Decompression Cave Diver
Decompression diving in caves involves different safety procedures and considerations than open water deep diving. While diving in a cave, it is important to remember that a vertical ascent is not possible. Amongst many other considerations for decompression cave diving, divers must manage their bottom time to include the additional time required to return to the entrance of the cave before decompression can begin. Because of this, our Decompression Cave Diver course focuses heavily on proper dive planning and execution to ensure divers have enough gas on hand to deal with any emergencies that may arise.
Mexican caves are typically shallow, however there are some exceptions where we can achieve average depths of over 20m (70ft) or even more. Our team has performed numerous decompression dives in Mexican caves on their extensive exploration projects. Several of our instructors have spent time teaching cave diving in France and in Florida, where the caves are typically in average a bit deeper, and in some cases, you cannot avoid decompression. Through our experiences both locally and overseas we are able to fine tune this program to suit both your current and future diving needs whilst giving you a solid foundation for decompression diving in the overhead environment.
Certification for this course is offered through PSAI Mexico. This course takes a minimum of 4 days to complete, can be conducted in sidemount or Backmount and is available to all Cave Divers, that hold a Nitrox Diver certification, with 100 logged dives.
Course Content Includes:
- Team diving and awareness
- Dive planning considerations and execution
- Passive and active team communication
- Psychological aspects of decompression diving in the overhead
- General emergency procedures and considerations
- Use of dive planning software
- How to calculate your decompression obligation on the fly using ratio decompression
- Team gas switching procedure
Want to learn more about our services? Here are some Frequently Asked Questions.
ProTec offers various certification combinations in Backmount and sidemount to help you reach your cave diving goals. Check out our cave diver Training Tracks to help you plan your trip.