OHP, Cave 1

My dive buddy and I, Keith Colombo started OHP with James Mott back in September 2010 in Michigan. Primarly out of the world-class "Union Lake." That's sarcasm for those that may not know such amazing places ;-). In fairness it's a great place to train. By late September most of the boats of off the lake for Winter, so the water clears up nicely. About 30 foot deep, and around 15 feet of visibility on average. There are a few sunken speed boats connected together with line, so it makes a great OHP play ground. Seperating OHP from cave 1 is a hugely great idea as it limits the stress of "dark scary" caves, while taking the time to learn the line and all of the procedures that go along with it.

OHP took us into about early November, not because the class wasn't progressing as planned, but both Keith, myself, and James were relateively busy - and we're all in the area so there wasn't much of a need to rush the class. Taking the extra time was great in that we could practice various scenarious, and ask questions as they would arrise without James around.

We finished our last dive with great success, and a huge confidence boost. We both felt completely ready for Cave 1. Originally we planned to take Cave 1 in Florida, since for most North Americans, that's the place to go. However, this class report takes an interesting turn here! Unfortunately for cave diving, but fortunately for me, I would be relocating overseas for the next couple of years for work. I'd be living in London, UK starting November 15th. I told Keith that I'd try to fly back to Florida for a week or so for Cave. However, Keith, now having an opportunity to visit Europe, decided we should take Cave 1 in Europe. For me this was great as it was much closer, and potentially a great way to meet fellow European divers. And also, just a generally good experience for us both as we will eventually visit the Florida caves. So we contacted Nick Toussaint, and made some arrangements for Cave 1 in La Azohia, Spain through the Rivemar Dive Shop for support - during the last week in May 2011. Keith flew out, and we drove south to Spain from London. Our plan going into the class was that presuming we pass, we'd take a quick stop off in Lot, France as certified cave divers and see whats what.

We arrived in La Azohia May 21st. Since Keith and I hadn't dove together since November, we wanted a day to get in synch with each other. We went out on a Rivemar boat and did some fun dives. Just practicing OOO, valve drills, etc. Everything was smooth - just like Union Lake, except, you know, the Mediterranean Sea! The next day: our first day of cave. It's something we were both completely and utterly stoked about. This "thing" that we had planned, trained, and practiced for, for.. in fairness years. We could barely sleep.

Taking Cave 1 in La Azohia was perfect. There are both ocean caves and inland caves. There were two ocean caves, one about 40 ft, the other 60 ft deep. (There are others, but we only dove these two). The 60 ft cave ends up connecting to the 40 ft one, which after a few times in the cave we could finally make out. The inland cave, called "Cueva Del Agua" is freshwater and salt water, so we actually got to experience a halocline. Cueva Del Agua is also thermal which was an added bonus. However, it's not all great. It also gets very, very silty - and stays that way for weeks. I would imagine that as instructors go, it's debatable as to whether or not taking students into a potentially high silt condition is good or bad, but in my opinion it was great. Both myself and Keith have great trim and buoyancy, but it was humbling seeing how even the smallest fin kick affects conditions. Also, something that stung me a few times was simply the situational awareness - no longer is simply being horizontal in water sufficient - it's much more pragmatic; not only is it using the proper kick technique, but also trim is relative to your environment. At the end of the week, we stopped by the entrance, and it was no longer the crystal clear water from day one - it was basically brown.

Day 1 we were in the ocean caves. Completely nervous, I had to put on my best poker face. We ended up doing four dives. They were mostly tame, which I think I can attribute perfecting OHP prior to the class. Every failure was calmy resolved, and we made it back out to the primary tie off quite happily.


