Please help us to prevent an accident in the DR

[phillip1]

yes I was, thanks

[temrich]

As a Cavern card holder, working toward Intro and beyond. I feel my 2 cents may not count for much.But having said that, if you are at the stage I am at and you believe that you can safely navigate these enviornments (I do own all the neccessary equipment) without proper training and practice, you are an IDIOT. Do these people have no sense of personal preservation? I am fortunate in the fact that I have experienced cave divers and instructors to guide me and advise, I think somewhere in the transition from OW to overhead (If your synapses are firing) you reach the realisation that this is a severe enviornment. You can die ... in fact many "Experienced" divers die each year.
I got OW certified almost on a whim... at that point, anyone who would venture into a cave in my opinion had some serious mental disorder. I got bitten by the bug ... but I fully intend to come home from every dive. I don't believe that this sport should be a D**K measuring stick.I may attain "Full Cave" in the next year or next 5 years.. who cares??? but whatever it takes... I will do my utmost to go home from every dive trip. Many years ago an old friend who had lived to a ripe old age told me..
""Never outdrive your headlights" That applies here too.
Dive Safe

Well said, well said!

[phillip1]

So I emailed the NACD, NSS/CDS, IANTD, GUE, UTD, TDI.
I followed up with the email and so far the only response I got was from Ken Paramore form the NACD and Forrest Wilson and the NSS/CDS who are really helping us out in a big way with our letter.
I am wondering if the safety officers of IANTD, GUE, UTD and TDI are at all interested in helping us out, it has been almost two weeks now and I got zero answers from any of them.
I understand that they might be busy with.... safety being safety officers but I did think I would have gotten some kind of response from them by now.

I would like to thank the NSS/CDS who are helping us out in a big way and I hope we can get other agencies to help us out too.

I met Robert Sievens and Bill Hamm the PADI Latin America regional director and director of sales and field services today at Sosua Bay.
We talked at length about the situation here, I gave them a copy of the letter and a photo of the warning signs we put in place, they are going to Bayahibe tomorrow to speak with dive shops as part of the PADI program, and they agreed to mention the limitations of cavern guidelines and let the shops know to not bring clients with them etc..
They also said the would agree to send out an email reminding the DR shops about the PADI safety guidelines pertaining to overhead diving, we will see maybe this time they will do something, last time I asked it was Drew Richardson and some other PADI top brass and they all said "yeah no problem, we will definitely do something about this" and they did nothing, but it cant hurt to ask.

Anyway if any NACD, GUE, TDI, IANTD safety officers or directors read this please respond to my email, even if to say you will not help us as we are waiting to get as many agencies to endorse our letter, however I do not want to wait too long, or wait for nothing if you don't intend to respond as we need to act as quickly as possible, super high season is only 3 weeks away and I know for a fact that Bayahibe will be packed with OW divers and that these irresponsible shops will be taking them way back in El Chicho and Cueva Taina (santo domingo area)

Thank you

[phillip1]

Just had a really good talk yesterday with the landowner of Cueva Taina (another major problem cave here)
They not only gave us permission to instal the warning signs but also want us to write the safety rules for diving there and they will be personally letting all LDS what those rules are.
They are also very very concerned about conservation and want to make sure no one damages the cave in any way (including that in the rules, buoyancy control etc..) , which is really cool since most people here really don't care about caves.
A big safety step forward thanks to them!!!

[b1gcountry]

Good going!

[FW]

Just had a really good talk yesterday with the landowner of Cueva Taina (another major problem cave here)
They not only gave us permission to instal the warning signs but also want us to write the safety rules for diving there and they will be personally letting all LDS what those rules are.
They are also very very concerned about conservation and want to make sure no one damages the cave in any way (including that in the rules, buoyancy control etc..) , which is really cool since most people here really don't care about caves.
A big safety step forward thanks to them!!!

One landowner is a great start. Now you can go to other landowners, and say "Here are the rules at the other cave, wouldn't you like to do the same?".