Interested in cave diving (eventually!)

[CompuDude]

Originally Posted by Scuba Pete

I was not aware that NAUI had a Tech side. I am still not sure that i would want to get trained from an agency that started as a recreational agency and is getting started in the tech area. I would much rather get trained by the folks that started as tech and will stay tech with no intentions of recreational. I know most of the good instructors will have multiple agencys they can certify you in but still i would rather have the NACD, NSS-CDS, IANTD certifications.

Andrew Georgitsis helped write their training curriculum... was their training director for a time, actually. Does that help any?

NAUI's tec side has been around for a while, they're just not as well known. VERY distinctly different from the rec side, not to worry.

NAUI Worldwide Technical Courses

NAUI Worldwide Organization

[in_cavediver]

My opinion - forget about numbers, find a good mentor who is a cave diver and go dive. Take cavern when you are comfortable and prepare to learn. (or cave 1 if you like GUE). Dive some more, then do intro, apprentice, full cave as you feel comfortable.

I did it the hard way - started with rec certs, DM and advanced nitrox then cave. Had I started early with cave/tec divers, I am sure it would have been much less painful at times if I didn't have to unlearn some bad habits.

My wife was 'brought up' by cave divers - 5 of us from OW training on. She learned buoyancy and body position from the start. Dive planning, philosophies etc all rubbed off from the start. We were an influence on her. (and ScubaPete too). I'll let them tell you if it was good way to go or not. (cave diving is kinda expensive so if you don't want to spend a lot of money - stay away!). She might be a bit predjudiced though as she has more cave/overhead dives than OW dives I think. She was one of that 1% or so CDalluded to - she did cavern at dive 25 and full cave at dive 60ish.

[Scuba Pete]

Originally Posted by in_cavediver

My opinion - forget about numbers, find a good mentor who is a cave diver and go dive. Take cavern when you are comfortable and prepare to learn. (or cave 1 if you like GUE). Dive some more, then do intro, apprentice, full cave as you feel comfortable.

I did it the hard way - started with rec certs, DM and advanced nitrox then cave. Had I started early with cave/tec divers, I am sure it would have been much less painful at times if I didn't have to unlearn some bad habits.

My wife was 'brought up' by cave divers - 5 of us from OW training on. She learned buoyancy and body position from the start. Dive planning, philosophies etc all rubbed off from the start. We were an influence on her. (and ScubaPete too). I'll let them tell you if it was good way to go or not. (cave diving is kinda expensive so if you don't want to spend a lot of money - stay away!). She might be a bit predjudiced though as she has more cave/overhead dives than OW dives I think. She was one of that 1% or so CDalluded to - she did cavern at dive 25 and full cave at dive 60ish.

I think I have said it before, and i will say it again. You have had a large influence on the way i dive and the way i think about diving. My cavern was at 60 dives and full cave at 70. It was a huge help and jump forward having someone to observe and be a sponge to.

[ontheheap]

I would say at this point I'm mainly just curious when it comes to cave diving. I've only recently completed my ow (padi) and I'm taking aow next month (though I definitely won't consider myself "advanced" at that point..) As my skills progress I think cave diving is something I would definitely consider. I know that there is an instructor at my lds who has been diving caves and instructing for years, so he would definitely be the person I would approach on this. Thanks for the info =)

[jj1987]

Originally Posted by CompuDude

Andrew Georgitsis helped write their training curriculum... was their training director for a time, actually. Does that help any?

NAUI's tec side has been around for a while, they're just not as well known. VERY distinctly different from the rec side, not to worry.

NAUI Worldwide Technical Courses

NAUI Worldwide Organization

While that's true, one MAJOR disadvantage to non GUE agencies when it comes to AG style standards are that I don't think any agency other than UTD/GUE are upholding standards the way they are. So you might get good instruction, but it's no where near a guarantee like it is with the two previously mentioned agencies.

I'm not trained by either of those agencies, but if I weren't local to cave country where I got a chance to meet several instructors and know them very well before taking a class, I would seriously consider GUE/UTD to lower the risk of bad instruction.

[LCF]

Living in Florida, you have options.

I often recommend to people who are thinking about cave diving, that they take GUE's Fundamentals class, not because they should feel committed to GUE's cave training (although it is excellent training) but because it's a class you can take even in a single tank, to begin to learn proper trim, non-silting propulsion, light discipline, and other skills that you will need for cave diving. If you don't hang out with cave divers, you may never have seen the kind of standard for skills that is required for cave diving. Fundies will introduce you to it, and allow you to begin your practice early in your career. I took Fundies at 60 dives, but I had about 500 when I took my first cave class.

You, however, have the option of doing a cavern class early on, because you can do cavern in a single tank. A good cavern class will introduce you to the same skills (cavern is not an option for those of us who live in caveless places!)

But even before taking a cavern class, I'd highly recommend hooking up with some cave divers and modeling what they do. They do dive differently, and the gear is different as well.

Good luck with this! Cave diving is the most wonderful thing I've ever learned how to do.