How do you stay inspired as a cave diver?

[PfcAJ]

Dive scooters all the time? try swimming.

Gah! No thx!

[Avs123]

Executing flawless S-drill and bubble check before dive then swimming the cave as humanly slow as possible

[Dsix36]

What inspires me the most is the constant learning from other divers. Of course there is also the constant reminder that I am not the most perfect and that practice may be in order too.

[phil_p]

Just being appreciative of what you have while you have it goes a long way towards staying fresh. Over the past few years, my primary dive buddy, my wife, has had serious issues with clearing her ears. Things at one point got to where I thought I'd be giving up the sport entirely: we went so far as to inquire about eustachian tuboplasty, which she rejected because she didn't like the uncertainties. Fortunately, a combination of allergy treatments, earplugs, sudafed, and staying at what appears to be a newer motel (theory: less mold) has her back diving caves this break.

As per William Bell, "You Don't Miss Your Water Until Your Well Runs Dry."

[MORGAN]

Everything about the caves inspires me. Seriously. The caves are absolutely amazing. Their formation over aeons -- and still continuing -- is mind-boggling. The geohydrology that flows water through the aquifer. The gazillion fossils everywhere. The complexity of their passages. The appearance, and how it can completely change every few hundred feet. The aquatic life inside and around them.

The more I dive these caves, the more amazed I am. Everything about them is wondrous.

Very well expressed. That about covers it for me, too. I like seeing caves. I was a caver before I was a diver, and I enjoy new caves and old favorites. If it wasn't for cave diving, I'd probably be one of those people who quit diving after a few years. But approaching 12 years full cave and 400 cave dives, I'm still excited. Maybe living in Vermont and only getting to do two cave diving trips and 30-40 cave dives a year has kept it fresh. The people I've met and friends I've made cave diving have been inspirational as well.

[Garyh]

1st would be Mexican caves ,
2nd would be no matter how well u perform in any given situation/circumstance you could of always done better

[patpicos]

There is so little known about the cave ecosystem and there is so much discovery to be made. Exploration of new passage is the main driving force behind most cave divers,but understanding the cave ecosystem is a puzzle that never fails to fascinate me, and makes me constantly wonder what is going on. For example, we know of a insurgence/resurgence that flows in one direction,but we saw it change directions with a low river. Required a lot of though and hypothesis to figure out what was going on.

+1 I've always been fascinated with predicting flooding conditions based on gut feel and some level of empirical data from gages/gauges. Obviously im missing many variables.

one item i've been curious about are what variables lead to good/poor visibility at Eagles Nest. Short of diving it daily throughout the year...its hard to make patterns

[Diverlee]

Cave diving is my relaxation. Mindless entertainment. Enclosed places. Feeling safe. Looking at rocks. Diving different places or tunnels. Friends. Skills. Not getting sea sick. I love it all.


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[mag3]

For me, the motivation is slightly different.

Compared to most here on CDF, I'm still a "newbie" full caver. I have a lot to dive, experience and learn before I'm able to "catch up" and do the kind of dives most of you do, if at all possible (my age and health might impose a few "future" limitations, although there are none now). And it hasn't helped that I've been "on hiatus" for a while, taking a bit longer than I thought to move down here from NJ to FL and adjust to all that, as well as be the executor to my Godmother's Estate (finished that a year ago). So I'm even further behind than I should be, having got my full cave ticket back in 11/2011.

The motivation for me is to progress in my training and experience to the point were I can do certain dives I think I'd like to do, *BUT* to do so having followed all the rules and progressing at the proper pace for me... whatever that is. One complication being, I don't know what that pace is, and no one can tell me what it should be. All I ever hear is, "Just go diving.... Just go diving..." Maybe I'm a little OCD, but unless I can see a little "structure" to that progress (i.e. with certain milestones at certain times), I'm at a loss at figuring out how to get there. I know, I know... the pace/structure is different for everyone. This is where I think a much stronger "mentoring" program would be of great help to those of us still trying to navigate that journey. Thus, part of the motivation is to find those mentors I can trust that will set up a few milestones and some "end objectives..." (I know how y'all hate that "G" word)... BTW, I don't think there's anything wrong with having "objectives..." The problem is when you "break the rules" in an effort to achieve them.

As for the "dives I think I'd like to do," I'll keep that to myself for now, although it's probably safe to say that, at present, caves with significant restrictions (i.e. "mandatory sidemount" or "no mount" ) do not interest me that much. Depth, and managing deco, etc. is of some interest. I will, eventually, take my trimix courses and add that to my "structure." I might actually go "sidemount" before that, not to be able to do more restrictions, but simply to not have to hump a back mounted rig all over the place. CCR? Most likely not... not in my lifetime. Not unless the technology for CO2 monitoring is much better, and not unless I decide I want to do the amount of diving that makes CCR worth the investment.

So, the biggest motivation for me is to find the right mentors that are willing to help me build that "progression structure" at the right pace, following all the rules, and to see how far I can get, until age and health blow the "Everybody out of the pool" whistle.

[OFG-1]

THIS picture on the mirror in my bathroom, where I can see it every morning.