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Entrance to Peacock Springs Cave System.
Entrance to Peacock Springs Cave System.

Cave diving is a type of technical diving in which specialized SCUBA equipment is used to enable the exploration of natural or artificial caves which are at least partially filled with water. Technical diving (sometimes referred to a Tec diving) is a form of Scuba diving that exceeds the scope of Recreational diving (although the vast majority A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the Breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during Scuba diving. A cave is a natural underground void large enough for a human to enter It is an extension of the more common sport of caving, but is much more rarely practised because of the skills and equipment required, and because of the high potential risks. Caving or spelunking is the recreational Sport of exploring Caves In contrast Speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave

Despite these risks, water-filled caves attract cavers and speleologists due to their often unexplored nature, and present divers with a technical diving challenge. Caving or spelunking is the recreational Sport of exploring Caves In contrast Speleology is the scientific study of caves and the cave Speleology is the scientific study of Caves and other Karst features their make-up structure physical properties history life forms and the processes by Technical diving (sometimes referred to a Tec diving) is a form of Scuba diving that exceeds the scope of Recreational diving (although the vast majority Caves often have a wide range of unique physical features, such as stalactites and stalagmites, and can contain unique flora and fauna not found elsewhere. A stalactite ( Greek stalaktites, (Σταλακτίτης from the word for "drip" and meaning "that which drips" is a type of Speleothem A stalagmite (from the Greek stalagma ("Σταλαγμίτης" "drop" or "drip" is a In Botany, flora ( Plural: floras or florae has two meanings The first meaning flora of an area or of time period, refers to all Fauna is all of the Animal life of any particular region or time

Contents

Hazards

Cave diving is one of the most challenging and potentially dangerous kinds of diving and presents many diving hazards. Divers face specific physical and Health Risks when they go Underwater (e Cave diving is a form of penetration diving, meaning that in an emergency a diver cannot ascend directly to the surface due to the cave's ceilings, and instead may have to swim horizontally. Penetration diving or no clear surface diving is a type of diving where the scuba diver enters a space from which there is no direct purely vertical ascent to the The underwater navigation through the cave system may be difficult and exit routes may be at considerable distance, requiring the diver to have sufficient breathing gas to make the journey, resulting in potential deep diving risks. Air is the most common and only natural breathing gas. Other artificial gases either pure gases or mixtures of gases are used in breathing equipment and enclosed habitats such The meaning of the term deep diving is a form of Technical diving. [1]

Visibility can be low, or non-existent. While a less-intensive kind of diving called cavern diving does not take divers beyond the outermost part of the cave reached by natural light, true cave diving can involve penetrations of many thousands of feet, well beyond the reach of sunlight. Cave diving is a type of Technical diving in which specialized SCUBA equipment is used to enable the exploration of natural or artificial Caves which are The level of darkness experienced creates an environment impossible to see in without an artificial form of light. Caves often contain sand, mud, clay, silt, or other sediment that can further reduce underwater visibility in seconds when stirred up.

Caves can carry strong water currents. Most caves emerge on the surface as either springs or siphons. A spring is a point where Groundwater flows out of the ground and is thus where the Aquifer surface meets the ground surface A siphon (also spelled syphon) is a continuous tube that allows liquid to drain from a reservoir through an intermediate point that is higher than the reservoir the flow being Springs have out flowing currents, where water is coming up out of the Earth and flowing out across the land's surface. Siphons have inflowing currents where, for example, an above-ground river is going underground. Some caves are complex and have some tunnels with out flowing currents, and other tunnels with inflowing currents. If currents are not properly managed, they can cause serious problems for the diver.

Cave diving is perceived as one of the more dangerous sports in the world. This perception is arguable because the vast majority of divers who have lost their lives in caves have either not undergone specialized training or have had inadequate equipment for the environment. Many cave divers have suggested that cave diving is in fact statistically much safer than recreational diving due to the much larger barriers imposed by experience, training, and equipment cost.

