Time Spent and Dives Completed During Cave Training

I'm sure this subject has been discussed before, but I couldn’t find anything recent in several searches so here goes. After reading all this "Zero to Hero" stuff vs. the need to "go slow" during training, I am really curious to know how many months and how many dives in the overhead people had from the first day that they walked into a Cavern class to the day they finished Full Cave. There are many valid reasons why a diver may have moved thru their training in a short period or took their time, so please...no need to pontificate (which is hard for me) as to whether shorter or longer is better. I just think it would be interesting to see what our Forum sample might be. We could even have Dr. Bill do a statistical report!

For example...Jack and Jackie: 33 months and 97 dives.:diver

Cheers

Jack

I did about 50-60 dives in full cave gear in lakes and quarries and took cavern/intro in same.
Note to others-4 hours in double 104's makes cavern a little tougher than it has to be.
Then one year later took apprentice/full in same setup plus dry suit after 30ish cave dives.

Would not recommend all four courses in two week time frame.

My better half spent a year preparing for cavern and intro. 18 months later she has over 100 cave dives and is preparing to take apprentice between X-mas and NY's. She is considering possibly doing full at the same time but has not committed yet.

Bobby

Sandy and John - 24 months and 40+ dives

December 2005 – took Cavern and Intro with a single 95/h-valve, basic lights, and a wetsuit with the intention of not pursuing additional cave training. As we told our wives, we are just curious and want some more training. Worse thing that happened to us were Intro checkout dives at JB and PSSP :). John and I knew we were hooked after those dives. Within a year, we had eased into doubles, can lights, drysuit, etc and were making plans for Apprentice.

March 2007 – took Apprentice. We had intended on taking Cave but my stomach really messed with me on our first Cave dive and that blew it for us. That was fine as it gave us a chance to make more dives and further refine our skills and techniques.

December 2007 – Completed Cave

7 days.

Started cave diving in 2000 and still learning

I took cavern almost two years ago in a single al 80 and a Cheap VERY cheap UK light. Now i have made over 60 cavern dives and some adv. nitrox and decopression dives in my double 95's. I am just now taking intro between christmas and new years(hopefully).

Cavern in August 2008 did 50 or so dives at the cavern level did Intro in March of 2009 and currently have 50-60 intro dives thinking about apprentice but meh not in a real big hurry, need to get comfortable in my drysuit and hit up a few more different sites that I havent hit yet as an intro diver.

Never took cavern... About a year, trying to get to N Florida monthly at NAUI cave 1 level mostly diving w/ team from class and instructor for fun dives. Then did NACD Apprentice\Full...

This is not an official answer from either the Cave Diver's Forum, or the NSS-CDS (i.e. disclaimer)

I have dived with a *lot* of other divers over the years. In my observations, I see a much larger percentage of zero to hero divers that probably wouldn't pass apprentice, much less full cave now. However, I know several that are fine divers today. I think more can be said for continuing to dive, than how quickly the training took place. Divers that learned while on vacation, and *only* dive once a year while (or so) on vacation, are much less likely to be good divers than someone who learned in FL for a week, but comes back several times a year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FW

This is not an official answer from either the Cave Diver's Forum, or the NSS-CDS (i.e. disclaimer)

---

Good one Forrest...lol

27 years and 80-90 cave dives...had a bit of a break in there :-)

Feb 07 - PADI Cavern
A handful of Cavern divers
Oct 07 - IANTD Caver and Intro
50+ Cave Dives
Plan to take full cave in 2010

I remember the Army Corps of Engineers had piled up HUGE blocks of limestone to secure the breakwall (pier) into Lake Michigan. I spent hours squeezing through the stones… then as a teenager traveling down to Northern Indiana to climb down a shaft into a crawlspace in 6 inches of water and spending hours exploring private caves.

Then open water certification fairly quickly led me to working in low/zero visability conditions on the shores of Lake Michigan and inland lakes under large commercial vessels and in golf course ponds… to lifting crane booms (twice now) off the bottom of leech infested lakes in paid dive jobs.

I was introduced to Cavern Diving in 2004 and was drawn back every year until I was able to take 14 days this February to devote to full cave certification. The ‘one on one’ from 8AM til I drug my butt back to the housing complex after dark (taking a collectevo from the dive site) was pure heaven. I finished my requirements in 9 days and then followed with 5 days of “guided” dives which were always continuing education.

I returned in April for more “guided” dives, then again in October, and have purchased tickets for January. In every case, I was pushed and critiqued to constantly improve. I do the same when I dive in the states alone.

