cave diving courses

[base]

hi
intrested in doing cave diving course,could anyone give me some info on best place/person to do this with,and specific skills req.
cheers

[Mark Powell]

For UK cave diving (sump diving) then look at Martyn Farr Farrworld - Cave Diving Courses, Lectures, Books and Photography or the CDG.

For larger caves (France, Florida, Mexico) then try Frank Bruce E-Aquanauts (c)2002.

If you are interested in the DIR route then go for GUE gue.com/

[Duncan Price]

Originally Posted by base

hi
intrested in doing cave diving course,could anyone give me some info on best place/person to do this with,and specific skills req.
cheers

For UK training:

Martyn Farr (Farrworld - Cave Diving Courses, Lectures, Books and Photography)

For training by UK nationals but done abroad:

Phil Short (www.philshorttechnical.co.uk)
Martin Robson (Eau2)

EDIT: Mark Powell beat me to it but I then looked at your profile. If you already go caving then the CDG route might also be an option depending on your reasons for wanting to go cave diving. However the people above are CDG members also and would no doubt point you that way should you wish to take the activity further in the UK.

[NotDeadYet]

If you want to learn abroad then John & Shelley Orlowski in Florida are great.

Cave Dive, Cave Diving by Aquaspeleo

[AMW]

CDG route might also be an option depending on your reasons for wanting to go cave diving.

And the training is free other than the subscription.

Andrew.

[peterdevlin]

Originally Posted by base

hi
intrested in doing cave diving course,could anyone give me some info on best place/person to do this with,and specific skills req.
cheers

I agree with Mark and Duncan's postings ... as Duncan says, if you cave in the UK you should consider joining the CDG.

The advantage of going with Martyn is that you train in UK conditions and UK configuration, but get a ticket that will be recognised abroad (Florida and Mexico for instance). It was doing Martyn's courses that got me into caving in the first place and I highly recommend them. For the record I am starting an instructor program with MArtyn so once I get qualified I will be helping him out.

Re which section of the CDG to consider joining you seem to be roughly equidistant to each region so I guess it depends on what your favorite region is for dry caving.

If you are interested in coming along to a Welsh Section meeting let me know (you could PM me) and I'll give you the dates.

Ciao,
Peter

[AMW]

but get a ticket that will be recognised abroad (Florida)

The CDG Card is.

It all depends were you want to dive if you want to cave dive in the UK then the CDG is the best way forward it may take longer than paying for a course but worth it. Join a caving club (if not already) the get to know the clubs CDG members best find a club with some :-) This gives you an idea of the caving community and the weird people who frequent it. It also saves you money so you can spend it on more gear.
Andrew

Andrew.

[peterdevlin]

Originally Posted by AMW

And the training is free other than the subscription.

Andrew.

.... but the Welsh and Northern Sections don't have a training officer.

Marcus: does the Derbyshire Section had a training officer?

The only section I'm sure of is Somerset.

[peterdevlin]

Originally Posted by AMW

The CDG Card is.

Andrew.

... yes, but I have a Full Cave cert from Martyn, and am not yet a QD .... and haven't started thinking about a date for being examined ....

I take your point that you could get to QD as quickly as to Full Cave, but this is in part dependent on getting a mentor to take you diving.

To my knowledge Christine is one of the few trainees who is getting the level of mentoring that used to happen in the CDG.

[AMW]

but the Welsh and Northern Sections don't have a training officer.

This is not a requirement of training any qualified diver can act as a mentor. The training officer is of course an advantaged and is responsible for keeping track of trainees progress and the appointment of examiners. Although the section secretary can fulfill this role. Jim is the Derbyshire section training officer.

Andrew.