What surprised you?

[Midnight Star]

I know ... that's what i'm afraid of - i'll get hooked, and that's all i'll want to do.

Man, seeing pictures like those, I can just imagine packing a lunch (a few liquified tubes of mashed potatoes and gravy), stopping and hovering just above the bottom somewhere to relax and eat ... thinking about things of the past. It's things like that, that make me almost believe I can truely breath under water.

-----

Mike.

 

[ianr33]

What really struck me about my first cave dives,and this may sound very obvious,is that there is an awful lot of very solid rock above your head.Virtual overhead and real overhead are NOT the same thing.

Second was how much hard physical work it is,not the diving but unloading a truck FULL of double 130's,stage bottles and a Gavin.

Third is how strangely addictive it is.Whats round that corner?Where does that tunnel go?

Fourth,speaking from the position of having done all of 11 cave dives,is that cave diving is actually really easy,until the one time it is not,which is why complacency can kill you VERY easily.

 

[JasonH20]

Pics of our latest trip:
http://malone-az.com/pix/v/Scuba/Mexico/ak-06b/

Ahh, now I see the real reason you need good buoyancy control in caves, so you don't impail yourself on the stalactites!

From the pictures, it looks like the stalagmites have taken quite a beating though. That's sad to see, but it looks like there wouldn't be much room to pass through otherwise?

I'm in the planning stages for taking a cavern course while visting Florida next month. I'm getting totally stoked reading these posts and looking at the pictures. TSandM I'd love to go on another dive with you again soon. I'm totally impressed with how much you've done since I last saw you!

Thanks,
Jason

 

[jeandiver]

Ahh, now I see the real reason you need good buoyancy control in caves, so you don't impail yourself on the stalactites!

From the pictures, it looks like the stalagmites have taken quite a beating though. That's sad to see, but it looks like there wouldn't be much room to pass through otherwise?

I'm in the planning stages for taking a cavern course while visting Florida next month. I'm getting totally stoked reading these posts and looking at the pictures. TSandM I'd love to go on another dive with you again soon. I'm totally impressed with how much you've done since I last saw you!

Thanks,
Jason

If you get down here and want to do some caverning after your class etc ... Give me a shout!!!
I'll be around somewhere...

Jean N.
Fort White , Florida

 

[Cacia]

I never thought of myself as claustrophobic until going into a cave....I cannot really get over wanting out, or at least the option.

I avoid tours and buses and things for the same feeling...just cannot get over it. If I go with other paired buddies, and don't have a comittment, I do okay, but could never do a complicated deep penetration where you depend on another..and they depend on you.


The spring water can be very cold, but mostly it just feels like the bowels of hell (to me). Nice big caverns or ledges are okay...caves with different rooms and passageways just make me nuts. The subway in Paris did too...psychiatric emergency nuts. "hey..I want OUT!!!"

Some people say they have the opposite experience and feel all safe and cocooned.

 

[Jon C]

I am not a big fan of confined spaces. I have never felt claustrophobic in the water or in shallow caverns, but that is about it for me. I went in for an MRI on my shoulder once and had to "talk myself down" from panicking. Once I saw the top of the tube sliding an inch away from my face...ARGGGGGGG! Took all I had to lay still and ignore the confinement and the banging noises associated with that device.

Caves...no way. My hat (hood) is off to those who can do it.

Jon

 

[TSandM]

I fell asleep during my MRI . . .

One thing that will NOT surprise me is the amount of work associated with the gear. I'm already suffering through dragging doubles behind me like an elderly, arthritic snail.

Jason, glad to see you back on the board, and I would love to dive with you again (if you've forgotten the first time )

 

[karstdvr]

Cave diving is a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. We look at the beautiful pictures and read wonderful reports and that is the Dr Jekyll. But,all equations need to be balanced,and for those that lurk,there is a Mr Hyde side that needs to be considered. For every rule we have for safety of the sport it has been due to a fatality,but these rules don't provide us 100% safety,only marginal protection like a seat belt. Just like we never know when Mr Hyde will appear,things like a blown o-ring,silt out-not just a buddy,but rocks falling out of the ceiling,lost line,lights out etc,these are realities and I've been fortunate to survive them all in sometime over the last 13 years. I don't like to be devil's advocate,but you can become slightly cynical when you've lost close friends to this sport. My coda is treat the sport with a lot of respect and for the danger it can pose,if you have doubts,then probably don't do it.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

So I thought I would ask: What surprised you when you first dove in a cave? What was different from what you expected? Better? Worse? Just different?

Oh man, was I ever surprised!!

I was eager to try "Cavern Diving" on a recent trip to Cozumel. A knowledgeable buddy made all the arrangements. I just brought my GUE compliant gear and skill set. I read the book.... the night before class :14: . Come on....I was on vacation!