Day 2 we we made our way down to Cueva Del Agua - it's about a 15 minute drive from Rivemar. Keith and I rented what's called a "Chevy Spark" - and with myself and Keith in the car, we were using about 99% capacity. With all our dive gear, 4 sets of twins, the car was struggling ;) Cueva Del Agua is just a gorgeous looking cave. Although, it's a little "dangerous" getting down to the entrance. It declines maybe 40 feet, but with lots of loose rock - no major stumbles - at least with the twins on our back. For whatever reason, just getting in this cave I was much more anxious than the ocean caves. I'm not entirely sure why, but perhaps it felt more like the caves I had seen pictures of and so it added a bigger sense of reality than the ocean caves. Regardless, we proceded (and my excitement out weighed my anxiety). Todays dive focused a lot of the situational awareness as I mentioned, and laying down markers. The main line starts quite a ways inside the cave, so we had to run a reel. We get to the main line, and continue onwards. We get to a T, and head right. I believe that I was running the reel, so Keith left a marker, and we head right. All the while reminding myself, turn left on the way out and looking around for artifacts that would help navigate a way out. After a few meters or so, we turn the dive and head back, and of course - failures begin. The primary lights go, and one of us is out of gas and we make it back quite happily. The second dive we did a lost diver, so we pulled the spool and arrow, and went on a search. It's quite an eery feeling leaving the main line, even with spool in hand.

Day 3 we are back at Cueva Del Agua. We had a choice between the ocean caves and here, but both Keith and I wanted to head back. It was just such as cool cave to be in. We even considered staying in Spain for our fun dives after the certification. Anyway, today's fun was putting everything together, but mostly evolving around lost line. Doing these drills actually in a cave was a little more anxiety-inducing than the simulated overhead during OHP. For the lost line, we had our eyes-closed we were spun around and basically meant to find the line. Quite a fun excercise. Lukily I found a rock to tie off on to, but I believe Keith had to use his light. We found the line and made it back. Our last dive was putting it all together and making it back. For that I believe we had no vis (though - by this point the vis probably was quite bad in reality.), and an OOO, which are always fun, and only having touch communication to get back. And that was it, we were cave divers! Well, cave divers within our limits.

Now that most of Southern Spain knew I was a cave diver, it was time to face reality and actually go do some cave dives. So we packed our car, and headed north to Lot. Given the last minute planning, we weren't exactly sure where we were heading, but Nick had mentioned Harald Franzen's name to us, so we intended on chasing him down. We eventually got in touch, but he didn't have room for us, despite his genuine effort. So we found "some" hotel in Toulouse (which would require an entirely new report), and stayed there for the night. We got up bright and early, and made our way towards Lot. We called Harald back, thinking that even though he didnt have room for us for the night, perhaps he at least had some cylinders for us to rent. Which, in fact, he did. And not only was that great, but once we met up, he took the time to describe each of the caves, and where we should go. So he told us about all the other divers at Ressel, and that it may be a little crowded. He mentioned a cave called Cabuoy which was completely free of other divers. We headed off, and finally found Cabuoy. It's this relatively small bit of water with a water pump on the far side - which is also where the line is attached. It doesn't look like much. But we knew the entrance is about 100 ft. deep, and the water only gets clearer and clearer. So we geared up, dropped down, completely confident. We were doing quarters dives, but edging on the conservative side so we could get in two dives on the same sets of tanks. It was truly an interesting experience actually doing these cave dives, without an instructor present (or even another human being for miles). But, we didnt have the slightest bit of anxiety - I was most certainly excited, but not concererned. It almost felt like any other dive. We both knew that we could solve almost any failure that nature could throw at us. The cave itself was actually quite interesting. Very sandy bottom, so no silt, and no flow. It was almost too easy. We made it to our turn, and headed out. Did our surface interval, and headed back in. The second dive was much more interesting as we were a little more calm and relaxed - not checking the pressure guage every 5 seconds! We could actually enjoy the cave itself.

I'd have to say that this was one of the best classes - both OHP and Cave 1 - that I've ever taken. It's amazing what you can actually accomplish putting everything together. I just can't wait to get more, and more (and more) experience diving in caves.

I also want to quickly mention how wonderful Rivemar was as a dive shop. Everyone is genuinley friendly and there is some amazing diving there. I would highly recommend heading there if you're able.