So… short answer, 9 days. But that does not take into account the aptitude and experiences that effect how a person deals with problems underwater, in the dark, wedged into earth or steel… whether you turn inside yourself or outside (if you know what I mean).

Did cavern with Tyler Moon and intro with Rose Meadows in Jan of '98 I think
did Apprentise with Rose in 2001, on her very ngood advice took the full year diving at that level. In the mean time took all my secompression and trimix training. Got to dive the USS Monitor as expedition artist in 2002. Had rack up over 100 dives in cavern - cave zones while never breaking my lelvel of certification. got my Full caveforst week of Jan in 2003. So five years or so

Still trying to pass the tricky full cave stuff.

Took a year for me to go from Cavern to Full, with 120+ overhead dives between them all - over 60 at the Intro Level.

Not once have I ever felt cheated by doing it the long way. Infact, I think starting small has allowed me to appreciate caves much more this way, I'm never in a big hurry to get to back of anything. Credit for that is given to spending so much time appreciating progressively getting further into each cave and learning whats available in the beginnings.

only took me 24 hours on the CDF , drove to Peacock springs, broke into a car , ripped off someones CDS full cave card off the dashboard, ate their granola bars and the rest is ....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Herbie

only took me 24 hours on the CDF , drove to Peacock springs, broke into a car , ripped off someones CDS full cave card off the dashboard, ate their granola bars and the rest is ....

---

Hey, I want my granola bars back!!! Must have been someone else's full cave card...still working on mine.

Cavern and intro 2008
Apprentice June 09
Diving one weekend a month...4 dives in a weekend... spending time with my dive Buddy's Priceless!!!!!!!!
Looking at taking full cave sometime in the new year.
Drew

did dive 100 in cavern/intro class feb '06 (ow for 13 months), did about 100 intro dives over 6 months, took a year & a half off for jameson, finished full jan '09 & have about 30 at full.

Did Cavern/ Intro in January 2008, did about 20 dives, then Apprentice/ Full in July 2008.

Cavern and Intro in October of 2007. 19 cave dives later, I took GUE Cave 1 in May of 2008. 89 Cave 1 level dives later, in August of 2009, I took GUE Cave 2 and didn't pass it. Three months and two intervening cave dives later, I took NACD Full Cave and passed it. I think I have about a dozen dives since I finished the class a little over a week ago.

13 months. Took cavern to help improve skills for wreck diving and fell in love with the caves. Did a bunch of cavern dives (can't remember how many). Spent the next several months in Arizona lakes working on skills and getting used to diving doubles, which we bought within a couple of weeks of finishing cavern. Came back 7 months later to do Intro and Advanced Nitrox/Deco, did several more dives before heading back. Spent the next 6 months working on skills in Arizona lakes again. Came back and spent some more time diving at Intro level. I think we did close to 2 dozen Intro level dives before completing cave. Bought our house in Florida during the cave class trip and came back another 3 times over the following 15 months when we finally moved here. Then the real learning began. A very obvious transition occurred when we went from being tourist cave divers to resident cave divers.

Still learning.

18 months (10/04 to 4/06) 76 dives cavern to Cave.
Started after 40 yrs I(1000 dives) of open water adv. Nitrox (200) dives on doubles.
After Cavern with Ben Cook in Grand Bahama. I started Intro with Karen Buchel in Akumal. Instead of finishing the Intro. I decided to do more guided dives, more guided dives, Karen Became with child and hung up cave diving. I finished my Intro with Marko Warner in Tulum.
My cave instructorS were Steve Bogaertes, "Captain Bligh" as I Jovialy referred to him, and Harry Gust. I was pleased that I would not be Cave until I was competent. All of my instrutors were excellent. The joy of finally being comfortable air sharing in the dark feeling your way all the way out to the light.

One mistake I made was to try to make my open water TransPak work in the cave environment. My body and the Transpak were an unstable duo.

Backplate and Wings, Oh Joy !

I did Trimix to 250 FSW in 2009.

I currently have 1300 dives, 200 cave, 26 Trimix.

I am a "Tri-Cert" NSS/CDS, IANTD, NACD. ......(LOL)

All the best to all.

Happy to share.

2 years total from Cavern to Full Cave. 40 or so cavern dives then 20+ dives at Intro, 20+ dives at Apprentice then finished up Cave almost exactly 24 months from Cavern. Enjoyed myself at each level and learned from diving with lots of mentors who were above my level and did dives at my level with me.

