Out of Caves for a while - Drills?

[Jax]

What is your favorite way to 'warm up' for cave diving?

Do you have favorite drills? What preparations?

[ARY]

I like to calculate deco on fly for typical sites. Puts me to sleep quickly.

[Sludge]

What is your favorite way to 'warm up' for cave diving?

Try to not let more than a few weeks go by between cave dives.

[Hammerhead Ferrari]

Try to not let more than a few weeks go by between cave dives.

Some of us are geographically challenged...along with occasional name spelling

[FW]

What is your favorite way to 'warm up' for cave diving?

Do you have favorite drills? What preparations?

When I lived farther from FL, I practiced in lakes, and quarries. I would go to the bottom in a shallow area (10-20'), and run a line about a foot off the bottom, from rock to rock, or tree stump, whatever. Then I would close my eyes, and follow the line back to the start. I kept at it, until I could do it without stirring up any silt. It forces you to have good buoyancy control, which is harder in shallow water, and good trim. Not to mention practice for low visibility. Of course, you need to do this in full cave gear, lights and all.

[Pullnglide]

Run your reels on land to make sure they're squared away. I have always done it and completely forgot to do it a couple weeks ago and remembered when I got to the dive site and was in a boat so I didn't do it, mistake! A week before I left a primary in a cave for someone so he didn't have to run one the following day. This was the first time I've used it since. I got down to do my primary tie off and it was destroyed. It took 15 mins to untangle it! Cutting the line wasn't an option due to it being wrapped around the outside through the handle countless times. Check your reels, I'll never forget again!

[JCGoodwin]

Ive used pool time and bricks or other negative buoyant items to tie to running a line in a circle.
Then I swim the line mask free right and left handed, practicing shut downs, feathering, etc.
I place a arrows in uniform midpoints on the circle then mask free place a jump reel and run it to other arrow.
Doing this right and left handed.
Once I wish to end the session I try to take up the entire coarse blacked out or no vis.
Ive had some pool sessions last for a couple hours.

The only way I can stand being in a pool that long is eyes shut and forewarn your life guards if you have them you can safety dive for quite some time.
In our local quarry we do quite the same type of a coarse in 20-30' only on a much larger scale.
Our dives usually are well over 2 hours and always while one is working a skill the other is shadowing.
In many circumstances the shadow is not needed but what we have found in the quarry is that other divers either unknowingly get tangled or take up our lines.
This prompted us to make laminated signs on cloths pins.
Ive found that most if not all of my dives have become cave oriented even outside of limestone.

As you will understand we have gotten some strange looks at the quarry we enter the water then hours later come out.
One diver asked how many dives a day we do? Usually two 4-5 hours total underwater.
This is in the summer when water temps are in upper 70's.
Again in full cave rig.

I miss my buddies who trained with me the bond you form on these dives can be close.
Only those who dive hours at a time get it, some buddies are like gloves they fit just right!
When the dive is done cold beer and campfires rule the night!
Safe training friends.

JCG

[DA Aquamaster]

Living in NC, we're limited to week long trips about 4 times per year. However, any quarry dive we do is in essence a training dive where we work on cave skills.

Like Forrest mentioned, you can work on line skills and zero viz exit skills in open water, and anytime you dive you should be focusing on precision buoyancy, trim, and low silt techniques.

We normally spend the first dive of the trip as a shakedown dive, ensuring that our skills are where they need to be and knocking off any rust (sometimes literally if we've bene wreck diving). Early on in our cave diving careers, it would take a couple dives to get up to speed. 10 years in however, we've found that the initial dive is now usually just a confirmation dive.

[mag3]

For me, it's about 2 things - 1) being in (or returning to) sufficient physical shape; and 2) basic buoyancy and control. After that we can work on line placement/tying skills, etc. But, without the 1st two, the 3rd won't matter much.

And this will be important for me in the coming weeks as I'll be coming off an almost 1.5 year hiatus, having focused on moving down to FL last year. A lot of pool work, snorkeling in Ichetucknee main spring, or in the Ginnie ball room. Thankfully, my new sub-division has a nice pool. They will let me snorkel in it (with mask, fins and suit), but no SCUBA gear. For that, I'll use the Ginnie ball room. Already bought my 1st annual pass.

[robimi]

I live in Israel, No caves here...but lots of shore dives, and some wrecks.
- I usually do long night dives practicing laying lines between the narrow passages of the reef (sandstone - no corals in the Mediterranean)
- Equipment deployment, lights, mask swaps.
- v drills while diving from the shore to the reef
- Applying 'cave mentality' to all my dives
- some dry practice in the woods also, playing following lines blindfolded with the kids...
See you in cave country late April...