Category — Rebreather

When planning to take a ccr (closed circuit rebreather) cave diver training program, when planning to take a ccr into the cave environment a number of diver, training, drill and skill performance needs to be considered. The ccr cave diver training program is one of the hardest and most complex training programs there is.

We have to be able to do all ccr related emergency drills and skills in the cave such as hypercapnia, hyperoxia, hypoxia, partially flooded loop, complete flooded loop recovery, boom scenario and electronics failure in the cave environment while doing o/c bailouts over larger distances, running the rebreather manually simulating failed open or closed solenoids in a horizontal position not losing sight of the line, not bumping into the ceiling and not bumping into the floor causing a silt out and creating potentially zero visibility, increasing the stress factor and the potential need of embarking on a lost line scenario. You get the idea what I mean with complex activity.

As we plan to dive our rebreather in the cave we need to learn all about the cave diving skills such as diving horizontal, good buoyancy, anti silt propulsion techniques, good line laying technique in terms of getting from the openwater to the beginning of the permanent cave guideline and doing jumps or multiple jumps in complex navigation dives as well as the cave diving related survival drills such as primary light failure and backup light exit, sharing gas with a buddy providing o/c bailout gas from our bailout tank, handing over bailout tanks, touch contact in zero visibility, lost line scenarios is zero visibility, searching for a lost dive partner potentially in zero visibility just to name a few. On top of that we need to dive our rebreather.

In order to be able to learn, conduct and participate actively in the above ccr cave training scenarios the ccr diver needs to have good buoyancy and trim skills as well as having a thorough understanding of his or her particular rebreather model to be able to still manipulate and control the ccr in adverse conditions when stress might be high and visibility low. Over time skills get rusty and get lost. It is important to rehearse and hone these skills in order to be ready to receive the ccr cave diver training. If you are not ready but rusty you will be in for a very frustrating experience.

An important step to prepare for a planned and upcoming ccr cave diver training program is to work hard on buoyancy and trim skills. It is a fact that a cave diver has to dive horizontally and it is a fact that a cave diver has to stay away from the silt on the floor and the ceiling, besides not to damage the fragile cave environment. What’s the use if we like to cave dive but fuck up the cave in the process.

During a pre training program period buoyancy and trim should be especially worked on and practiced. Best to do it in very shallow water, a pool or confined water area with a max depth of 20 – 30 feet / 6 – 9 meters. I know it’s not easy but this is the point exactly. The skills to work on are the skills you need in order to dive in the cave environment safely, and all skill should be performed in a horizontally position not touching the floor or ground and neither the water surface as these both signify the cave floor and ceiling. All drills should be practiced in a way that you do not swim in circles but can do them stationary. All drills should be practiced in full cave diving gear including the bailout tank or tanks, lights, hood, primary light, backup lights, reels. The whole nine yards.

First get your diver skills up. Practice buoyancy, horizontal trim and proper weighting. Most cave environments are in fresh water so check out the weight you carry. Practice propulsion techniques out of the cave diver leg up position such as modified flutter, frog, shuffle and reverse kick. The reverse kick is super important as it lets you stop and back up without the use of your hand which could stir up sediments. Once you have these skills down practice ccr related skills. Being able to turn on a dime with the helicopter turn will prevent you from going in circles and loose direction and orientation.

Once you have your diver level skills sorted and you are able to stop, backup, do helicopter turns, hover motionless and be comfortable move on to the ccr related skills such as hypercapnia, hyperoxia, hypoxia, partially flooded loop and complete flooded loop recovery, simulate electronics failure and solenoid failure in the open and closed while diving your e-ccr manually. Practice boom scenarios. As you go through all these drills remember you are planning to participate in a ccr cave course, meaning you have to do all these drills hovering, horizontally, legs up, not touching the water surface or bottom in your pool or confined water area.

Once you have honed your diver level skills and ccr diver skills as outlined above I would consider you ready to embark on a ccr cave diver training program without being overly frustrated as you have the basics down and be ready to receive ccr cave diver training to go finally cave diving. Enjoy Matt

…The very next day I was back in the water with Yamil and this time we couldn’t finish again as I had another course already booked but we could get another two days done.

Then Ritch came in who I had taught previously during his cave diver course to do some training in deep diving and expand his horizon in cave diving with a basic Sidemount class. As Ritch was already a cave diver his basic skills just needed a little brush up but we were ready to go and introduce new information and skills such as SMB deployment, gas switches, team formation in open water, ascent protocols, and so forth. We did a deep diver and advanced Nitrox combination and so the theory was focused on gear selection, dive planning in regards to decompression, gas volumes, oxygen exposure, emergency procedures and plenty of real life examples. During our dives we saw different environments as we used a Cenote for confined water, a sinkhole for our first dives and then moved over to dives in the ocean. During our dives in the ocean we went down to Xpu-Ha and then drove down a bit south to the deep reefs. After arriving on the bottom I have to admit I was surprised how cool the reef was. Anybody that knows me, knows I am not super keen on ocean diving, but I have to say that I really enjoyed the dives there as it was full of life and colour.