Took Cavern/Intro/App in 1994, still trying to figure it all out..... ;)

Safe diving,

Rich

did cavern and intro-to-cave with lloyd Bailey in Nov-96, dove all of 1998 at intro level-about 30 or 40 dives, then full cave with steve berman in sept99 with hurrican floyd in flordia

months from cavern to full cave: 33m, 33m, 12m, 18m, 24m, 24m, 7d, 27y, 5y, 5y, 12m, 3y, 2y, and 13m. some posters did not give time and some not full yet. Mean = 29.08months (excluded 27y and 7d as outliers), and SD = 16.6. 68% of divers between 12.48 and 45.68 months from cavern to full cave.

Number of dives: 97, 97, 30, 100, 40, 40, 0, 90, 100, 120, 100, 100. not all posters provided number of dives. Mean = 83.09 (excluded 0 as outlier), and SD = 30.78. 68% of divers between 52.31 and 113.87 dives from cavern to full cave.

I'm not doctor bill, and I did not stay at a holiday inn express, but I am skip!

-skip

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by skip

months from cavern to full cave: 33m, 33m, 12m, 18m, 24m, 24m, 7d, 27y, 5y, 5y, 12m, 3y, 2y, and 13m. some posters did not give time and some not full yet. Mean = 29.08months (excluded 27y and 7d as outliers), and SD = 16.6. 68% of divers between 12.48 and 45.68 months from cavern to full cave.

Number of dives: 97, 97, 30, 100, 40, 40, 0, 90, 100, 120, 100, 100. not all posters provided number of dives. Mean = 83.09 (excluded 0 as outlier), and SD = 30.78. 68% of divers between 52.31 and 113.87 dives from cavern to full cave.

I'm not doctor bill, and I did not stay at a holiday inn express, but I am skip!

-skip

---

So where are all the zero to hero's.....? Surely not a myth....? Or are we finding that they just don't intersect w/ people obsessed w/ technology and finger pointing on the internet...?


:)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by skip

I'm not doctor bill, and I did not stay at a holiday inn express, but I am skip!

---

Skip: YOU are the Numbers Crunchin MAN! Thank you very much. Plus that Bill is a Commie Slacker anyway. He told me once that he is working hard to "spread that wealth around." I said, we could start with eliminating all his taxpayer paid UWF junkets....LOL :rollguy

The responses show that a bunch of folks took their time during their training years...more time (and dives) than I had thought. And I also agree with Forrest...the training REALLY STARTS after Full Cave! If we get more responses, please keep a crunchin!

And for those Full Cave Critters who did not provide the time range, throw that in if you can. It's simply the number of months and the number of dives from the start of Cavern through Full Cave.

Crazy Jack

Tracy & I were cavern certified in April of 2003. Did about 30 cavern dives, (plus a lot of other diving) then took Intro in April 2005. Full cave certification in October 2006. (NSS-CDS) The last dive of our full cave class was our 40th cave dive, including intro and apprentice level dives and training dives. Did our 100th full cave dives on October 15, 2009.

To answer Jack's question above, 42 months, 30 cavern & 40 cave dives from beginning cavern to finishing full cave. Plus a lot of dives in open water practicing cave skills & drills.

Mike

All right here's some numbers to throw off the curve. I did cavern/intro skipped two weeks with no intervening cave dives then finished app/full. You could call me a a zero to hero I guess but I had been cave diving for two years prior with over 100 cave dives. I had been mentored by several experienced cave divers. The reason I got my certs was that Ginnie started to check for them and so did PSSP. I still did learn a lot during the course.

Certification?

Does watching old episodes of Jacques Cousteau and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea count?

PADI Cavern in Feb '03, IANTD Intro in April '03, IANTD Tech (Full) in Aug '03.

Every dive made since reading the NSS-CDS Cavern Text book in Dec '02 was made with the mindset of Cave Diving and improving my skills, whether the dive was being made in a Cavern, Cave, quarry, lake, or ocean. App. 130 dives in that time period.

WJH

NAUI Cavern In Jan 08 about 80 dives
NAUI Cave 1 in Nov 08 to current, almost 100 dives
Planing on NACD Full Cave in March of 2010

Garrick

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by netmage

So where are all the zero to hero's.....? Surely not a myth....? Or are we finding that they just don't intersect w/ people obsessed w/ technology and finger pointing on the internet...?


:)

---

There aren't a lot of them, and most aren't active anymore. You do have a point, if I were one, I probably wouldn't post in this thread :-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by netmage

So where are all the zero to hero's.....? Surely not a myth....? Or are we finding that they just don't intersect w/ people obsessed w/ technology and finger pointing on the internet...?


