APPRENTICE CAVE DIVING COURSE

The Apprentice Cave diver course represents the first half of the training required to complete the NSS-CDS/NACD Full Cave Diver level. Emphasis in this course is upon dive planning and skill perfection through actual cave dives. Techniques learned through earlier courses are critiqued and expanded. The Apprentice Cave Diver course is not intended to prepare divers for evaluating all facets of cave diving. It is intended to expose students to different cave diving scenarios of dive planning and skill perfection.. Although the student is introduced to more complex navigation techniques, students are encouraged to complete the next level of training before attempting complex dives. Upon successful completion of the course, the student is issued training card for a one year time-limit.

Where Does Our Training Takes Place: The Suwannee River Valley is the world's leading cave diving playground. It is where most of the world's cave diving training takes place and where most of the divers return regularly. The sites below are centrally located right here in our backyard, only to be explored by you. We take the students to different site to expose them to the widest possible array of conditions, including high and low flow, large and small passageways, silt and silt-free bottoms with an instructor who is the Best in the business. No one site can offer this! Let us guide you and train you properly and safely to appreciate the overhead environment:

Equipment Needed for Apprentice Cave Diving Course:

All equipment listed in the Introduction to Cave Diving Course the addition of -Double Tanks are Mandatory (minimum cylinder size is 71.2cu.ft each) with dual valve manifold.
Minimum of three battery powered diving lights; one at least 30-50 watt power with 60 min. burn time.
One primary guide reel per team and at least one safety reel per diver.
Three line arrows per diver

Mandatory Text:

Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival by Sheck Exley
Cavern/Cave Diver Workbook

This course is a 2 day course/4 dives

Prerequisite: Intro-to-Cave Diver
Certification: A provisional Card valid for a period of one year by the NSS-CDS

Fee: $350.00 for 2 or more students; $450.00 private course. Course fees are paid directly to the instructor, in cash, at the beginning of each course.

Registration: To register for this course, a deposit of $100.00 is required. Please be aware that enrollment in an NSS-CDS/NACD course, at any level, does not assure certification. Due to the risks involved in penetration cave dives involving the use of one-third gas supply in double cylinders, only those students who meet specific performance criteria will earn their certification. Of key importance as the diver progress from Intro Diver to further within the cave environment is above-average buoyancy control, trim control and propulsion technique, a high degree of comfort in the water and a high degree of awareness of the environment. Water skills include a low light exit drill, air-share exit drill, no-lights exit drill, no lights and air-share exit, lost line drill and fundamentals of complex navigation.

Rental equipment is available. Inquire for prices. Note: Air fills certifications and books as well as Park Entrances are a separate charge.

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