Gainesville Area - Friend looking to get OW cert with an eye on Full Cave

[Omisson]

Edd nor Michael at CA will teach OW class and they do NOT dive in any back mount configuration single or doubles, they do everything in sidemount.

I believe PSAI permits Open Water to be taught in sidemount. I believe Edd taught an Open Water S/M course this past July of August...

[tbone1004]

OW Sidemount yes, but that is usually for divers that are already certified wanting to go to Sidemount, very different. Still goes against the point that Andrew said transition to doubles, so not sure why Edd keeps coming up....

[LiteHedded]

also, unless I missed my guess, edd isn't in the gainesville area

[diveongas]

OW Sidemount yes, but that is usually for divers that are already certified wanting to go to Sidemount, very different. Still goes against the point that Andrew said transition to doubles, so not sure why Edd keeps coming up....

NO, SM is NOT limited to divers already certified, hence my link in previous post. You can do your very first pool session in SM. A principal advantage of SM for open water students is that these beginning divers have breathing gas redundancy from the very start (pair of 40's), better than a super-sized spare air. Gas management skill also requires that they are practiced in moving from mouthpiece to mouthpiece and therefore are not likely to be rattled by a real life air-share (where your mouthpiece is ripped from your face by another less-skilled OW diver). Many that are ultimately interested in overhead training MAY want to go this route.

M. Turek can/will do these classes for CA. It may be possible to get Edd to do this as well.

As for SM versus BM, diving SM is a lot like diving dry, once you've done it, there is NO going back.

[tbone1004]

you didn't listen, the OW Sidemount Diver class offered at Cave Adventurers is for those already certified to dive, but to get them in Sidemount. I'm fully aware that OW Sidemount classes exist for new divers, but why Edd got brought up in the first place when the OP mentioned doubles still confuses me. From what I've heard from CA, they won't do Open Water classes for new divers, could be wrong, Michal may do it but through Emerald Coast, but the OP is in Gainesville, so he has a 3+ hour drive to get to Edd's, has the added expense of hotel, then has the hour drive to Vortex to be trained in sidemount which he isn't interested in. Or, he can stay in Gainesville where he has a 40 minute drive to Ginnie which is an infinitely better training location, and take the course with instructors that are just as good and sleep in his own bed instead of the shitty hotels in Marianna... Going there just doesn't make sense, no matter how good of an instructor those two are, it's completely idiotic to even consider it. What you are basically saying is that the instructors local to him, the center of Cave Country, aren't worth taking an open water class, that backmount is not even worth considering even though it is still the standard configuration outside of the last 3-4 years in cave diving, and that the only instructor in Florida worth taking a class from is Edd. If that isn't Kool-Aid drinking I don't know what is, and the best part is that Edd didn't even mix it. Hell, if the OP called Edd and asked him, he'd probably say what I said above, you want to make transition to DOUBLES not sidemount, well I don't agree with you, but if you're already in Gainesville, just call any of the instructors that are 5 minutes from your front door, they'll be just fine, and if you want to learn sidemount, then call me. I'd agree with you guys 100% if the OP said sidemount, but he said doubles, and as soon as backmount is mentioned, Edd gets struck off the list.

BS on the no going back. Sidemount has a lot of disadvantages for specific diving conditions, it is a great tool for most diving, but there will ALWAYS be circumstances where backmount is better, and there is literally no denying it. The circumstances are VERY limited, and generally not relevant on this forum since it is cave specific but they do exist. Long hikes where you can't wheel the tanks in, shore diving *the width is the part that kills SM here, lower CoG is nice, but the extra width in the waves sucks*, many boat diving scenarios if the boat doesn't have wide access platforms for going in and out with tanks on or having them handed in due to surf, I don't like it for photography or videography because of the gas switching and wider profile, etc etc. Same with diving wet. For cave diving, sidemount almost always, dry almost always, but not as a rule.