:)

---

Well OK I did 0-hero after cave diving without certification for many years. When I became an instructor I was telling my OW students to not go into over heads then I would go cave diving in the evening. I was being hypocritical and got the certifications. I also had many cave divers mentor me and some were rather shocked when they learned that I had not had my certifications all those years.

I don't know how you would fit me into a bell curve with hundreds of cave dives before certification. I don't think it would even count as an outlier.

Bobby

Quote:

---

Every dive made since reading the NSS-CDS Cavern Text book in Dec '02 was made with the mindset of Cave Diving and improving my skills, whether the dive was being made in a Cavern, Cave, quarry, lake, or ocean.

---

Oh, I hear this one!

Attempted zero-to-hero in August '09 ... made it through Apprentice with 22 dives in eight days. Prior to that I had a bit over 2400 non-cave dives, with training and diving at various levels and agencies, including NAUI Trimix 2 and Wreck Penetration (well over 100 staged decompression dives, mostly on wrecks).

Went back in November and did 13 dives at the Apprentice level. Hoping to finish up Full Cave in February ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FW

There aren't a lot of them, and most aren't active anymore. You do have a point, if I were one, I probably wouldn't post in this thread :-)

---

I normally just lurk here, but you've called me out :). I did all my training in one week. Unlike some others in that group, I'm still cave diving. Just got home from a trip, in fact. I said hi to you at Wayne's party.

Sue

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by divgirlsue

I normally just lurk here, but you've called me out :). I did all my training in one week. Unlike some others in that group, I'm still cave diving. Just got home from a trip, in fact. I said hi to you at Wayne's party.

Sue

---

The key part here, is that you stay current. Too many "one-week-wonders" only dive once a year.

I agree and see that myself. By the time they start finding their groove, it's time to leave. I think part of that is their geographic location and motivation to cave dive, but that's a whole other topic :)

I'm a wreck diver who really enjoys cave diving. It's fun and I can see beautiful things that I can't see at home. If you want to do something enough, you make the time for it. I think if a one-week student goes in with a similar attitude, they are more likely to develop a stronger relationship to cave diving.

Sue

Like Sue, I'm also a zero-to-hero. Did cavern/intro with Richard Dreher and full with Larry Green. Even though I only get to Florida once/twice a year for a week or so each time, I also hit the MO caves whenever I can, and tend to treat every dive like a cave dive, whether wreck, tech, or teaching tech or sport diving in OW. I even spent an entire trip to Cozumel diving nothing but caves on the island...

I started cave diving after about 800 OW dives, and came in as a wreck/tech diver & instructor looking to improve my skills. Living 20+ hours from Florida (and owning a dive shop) doesn't make a lot of trips to FL in a year practical - but what's practical about owning a dive shop?!?

Brian

Any practice is good practice. It is the ones that only *dive* once a year that I worry about.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FW

Any practice is good practice. It is the ones that only *dive* once a year that I worry about.

---

Although I dive regularly (3-4 times a week on average), there aren't any caves in Puget Sound. And while our local conditions are very conducive to developing your diving skills, the thought process that goes into planning and diving in a cave is completely different ... not to mention what being inside a cave does to your head in terms of self-confidence and second-guessing. I consider myself a very good PNW diver, and a barely adequate cave diver at this point.

I really thought that with my background I'd be sufficiently prepared to go down to Florida and succeed at the zero-to-hero course ... it turned out to be more difficult than I expected it to be ... mentally more than physically ... but it's the mental errors that can really mess you up ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Cavern to Full Cave in 7 days over ten years ago. Still cave diving, but I live in a country without caves so opportunities are limited. Four trips to Mexico this year, one to France.

I grew up in the Bahamas and dove regularly with my dad from as young as I can remember. I finally got actually certified to dive when I was 18. Its funny I never had a problem getting fills as a kid; I guess the shops all knew I was being supervised by my parents. Anyhow, after high school I found myself living land locked and miserable in Gainesville. I did not dive for one long and very unhappy year, but in 1990 a fellow UF student recommended a cavern course for these things called springs. That was all it took. I was hooked on this new fangled freshwater diving. Trouble was as a 20 year old I did not truly grasp the hazards of cave diving, and after two years and a couple hundred extended cavern dives I had my eyes opened. A good friend who had recently finished full cave died in Alachua Sink. I was supposed to join them on that dive, and only bowed out at the last minute. I finished my intro and full cave in October 1992, and made sure I have lived where I can dive regularly. I am in Panama City Florida now and there are dozens of great dives with in a short drive from here. I usually dive off the local river caves after work, and I get up to Merrits’ Millpond a lot on weekends.

