What happened to Cavern Diver?

You’ve probably heard or read the first step in Cave Diver training is taking a two-day Cavern Diver course. This used to be true. It no longer is.

In 2019, the NSS-CDS made several changes to standards which allow us to create better-prepared and better-trained Cave Divers. Among these changes:

• Students must now complete all 16 dives leading to full Cave Diver certification in either backmounted doubles or sidemount.

• In place of the old two-course Cavern/Basic Cave Diver combination, there is now a single, four-day/eight-dive Apprentice Cave Diver course.

• While there were no training prerequisites for the old Cavern Diver course, students entering the new Apprentice Cave course must now document prior training or experience in doubles or sidemount. They must also possess superlative buoyancy, trim and propulsion skills. Many students who start Apprentice Cave possess some form of Tech Basics/Fundamentals or Technical Sidemount Diver training. For those who do not, the CDS now offers a CDS Bacics program to help them prepare.

• Additionally, before starting the full Cave Diver course, students must possess some form of Advanced Nitrox/Decompression Procedures training.

Does this mean no more Cavern Diver course? The Cavern course still exists but is now the safety and conservation program we originally envisioned in the 1980s.

• The new Cavern Diver course is purely recreational. Students can only take it using backmounted single cylinders.

• It is no longer the first step in the Cave Diver training process, nor does it qualify students for further training.

The new Cavern course is best suited for students with little or no desire to progress further, but who want to:

• Significantly improve their overall diving skills.
• Safely explore overhead environments within clear sight of daylight.
• Use dive lights at sites where light use is otherwise prohibited.

If this course interests you, we can teach it. Just contact us.