NAUI Training Course

Cavern Diver

OVERVIEW

This course is to provide the diver with the skills and knowledge needed to gain experience and minimise risks in cavern diving at depths no greater than 30 metres and at a combined depth and distance penetration no greater than 60 metres from the surface and must remain within the daylight zone and no decompression limits.

QUALIFICATIONS OF STUDENTS

Upon successful completion of this course, graduates are considered competent to plan and execute a cavern dive within no decompression limits without direct supervision, provided the diving activities and the areas dived approximate those of training.

PREREQUISITES FOR ENTERING THE COURSE

Minimum age of 18.
Minimum certification as a NAUI Advanced Scuba Diver or equivalent.
Nitrox diver certification is highly recommended.

COURSE POLICIES

Classroom hours – eight are estimated.

Cavern dives – a minimum of three cavern dives will be conducted in at least two different sites. All cavern dives will be within the ‘daylight zone’. There must be a continuous guideline to open water when teaching in a cavern. A minimum starting gas supply of 2040 litres is required. Any training dive must be turned and the exit initiated when the instructor has lost visual integrity with any student due to degraded visibility. The maximum depth in this programme may not exceed 30 metres. At no time will passage be allowed through a restriction through which two divers cannot pass side by side.

SKILL REQUIREMENTS

Land Drills. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of spools and reels while handling a light, team placement and line placement and zero visibility/touch contact communications while following a line.

Diving Skills. If EANx is used, the students are to analyse their own breathing gas mixture and to plan and safely execute each dive. Dive planning shall include limits for gas consumption following the rule of thirds, oxygen toxicity exposures, inert gas absorption based on depth and time within the no-decompression limits, penetration distance within cavern diver limits and diver comfort. Safety drills are to be performed at the beginning of every dive to include equipment check, dive plan and limitation, review bubble check and gas sharing. In open water each student must satisfactorily demonstrate guideline following with touch contact communications while sharing gas and simulating zero visibility. Demonstrate comfort following a guideline with touch contact communications whilst sharing gas and simulating zero visibility. Demonstrate proper buoyancy control and trim while hovering without swimming. In the cavern each student must demonstrate guideline deployment and removal techniques including team position responsibilities and roles. Demonstrate modified frog, modified flutter and ‘pull and glide’ propulsion techniques. Simulate primary light failure, deploy a back up light and exit within the dive team protocol. Each diver must perform a lost team-mate drill and demonstrate the procedure for a lost guideline.