There is no reliable worldwide database listing all cave diving fatalities. Such fractional statistics as are available, however, suggest that very few divers have ever died while following accepted protocols and while using equipment configurations recognized as acceptable by the cave diving community. In the very rare cases of exceptions to this rule there have always been unusual circumstances.

Safety

Most cave divers recognize five general rules or contributing factors for safe cave diving, which were popularized, adapted and became generally accepted from Sheck Exley's 1977 publication Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival. Sheck Exley ( April 1, 1949 &ndash April 6, 1994) was a Cave-diving pioneer In this book, Exley included accounts of actual cave diving accidents, and followed each one with a breakdown of what factors contributed to the accident. Despite the uniqueness of any individual accident, Exley found that at least one of a small number of major factors contributed to each one. This technique for breaking down accident reports and finding common causes among them is now called Accident Analysis, and is taught in introductory cave diving courses. Exley outlined a number of these resulting cave diving rules, but today these five are the most recognized:

These five rules may be remembered with the mnemonic The Good Divers Are Living, the first letter of each word referring to the first letter of the corresponding rule. A mnemonic device (nəˈmɒnɪk is a Memory aid Commonly met mnemonics are often verbal something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember An alternative mnemonic taught in the United States is Thank Goodness All Divers Live, requiring a rearrangement of the rules.

In recent years new contributing factors are considered after reviewing accidents which indicate solo diving, diving with incapable dive partners, video or photography in caves, complex cave dives and cave diving in large groups. With the establishment of technical diving the usage of mixed gases such as trimix for bottom gas, nitrox and oxygen for decompression the margin for error increases. Accident analysis informs us that breathing the wrong gas at the wrong depth and or not analyzing the breathing gas properly may lead to cave diving accidents.

Cave diving requires a wide variety of very specialized techniques. Divers who do not adhere strictly to these techniques, as well as equipment specifications, greatly increase the amount of risk against them. The cave diving community works hard to educate the public on the risks they assume when they enter water-filled caves. Warning signs with the likenesses of the Grim Reaper have been placed just inside the openings of many popular caves in the US, and others have been placed in nearby parking lots and local dive shops. In English Death is often given the name the " Grim Reaper " and shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large Scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown robe

Many cave diving sites around the world contain basins, which are also popular open-water diving sites. These sites try to minimize the risk of untrained divers being tempted to venture inside the cave systems. With the support of the cave diving community, many of these sites enforce a "no-lights rule" for divers who lack cave training — they may not carry any lights into the water with them. It is easy to venture into an underwater cave with a light and not realize how far away from the entrance (and daylight) one has swam; this rule is based on the theory that, without a light, divers will not venture beyond the point where they can see.

Training

Cave diving training includes equipment selection and configuration, guideline protocols and techniques, gas management protocols, communication techniques, propulsion techniques, emergency management protocols, and psychological education. As cave diver training stresses the importance of safety it does point out cave conservation ethics as well. Most training programs contain various stages of certification and education.

International differences

The cave diving community is a global one, partly due to the highly specialised nature with the resulting small numbers of practitioners at a local level.

However, cave diving practice can differ markedly by locality. One such difference is the use of a floating polypropylene guide line. Polypropylene or polypropene ( PP) is a Thermoplastic Polymer, made by the Chemical industry and used in a wide variety of applications Most cave divers in the U. S. balk at the use of any sort of floating guide line, 6 mm polypropylene line is the norm in UK because it does float - the line is regularly anchored to stones, lead weights, or whatever is needed and the floating keeps it clear of mud and silt. In Europe, thinner yet slightly buoyant line is typical. Cave diving practices in some localities may be different than those in other parts of the world because those caves require specialized techniques. It is always recommended that individuals contact someone familiar with a cave before venturing inside a cave.

Regularity in signs and warnings may also differ around the world. For example, warnings signs are rare in the UK.