Blissfully ignorant and clueless, I expected a CAVERN to be a light-filled room, something like diving in a carport. I had been in big and small lava tubes in Hawaii, coral "caves" on the Cozumel reefs, and 50-foot-deep lava "caverns" in the California Channel Islands. No matter how deep in I went, there was Always a beautiful Big Blue Screen Of Light (BBSOL) when I looked back toward the opening.

No worries. It's not like I wanted to be in a "real cave" (ie, "nasty-dark-hole-underground-filled-with-water")... I just wanted to learn some skills and see a nice light-filled cenote/cavern.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Do the scuba gods ever tire of my wide-eyed, clueless bumbling??

Cavern Class: We did the ground-work and line-laying. Then we did the open-water work outside the cavern opening.... which looked rather smaller than I was expecting. :11: Oh well... it was a cavern, FerCryin'OutLoud... there must be windows pouring light in somewhere else.

Then buddy did the primary tie-off, and the secondary-tie off.... and the instructor and my buddy promptly disappeared down the rabbit hole.

My little 10W HID lead the way as I slipped in behind them... right into the halocline that blurred everything as if Vaseline had been layered thickly on my mask. Well, this was, uhm... interesting. The blurriness got rapidly dark as I followed the dim lights ahead of me. When we got below the halocline, into the warm clear water of the cave... I couldn't believe my eyes. This was no spacious carport. This was a freakin' CAVE!!! It had to be a mistake. The instructor was pulling our legs and giving us a few minutes of thrills before he turned us around.

It was a dark narrow tube and I could almost touch the walls on both sides.
It was only three feet from ceiling to muddy floor. I couldn't go vertical if I had wanted to. I couldn't "see" light from the outside... none at all. My eyes were blinded by the HID glow, and when I helicoptered carefully around over the talcum-fine mud, all behind me was jet black and dark. The sun had been shining outside. This was DARK!

I was inside a cave. What kind of a joke was this?? I wanted a cavern and the BigBlueScreen. Cripes! I don't like being in the cramped back seat of a small car.

Was I about to freak out? My buddy signalled the routine "OK?" question with his light.

I took a breath for a little internal conference:

"OK, 'Chica. You didn't expect this. You weren't looking for this.
So.. Whazzup? Ya gonna freak?
If you're gonna get the heebie-jeebies, get 'em here and get 'em now, while the exit is near."


...exhale.... inhale....:

"Come on... what's it gonna be? Your buddy's asking. You OK?"

And nothing happened. It was kinda cool. I breathed and hovered.

I made a circle on the floor with my light. "OK."

I looked around at the coolness of the walls and ceiling. I realized that 10 months of Fundies/RecTriOx skills and practice had prepared me to be comfortable in just this environment: Horizontal, neutrally buoyant, non-silting kicks, a back kick, effective team and light communication, confident to solve problems right there rather than bolting for a surface.

Holy Cenote, I was ready!

I didn't wig out.

• I had 4 more great dives in this cavern system.
• I learned that the outside light was always available for reference, but that the team had to cover ALL lights and let our eyes adapt to the darkness before I could see the blue glow. And it was BEAUTIFUL.
• I didn't get to enjoy the beauty every minute I was down there, because every dive ended with both of us blind, sharing air, and exiting the cave following the line we had laid.... Although it always seemed to have more line markers and intersecting lines then there had been when we laid it.:shakehead (Funny how that happens in class. Sensational how we were able to use the Cavern skill set to solve the very basic problems created for us by our wonderful teacher, German Yanez Mendoza. )

I had never dreamed that I would want to pursue Cave diving. It had to sneak up on me while I thought I had signed up for a very different and "open" experience. It taught me I don't always know my limitations; Sometimes there are fewer than I had thought. It gave me an intense appreciation for what it means to, in fact, solve a problem underwater, and then dive skillfully back towards sunshine and 1 ATA.

I was very surprised.

I bet Intro to Cave will hold a few surprises, too. I hope so!!!!

Great question, Lynne. Thank you for asking this one.

Claudette

 

[ae3753]

As a someone new to cave diving, I'm constantly suprised.

Because of my friends' enthusiam for caves and everyone's pictures and video, I was eager to do a cavern dive. So the first time I was at a cenote entrance, looking at a small dark crack in the ground, I was surprised how nervous I was.

After reading Claudette's post, I'm glad that the little dark hole opened up into a huge cavern zone.

In the cenote, I was awed by the brilliance of the lights that come through the cenote entrance. At the end of every dive, I become instantly happy when I see the lights. I always take a little moment to admire the glow.

Like Meng-Tze, I was caught off-guard by the darkness of a cave. First lights out drill, I was amazed by the absoluteness. Second lights out, I got a little vertigo. By the 5th lights out, the drills were getting to be fun.

After each trip, I'm surprised how strong a hold the caves have on us.