I recently had the great pleasure to hang out and dive with two fellow dive professionals from the other part of the world:
Tom from the Philippines and Kelvin from Truk Lagoon. Both of them came by after they had visited the DEMA trade show. Tom just the day before Hurricane Ida and Kelvin just after. At first we were a bit nervous if Ida would destroy our plans of cave diving the next days but then she passed us far and we only got a day of wind and rain followed by excellent weather.
Tom was in for some guided cave diving to see what the Mexican caves were all about and so we sent him out with one of our guides to give him an overview. Unfortunately he was on a tight schedule planning to do other things besides cave sightseeing and so Santi could only show him the tiny little tip of the iceberg leaving a lot of fantastic sights out of the tour.
On the plus side Tom could use the time to get certified as Basic Sidemount Diver which was a new experience for the PADI Course Director who also happens to be Instructor for Cave and CCR diving.
It is one of the greatest things for me about this sport that even after years of working in this industry and having logged thousands of dives there are always things left to do and new techniques to be learned. It simply never stops, always fields and places left to explore.
It was definitely cool to share stories and experiences with him as well as comparing techniques and protocols. I definitely took a lot from it and am always grateful to encounter open minded people who like to share their experiences and knowledge with others.
I hope to see him back here soon for some more…this time Sidemount cave diving. Or maybe Wreck diving in the Philippines.
Kelvin is running a big technical diving shop in Truck Lagoon which is one of my dream destination since my wreck diving days in Egypt. Just the drives in the car to the Cenotes were super interesting and filled with stories about sunken battle ships and wreck diving techniques in comparison with cave diving techniques. We also have both a passion for mixed gas deep diving, which made for interesting discussions about decompression theory, gas selection and ascent protocols.
Kelvin was thinking since a long time to come to Mexico and start with cave diving but it had never quiet worked out until now. He started his course with Santi who dialed him in on buoyancy, trim and propulsion, as well as giving him his first experiences in the non metal overhead environment. All in all a good start and preparation to the adventures that were yet to come.
Once I came back from Toluca we met in the evening and the next day we were diving the three of us together. Objective of the day was to finish Toms Sidemount course and for Kelvin some more time to get used to fresh water and train the skills he had worked on with Santi.
The next day it was me and Kelvin in Chac Mool working on lost line and lost diver drills. A nice day with lots of discussions about procedures and protocols and eventful dives with multiple emergency drills. We train hard and dive easy!
The next couple of days we were getting into restrictions and navigation and even though we had to fight with equalizing problems on Kelvins part we still managed to finish the course. Kelvin had a great time and did not only learn some new diving skills but also learned some things about himself. Often asked questions about how he would react in certain situations where answered during the course.
I hope to see him back here soon as we did not have any time after the course to go and do some fun diving. There are still sooooooooooo many caves he has to go and look at! I am also looking fwd to meet his wife as she was the star of most of Kelvins stories…although I have to admit I am a bit scared =)
Looking back it was just one of these times where you get the chance to hang out with some good people and share experiences, stories and a lot of laughter. Although we are all from different parts of the world, have a different age and different opinions about a lot of things, we are all still united by the same passion and fascination of the aquatic realm.
Now I stop writing and go diving instead!
Cheers
Patrick