Essential Skills Training

Essential Skills are useful for divers that are cave/tech-bound divers. Introducing divers to diving with Technical Dive Equipment Backmount or Sidemount. Learning to configure, streamline the equipment and specific skills not required for the Recreational Rating.
The course starts with a focus on refining your stable platform: buoyancy, trim, stability, control, propulsion, and maneuvering, as well as team diving and situational awareness. Focus then shifts to challenging this stable platform and situational awareness by progressively increasing task loading using basic and more advanced skills. Skills include: underwater communication, donation to an out-of-gas diver, traveling with an out-of-gas diver, valve manipulation drills, no-mask comfort and teamwork. Reviewing underwater video footage of your dives to critique and discuss why we do these things the way we do them with this specific equipment set-up.
For those not yet nitrox certified, certification to dive 32% nitrox is available through successful completion of this course.

What’s in it for YOU!!!

The training provides recreational divers with a context in which to advance their basic diving skills, comfort and confidence in the water with aspirations of progressing to Technical and Cave Diving with the appropriate preparation for success.

• Refine basic diving skills.
• Gain capacity that will increase your safety and enjoyment while diving.
• Discover how to get more bottom time by being more efficient underwater.
• Learn how and why to dive with nitrox.
• Put new “tools” in the bag (e.g. new kicks, including kicking backwards).
• Gain stability, buoyancy, and control that allows you to see more.

Two training days at a minimum for the cost please go to the Price List

Cave Diver Course

The prerequisite for the Cave Diver Course is the Open Water Diver Certification, Essential Skills Training or a Technical Diver Certification. The training is offered in Sidemount or Backmount Configuration. At a minimum the Cave Diver Course has 8 training days with 16 dives. The training progresses in three certification levels Cavern Diver 2 days 4 dives, Introductory Cave Diver 2 days 4 dives and Cave Diver 4 days 8 dives. The Cave Diver Course considers equipment, prior training, experience and abilities of the student. Physical abilities of the cave diving student are initially developed in open water exercises. During the cave diving course students are trained to avoid stressful situations and anticipate potentially hazardous conditions. The advancement of students is performance based not time. The cave diving student must learn to develop a safe diving philosophy and continually think through the proper application of common sense, good judgment, techniques, skills, and experience. Topics and skills covered during the course are: Equipment Configuration, Hand and Light Signals, Buoyancy Control, Body Posture / Trim, Propulsion Techniques, Gas Management, Cave Conservation, Guideline Procedures and Emergency Procedures.

For the minimum training days and the cost please go to the Price List

Basic Sidemount Cave Diver Course

This course is intended for certified Backmount Cave Divers to properly learn to use the Sidemount Configuration for cave diving.
Take the advantage of using the sidemount equipment provided in the course to make an intelligent Sidemount Equipment selection. Environmental conditions and optimal equipment for it is the first question to ask. Sidemount is a very personal and fine tuned configuration and when used correctly it is comfortable, practical and sleek. To make an intelligent Sidemount Equipment selection one must know the basic principles for diving with a Sidemount Configuration and the purpose of each piece of equipment so it can facilitate your Basic Sidemount Principles. Take the advantage of the Sidemount Configuration that lets you clip heavy equipment on to you in the water and over all easy to move around single tanks. Learn from an experienced Sidemount Cave Instructor that actively explores and uses the sidemount configuration to its fullest that understands what works and what is just fashionable. Take the expertise form your instructor, build a solid training platform and gain your own experience. This course will answer questions and give you insights you could not have had before, also save you some money in the long run.

What’s in it for YOU!!!

The training provides you with a context in which to advance your diving skills, comfort, confidence, buoyancy, trim, stability, control, propulsion, and maneuvering, as well as team diving and situational awareness.

• Dive sidemount equipment before buying the wrong equipment.
• Take the experience from an expert and use it to build up your own.
• Eight sidemount cave dives with an expert for a buddy.
• Watch your diving video footage to see what you really look like and use it to improve.
• Go see some cave you have not seen before.

