Easy Intro level caves w/doubles

[IowaCaveDiver]

I'd highly suggest a huge rocky cavern for some basic "getting used to" doubles and then a cave like JB or peacock (peanut tunnel) for your first few. I took a buddy in Ginnie's main cavern and we did about a two hour dive just playing around, hide and go seek, etc and it gave him a great increase in his comfort level. You can also access JB via the millpond waterway if you're worried about being allowed into the park... Cave Adventurer's rents pontoons you can take up there for cheap or you can simply drop a canoe or jon boat in at the boat ramp and head up to the head spring. Great huge cavern for doing such training activities. I was there last night and after about an 70 min dive, I spent an additional 40 minutes in the cavern area working with some stages and some new gear configurations before doing my deco and getting out... I was thinking about it during my dive and really wanting to see what I looked like in terms of trim, gear config and such and since I didn't have a poloroid or a mirror, I decided to take a back up light out and leave it lit up on a rock to one side of the cavern... then I killed my primary (still had a small mask light on) and was able to watch my shadow on the walls which allowed me to see my trim and if I had any crap that was where it shouldn't be... great dive btw.

-Matt

[skip]

hey matt, good stuff about light and checking trim by looking at shadow. We keep taking pictures of each other, but many don't turn out, and it's difficult to push buttons to review pictures....Better to get real time info and adjust and watch the shadow change. i'm going to try that next time!

-skip

[IowaCaveDiver]

yeah, i've been told I'm a little self centered and have a big head... I often find myself covering my lite when leading the dive and watching my shadow from my buddy's light swim ahead of me on the cave walls. Can you blame me... not every cave diver can be this sexy.

-Matt

[ggoodman]

oh lord, im gona need a shovel in a minute