CCR Full Cave with Matt and Protec in Mexico – the best course I have ever done

[Janos]

I know Mark has done a thread on this already, but in the spirit of the course I wanted to have my own So here's my report. The credit for most of the photos belongs to Matt.

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Everyone has their own motives for doing a course. I like to continually try and improve my diving, and so when Mark told me he wanted to do CCR cave course I was very interested. We tried a few UK based instructors, but they either took months to reply to emails, were reluctant to teach in Mexico, or the dates didn’t work out.

Our Instructor

Based on reading various internet reports, Mark and I independently came up with the idea of going with Matt (MattMexico on RBW) and PROTEC and I’m very glad we did.

Matt


Matt is one of the most experienced cave divers out there. He has been on many expeditions, pushed many caves, and is the IANTD rep on the Quintana Roo Safety Committee, as well as the main IANTD man for Central and South America. He is also a very experienced Instructor (one of only five IANTD Cave Instructor Trainer, Trainers in the world) and has a reputation for nice bloke on the surface but merciless underwater.

This reputation turned out to be true.

As the course got closer and closer I got more and more excited about getting out of the crap, windy, rainy grey UK, and diving in warm gin clear waters. And I wanted to see what the fuss about caves was.

Getting there and logistics

I flew out with Continental airlines, mainly because they were giving an allowance of 2 x 23kg and 18kg hand luggage. I took most of the KISS in hand luggage, wrapped in two undersuits, with two 21W Salvos to keep it company. One of my checked bags weighted 23kg, and the other 26kg but this wasn’t a problem. The flight was around £550, and took a long time, as I had left myself a generous 4 hour transit time in Newark. (Americans insist you collect your bags and recheck them when you transfer).

Leaving home at 7:15am, I arrived at 11pm Mexico time or 5am in the UK. I was shattered. Despite this I was wide awake at 5am! Bloody jet lag! I was staying at Mom’s hotel attached to the dive centre, which was clean and had fearsome air-conditioning that dried all my kit overnight. It worked out about £20 per night.

Howard (far left, Uhura), Janos (Centre, Spock) and Mark (right, Kirk)



Friday

I prepped my kit and made sure the rebreather was working, before walking round Playa a few times, which is small and low rise, although the main touristy area is a bit dense at times. I bought a hat so as to fit in and not look like a tourist, then got a cab to Mark and Howard’s hotel where I recovered from jet lag.

Howard and myself passing through a restriction



Saturday

After introductions, we also met Patrick, who was assisting on the course. We spent the first day was spent doing a lot of theory (including some dry line work) and talking about cave diving. We had hoped to get in the water in the late afternoon, but sadly we didn’t make it, so pushed on with the theory.

The theory was good and despite being very well read beforehand, I learnt a fair bit, especially about communications. There’s definitely stuff there I can use in my UK diving. I go to sleep early (about 8:30pm) looking forward to the diving tomorrow.

A briefing




Sunday

Our first day in the water, which was spent in Cenote Eden, part of the Pondarosa system. I later found out that this is also known as the “pool of pain”

We kit up in our drysuits. I’m wearing 4th element arctics and am too hot in the Mexico sun. I jump in to cool off, then come back up for my rig.

We do weight checks. I am a couple of kilos overweight, but not too bad. I can cope with this as I used to dive 4kg overweight in fresh water in quarries as I had no ditchable weight on my sea-weighted rig (an ally plate cured this). So being 2kg is a piece of piss in comparison.

Mark and Howard aren’t so lucky, and are both overweighted and untrimmed. We practice for a bit and move some weights around. I’m a bit hot in the 25 degree water so flush water through my hood.

First proper dive is just skills and drills individually around a circuit with our eyes shut. I get entangled a few times, I suspect with a bit of help, but get off lightly compared to Howard who surfaces with just one fin!

Then it’s another couple of dives doing touch contact drills. We’re crap, but get better on the second attempt.

Finally we get to go into the cave. We put in a line, tie into the mainline and off we go. It’s large, lighter than I expected, and great fun. We swim out for a way, then bleep bleep bleep. Howard gets a small cell error, and we call the dive and head home.

