Mother nature threw me a curve with a 3 day long storm that made the ocean an unwelcome mass of froth. Prior to the trip the dive op I was working with had suggested a Cenote dive as part of my trip, but I wasn't interested, who the heck would want to dive in a cave? But after 2 days of watching waves pound the coast I wanted to dive so I reluctantly made the call and signed up for a guided dive at Dos Ojos.

To say I was amazed would be the understatement of the century (or at least my life), the beauty of the Cenote was unreal and the disease was fully engaged. when I went back last spring I initially planned on Cavern/Intro but with a novice friend along I scrubbed that plan and settled for a guided return to Dos Ojos and a bunch of days on the reef. but going through the bat cave I was overwhelmed with regret, I hate doing things halfassed and this guided dive gig was about as halfassed as you can get (IMO), I KNEW I needed REAL training to explore more, the disease was progressing.

So a year here I am, my airfare is booked for 3/6-3/20, reservation is made, so on the 6th I'm off to Tulum for Cavern/Intro, then when my wife comes to our timeshare in PDC on the 13th I will have additional time to either finish if needed, or do a few guided dives at the intro level.

I'm totally excited and a little nervous at the same time. I think I'm a pretty good diver, but with no experience in doubles I'm realistic that things are going to be tough.

OMG, is it the 6th yet? I think I'm going to pee myself :bounce3: :bounce2: :bounce4:

 

[TSandM]

Congratulations on feeding the cave bug! Who are you doing your class with?

There will be challenges, managing doubles for the first time, but we did our cavern class with a fellow who was doing it and he pulled it off. His biggest challenge was mask-off work, so clearly the tanks weren't that big a problem.

 

[rongoodman]

Those guided cenote dives will get you every time--I'm going to Playa in May for Intro/Cavern.

 

[tstormdiver]

Congrats! I haven't even see the Cenotes yet (though that is my ultimate goal), & I'm hooked. Hoping to be able to get in some relaxing intro level dives this spring & then finish up my Full Cave course sometime this year (I'm only a couple of dives away from finishing- so close, I'm chomping at the bit). Anyway, good luck to you!

 

[bigdave1969]

Congrats, i am getting my intro in florida the end of march and i , like you, cant wait to get there and get startted. Good luck.

 

[Oside Jimc]

Who are you doing your class with?

Bil Phillips

I wanted to put a set of doubles together, but that darned $$ thing always seems to get in the way.

 

[Belmont]

I started divin doubles wit twin 130's, did not find that a problem. (Except from the part outside of the water).

Twin Al-80's won't be hard to adapt to.

Congrats, I'll be there first week in March with my daughter.

She will be doing her intro to cave diving with my IANTD instructor.

 

[BlueWaterDiving]

You can alway rent a set to train in till you go on your trip. Play in water 6 to 15 feet deep. Thats the hard part.

 

[CamG]

Greetings Oside Jimc and You will love it. Just relax and focus on the training the buoyancy and trim issues will come with the doubles. Practice makes perfect if hyou can get a chance before you go I would take advantage of it. Work on valve drills with a DM wouldn't be a bad idea.
What materials are you studying? I used the TDI Cavern / Intro. Cave and the NSSCDS work book for Cavern and Intro. Cave. Both were great the TDI had a few more hand signals. Lots of information overlapped but I read many journals and books previously on cave diving.
If you have your own reels and gear I would train with it, gain familiarity both with vis and blacked out coditions. Line drills and more line drills make for good muscle memory.
I will be enjoying the Cenotes again in the near future. The difference is this time I will be trained and able to enjoy the scenery and take it all in. This truly is a spectacular aspect of diving!
CamG Keep diving....keep training....keep learning!

 

[Sas]

I'm totally excited and a little nervous at the same time. I think I'm a pretty good diver, but with no experience in doubles I'm realistic that things are going to be tough.

I would recommend doing at least a couple of dives with twins beforehand! The people on my Cavern course who were new to twins, struggled more, a fair bit more, though they did pass in the end. I only did a few doubles dives beforehand but it was enough to work out my weighting and so forth. The course didn't really have enough time to sort this out if you were new to twins but perhaps yours is different and will have more time for that.

Work on valve drills with a DM wouldn't be a bad idea.

Is this a good idea or not? Not sure, just going on what I was told - my instructor told me not to learn valve drills before the course though, as to not learn a different way and be confused on the course (there are different ways to do them).

Other things I practiced was line work, a lot of that. Line work with mask off and sharing air also. The course was a breeze as I had that down pat beforehand, otherwise I would have had a lot more trouble as I have clumsy fingers . I didn't have a reel at the time so I just used a finger spool and that was good enough for practice.

Good luck for your course