Dive Safe

I've got a related question, and don't mean to sidetrack this thread to get an answer, but regardless of which way you go to get your full cave card (short, intensive program or long, extended one) can someone explain why our caves are getting so trashed. I mean, with all the training, what's going on?

I look at the damage in Florida, for example, within the last 3 years and just can't understand. It's not the kind of "damage" you would expect to see from just more cave divers in a system as it appears (to me) to be from more divers who just don't care or who know that they should care.

Not sure to blame the instructors or their students.

BTW, Berman was my instructor, too. Sure miss him.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by w ripley

I've got a related question, and don't mean to sidetrack this thread to get an answer, but regardless of which way you go to get your full cave card (short, intensive program or long, extended one) can someone explain why our caves are getting so trashed. I mean, with all the training, what's going on?

I look at the damage in Florida, for example, within the last 3 years and just can't understand. It's not the kind of "damage" you would expect to see from just more cave divers in a system as it appears (to me) to be from more divers who just don't care or who know that they should care.

Not sure to blame the instructors or their students.

BTW, Berman was my instructor, too. Sure miss him.

---

I actually think today's students come out better divers than we did 30 years ago. It was not uncommon back then to see Peacock to Pothole viz drop to 20 feet on a weekend. Now it is usually clear all weekend.

To answer your question, there are just a lot more people in the world, as a result, more cave divers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FW

To answer your question, there are just a lot more people in the world, as a result, more cave divers.

---

I understand, but what I'm referring to is cave floors that look like tank trails.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by w ripley

I understand, but what I'm referring to is cave floors that look like tank trails.

---

That too, isn't anything new. Luckily, the floods wash some of that away occasionally.

I don't know if it's the instructors or the students. What I do know is not enough emphasis is being placed on buoyancy control. I see lots of divers on their knees, vertical, flailing their hands, and some doing all three! They either don't know any better or they don't care.

I did my Cavern class with Jack Schmidt in December 2007 and got hooked on overhead diving (5 dives), Basic in April 2008 with Daniel Patterson (14 dives), Apprentice in December 2008 with Daniel Patterson (15 dives), and Full in August 2009 with Daniel Patterson (13 dives and counting). The dive counts includes training dives.

I haven't seen anyone in there on their knees yet ... but I was surprised at the amount of "skid marks" one sees in some of these caves. Peacock I can kinda understand, because of the amount of training that goes on there ... but some of this stuff is pretty far back, so I doubt it's students who are doing it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It's here in Mexico, too -- lots of fins marks in the bottom in places where I look at them and wonder how it happened, because there isn't anything particularly challenging about that specific place. I'm no saint, and my fins do hit things (as few as I can manage, but still some things) but I haven't hit the bottom yet except the day I kicked my fin off.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NWGratefulDiver

I haven't seen anyone in there on their knees yet ... but I was surprised at the amount of "skid marks" one sees in some of these caves. Peacock I can kinda understand, because of the amount of training that goes on there ... but some of this stuff is pretty far back, so I doubt it's students who are doing it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---

You are spot on hell there are big crash marks within 200 ft. of the end of the line in Jackson and the Hinkle at Devils. This is not an area that to many people get to swimming and certainly not where classes go except scooters. Buoyancy and trim are not a new new diver issue they are a DIVER issue.

Bobby

I took Cavern in Oct, 2003. I did 8-10 dives at this level.
Intro to Cave Dec, 2003. I did 20-30 dives at this level.
I would have taken Full Cave in August, 2004, but 4 hurricanes hit and flooded everything until late December, and for timing with the other two students in the class, I wound up taking my Full Cave in Feb, 2005. I have roughly 350 full cave dives at this point.

In between classes I was saving up money so I could afford not only the next class, but also the gear (lights, regs, tanks, suit, etc). I would also audit classes with my instructor (e.g. if I was Intro, I would audit a Cavern course).

One of the most important experiences I can attribute to my dive training was diving with Rich Courtney for a good year after my full cave cert. He mentored me and gave me a wealth of knowledge and experience.

I gotta go post on the CDAA thread... my skin is starting to itch... I need to get in the water... only one more month!!! :-D

July 2007 to April 2009 Intro to Full and I did 87 dives in that period.

Slow is better!!