Howard and Janos



Howard and Janos

[Janos]

Monday

We’re back at Cenote Eden and this time the dive goes to plan. We go in, then go to back up lights and exit. Howard and Mark are already exiting the cave and I’m removing the reel when Matt decides they are too far in front of me. He tells me I’m out of air. I fin over to Mark, signalling like crazy, but it’s hard for him to see as he’s in the daylight zone. He turns, I get his reg, and we move to the line. Drill over I’m allowed to go back to my loop. Then Mark loses his mask, I lose mine, and we exit in touch contact. Then my SPG on it’s longish (2 inch) bit of string gets entangled. I signal to Mark I’m stuck and unclip it, untangle it, but then a tie off has come loose and my fin gets ensnared. I take it off, untangle it, and am replacing it when I feel someone taking the other off!

After the teasing I gave Howard I’m determined to surface with both fins and somehow I make it to the surface laughing.

Later that night I replace the string tying my SPGs to my clips with much shorter line. I ask Matt why he didn’t just tell me to do this instead of tangling me up in the line. “You learn better that way” he tells me. He is right.

A superb day, but it all goes downhill from here…

Team Chaos in Touch Contact




Tuesday

The next few days we spent in Taj Ma Ha. My communication is poor, and I over-communicate, which stresses out Mark and Howard. After a couple of days I’m not “back seat diving” as much but it still comes out when I see something I don’t like. Mark and I are clashing slightly, as we have different ideas of how things should be done, and I need to let go more. Howard is the most overweight of all of us, and as a result is struggling with his trim.

Mark and I fall out underwater during a pre-dive S-drill. I’m not one for ranting and raging, so I fume for a bit but calm down a bit before the dive. Mark is “Kirk”, Howard is “Spock” and I’m “Uhura” in number three position. We tie in to the mainline and progress through a ziggy zaggy bit. Mark has got a bit too far ahead, so I flash him at around the same time Howard flashes him as there has been a small cave collapse which has obscured the line. In the discussion between Howard and Mark, the viz gets badly stirred up and it all goes to rat shit. I get ready for touch contact and wait. And wait. Just as I’m about to turn around I feel the push from Howard and we go. A little later I look behind me I can see both Howard and Mark’s lights but nothing else. Reasoning that we’re out of zero viz I break touch contact and we head out of the cave.

We exit the cave and get a major bollocking.

The debriefing is stark and merciless. At this point it dawns on me that we are on track to fail the course.

We get out of the water, and agree to do another dive, which goes better. I do a lost line drill which went ok, although I didn’t find the line on the first attempt. Recovering the line for the second attempt is interesting, especially as it has gotten tangled in all manner of rocks. I find the line on the second attempt though.

Mark doesn’t manage to complete his drill as Howard has run out of diluent. We suspect a leaky manifold.

I think I know what I need to change to the pass the course.

Janos in silhouette



Wednesday

The first dive is better in some ways but not others. The touch contact exit not as good as it could be, but we got out alive. I signal to Mark for a safety stop but he responds with a thumb so we head up. I find out on the surface that he has had a small flood and a caustic cocktail.

It’s the end of diving for the day so we strip Mark’s breather and head back for the rest of the theory. We finish it, and replace the ADV diaphragm on Mark’s rebreather. Replacing this is tricky (it took me a couple of hours when I did it at home last year) and Mark’s already frazzled nerves are getting even more strained. However, I have a go and manage to fit it on the second attempt.

A post dive debrief



Thursday

I was in a confident mood on the way to the dive site, as I knew what I was doing wrong, so I just needed to stop doing it. That’s half the battle right?

This dive went better and we managed the first of a series of planned jumps before Howard turned the dive on dil. On the way back I strayed too far from the line and Matt quickly removed my mask. I flashed the team immediately and Mark guided me to safety. Lesson learnt.

Five minutes into the next dive I spotted why Howard was using through so much dil. Bubbles were escaping from his wing. I signalled him to hold and investigated the problem before thumbing the dive. Bollocks. It was going really well too.

Mark and I then went for a third dive with Matt and Patrick to recover the reel we’d left in from the first dive. This was brilliant. Mark and I agreed to swim quickly in and to cruise very slowly back, which we did. And there were no drills. Brilliant!

Patrick gives us an encouraging debrief where he talks about fine tuning as the basics seem to be coming together. I am feeling a bit more optimistic now but there’s still a way to go.

A neoprene neckseal acts like a push up bra...



Friday

Howard was diving with a borrowed Halcyon wing and I was still feeling optimistic. There was still much room for improvement but I was confident that I could raise my game sufficiently. I was back seat driving less and being much more aware of the team. I just needed to keep moving in the same direction.

Today we were diving at Chaak Mool, much of which was explored and surveyed by Matt. We entered at the Little Brother and went through the restriction. The dive went ok-ish, and the drills were ok-ish too.

