Cave diving
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Background
1997
- April. First recreational dive in Lake Geneva. Over two years, I will do 80 dives, most in the lake.
2023
- October. Resuming diving during a retreat in Indonesia. I switch to sidemount and deco, and discover the Coral Triangle.
- November. A video of Robin Cuesta in Sulawesi caves inspires me to get into cave diving.
- December. Exceptional 100th dive in Thailand where I am surrounded by thousands Great Barracudas.
2024
- January. I order the books from Stratis Kas where renown divers provide insights into cave training and incidents.
- March. I plan a full cave training in Sulawesi in June, and propose to build a research collaboration with the Nixie expedition.
- April. Back to the lake with my new sidemount equipment, I am confronted with many challenges: my old dry suit is leaking and the setup needs a lot of adjustments, which adds to the skills I need to acquire to become a dive leader. I need practice!
- May. I decide to postpone the cave training as I do not feel ready, and I did not get the support for my research.
- October. My most stressful dive, navigating into a milky cloud with maybe 30 cm visibilty for 15 minutes.
- November. Back to South East Asia, where I discover freediving.
2025
- March. I join the Swiss Cave Diving association.
Next
- April. Certification as Dive leader, training as Instructor.
Diving possibilities
Training comparison
| Organisation | Swiss Cave DIving | Sulawesi Dive Trek | Stratis Kas | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | HT 1 | HT 2 | HT 3 | Cavern | Intro | Full | Cavern | Intro | Full |
| Distance max | 50 m, daylight | – | – | daylight | – | – | 60 m, daylight | – | – |
| Visbility min | 10 m | 3 m | – | ||||||
| MOD | 20 m | 30 m | 40 m EAD | divers level | 39 m | 30 or 40 m | |||
| Cave limitations | |||||||||
| T | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||
| Jumps | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Gaps | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||
| Restrictions | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✓ | |
| Siphon | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✓ | ||||||
| Circuit, traverses | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✓ | |||
| Deco | ✖️ | ✖️ | O2, Trimix | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✖️ or 30 min |
| Gas limit | 1/3 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 1/6 | 1/3 | 1/6 | 1/6 | 1/3 | |
| Entry requirements | |||||||||
| Min certification | Rescue | Dive leader | Advanced | Advanced | |||||
| Min open dives | 25 | 50 | 100 | 10 | 30 | 50 | 30 | 20 | – |
| Min overhead dives | – | 4 in 2 places | 8 in 4 places | – | – | 10 | |||
| Course | |||||||||
| Theory | 4 to 6 hours | 6 to 8 hours | 8 to 12 hours | ||||||
| Dry practice | 0.5 day | 0.5 day | 0.5 day | ||||||
| Open dives | 2 | 4 in 2 places | 4 in 2 places | 4 | 4 | 8 | 1 dive | 1 dive | – |
| Overhead dives | 4 in 2 places | 6+ in 3 places | 8 in 4 places | 3 dives | 6+ dives | 4 to 6 dives | |||
| Bottom time | 100 min | 100 min | 400 min | 60 to 90 min total | 90 to 120 min | ||||
| Course length | 2.5 days | 3.5 days | 5.5 days | 4 days | 4 days | 5 days | 3 days | 5 days | 4 days |
| Total length | 11.5 days | 13 days | 12 days | ||||||
| CHF | 590 | 1045+ | 1650 | 865 | 865 | 1080 | 575 | 905 | 905 |
| Total CHF | 3285 | 2810 | |||||||