Would you like cave diving as much if the caves were well lit?

[Garyd]

I like to swim along with my light pointed at the ceiling a little ahead of me, not quite straight up. I like the twilight effect, and if there are air pockets they'll reflect moving patterns of light back down in front of me.

Ditto

In addition; I think the darkness actually makes it easier to keep track of team members. I'd much rather send and receive light signals than constantly turn around or look back between my feet because its so bright that light signals become useless.

[Tegg]

Sounds like some people need brighter lights or dive smaller cave...

[giles45shop]

Seems like we are looking at this from several perspectives. Personally, I would be happy if the caves were lit up, as I like to look at the rocks and formations and it would be really cool to see more of them other than the portion that my HID lights up. No telling what you miss in the dark. I'm just looking at it from the simplistic perspective of "do I want to see more or less", disregarding any secondary questions about light signals and logistics of team diving.

For those of you who like the darkness, why would you need to be in a cave? I get the idea that floating weightless in the dark is neat and I like that; however, couldn't you just float around in a sealed box (sensory deprivation chamber) and accomplish the same thing?

Same thing with small silty caves. Gven the choice, I would much rather be able to see where I was going rather than just be able to feel where I was going. I get the idea that it's a challenge, and people like challenges, but consider this: If you took a poll of blind people to ask them if they wanted their sight back, how many do you think would pick "I'd rather stay blind"??

John

[FW]

...This made me think - would cave diving be as good if the cave were well lit, so we wouldn't need lights at all?

I think a lot of you are missing the point here. He isn't against lights, as long as they are his lights. What he is asking is do we want the cave lighted by a lot of other divers, or even artificial lights.

[aquadog196]

When filming...More Light.
For cave intimacy...Less Light.

[speleocrone]

I seem to be interpreting this question differently to most here. I thought he was asking if we wanted the caves artificially lit, as per tourist caves, not whether people carry bigger lights themselves. So, is it a "wild" feel you want when diving or a self guided tour experience feel?

Personally, I'm happy for either, on some occasions, but the majority of my diving I want with as little site interference as possible.

[DA Aquamaster]

I seem to be interpreting this question differently to most here. I thought he was asking if we wanted the caves artificially lit, as per tourist caves, not whether people carry bigger lights themselves. So, is it a "wild" feel you want when diving or a self guided tour experience feel?

Personally, I'm happy for either, on some occasions, but the majority of my diving I want with as little site interference as possible.

It's the way I interpreted it, and I thought it was pretty clear. However,we're now 30 plus posts into the thread and perhaps some people just don't read the original post first and/or get misled by someone who mis interpreted and responded to the wrong question.

[LCF]

I wouldn't want a string of permanent lights, I don't think; it would take away some of the sense of adventure. But I didn't get that from the original post.

[DA Aquamaster]

I wouldn't want a string of permanent lights, I don't think; it would take away some of the sense of adventure. But I didn't get that from the original post.

But just think of it! The permanent lights could be run along stainless steel cable/gold line with safety bottles every 100'!!

At least until Phase II when we line all the caves with acrylic tubes so that we could just walk through them like the aquarium in the Mall of America rather than having to swim.

[diveconjeff]

The tubes could have some other benefits as well. Cave trash could not be strewn about willy nilly, no more initials carved in the actual cave surface (the acrylic maybe),and the lighted EXIT signs would eliminate the need for laying lines.