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Intro to Cave

TDI INTRO TO CAVE DIVER COURSE

DURATION

3 days

IN A NUTSHELL

The TDI Intro to Cave Diver program is the next step after the Cavern Diver course. It focuses on techniques, procedures, and protocols for safe cave diving, emphasizing conservative gas management and safe penetration distances. You'll face new challenges, but our thorough training prepares you to handle them effectively. Skills such as placement, positioning, communication, and awareness, learned during the Cavern Diver course, take on a deeper significance as you venture beyond the daylight area into the actual cave. You'll learn to address and resolve problems along the line and plan more complex dives.

This course takes you beyond the "cavern zone," and into the cave's environment and complete darkness. The skills acquired in the Cavern Diver course, such as placement according to team, line, and surrounding environment, will be critical in these new conditions. You will also enhance your communication and situational awareness, crucial for safe cave diving.

In essence, the TDI Intro to Cave Diver Course equips divers with advanced skills and knowledge to navigate cave environments safely and confidently, preparing them for deeper exploration and the next stage, the Full Cave Diver course.

Intro to Cave'

PRE-REQUISITES

Students must be 18 years old, and:

  • Certified as a TDI Intro to Tech diver (or equivalent or proven experience), if training in a backmount configuration

  • Certified as a TDI Sidemount diver (or equivalent or proven experience), if training in a sidemount configuration

  • Certified as a TDI Nitrox diver (or equivalent), as we use Nitrox32 as a standard breathing gas

  • Certified as a TDI Cavern diver (or equivalent)

  • Have a minimum of 50 logged dives

SUBJECT AREAS

During our TDI Intro to Cave Diver Course, we will focus on the following aspect (on top of reviewing previous levels) Underwater: - refining fundamentals skills - following a continuous guideline as a team - team’s advanced communication - advanced and modified propulsion techniques - advanced touch contact communication in low/no visibility - bump-and-go procedure in low/no visibility - problem-solving from previous levels in low/no visibility (leakages, valves failures, etc) - broken guideline - lost line procedure - lost diver/team’s separation procedure On land: Land drills and simulations of procedures - disorientation - missed intersection - lost line in zero-visibility - broken guideline - lost diver/team’s separation Briefings and de-briefings - pretty much everything… Whiteboard presentations and discussions - rule of 1/6 and conservatism - types of caves - cave diving etiquette - caves’ bottoms and ceilings - silt outs - specific dangers and consideration for longer penetration - psychological and physiological considerations - mind-control and stress recognition and management - impact and cave conservation

MEET NEW CHALLENGES

Venturing knowingly into the cave, into pitch darkness, and under a ceiling that impeaches a direct vertical ascent to the surface requires a high level of self-awareness and stress control from the divers. As physical and psychological challenges increase, preparedness and mind-control become more important, and focus will be put on divers’ awareness (self, global, and situational). Intro to Cave divers can follow continuous and permanent guidelines that run deep and far into sometimes huge cave systems. Cave ceilings and bottoms are often covered with thin sediment that can lower visibility very quickly. Refined propulsion techniques and close-to-perfect buoyancy control and trim are now paramount to avoid silt-outs, disorientation, and lost guidelines. Divers at that level might encounter traffic (other cave divers) inside the systems and eventually will have to deal with procedures of more advanced cave divers (stage cylinder or DPVs attached to the guideline, jumps and gaps with temporary guidelines, etc.), and therefore must be educated to some level about further and more advanced cave diving techniques. As divers swim further away from daylight and into the cave, the risk of reaching psychological and/or physiological limitations is higher. Knowing oneself, coupled with healthy non-egoic motivations and a high level of preparedness are extremely important mind-skills and character traits of a good and safe Intro to Cave diver. The TDI Intro to Cave Diver course provides you with simple, efficient protocols and helps you develop a clear mindset coupled with sound judgement in stressful situations.

COMBINED COURSES

The TDI Intro to Cave Diver Course has a duration of 3 days (and a minimum of 4 cave dives). You are a Cavern + Sidemount and/or Intro to Tech diver from a recognized agency: TDI Intro to Cave = 3 days You are a Sidemount and/or Intro to Tech diver from a recognized agency: TDI Cavern + TDI Intro to Cave = 7 days You start from scratch, and wish to train in backmount configuration: TDI Intro to Tech + TDI Cavern + TDI Intro to Cave = 9 days You start from scratch, and wish to train in sidemount configuration: TDI Sidemount + TDI Cavern + TDI Intro to Cave = 10 days Divers who have not trained with CDT Mexico at previous levels must complete a day of review for a skills assessment. This also applies if: - You have not dived the previous level in over 3 months. - Your previous course with us was more than 12 months ago.

DURATION OF THE COURSES 
PRICE OF TRAINING
MEANING OF "PERFORMANCE-BASED TRAINING"
BEFORE STARTING THE COURSE / BOOKING
HOW TO PREPARE FOR A COURSE

CDT Gear List
Cave Diver
in Sidemount

CDT Gear List
Cave Diver
in Backmount

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