IANTD quality and acceptance of their certs?

[Wizard]

Has anyone ever taken a Full Cave class that did not involve deco, nitrox and advanced nitrox?
I don't think there really is such a thing. The thought of doing 1.5 hour BT in Ginnie and deco on air terrifies my very being.

[gasdiver]

The thought of doing 1.5 hour BT in Ginnie and deco on air terrifies my very being.

In the days before nitrox and in water O2, this was the norm. That was also the days before the p-valve, which was the worst part.

[WJH]

Good point Rob! And WJH, I wouldn't consider an O2 bottle as a stage certification, but the IANTD prerequisites may have changed in past 10 years. I was not Deco or Stage trained when I did Tech Cave, and wish I was, but did have Ad Nitrox. I do see Rob's point as an instructor, trying to get through all that in a few days, with more than one student would be tough. I later took TDI's Deco/Stage, which used to be Extended Range, or something like that, I can't remember. Either way, you can't get enough training, and then it seems like we still get "hit". My cave instructor said, "it's not a question of if, it's when...." He was right.

Clearly my experience was not typical, but my IANTD Tech Cave course included training dives in Open Water, Deco diving, and carrying stages in addition to O2. It was also conducted during a significant number of days and dives, spread over several months. So perhaps I received a combo pkg of AN/DP, Tech Cave, and Stage Diving. In any case I was very pleased with the training and it has served me well in the years since.

WJH

[scububa]

My experience is as Rob N. stated and similar to WJH's. Adv EANx/Deco during the period of time of doing Intro and Tech Cave. My training was split between NFL and MO but with the same IANTD instructor. Past Intro, you can't do much MO diving without deco. So, I feel like I really grew as a diver in the Adv EANx/Deco in terms of handling my doubles, improving my trim and refining my buoyancy which are all critical for the deco environment.

[Jaydubya]

I had adv nitrox/deco training and deep diving experience before I did cavern or intro. I didn't know it, but my computer signaled deco on the exit of the last dive in Intro class while I was doing the no vis air share exit out of the Devil's Eye. The obligation cleared on it's own before visibility was restored. So yes, it is possible to get a short deco obligation on sixths.

When I did the IANTD cave class it was combined with trimix so my class might not be representative. We had two long days of quarry training, then 7 days of cave diving and 2 days of deep diving. Bottle handling was covered in the cave part but deco and oxygen was not. It was just assumed. The class really didn't need to take 11 days, but we had the time, so we stretched it out and made it much more like a dive vacation with some skills work than a class (actually the 2 quarry days were very class-like). This completed tech cave and normoxic but I still need a couple more days of deep diving for the hypoxic upgrade.

[CaveMD]

I don't know anyone who has gone through full cave without at least advanced nitrox, most of them completed deco procedures either during or prior to full cave.

Peacock is really the only "tourist" cave in NFL I can think of off hand where 1/3's wont pretty much guarantee you a little deco with a reasonable SAC and average sized tanks?

As for personal experiences, I walked into cavern used to doing dives with 2-4 stage/deco bottles already. But that is mostly because I had about as much interest in learning to cave dive as I did training for professional javelin catching and had pursued the OW technical realm previously...I'm still not sure how I got talked into trying this cave diving nonsense.

[FW]

I don't know anyone who has gone through full cave without at least advanced nitrox, most of them completed deco procedures either during or prior to full cave.

Peacock is really the only "tourist" cave in NFL I can think of off hand where 1/3's wont pretty much guarantee you a little deco with a reasonable SAC and average sized tanks?

Madison is also pretty shallow.

[CaveMD]

Madison is also pretty shallow.

That was my first dive after full cave, I need to go back there some time. I thought the godzilla circuit was in the 80-90' range? I'm pretty sure I had a little deco even there but it's been a little while.

[FW]

That was my first dive after full cave, I need to go back there some time. I thought the godzilla circuit was in the 80-90' range? I'm pretty sure I had a little deco even there but it's been a little while.

That is the deepest part near the entrance, but the dive is short. The main tunnel is only about 70'.

[Greenwood_60]

The Mainline is between 60' and 70' most of the way. Made it to the dropoff and back on air, with negligible deco.