Review of NSS-CDS Cavern Diver Course

Just returned last weekend from the NSS-CDS Cavern Diver Course with instructor Johnny Richards (and instructor candidate Teppo) at Ginnie Springs, Florida. There were a total of 6 students in the class from our LDS (a couple of Divemasters, an instructor, and a couple of Public Safety Divers). We traveled to Branford on Thursday, and stayed at the Steamboat Dive Inn. This is a no-frills motel, and with a cheap price you get cheap accommodations. I am not easily bothered by a place to sleep after a long day of diving, but some are, and did not like the way housekeeping and maintenance attended to things. But - you can't complain too much at the price!

Anyway - on to the training. We started at 9:00 on Friday at the Ginnie Springs store and met Johnny, and the course proceeded as follows;

• Friday Morning - moved upstairs to the classroom, and spent the morning discussing Cave diving accident analysis, light signals, hand signal, propulsion techniques, and a discussion about pre-dive safety checks (equipment check, bubble check, S-drill, turn pressure) and cavern hazards - with many sobering examples of cave accidents.


• Friday Afternoon - after a very quick lunch break, we moved outside and set up our gear as if we were ready for a dive. What followed next was a person-by-person critique of our gear set-up for Cave Diving. Very specific evaluation was done of each person's set-up by Johnny and Teppo. Following this, we moved over to the picnic tables where Johnny laid out a guideline course, and discussed the fine points of guideline placement and tie-off, and then line following techniques, and blackout hand signals. We were broken into our two-man teams for land drills that took us until late afternoon.


• Friday Evening - For "homework", we were asked to do a dive with our teams and practice Primary and Secondary tie-offs, Cavern Penetration, and buddy techniques. This proved to be a lesson in task loading, while simultaneously trying to manage the Primary Reel, dive light, buoyancy, and equalize. We took turns running in the reel and trying to find the right tie-off points.


• Saturday Morning - We were asked to start early Saturday since the weekend crowd can stir up the cavern pretty quickly. When my buddy and I got to the spring at about 7:30, we were greeted with 16 degree F temperatures (I thought this was sunny Florida)! My wetsuit was a little damp from the night before, and it actually froze before I could put it on. Luckily, there is a heated shower room close by with hot water, and we actually donned our wetsuits in the hot shower! The morning consisted of swims along an open water guideline course with mask, without mask, and with blackout masks, all while sharing air in buddy teams. Although akward at first, this became easier as you learn to depend on your buddy, and communicate through touch contact and hand signals. Johnny also demonstrated flawless propulsion techniques for the group. After the in-water line drills, we ran several guidelines into the Ginnie Ballroom Cavern in our buddy teams. These started easy, but grew progressively harder with increased complexity and simulated emergencies to test the teams. These exercises lasted until early afternoon when we were given a quick break for tank fills, and meet again at Devils Ear for the "fun dive".


• Saturday Afternoon - The highlight of the training was a Cavern Dive at Devils Ear. After assembling we were broken into 2 groups of 3 divers. Johnny did the hard work and ran a reel and guided a Cavern Dive into the entrance of Devils Ear to where the Grim Reaper sign is present. What was amazing was the flow coming out of the case system - you literally had to climb your way into the Cavern. Then, one-by-one, he took each student into the entrance of the Cave system where two tunnels were present. Each student was asked which way was the correct way out, left or right? Pick the right way, you live, the wrong way, you die. The answer? You have to take the class to find out! Following this great Cavern dive, we re-assembled in the classroom for some basics about Cave Geology, and a review and discussion of the written exam for the course.

Conclusion - I have to compliment Johnny for his patience, the professional manner which he conducted the course, and his grasp of the material. It is evident he has lived the evolution of cave diving in the Florida Springs, and the Cavern course is an excellent introduction to gear configuration, safety techniques in an overhead environment, and a great intro to Cave Formations.

Highly recommended.