Cave Diving
Cave Diving is, objectively, one of the coolest hobbies someone can do. You’re traveling through passages that were carved out by water over tens of thousands of years. You’re seeing places that a tiny percentage of humans will ever see. The shear uniqueness of the activity is surreal, and experiencing floating through the aquifer isn’t matched by anything else out there.
Cave diving is a relatively easy activity. There are unique risks with cave diving, and mitigating those risks is very important to avoid injury and enjoy the hobby to it’s fullest. There are 2 elements to mitigating the risk of cave diving: Get Training and Stay Current.
Before starting any cave class you should be a proficient diver with technical diving equipment. Doubles, sidemount or CCR are the three appropriate gear configurations. If you’re wondering about what skillset is requires before beginning a cave class, reach out.
Cavern Diver and Intro Cave Diver certifications are usually combined into a single program conducted over a long weekend. The combo program introduces new cave divers to the skills and techniques used by cave divers. The cavern course takes place in the cave entrance, where sunlight is still visible. After establishing comfort there, we progress into the first few hundred feet of the cave and go on cave dives! Intro divers have limits to penetration distance and direction to keep things short and simple at first. Once divers find comfort there, it’s time for the full cave program!
This combo program should be preceded by an Intro to Tech or sidemount program to establish the most success in the cave environment.
The full cave diver program is the second half needed to be a cave diver. The penetration and direction restrictions of intro diving are removed and more passages are available to be seen. Full cave divers have the ability to go further and into different types of passages, to see incredibly unique areas of the cave. Existing skills are refined, and the added complexities of jumps are introduced. This is a pinnacle program for most divers as it opens the door for incredible dive opportunities.
