Cave diving
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
Beyond my intention to plan trainings with the instructors mentioned, various openings emerge to practice in 2025. This bring me to reflect that gathering practices in different settings may be more important at the beginning of the curriculum, than finding the best training. I will be able to improve my practice and get training with the instructors I identified as my practice develops.
- March. I join the Swiss Cave Diving association. During a stay in Southern France, I dive twice into a cave.
Next
- April. I do three more cave dives and get certified as Cave Diver 1 (PS1). I also finish my training as Dive Leader, and start the course for Instructor.
- Early June: possible week in Rocamadour ?
Training comparison
| Organisation | Swiss Cave DIving | IANTD (Sulawesi Dive Trek) | ? ( Stratis Kas) | TDI (SubSport) | FFESSM CNPS | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | HT 1 | HT 2 | HT 3 | Cavern | Intro | Full | Cavern | Intro | Full | Cavern | Intro | Full | PS1 | PS2 | PS3 |
| Unsupervised | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | |||||||||
| Distance max | 50 m, day | – | day | – | 60 m, day | – | 60 m, day | – | 90 min total | – | |||||
| MOD | 20 m | 30 m | 40 m END | 39 m | 40 m | 40 m | 40 m | – | |||||||
| Visbility min | 10 m | 3 m | – | ||||||||||||
| Gas limit | 1/3 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 1/3 | 1/4 | ||||||||||
| Deco | ✖️ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✖️ | 30 min | ✖️ | ✓ | 30 min | ✓ | ||||||
| Cave limitations | |||||||||||||||
| T | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | |||||||||
| Jumps | ✖️ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Gaps | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | |||||||||
| Restrictions | ✖️ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✖️ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | ||||||||
| Circuit, traverses | ✖️ | ✓ | ✖️ | ✓ | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Siphon | ✖️ | ✓ | no multi | ✓ | |||||||||||
| Entry requirements | |||||||||||||||
| Min certification | Rescue | Dive leader | Advanced | Advanced | P2 | N2 | N3 | ||||||||
| Min open dives | 25 | 50 | 100 | 10 | 30 | 50 | 30 | 20 | – | 25 | – | ||||
| Min overhead dives | – | 4 (2 sites) | 8 (4 sites) | – | 10 | – | 10 | – | 20 (3 sites) | 40 (6 sites) | |||||
| Specifications | – | – | 500 min | – | – | 6 Z3, 2 multi | |||||||||
| Course | |||||||||||||||
| Theory, hours | 4 to 6 | 6 to 8 | 8 to 12 | 1 x | 1 x | 1 x | |||||||||
| Dry practice | 0.5 day | 0.5 day | 0.5 day | ||||||||||||
| Open dives | 2 | 4 (2 sites) | 4 (2 sites) | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | ||||
| Overhead dives | 4 (2 sites) | 6+ (3 sites) | 8 (4 sites) | 4 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 6+ | 4 to 6 | 4 (2 sites) | 4 (2 sites) | 8 (3 sites) | 1+3 | ||
| Bottom time | 100 min (200) | 100 min (200) | 400 min | 60 to 90 min together | 90 to 120 min | 80 min | 100 min | 240 min | |||||||
| Minimum days | 2.5 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3+ | ||
| Days to full cave | 11.5 | 13 | 12 | 8 | |||||||||||
| Costs | |||||||||||||||
| CHF | 590 | 1045+ | 1650 | 865 | 865 | 1080 | 575 | 905 | 905 | 450 | 400 | 750 | 245 | ||
| Total CHF | 3285 | 2810 | 2385 | 1600 | |||||||||||
| Specialities | |||||||||||||||
| Courses | Stage, SM, Mapping, DPV | Tec, DPV, SM, Stage/Multi, Survey | Stage, Multi-Stage, DPV | Tec, SM, Stage, DPV, Survey | Nitrox, Trimix | ||||||||||
