Safety rules in cave diving

Shared by David Szerman on June 26, 2013 in Technique



So now, you are convinced : you want to try cave diving !


But still some worries... Is it really safe ?

First of  all, it is really important to start any initiation or training with a cave instructor.

Every cave diver uses the same set of safety rules and here are the main ones : 

- Guide line : it is your best friend but also your worse one. Correctly put in place, it helps you (with some arrows) to find your way to the closest exit. But not correctly put in place or wrong diver trim, you can be trapped

- Lights : you do not dive with one light, nor with two lights but THREE lights. In case the main one fails, you can use the first backup light and swim to the exit. If the backup light fails on the way back (Murphy's law), there is still a last one 

- Double tank isolated : in case of air leak, you can isolate the tank to prevent losing all your air

-Thirds rule : Gas management rule to be followed is the third rule : you use one third one way, second third the way back and the last third is kept in case of issue.

- Depth : Darkness, cold water are always present in cave diving. It is part of the narcosis triggers. In order to avoid as much as possible narcosis (with risks of losing guideline,...), below 40m (100 feet), Trimix is recommended.

- No decompression dive (if untrained) : caves are not always at the same level, you can have to go down, up, down, up again... without any control on it. For example, you could have to do some stops in order to continue swimming and, after the stops, go down again. It needs specific planification with gas management.


But the most important of the safety rule is... TRAINING...

Even if you are the best recreational diver, cave diving is a very specific environment that needs specific training. Do not worry, next time, I will explain you the different cave diving certifications that you can find....

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From the Author: ← Previous Underwater AND... underground ?

About the author:

#

  • fr David Szerman
  • # TDI Full Cave Diver

  • Qualifications:

    TDI Sidemount Cave Diver, TDI Trimix Diver, TDI Submatix CCR 100 SMS Air Diluent Diver, FFESSM ***, PADI Rescue Diver, CMAS Ice diver

  • Dived in: Mexico, Poland, Guadeloupe, Egypt, Luxembourg, Israel, Belgium, France

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