Help which cave course?

[Lake Diver]

Last November I did PSAI Intro to cave with Martyn Farr which was a great course from which I learnt loads. I then went on a family holiday to mexico and managed to slip in a few cave dives and several cavern dives all of which were superb. the family enjoyed the holiday too and want to go back next year (arn't i lucky i hear you say - YES) anyway I thought I would try and do the full cave course before the holiday. I would happily go back to Martyn but feel that it is unlikely that I will do much cave diving in the uk as I tend to work weekends and dont live near any good caves. Also his 4 day course is £800 and is run in 2 sections with a minimum 1 day break so by the time ive driven to South Wales (about 6 hours) it will take a week to do the course. Not much different to flying to Florida!

I tentatively broached the idea of me going abroad on my own, to my other half and did not get an outright no, which is quite positive I thought.
So here is my question at last- which country? which instructor? which organization?


Any info greatly apreciated

Gareth

[Rob Dobson]

I'm planning on doing mine with Erik Engberg at InDepth:

http://www.indepth-training.com/trai...e-courses.html

There are some really good places to do cave training around Malaysia and Thailand.

I might combine it with Pelagian CCR training as part of the same trip and make the most of being in Asia.

However if you plan on doing mainly Western European caves (UK in particular) then you may be better off sticking with a UK instructor and UK caves... Looking at the Wookey Hole DVD that's a different proposition to anything you're likely to find in Florida, Mexico, Asia etc.

Originally Posted by Lake Diver

dont live near any good caves.

Good god man - you're about 1 hours drive from Yorkshire!

May not be Mexico but there are some of the best cave dives in the UK there. Guess it depends on your diving aspirations though.

Cheers, Steve

[JasonP]

I also did my Intro with Martyn but like you I'm more interested in places like Mexico. I did my full cave with Protec in Playa Del Carmen. They also have a place in Sardinia:

ProTec Sardinia - tp

I've not been there yet, though I fully intend to at some point. You would be learning the same techniques as they use in Mexico, plus it would obviously help if you then want to dive over there that you've trained with people they know.

Jason

[Lake Diver]

Good god man - you're about 1 hours drive from Yorkshire!

Fair point Steve, I new I had that coming, but not being from a caving background I am concerned by my lack of knowledge of UK caving, and just dont have the time to commit to a new activity, much as I would like to.

Would I not be right in thinking that most dives in yorkshire caves involve a fair amount of dry caving and that most dives are a means to getting to the next dry passage?

Gareth

[t0by]

I did cavern in Mexico, intro in Florida and full cave in France.

It was great to have a taste of three different environments. So if you have the opportunity to do something similar, highly recommended.

[NotDeadYet]

Originally Posted by Lake Diver

Fair point Steve, I new I had that coming, but not being from a caving background I am concerned by my lack of knowledge of UK caving, and just dont have the time to commit to a new activity, much as I would like to.

Would I not be right in thinking that most dives in yorkshire caves involve a fair amount of dry caving and that most dives are a means to getting to the next dry passage?

Gareth

Can't you get Martyn to run a course in the Dales? Assuming you get a spell of decent weather there are plenty of sites that would be suitable. British cave diving isn't all mud and crawling between sumps, it wasn't that long ago that the longest cave dive in the world was in Yorkshire. There are plenty of caves that are long, spacious and (sometimes ) have decent vis. It'd be quite weather dependant, though, doesn't take much rain to knacker the vis for training.

Doesn't Martyn teach full cave in sidemounts anyway? If you're planning on Florida/Mexico type cave diving then that probably isn't the best way forward.

Cheers,

Stuart

[principia]

Sorry to go off topic, but since the cavers types are answering. Does anyone know of any caving groups based in and around York?

Cheers,
J

[malcolm smith]

Hi Gareth,

Great to see you are seriously moving forward with your cave diving.

I'm a broken record I guess whenever I voice an opinion on this----you could do a lot worse than Martin Robson---eau2 I think is the website.

He does courses in Florida France and Mexico, or he did.

If you don't think UK will feature a lot in your early cave diving, Florida will give you a better variety of sites than France, loads of confusing side tunnels, high flow, which France does not have in the usual sites. You will also suffer an unbroken diet of fried food. I know nothing of Mexico, except it's meant to be very nice.

If you think UK is the way to go, Martyn Farr would be good to continue with.

As far as I know, which ain't far!!! Hurtle and Joint are the 'easy' access semi flops in the Dales, however, as Manuel said long ago, I know nothing :-)

Florida/France is commonly done backmount which you are familiar with, although generally trained with an isolation manifold a la dir, eeek, I didn't say that :-)

Whatever, get your training, and we have the making of a Cumbrian 'team' with Steve when I get back from Australia late September, via Fiji :-)
Sound like a Cumbrian trip to the Lot/Dordogne has to happen soon :-)

If you are comfortable in Florida, and are OK in poorer vis, you are a UK diver after all--------cave diving in the usual sites in Lot/Dordogne will be no problem.

If you fancy another dip in Wastwater, I'm going to have to get used to cold water again after 6 months in Oz, and it would be good to seee you again :-)

Cheers, Malcolm.

Originally Posted by Lake Diver

Would I not be right in thinking that most dives in yorkshire caves involve a fair amount of dry caving and that most dives are a means to getting to the next dry passage?

You're mainly correct here but there are exceptions as mentioned by Malcolm - Joint Hole and Hurtle Pot. There are other easy access sites but landowner relationships are delicate so I won't mention them here.

Hurtle is a big phreatic tube going to a depth of 28m, 135m from the entrance. Joint is shallower (11m) but has a low section (approx' 20 inches high and several metres long) before the first airbell at 165m that may make a non-cavers toes curl.

I assume that you've done Hodge. What about the Copper Mines?

Cheers, Steve