Join DiveBuddy.com

Meet new scuba divers, maintain a virtual dive log, participate in our forum, share underwater photos, research dive sites and more. Members login here.

#3720
Finished My Full Cave Course
tstormdiver - 11/07/2010 5:19 AM
Category: Training
Replies: 7

After working for 2 yrs after my Intro to Cave & this being my 3rd attempt, I finally finished up my Full Cave Diver course! :cloud9: It was 4 very intense days of training. In those 4 days the 3 of us in the class (myself & 2 guys) logged almost 1100 min. of bottom time (yes, that’s over 4hrs a day underwater :blink: ). Lots of swimming,..... lots & lots of swimming. We would start the day before the sun came up & would finish the day well after sunset, then back to our cabin we were staying in, to collapse from exhaution :sleep: . What a relief. I spent the time in between the times I tried to finish the course, I went to the local quarry & practiced & worked on my buoyancy, propulsion techniques & reel handling skills, until they became smooth & second nature to do. Yes, it was certainly frustrating :banghead: , at times, to have to wait so long to finish up, but I do not regret it one bit. It gave me the time I needed to develop & mature as a diver to be able to do the multitasking & have the awareness required to safely cave dive. My instructor made the course as hard as could be safely done & we worked drill after drill, until it became second nature to react quickly & calmly to the situations presented. Hopefully next month I can go back down to cave country to do some diving & start gaining some experience & start honing my skills to a razor’s edge.
#5341
Subscribed
jed130 - 11/07/2010 6:56 PM
Congrat’s and welcome to the darkside !
#3720
Subscribed
tstormdiver - 11/07/2010 7:17 PM
Thanks! Its been a long time coming. Glad I now have my "learner’s permit" to enjoy it.
#183
Subscribed
DeadHeadDiver - 11/10/2010 10:34 AM
Congratulations - It’s a tough course, but now you’re ready to start practicing your new skills, and you’ll see some fantastic sights doing it.
Welcome to the club.
#173
Subscribed
Caver - 11/23/2010 6:54 PM
Congrad on your full cave,Welcome to the dark side
#2242
MDW - 1/12/2012 4:15 PM
I’m on the same long path. I did Basic in Jan 2009, Apprentice and part of full in Jan 2010, then have not had time to get back to Florida or Mexico since. In the meantime, I’m keeping up my skill level as best I can above ground at the quarry where I do about 100 dives a year, doing "cave" skills on about half of my dives. Running a reel in the quarry is a good simulation for running it in a cave. I also try to do a lot of night dives to simulate as best I can the darkness of a cave. My favorite drill is to run some line around to be the "gold line", then take off my mask and close my eyes, do a couple helicopter turns, and then find the line with the "zero vis" of eyes closed and follow it to the "exit" blind. I also like to do this with a couple jumps in there to practice reeling in blind. If I can find a buddy to participate, I also occasionally will do some air share exits through some tight spaces, and such. Hope all this will help me retain enough skill to pass Full when I finally have the time and money to go finish up.
#51
David415 - 2/19/2013 11:36 AM
That is super cool. I literally have dreams about cave diving. Some day! :-)
#346
Subscribed
shellmoundal - 4/09/2014 1:34 PM
When you guys get to Florida let me know. Love to take you to Little River. Did this video last month before we got flooded out. Stay safe.
youtube.com/watch?v=s3IOC3ujwAE