Embarking into Cave Diving
Cave diving is a highly technical form of SCUBA diving that involves diving in intricate and enclosed underwater environments. It allows you to explore otherwise inaccessible spaces with otherworldly geological formations that may not be found above the surface, including lakes, stalagmites, stalactites, and unique lifeforms. Look into embarking into cave diving.
What Cave Diving offers
With numerous different types of caves to explore, cave diving offers unparalleled adventure and a profound sense of accomplishment. It requires a combination of skills to navigate through underwater worlds only the privileged few get to see. Each dive can offer new experiences, evoking feelings of awe, solitude, and discovery as you explore new frontiers. More than just a new opportunity for adventure, cave diving can also be invaluable in search and rescue operations.
The Risks of Embarking into Cave Diving
While cave diving presents an exciting opportunity for a new and unique adventure, it does not come without risks and should be approached cautiously. Diving in confined spaces with limited visibility can present several potential problems, and insufficient skills and experience can lead to fatalities. The most common issues with cave diving stem from breaching critical safety rules, including diving with insufficient air supplies for a safe exit, inadequate lights, and maintaining a continuous guideline to the surface[1].
Equipment for Cave Diving
The equipment used is typically different from that used in a standard open-water dive. Additional equipment may be required, including, but not limited to, double 'twin' tanks or side-mounted tanks to ensure sufficient air supply, specifically designed regulators, lights for visibility, cutting devices, and a helmet equipped with a light mounting system to provide protection and help secure the light source.
Requirements For Cave Diving
Cave diving requires excellent buoyancy control, regulation, and air and navigational skills. You must undertake the necessary training with a certified instructor before undertaking cave diving. Once you've received your PADI or SSI open water certification and extensive open water diving experience, you can take various cave diving courses. Many SCUBA diving organisations, including PADI[2]and SSI[3], offer cave diving courses. Their websites provide details of these courses and where they are delivered. Prerequisites for these courses typically include having completed a certain number of open-water dives, some with a requirement for technical dive experience.
A Checklist of What You Need Before Embarking into Cave Diving
By undertaking a cave diving course with an instructor, divers can become informed of safe diving practices, procedures, and equipment configuration. Instructors can also support the development of skills, dive planning capabilities, problem-solving abilities, and other required skills of cave divers. Before embarking on this quest fathoms below, divers should always adhere to the following to ensure safety:
- Undertake sufficient training with a certified instructor
- .Maintain physical and mental fitness.
- Respect the environment in which you're diving.
- Apply all relevant safety protocols. Always plan the dive and dive the plan.
Finding the Right Instructor
Finding the right instructor is imperative to having a safe cave dive. You want to make sure the instructor has experience in cave diving. For more information on finding the right instructor, check out By the Shore SCUBA Instruction's blog. If you are interested in gaining your PADI dive certification and live or are traveling through North Carolina, consider By the Shore SCUBA Instruction. Kevin Alexander offers instruction for beginners and seasoned divers alike. Call By the Shore SCUBA Instruction today.
Sources-
[1] Buzzacott, Peter L.; Zeigler, Erin; Denoble, Petar; and Vann, Richard (2009) "American Cave Diving Fatalities 1969-2007," International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education: Vol. 3: No. 2, Article 7. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ijare/vol3/iss2/7/
[2] https://store.padi.com/en-us/ns/courses/cavern-diver/p/cavern-diver/
[3] https://www.divessi.com/en/advanced-training/extended-range/cave-diving/cave-diving