Second dive and it all went to crap. We were in a bedding plane about one metre high and thumbed the dive due to crap viz being stirred up. Leading the team out I looked behind and could see Mark, not just his light. Thinking we were out of zero-viz I broke contact, not realising of course that Howard bringing up the rear couldn’t see.

Then during the way out I ended up swimming a metre or two too far ahead. Mark was told to go out of air, reached me, but in the rush the mouthpiece came off my reg.

Bollocks.

We surfaced, and Matt’s face was like thunder. We all knew what we had done wrong, so there was no need for a detailed debrief. Instead we silently got out of the water and dekitted. Instead of the detailed debrief we had a general chat about cave diving. It was late and getting dark when we finished.

I now thought that we were 90% likely to fail, but we had one last chance to pass. Matt said it was a good thing we had two days off before the final day, as it would would give us time to reflect on our weaknesses.

Janos below the halocline


Writing poetry during the surface interval

[Janos]

Saturday

I tagged along with Mark and Ling on a guided cavern tour round Chaak Mool. Sadly Ling decided that cave diving was not for her, but it was very pleasant to have no drills on the dive.

A Kiss diver in silhouette



Janos going through a restriction



Sunday

Last time I was in the Yucatan (about 7 years previously with work) I didn’t see any ruins so this time I was determined to. The ruins at Tulum were superb, and I’d recommend them. I spent the afternoon brooding about Monday, the final day of the course.

Indiana Chase




Monday

D-day arrived and it was much better. I was Kirk, Howard was Spock, and Mark was Uhura. The dive went to plan until I noticed that Mark was missing. I told Howard, then started a lost diver search. I didn’t know that this was a drill, but Matt seemed calm and Patrick was also missing so I suspected it might be. Howard and I kept our cool, found Mark and lead him back to the safety of the line.

Then it was touch drills, SCR drills, and air sharing drills all the way home. We surfaced, and I was pleased with the way it had gone.

We debriefed each other and Matt and Patrick gave their comments. Then Matt turned the subject around to cave diving generally and asked us whether we felt we could do that last dive on our own. When we replied in the affirmative. He then shook our hands, told us we had passed, the cards were printed up and back home, and we were free to go for a dive on our own!

This came as a huge surprise to me, and I was speechless.

Matt told us he would be getting out of the water, and suggested that we do the second dive on our own. This is an excellent idea, and so we did. We went to see a room known as the cathedral. This is a massive room which is well decorated. It was really nice to have a proper cave dive without the stress of being on a course.

Mark Underwater



Team Chaos tie off





Tuesday and Wednesday

Mark and Howard flew home and I did some guided dives. On Tuesday I dived Dos Ojos, and on Wednesday I dived the Room of Tears in Carwash and the Cavanah Loop in Gran Cenote. These were all superb dives and I really enjoyed them, but I’ll put more detail in later as I want to focus on the training course.

However when told that my guide was going to be "Bernie", I assumed he'd be a 20 stone hairy arsed diver. I was wrong.



The Dude packing his kit. Note the three cool boxes



Summary

The road to being a top notch cave diver is a long one, and I’ve just started out, but certainly I feel competent to start exploring the caves with Mark and Howard. I think we’re in the position of a PADI AOW who’s done 30 dives in the Red Sea. Yes in theory we might be qualified to jump into a 30m dive off Dover in February, but we need to build up to it.

This was the best course I’ve ever been on. I learnt shedloads about myself, and also Mark and Howard. I learnt not only in-water skills, but also much better communication skills, and most of all I learnt about my own personality and behaviours underwater, and how they positively and negatively impact on the dive. I’m a perfectionist, and in my passion for perfection I can be too bossy, too controlling, and so I need to let go occasionally. Chatting with Patrick he hit the nail on the head when he told me that it was obvious I was an instructor. I’ve learnt that sometimes not every opportunity should be a teaching opportunity.

A lot of what I’ve learnt it going to be very useful when diving in the UK, and I can’t wait to put into practice.

If you are interested in learning to cave dive, or just want to be a better diver, then I would thoroughly recommend doing this course with Matt. It’s hard going, and I’d definitely recommend a few confidence boosting days of diving afterwards, but you will learn a lot.

My main reason for going on the course was to learn stuff that would make me a better diver. I came away with more than I thought possible.

Janos

We passed!

[Buoyant Babe]

Stunning pics! Glad you enjoyed the course

Helen xxx

[Janos]

Oh, and I almost forgot. There were some bookings...