Four training days at a minimum for the cost please go to the Price List

Stage Cave Diver Course

As you continue to cave dive your experience and efficiency increases, your comfort zone increases with every dive until you reach the limits of your primary breathing gas supply.
The use of stage tanks extends your penetration distance and dive time letting you get to the part of the cave you have not seen and want to explore. Smart, proper rigging and mounting of the stage tanks will get you the most efficient use of your stage tanks by reducing drag. Gas planning is becoming more complex and you need learn how to visualize and plan each phase of your gas plan. With increased dive times the use of nitrox mixes above 40% and decompression procedures for cave diving are now considered in your dive planning. Cave conservation, team and cave line awareness are all part of how, when and where to drop stage tanks.

What’s in it for YOU!!!

• See and explore new parts of the cave.
• Extend penetration distance and dive time.
• Learn the most efficient techniques to rig and mount stage tanks.
• Learn different gas planning procedures and to use the most appropriate.
• Understand the complications with decompression in cave diving.
• Learn to manage stage tanks inside the cave.

Two training days at a minimum for the cost please go to the Price List

DPV – Scooter Cave Diver Course

The Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV) is used to further extend the penetration into the cave. The use of the DPV inside the cave has to be responsible, considering cave conservation and safety! As you reach the penetration limits of your stage cave dives the use of the DPV allows you to increase your penetration farther into the cave by safely driving the familiar section of the cave you have explored with stages. Driving only familiar section of the cave helps cave conservation and diver safety. Driving the DPV into the cave at speeds three times or faster than swimming increases cave penetration but not so much the dive time. You have to learn how to plan and visualize your two separate gas plans one for the DPV part and one for the swimming part of your cave dive. Your gas plans also include DPV failures and emergencies. DPV cave dives can increase your cave penetration and prevent or reduce decompression inside the cave you will learn how to balance DPV trigger time, dive depth and your SAC Rate to select your penetration speed with the DPV, breathing gas selections and decompression limits.

What’s in it for YOU!!!

• Some awesome DPV cave dives to new parts of the cave.
• Get familiar with the DPV components and battery selections.
• Understand what is responsible and safe use of the DPV inside the cave.
• Understand the complex gas planning of DPV cave dives.
• Understand the inherent risk that comes with DPV cave dives.
• Learn how to tow divers with your DPV.
• Learn how to drive and maneuver your DPV inside the cave.

Four training days at a minimum for the cost please go to the Price List

Advanced Cave Sidemount Diver Course

The prerequisite for the Advanced Cave Sidemount Diver Course is the Basic Sidemount Cave Diver Certification with some experience.
With the sidemount configuration a cave diver with experience can progress to an advanced level of cave diving by allowing the diver to remove primary tanks and move through very small cave passages. This form of advanced cave diving can also be practiced with Backmount where one removes the Doubles and moves them through a restriction but the Sidemount Configuration is the more practical configuration for this kind of cave diving. Important to understand is that this is an advanced cave diver certification where the limitation of primary tank removal is removed and is not directly related to a configuration there is also the  No-Mount Configuration. Once you start to remove primary tanks to pass through restrictions the dive becomes increasingly more challenging and demanding where qualified training is required to prevent fatal accidents. With the removal of one or all cylinders we can pass through major restrictions moving along small passages where low visibility or no visibility can be expected. You will gradually learn the skills to cope with the stressful situations that this kind of environment brings with it. It is very easy to get yourself into a situation that you can not get yourself out off and that is the most important fact that is stressed in this course. Only experienced underwater cave explorers have the necessary experience to teach this level of cave diving, learn from the mistakes that they survived, trail and error learning will end your cave diving for good. If you like to take all the advantages of the Sidemount Configuration and learn some advanced cave diving skills the Advanced Cave Sidemount Diver Course is for you.

Four training days at a minimum for the cost please go to the Price List

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Tel. Mexico +52 1 984 125-0081
E-mail: info@caveexplorations.com