Right after that we were back in the caves (juhu) and our first objective was to built a rig that Ritch would feel comfortable in. Being that Ritch is a bit larger then life it wasn’t quiet that easy but not that hard either, and I think at the end we came to a total price on his rig of like 100usd or smth =) The next two days we were training first in open water to get familiar with the equipment and to understand 3 dimensional diving, fine tuning here and there and working on gas management and emergency procedures the basic game. After that we started with cave diving in passages that he could have passed in backmount but only with serious effort but now in sidemount were manageable with ease. It was cool to see Ritches smile after the dives because he felt so comfortable and free under water as never before with a set of doubles especially since the normal backplate simply doesn’t fit on his back. We even had a day to spare and go for a fun cave dive down in Chan Hol which we both really enjoyed!!!

Ritch in a basic harness with a modified BCD

The days after that we could finally finish Yamils cave training with two last spectacular days in Taj Maha and Xunnan Ha. It was kind of funny since I went from the biggest person I have ever trained (Ritch) right to the smallest one (Yamil). The same way I like to challenge my students during training I like to be challenged myself, and so it was really cool to look for ways to make the two comfortable in the water although they had slight disadvantages due to their seize. At the end of the day the two of them really came around during the course and I was more then happy to sign their certification!!!

Right after that it was my time to be student again, Yipi!!! I had enrolled in a GUE fundamentals class with Fred who I know and respect for some years now. I am constantly trying to evolve as a diver and as a diving instructor and part of that is to take classes myself not only to see again how it feels to be watched and critiqued but also to see how the instructor teaches and relates information. All in all it was a great experience and lots of fun and I am looking forward to do further courses with Fred an hopefully also with Danny and Chris!

At the same time my dear friend and dive partner Hans (with family) was is town and so of course we had to seize the opportunity to go cave diving. He had spent the last couple of days exploring with Mauro while I was teaching and now that I was free the three of us went to Cenote 307 adding some 600ft of line in small unstable but awesome cave!!! The day after that we went down to Dos Pisos for a three hour swim around since neither of the two had been there before. There is really hardly anything better for me then going cave diving with a couple of friends and just enjoy a day out in the nature!

Little Hans

The day after that I was back teaching, finishing Anneleens course that she had started with Nando. We had only the last three days left to go from intro to full cave. Anneleen is a local diving instructor who finally after living here for more than a year gave in and started cave diving. It was fun to watch because she instantly was so fascinated and stunned by the caves that she was still smiling hours after ascending =)))))

Finally the last couple of days I had the great pleasure to dive with Dr. Mel Clark and show her around a little bit which was great. Of course it is always cool to dive with another CCR cave diver especially one that is in the hall of fame!!! We did some really amazing dives and finished with an insane trip from Cenote Dos Palmas to The Pit and back. Some 4h of non stop scootering…I don’t know what was better the dive or finally getting out of the water releasing the pressure in certain areas =)

Mel with a 42 ... without batteries in it though =)

After that I got another two former cave students in, Jojo and Chris from the french part of Swiss. We started of doing a stage, multistage course which was really super fun, since I had to teach in french which always kind of makes me look like a stand up comedian. In the evenings my brain was so much in knots that I started to mix all sorts of languages and simply was not able to communicate anymore. Moments like this always make me think of my polish chemistry teacher in high school, being that chemistry isn’t the easiest subject in the first place, only being able to understand every third word of the teacher doesn’t really help either But they both assured me that I was doing great and that they really understand what I am talking about (yeah right…)! Thanks god hand signals are international!!!

Jojo and Chris still suited up to avoid the bloodsuckers

After that Jojo continued with a Normoxic Trimix class which brought me back again to dive in the ocean. After the confined water session in a cenote we dove out of Xpu-Ha, mostly hanging out at the drop off =) Jojo really enjoyed the training especially the ratio deco which was a new concept to him and as he told me changed completely the way he looks at dive planning now! I am always happy and glad to get such a reaction from a student!

So I hope this little report shows why I didn’t post too much in the last 2 months but I was simply too busy living the dream and going diving every day, hahahah! I hope you enjoyed the post nearly as much as I enjoyed the dives!!!

cheers Patrick