Captain Spanky's Little Yellow Naughty Book recorded:

Thursday

The TSA - poor rummaging techique
COntinental airlines - Having to pay for booze

Friday

Howard - For saying a naughty word
Mark - Excessively foul tongue
Howard, Mark, Angela - Excessive hat pride
Howard - For saying "shush"
Howard - For wearing a granny hat
Sophie - Book over-enthusiasm
Sophie - Book arguing
Janos - Being annoying
Janos - For being obsessed with the book
Woman wearing orange thong - Excessive wrongness
Ling - Unnecessary clothes faffing
Ling - Unnecessary clothes faffing
Ling - Unnecessary clothes faffing
Janos - Overestimating the size of a taco

Sunday

Matt - Excessive speed
Snorkellers - Excessive clothing
"Ruby" - Jumping cowardice
Mark - Being Overweight
Howard - Being overweight
Howard - Removing a fin after entangling it in a lights out drill and then losing it.
Janos - Diving without Due Care and Attention
Howard - Underwater dawdling
Mark - Preprepared Wetnote smugness
Howard - Having a shit rebreather
Mark - Encouraging Howard to buy a shit rebreather
Janos - Rebreather smugness
Patrick - Having an Irish name despite being Austrian
Patrick - Underwater hand-jiving
Janos - Being out hand-jived for the first time ever
Mark, Howard, Janos - Being deserters
Mark, Howard, Janos - Just not talking enough
Janos - Arguing the toss out of nothing

Monday

Mark - Gold band smugness
Janos - Having fat fingers
Howard - Excessive interruption
Patrick - Book apathy
Janos - Mask stupidity
Janos - Mask stupidity
Janos - Mask stupidity
Janos - Mask stupidity
Howard - Owning a reel made from depleted Uranium
Janos - Owning an unmarked reel
Mark - Hand jiving
Howard - "Lazy Cunt Diving"
Mark - Having amusing sunburn on the parts of his face not covered by his hood
Mark - Being a girly swot
Patrick - Drying his drysuit under a dripping ceiling

Tuesday

Mark - Early morning grumpiness
Howard - Cave floor / sea bed confusion
Janos - Underwater grumpyness
Mark - Aggressive finger prodding
Cave - For collapsing
Janos - For applying UK standards to "zero viz"
Howard - Looking like he was dead underwater
Patrick - Not realising that the above is usual Howard behaviour
Mark and Janos - Having a tiff
Howard and Janos - Trying to lose Mark by lifting up the line in the lost diver drill
Janos - Calling caveline string
Mark - Unnecessary enthusiasm for shutting his eyes and doing a simulated lights out exit
Janos and Howard - Being persuaded by Mark's enthusiasm to also shut their eyes and do a simulated lights out exit
Janos - For simulating the olympic flame with his backup torch on an unnecessary eyes-shut exit
Midges and mosquitos - Existing
Mark - More amusing sunburn
Howard - Running out of dil
Matt - Not being booked enough

Wednesday
Howard - Hosepipe accident
Janos - Calling his Cave Instructor crazy
Janos - Inability to drink beer
Patrick - Looking like a vegetarian
Mark - Lime theft
Janos - Locking himself out of his room
Mark - Not noticing a speedbump and bending Howard's rebreather
Dirk - Losing a fin
Walmart - Not stocking kettles
Janos - Excessive tit pride
Matt - Suggesting an inappropriate storage place for Janos to keep his backup torch
Janos - Excessive sweetbread consumption
Mark - Trying to get rid of wetnotes unsuccessfully
Howard - Having an excuse for crap buoyancy for the past ten years
Howard - Disappearing cookies (only he knows if he ate them)
Janos - Excessive signalling
Janos and Mark - Erotic signalling
Howard - Concealing the hole in his wing with his horizontal trim
Howard - Not being able to find the zip on a buddy wing and telling everyone they were zipless
Janos - Back seat diving

Friday

Mark - Book pride
Howard - Diving a Halcyon wing with a rebreather
Team - Excessive name calling
Howard - Book arguing
Matt - Deafness
Matt - Wanting to be booked
Howard - Excessive looseness when tightness was required
Mark - Taking it easy at No. 3
Janos - Underwater bossyness
Fat Americans on cavern tour - Underwater clusterfuck
Howard - Repeated looseness
Janos' mouthpiece on his bailout reg - Falling off during an OOA drill
Janos - Still not understanding zero viz
Janos - Excessive enthusiasm for a lights out drill through the restriction
Howard - The battery episode.
Patrick - Smugness on becoming a cave instructor