[diveongas]

you didn't listen, the OW Sidemount Diver class offered at Cave Adventurers is for those already certified to dive, but to get them in Sidemount. I'm fully aware that OW Sidemount classes exist for new divers, but why Edd got brought up in the first place when the OP mentioned doubles still confuses me. From what I've heard from CA, they won't do Open Water classes for new divers, could be wrong, Michal may do it but through Emerald Coast, but the OP is in Gainesville, so he has a 3+ hour drive to get to Edd's, has the added expense of hotel, then has the hour drive to Vortex to be trained in sidemount which he isn't interested in. Or, he can stay in Gainesville where he has a 40 minute drive to Ginnie which is an infinitely better training location, and take the course with instructors that are just as good and sleep in his own bed instead of the shitty hotels in Marianna... Going there just doesn't make sense, no matter how good of an instructor those two are, it's completely idiotic to even consider it. What you are basically saying is that the instructors local to him, the center of Cave Country, aren't worth taking an open water class, that backmount is not even worth considering even though it is still the standard configuration outside of the last 3-4 years in cave diving, and that the only instructor in Florida worth taking a class from is Edd. If that isn't Kool-Aid drinking I don't know what is, and the best part is that Edd didn't even mix it. Hell, if the OP called Edd and asked him, he'd probably say what I said above, you want to make transition to DOUBLES not sidemount, well I don't agree with you, but if you're already in Gainesville, just call any of the instructors that are 5 minutes from your front door, they'll be just fine, and if you want to learn sidemount, then call me. I'd agree with you guys 100% if the OP said sidemount, but he said doubles, and as soon as backmount is mentioned, Edd gets struck off the list.

BS on the no going back. Sidemount has a lot of disadvantages for specific diving conditions, it is a great tool for most diving, but there will ALWAYS be circumstances where backmount is better, and there is literally no denying it. The circumstances are VERY limited, and generally not relevant on this forum since it is cave specific but they do exist. Long hikes where you can't wheel the tanks in, shore diving *the width is the part that kills SM here, lower CoG is nice, but the extra width in the waves sucks*, many boat diving scenarios if the boat doesn't have wide access platforms for going in and out with tanks on or having them handed in due to surf, I don't like it for photography or videography because of the gas switching and wider profile, etc etc. Same with diving wet. For cave diving, sidemount almost always, dry almost always, but not as a rule.

A hilarious, if angry, rant.

A guy interested in OW and then cave solicits instructor recommendations. Like everyone else that posted here, I made my recommendation. That's all. As for the SM and BM business, YOU brought it up when recommending Harry for either (YOUR post #3).

Somebody driving 3+ hours for training being "idiotic", is really kinda over the top. You know, some folks from South Korea and Hong Kong (China) were willing to fly 30+ hours, to get Cave training at the Diver and Instructor levels, from Edd. Folks have come from Europe for cave training, in fact, Edd has traveled to Europe to conduct training (proving that buck$ can bring Edd to you). Amazing what people are willing to do to find excellence.

As for Ginnie being being an "infinitely better training location", again over the top. I like Ginnie and have done training there as well as Little River, Madison Blue and others in the area. The point is, you need the others. Most agencies require at least 3 different system to do full cave training. That means a lot of driving around!

I now conduct all of my training in Marianna. Here's why: At Mill Pond you have access to JB, Twin, and HITW. No 2 hour drives to another system. AND fills are never more than 15 minutes away. Yeah, I've stayed at America's Finest and the Executive Inn and they are more than okay for their price (a good value). Please list for me those 5-Star motel chains next to Ginnie that apparently only YOU know about (and are not available in Marianna).

[PfcAJ]

+4 (I think we're at 4) for Mer.

http://www.wetrocksdiving.com/

[nakatomi]

Are you guys serious in recommending open water training in Marianna, this is a joke, right?

[tbone1004]

Thanks Oliver, that's the point, guy wants to get certified, not get cave certified, so yeah, driving 3+ hours to Marianna for open water training when there are a boat load of good instructors right down the road from the guy is completely idiotic.

[nakatomi]

Thanks Oliver, that's the point, guy wants to get certified, not get cave certified, so yeah, driving 3+ hours to Marianna for open water training when there are a boat load of good instructors right down the road from the guy is completely idiotic.

Diving three hours would be fine, but there is no body of water there to get OW training. The class would have to take place another hour west, in Vortex or Morrison (which is closed quite often due to bacteria and the river level).