Whats there to see in caves?

[stairman]

I get asked from time to time from nondivers as well as saltys,whats there to see in a cave?like they wouldnt bother.I always reply with the same answer.Would you be interested in walking through a cave,shining a beam into holes and cracks?or better yet,how would you like to glide through a cave with a bright light.Natural geology man,you gotta love it.Now on the flip side of the coin,would I bother climbing around on an old rusty boat sitting in the bone yard?Hell no,im scared of spiders.Now would I enjoy gliding around an old rusty boat?Maybe, but not for long.I dove two wrecks this past weekend off Hillsboro inlet.Also two reefs.I know gliding through the Oriskany on a scooter would be a gass,but I just like the natural beauty of caverns and caves.Easier to wash out my gear too.

[loquat149]

I get asked from time to time from nondivers as well as saltys,whats there to see in a cave?l

Funny, my girlfriend and I have been asked similar questions...many from divers who dive professionally in OW. They almost always have exactly the same response "That's something I have NO desire to do". I usually just say, "Well, it's not for everyone". When asked about what's there to see I usually try not to actually encourage anyone and just say it's VERY dark and can be a bit cramped. I'm then usually surprised at how many people admit to having issues with claustrophobia.

It was funny on a recent trip to the Yucatan...the baggage inspector wanted to examine my can light and asked all kind of questions about what it was for, etc. He then pulled out my primary reel and immediately said, "Oh, I know what this if for...to find your way out!" Guess you had to be there...

Dave

[curtschu]

I have to believe that Claustrophobia has to be the most overstated fear in American society. EVERYONE I meet seems to claim to be claustrophobic (except my caving buddies of course) but five thousand people a day get on the elevators in my building, no one fraks out there.
I think, IMHO it is a convienent out for OW divers and since it seems so common no one will think less of you if you are claustrophobic. I agree no need to encourage more cave divers too many damn people already I have no place to ride my horsey!!! :-D

[Tegg]

I tell people the following answer:

"dere be all sorts of things in dem dere caves. Dere be beeried gold coins, gems, and dere even be some old spanis dollars down dere. It don take to much trainin to get in dere, just gotta dive fer one week and BAM you be a certified cave divr. Anyone can do it!"

:roll:

[DeepSea]

whats there to see in a cave?

Water and wet rocks...

[kuster500]

I used to be one of those people that would say I would never cave dive in a million years. Then a friend of mine introduced me to the sport via videos, pictures, and books. Once I understood the equipment considerations and the techniques I felt comfortable enough to try it. It was difficult on the first few dives, but I immensely love it. The problem therefore is not that there are to many divers. We should strive to introduce people to our beloved sport, but we must make conservation a number one point in all lessons from the instructors, to the every day divers that is "observed" by a new caver.

Just my two cents

[Genesis]

There are a LOT of people who have "the dragon" lurking just below the surface in their psyches.

If you're one of them, and he pokes his head up the back of your neck while you're underwater, you had better slay him - or he's gonna slay YOU (and perhaps your buddy too!)

Caves are funny things. Some people are perfectly ok with being 100, 200, 500 or 5000' back in them, and others are not. Some like wide-open spaces, others are ok with tight little holes. Some people freak out at the prospect of having to turn a certain way to fit where they would otherwise scrape or not make it at all.

Its not reef diving, that's for sure. But then again I'm one of those guys who will sit for 5 minutes on an OW dive staring at this little sea creature that I've never seen before, trying to figure out what he is and why he is where he is..... and what he's doing.....

[Cave Ranger]

Chicks dig me because I rarely wear underwear and even when I do it's usually something unusual.......and uh, Oh yeah. Once they find out I'm a cave diver women gratuitously fling themselves at me in a shameless display of idol worship and in an effort to sate their carnal urges.
THAT'S WHY!!!!! :-D

[Gibby]

It seems that everybody out there assumes the sport of diving is centered around sight seeing. My brother and I figured this out recently. He is a spear hunter that gets his jollies slamming a grouper into the dirt on a 3-foot ledge some 30 miles out in the gulf. He doesn’t care about trim position, breathing rates, hose routing or fining technique. He just uses scuba gear to obtain his goal of killing a fish.

