The full cave diver education is divided into three levels; all the courses can be done either in sidemount or in backmount configuration. It is strongly advised to do the essential/intro to tech course or a side mount course before starting your overhead education. This will optimize the time spent training cave-specific skills by building a solid platform beforehand.

The Mexican Cenotes are ideal for these courses: perfect visibility all-year-round, nice water temperature, a mix of open water and overhead environment make these sites perfect for learning the skills like line laying - which is one of the reasons why you will find me in Mexico most of the year. However, it is also possible to do it in Europe, as I am about 2 to 3 months per year in Europe.

Cavern diver

This is the first level of your overhead education, happening within the daylight zone. You will learn to lay and follow a line, to get out of a cavern with zero visibility, to share gas in an overhead environment, how the caves where created s well as various other topics. You will also gain more knowledge on communication, safety and gas management in the overhead environment.

The day will be split between theory, land drills (the exercices will first be trained out of the water), open water practice and finally overhead practice.

This course requires a minimum of 4 days. Whether you do it in sidemount or in backmount, you will have two tanks for redundancy as well as a long hose. It is often paired with the intro to cave level. 

Prerequisite is to be certified advanced open water and have at least 50 logged dives.

Intro to cave diver

This course will allow you to get into the actual cave, which is the part of the overhead environment where you cannot see the daylight anymore. You will learn to be more confident in the cave, to manage gas and emergencies in the cave area, and how to react in case you lose the line or a diver. This course requires a minimum of 2 days if you do it together with the cavern, and a minimum of 3 days if done separately.

Prerequisite is to be a certified cavern diver from a recognized agency.

Full cave diver

You will learn to dive further into the cave, raising your awareness and understanding. You will be more secure with restrictions and manage complex navigation in a safe manner. You will also learn how to plan more complex dives.

This course requires a minimum of 5 days. At the end of this course, you will be able to plan a cave dive independently and to dive in most overhead environments.

Prerequisite is to be certified as an intro to cave from a recognized agency.

CCR CAVE DIVER

To dive safely in a cave on a rebreather, a CCR cave class is required. This class can be taken as a cave course or as a cross over from cave diver open-circuit to rebreather cave diver.

This course is 4 to 5 days as a cross-over from open-circuit