Saturday

Ling - Forcing Mark to be a dive slave.
Ling - Thinking that being underground in a flooded cave with just a small tank of air on your back is in some way unnatural.
Girl in tight gold lame shorts - Buying Wallmarts' entire stock of adult incontinece nappies.
Janos - Excessive staring
Janos - Not putting away Mark's rebreather
Mark - Treating Janos as some sort of rebreather lackey

Sunday

Minivan driver - Poor choice of hymns for a trip to Tulum
Dirk - Expecting the boat to come to him
Janos #2 cell - Eratic readings
Mark, Howard, Sue, Ling - Lack of stamina

Monday

Howard - Refusing to eat donuts
Mark - Having freaky feet
Patrick - Taking longer than a girl to get ready
Patrick - Book arguing
Mark and Howard - Keenness to suit up
Janos, Mark, Howard - Smugness on becoming qualified Cave divers
Mark - Loosing C-Card 15 minutes after getting it.
Howard - Stealing Mark's CD and card
The Cathedral - For being not nearly stressfull enough!
Mark - Losing more bits of kit

Tuesday

Janos - Going diving smugness
Mark and Howard - Having to go home
Bernie - Not being a 20 stone hairy arsed bloke
Bernie - Going up the wrong line
Piotr - Winding Janos up about restrictions
Janos - Torturing Howard and Mark with text messages

Wednesday

The restriction on the way to the Room of Tears - Not being half as challenging as Janos thought it would be
Howard and Mark - Not being in the Room of Tears
Janos - Underwater chuntering in the Room of Tears
Janos - Being too lazy to get out of his drysuit and riding in the back of Bernie's truck between cenotes
Janos - Underwater sledging at Gran Cenote
Patrick - Restaurant indecisiveness
Janos - Torturing Howard and Mark with text messages

Thursday

Holiday - For being over and having to go home
Continental - Stinging Janos for $100 for being overweight
TSA - Unnecessary grumpyness and rudeness
Continental - Not having free booze.

[Buoyant Babe]

[quote=Janos;867817]Oh, and I almost forgot. There were some bookings...

Captain Spanky's Little Yellow Naughty Book

Do you know that was just what I was thinking when I saw the shot of you on the surface writing!

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by Janos

Chatting with Patrick he hit the nail on the head when he told me that it was obvious I was an instructor.

Reading both Mark's and then your reports I wondered if something like this might be the case - you may be more aware of 'issues' indeed you might be watching out for them.

Well done all three of you.

Adrian

[Janos]

Originally Posted by Adrian Kelland

Reading both Mark's and then your reports I wondered if something like this might be the case - you may be more aware of 'issues' indeed you might be watching out for them.

I don't think it's that I'm necessarily more aware of the issues, but that I was compelled to act on them. So for example, when tying into a guideline we clip the reel back on to itself, however we don't use the clip as a marker. If Mark or Howard clipped the reel on to the guideline (ie incorrectly) I would flash them down and say 'this is wrong'. Instead I should just correct the mistake quickly if I can, or just let it go. Stopping the dive and pointing out the error just slows down and increases the stress on the team, making us less safe.

"Not every opportunity is a teaching opportunity" as BSAC almost say

Janos

PS - If one of the team made a dangerous mistake, then obviously it's right to stop until it's corrected, but my calling for attention for relatively trivial things put me in the position of the boy who cried wolf.

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by Janos

I don't think it's that I'm necessarily more aware of the issues, but that I was compelled to act on them. So for example, when tying into a guideline we clip the reel back on to itself, however we don't use the clip as a marker. If Mark or Howard clipped the reel on to the guideline (ie incorrectly) I would flash them down and say 'this is wrong'. Instead I should just correct the mistake quickly if I can, or just let it go. Stopping the dive and pointing out the error just slows down and increases the stress on the team, making us less safe.

"Not every opportunity is a teaching opportunity" as BSAC almost say

Janos

PS - If one of the team made a dangerous mistake, then obviously it's right to stop until it's corrected, but my calling for attention for relatively trivial things put me in the position of the boy who cried wolf.

Hmm, tricky - incident pit and all that...

Perhaps 'Every opportunity is a learning opportunity' might be more appropriate - a 2 way thing? You learnt from it.

Adrian

[Steve S]

Great write up Bro' although I'm surprised the three of you weren't 'booked' for excessive ugliness

Congratulations on the passes.

Safe diving,
Steve