My first dive of my Cavern course (8-24-96) to my last dive of Full Cave, the Orange Grove - Peacock Traverse (10-24-98 ) encompassed 26 months and 80 overhead dives.

I also had 83 salt water dives during this period, so I guess I was also honing diving skills while wearing a single.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by sdenney

I gotta go post on the CDAA thread... my skin is starting to itch... I need to get in the water... only one more month!!! :-D

---

Get down here Sean, the caves are waiting...

About 40 dives in doubles with cave configuration, including GUE Fundamentals class, prior to Cavern/Intro in Florida December 2008 followed by about 50 dives in cold lake rigorously simulating cave environment- running line, no viz exit, no mask, sharing air, valve failures, etc., as part of a tech class. Apprentice/Full in Mexico September 2009 over 7 days.

Ideally, wish I could have done more real cave dives in between cave classes, but found my simulated experience to be excellent preparation for the full class, especially the mental and team aspects. Plan to make it to Florida or Mexico at least twice a year, hopefully 3-4 times a year. Looking forward to meeting many of you.

Doug

Gave my best at Intro, struggled a lot and failed in May 2003, passed it in June 2003. Made about 60 dives with some awesome buddies and excellent mentors. Did Full in Feb. 2005 w/ sdenney without much trouble. Still learning and trying to improve.

Originally planned to do Cavern only, started class in July 2008. A couple others in class were going on to do Basic as well, so I decided to go on with them. Did 18 dives which were a combination of class dives and instructor reviewed (discuss site, dive plan, etc. w/ instructor prior to dive and get approval) dives with classmates. Graduated in November 2008.

Currently have 30+ cave dives at Basic level, planning on taking Apprentice late 2009/early 2010.

John

I took my cavern/ intro course in Apr '07. At that time I had about 200-300 dives in doubles/ wreck config. I took full cave in Oct 09' and only had 12 intro level dives between. We have no caves here in my neck of the woods so all of my dives are in Mx on vacation. ( hard to convince my non-diving wife to vacation in a FL swamp)although I am gonna try HARD :)

But as said by many others I practice cave skills on almost all dives and certainly in wrecks.

A quick scan of my log book...

From Cavern to Full
Oct '05 to Aug '08 with 37 overhead dives

Oct 05 Cavern
Nov 06 Adv EANx/Deco (getting square with doubles/drysuit)

Mar 07 Begin Intro in Missouri (Roubidoux)
Dec 07 Finish Intro at Jackson Blue

Jan 08 Begin Full at JB/Twin Cave
Aug 08 Finish Full in Missouri (Roubidoux)

I did cavern dives ( 10 ) during Intro Training period. I did intro dives ( 8 ) during Full Training period.

79 overhead now
RBD, JB, Twin, Mine LaMotte, Peacock(P1, P3, Peanut, Orange), Ginnie (Eye), Cow, Little River, Madison Blue, Hole in the Wall

From Cavern Class to my taking Intro I took 1 year and about 60 dives.

Its been over 1 year since I took Intro. I'm planning on Full Cave in March of
'10 and so far I've logged well over 100 cave dives on the Intro level.

I never felt the need to rush. The cave isn't going anywhere. I'd rather enjoy the journey.

Zero to "hero" in 8 days, 17 dives. Plus two cave-specific training dives, as well as line work and theory on land before I went to Florida. But none of the gear/procedures were new to me, and I had been doing decompression dives in the exact same configuration for years. The only thing that really kicked my ass was getting used to Florida's crazy flow. Personally, I don't think that I would have profited a lot from doing Cavern - Intro - Full separately.

advanced ow to full cave 5 months, 25 dives. still dive at least once a week. every dive still working on skills, not pushing it.

I was fortunate to have my boyfriend that is a cavern instructor. So I got 25 cavern dives before my cavern/basic cave class.

I counted my cave dives after basic and these are 90.. Probably I will have another 10 until apprentice since we will be spending the last 2 weeks of the year at cave country.

It has been more than a year since I did my cavern/basic class. During this time I took adv. Nitrox and Deco procedures. I do not want to do deco in caves trusting my computers, that is why I wanted to finish these classes and then take apprentice to full.

I spent 1 year and 73 dives at Cavern before Basic. I have been Basic now for 2 years and a lil over 110+ main line cave dives. I should take App/full this year I hope. It has been been a fun time and have met and dove with a ton of GREAT people. Over the last year i have taken Adv. X/Deco and switched to Sidemount. I have to say I LOVE SideMount!! Worth it