I like the act of diving itself. I enjoy the planning, the techniques involved, the required mental skill and discipline, the relationship and cooperation from your buddy, the technical aspects of the gear as well as the challenge of the dive location. To me the additional perks of this non-competitive sport of skill, is the fact that while you are doing this you get to see awesome geologic formations.

When people ask me what I see down there, I tell them “rocks.” “Lots of rocks. Grey rocks, brown rocks and white rocks. Oh yeah, I see a lot of string too.” I rarely take the time to explain the love of the sport because usually they don’t get it anyways and start talking about over dramatized death statistics.

When that crap begins it’s best that I just end the conversation with my personal favaoite-

“Will you shut your damn corn hole and fill my tanks please?”


~G

[Dave Lizdas]

When the locals ask "whut d'yall see in them caves?" I tell them "Beautiful naked girls. But they're white with no eyes, so you gotta have an open mind."

[Gibby]

IS that kind of like handing them a mask and an O2 bottle and telling them to go take a look?




~G

[allen]

A few caves: e.g., the Gallery and the Eye-to-Ear passage at Ginnie, Caverna de Murcielagos in Quintana Roo, have beautiful formations. I know one with fascinating wildlife (Jarden del Eden/Ponderosa Cenote) in Quintana Roo). Nevertheless, the real fascination of cave diving is mastering the diving technique and the challenge of route-finding.
I am also fascinated by the challenge of "mind over matter". The Eye-to-Ear passage is just narrow enough to awaken my latent claustrophobia. I like the challenge of my rational mind forcing my irrational subconscious to recognize that even at the end of the dive I have 50 cu. ft. of backgas and a line to open water.

[curtschu]

I used to be one of those people that would say I would never cave dive in a million years. Then a friend of mine introduced me to the sport via videos, pictures, and books. Once I understood the equipment considerations and the techniques I felt comfortable enough to try it. It was difficult on the first few dives, but I immensely love it. The problem therefore is not that there are to many divers. We should strive to introduce people to our beloved sport, but we must make conservation a number one point in all lessons from the instructors, to the every day divers that is "observed" by a new caver.

Just my two cents

Videos!!!

Man Technology has come a long way my first look in a cave was a quick swim from Peacock to Pot hole and back. One look and I was hooked.
Of course that was 1987 and it took 4 years to save up the money to start training and getting the right equipment. :-D

[OFG-1]

What do I see in caves??

ELVIS - God people, doesn't everyone see him in there, with that white sequined suit, singin "A little less conversation, a little more action"

I just CAN'T be the only one that sees him. Look, he's right there talking with Jim Morrison and Ricky Nelson.

[Cave Ranger]

I see him too Ollie. I also see Boagymen.
Oh. That reminds me. When are you and Stanley going to film March of the Wooden Soldiers II?? :lol: I want to try out for the role of Tom Tom so that I get to make out with Lil Bo Peep. :smt050
I agree with Gibby. I like the view but it's really about mastering a unique form of diving and a skill level that very few people seek to attain.
I also believe that a flawlessly executed frog kick is artistic expression.

[GWNDWN]

I like the planning, gear preperation, anticipation, beautiful geology...but when it comes right down to it I enjoy the peace and quiet more than anything.

[DiveTrain]

For me it is the sense of flying. Call it a leftover dream of my youth or a carnal need to be free...truly free with no weight of gravity barring you to the earth. To achieve a level of trim in the water where you neither drift up or down and knowing the reaction to each movement and using it to propell you where you want to go. No other place gives you a greater set of reference points than all 4 sides. OW will only render 2 at best....reef...formation. Turn away from either and you lose all sense of motion. Only in a cave do you see an object and then determine to glide over to it and then to put it an inch from your nose ... inhale and ascend over a breakdown...exhale and descend back down all the while keeping the floor a constant distance. No other form of diving gives you the rewards of perfection and the hazards of mistakes. Its a land of extremes that will make you a great diver and a great playground if you want to learn to fly...

CJ

[jammer]

I see Sponge Bob.

