Is it what you always wanted to do?

[tootricky]

Following on from a conversation elsewhere I am curious to know if anyone learned to dive with the specific intention of cave diving? What was it that attracted you in the first place?

Cheers/Nic

[Duncan Price]

Originally Posted by tootricky

Following on from a conversation elsewhere I am curious to know if anyone learned to dive with the specific intention of cave diving? What was it that attracted you in the first place?

I can think of several people who learned to dive in order to cave dive* - some who didn't dive in open water until sometime after they became qualified cave divers.

I gave up on BSAC before I finished my (then) third class ticket (I failed the theory paper first time around). Took up caving then cave diving five years later. My highest open water diving qualification is BSAC Snorkel Diver.

* I won't name them, but one is aguably one of the most accomplished cave divers in the world. This person took up caving and then cave diving after watchin "Underground Eiger" on TV.

[chrisch]

I think what you need to understand is there is no such thing as "cave diving". For dry cavers like Duncan there is the need to pass underwater sections of caves in order to carry on with the exploration. These guys are the ones to whom you refer.
On the other hand there are folks like me that are first and foremost scuba divers that are attracted to the opportunity to dive in submerged systems that do not challenge one's caving ability (non-existant in my case and that of most similar divers) This is perhaps best described as "Floridian" cave diving, where back mounted twins, long hoses and the like are the order of the day. From this has grown Hogarthian diving and its subset, DIR diving.

There is some crossover, but generally speaking those people that are able dry cavers tend to regard us scuba divers with a little distain. In particular the rigidified disiplines that Floridian diving often espouse as a good idea but are unworkable in constrictions. This discipline is often refered to as "sump" diving to differentiate it from the kind of "tourist" cave diving that folks like me do.

So to answer your question yes there are lots and they were drawn to it by the pragmatic need to pass flooded sections of dry caves.

Nutters.

Chris

[GRJ]

Yep - only learned to dive as an extension of my caving. Only dive in open water for training purposes. However I have no issue with others who have come at it from the other direction as it were. As to the sort of cave/sump diving we undertake - it's mostly a case of horses for courses really.

[peterdevlin]

On the other hand I got into caving from diving: now do 50/50 dry vs cave diving, almost never do any open water. If I had to choose between cave diving and dry caving, which fortunately I don't, I would give up cave diving.

[applepie]

based on my limited experiences, dry caving is alot more fun to me. the guys I dived with said that for them it was an extension and interesting experince to be able to actually see the parts they "visualised" in a cave when cave diving.

the bulk of them also prefered dry-caving, although they have invested ooodles of time and money exploring and mapping a local underwater cave system.

hopefully gonna pickup more dry-caving activity this year

[Letz]

Really interesting thread TooTricky

I have certainly heard of those who refer to cave diving as "underwater caving" but those are pretty much the UK Cave Divers who, as mentioned above, dived in order to continue their explorations

As you know, I'm keen to cave dive and while Florida looks amazing and I'd like to dive some sea caves, my experiences with Martyn and diving some cenotes certainly makes me want to dive more inland/solution. Totally incredible, and I absolutely must dive another sulphur cloud, but, while I'm up for a wee bit of caving to a dive site, I'm a bit long in the tooth I think to start real caving.

So, I don't think I easily fall into either of Chrisch's categories and I reckon many who have done cavern/intro with Martyn will have more diverse aspirations.

I'm sure Sheffield diver, Will S, MDS and others will be along soon

[cgrosart]

The guy who trained me in the CDG is 61 years old and I'm 26 - I still can't keep up with him underground. Remarkable for his age when you consider the number of people I take to hospital at his time of life with any number of problems. If you still have your health, don't let age get in your way ! Do what you can, while you still can. We might not be here tomorrow

[GRJ]

Originally Posted by cgrosart

The guy who trained me in the CDG is 61 years old and I'm 26 - I still can't keep up with him underground. Remarkable for his age when you consider the number of people I take to hospital at his time of life with any number of problems. If you still have your health, don't let age get in your way ! Do what you can, while you still can. We might not be here tomorrow

And he's still making his own wetsuits from the same pattern he's been using for over forty years! I'd struggle to fit in one of my suits from a mere 10 years ago...

[chrisch]

Originally Posted by Sixsquid

... I don't think I easily fall into either of Chrisch's categories and I reckon many who have done cavern/intro with Martyn will have more diverse aspirations.
..

I'm sure you're right - Martyn is a great ambassador for the UK cave scene. I've only ever done stuff in France and the thought of UK caves makes me shudder... The guy deserves a medal.

Chris