[lonestarfl]

I get asked from time to time from nondivers as well as saltys,whats there to see in a cave?like they wouldnt bother.I always reply with the same answer.Would you be interested in walking through a cave,shining a beam into holes and cracks?or better yet,how would you like to glide through a cave with a bright light.Natural geology man,you gotta love it.Now on the flip side of the coin,would I bother climbing around on an old rusty boat sitting in the bone yard?Hell no,im scared of spiders.Now would I enjoy gliding around an old rusty boat?Maybe, but not for long.I dove two wrecks this past weekend off Hillsboro inlet.Also two reefs.I know gliding through the Oriskany on a scooter would be a gass,but I just like the natural beauty of caverns and caves.Easier to wash out my gear too.

When you go cave diving you won't see anything but water, rocks, and silt. You know, kind of like when you go to the Grand Cayon, Yosemite, or Bryce Canyon. It not what it is made of but the beauty percieved and with cave diving there is also the excitement of exploration to add to the mix.
Lee

[Recwings]

Nekked Womens

[Recwings]

P.S.

I found when you see Elvis, your in trouble....

When you start talkin to him, the shaits getten deep....

I figuer iffen he is talking back, I think your time might be up?

Nekked Womens seem to be the way to go.

But that just me.

[kuster500]

Jammer you see sponge bob too? I thought it was just me.

Here's a typical conversation when an open water diver asks what I see in caves:

OWD: What do you see in there?

Me: Dirt. You ever been to the Grand Canyon?

OWD: Yeah.

Me: What did you see there?

OWD: Dirt.

Me: But it was the coolest dirt you ever saw, right?

[jeandiver]

I see Sponge Bob.

EEK !!!!! :!: :!: :!: :!: :!:

Oh boy ...

Er , we have to get you back in a cave soon , you HAVE TO SHOW me Sponge Bob...

Da Beano

[OFG-1]

P.S.

I found when you see Elvis, your in trouble....

When you start talkin to him, the shaits getten deep....

I figuer iffen he is talking back, I think your time might be up?

Nekked Womens seem to be the way to go.

But that just me.

Bob

Change your picture. You are starting to look too much like John Prine.

http://www.onlineseats.com/upload/concerts/1068_con_John-Prine.jpg

I don't see him in caves, but I hear him.......

OK, everybody with me:

OOOhhh Baby
It's a Big Old Goofey World.................

[Cave Ranger]

Yep. I hear John Prine while cave diving also but it's just me humming the first several chords to "Hello in There", "Please Don't Bury Me" followed by "Come Back To Us Barbara Lewis Hare Krishna Beauregard".
I also hum the chords to "Illegal Smile" while sneak diving but I don't think that's what old John had in mind when he wrote it. :smt033

[BabyDuck]

i hear the effin' 'chicken dance', but that's just jeano...if i glare at her, she stops for a while.

i tell folks 'wet rocks', too. but, yeah, i do it for the chase of perfection. this is the only thing i've *ever* wanted to do to the utmost best of my ability.

[skip]

For me it's not in the see'in, it's in the being in there. When asked why I dive, I often answer because it's the closest I can ever get to being in outer space. When asked why I cave dive, I most often just shrug and smile, letting the memories show on my face.

-skip

[Angie Reim]

I saw a nekked woman in Telford once. Well it was a picture of a nekked woman splayed out (literally) under the line. :roll: :lol: It was funny-- but unfortunately the magazine was falling apart and bits of it were also floating around the cave so it had to be removed.

Naughty boys! Made me laugh though.....

Perhaps someday Jeano will show me the effin' 'chicken dance'. Might make me laugh too...... :lol:

[jeandiver]

I saw a nekked woman in Telford once. Well it was a picture of a nekked woman splayed out (literally) under the line. :roll: :lol: It was funny-- but unfortunately the magazine was falling apart and bits of it were also floating around the cave so it had to be removed.

Naughty boys! Made me laugh though.....

Perhaps someday Jeano will show me the effin' 'chicken dance'. Might make me laugh too...... :lol:

You got a deal !!! :-D :-D :-D

Jeano Beano