History

Jacques-Yves Cousteau, co-inventor of the first SCUBA equipment, was both the world's first SCUBA diver and the world's first SCUBA cave diver. Jacques-Yves Cousteau ( 11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer explorer, Ecologist, However, many cave divers penetrated caves prior to the advent of SCUBA with surface supplied UBA through the use of umbilical hoses and compressors. SCUBA diving in all its forms, including cave diving, has advanced in earnest since he introduced the aqua-Lung in 1943. Aqualung was the original name for the first open-circuit scuba diving equipment, developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques Cousteau in 1943

U. S. History

In the United States, Sheck Exley was a pioneering cave diver who first explored many Florida underwater cave systems, and many other underwater cave systems throughout the US and the world. Sheck Exley ( April 1, 1949 &ndash April 6, 1994) was a Cave-diving pioneer Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the

In the 1970s, cave diving greatly increased in popularity among divers in the United States. However, there were very few experienced cave divers and almost no formal classes to handle the surge in interest. The result was a large number of divers trying to cave dive without any formal training. This resulted in more than 100 fatalities over the course of the decade. The state of Florida came close to banning SCUBA diving around the cave entrances. The cave diving organizations responded to the problem by creating training programs and certifying instructors, in addition to other measures to try to prevent these fatalities. This included posting signs, adding no-lights rules, and other enforcements.

Since the 1980s, prevention measures to reduce diver fatalities have been successful, and today it is rare for an untrained diver to die in an underwater cave, despite later surges in popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. The 1980s saw a few refinements to the equipment used for cave diving, most importantly better lights and smaller batteries. In the 1990s equipment configurations became a little more standard than they had been in the past, due mostly to the WKPP's adaptation and popularization of the Hogarthian Rig, a concept credited to Bill "Hogarth" Main which states not to take what you don't need, keep it simple and streamline. The Woodville Karst Plain Project or WKPP grew out of a Cave diving research and exploration group established in 1985 (by Bill Gavin and Bill Main later joined by Parker Turner

Documentary films made by Wes Skiles and Jill Heinerth have contributed to the increasing popularity of cave diving in the early 21st century.

Many sites today have strict rules about diving within one's level of training and requiring proof of that level, more so than most recreational diving sites elsewhere in the country. Today, the cave community is most focused on training, exploration, public awareness, and cave conservation. Different organizations place different emphasis on these priorities.

UK history

The Cave Diving Group (CDG) was established informally in the United Kingdom in 1935 to organise training and equipment for the exploration of flooded caves in the Mendip Hills of Somerset. The Cave Diving Group (CDG is a United Kingdom -based diver training organization specialising in Cave diving. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Mendip Hills (commonly called The Mendips) are a range of Limestone hills situated to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset The first dive was made by Jack Sheppard on 4 October 1936,[2] using a home-made drysuit surface fed from a modified bicycle pump, which allowed Sheppard to pass Sump 1 of Swildon's Hole. Jack Sheppard ( 31 March 1909 &ndash 14 July 2001) born John Arthur Sheppard in Lewisham, Kent (south east London Events 610 - Heraclius arrives by ship from Africa at Constantinople, overthrows Byzantine Emperor Phocas Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Swildon's Hole ( is an extensive Cave in Priddy, Somerset. The first recorded exploration occurred in 1901 and new sections have frequently been Swildon's is an upstream feeder to the Wookey Hole resurgence system. Wookey Hole Caves is a show cave and tourist attraction in the village of Wookey Hole on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills near Wells in Somerset The difficulty of access to the sump in Swildon's prompted operations to move to the resurgence, and the larger cave there allowed use of conventional "hard hat" equipment which was secured from the Siebe Gorman company. Siebe Gorman & Company Ltd was a British company which developed Diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on Commercial diving and Marine The left photograph on the standard diving dress page will give some indication of the scale of operations this entailed. A standard diving dress consists of a metallic ( Copper, Brass or Bronze) Diving helmet, an airline or hose from a Surface supplied In UK cave diving, the term "Sherpa" is used without a drop of irony for the people who carry the diver's gear, and before the development of SCUBA equipment such undertakings could be monumental operations. For other uses of the word Sherpa see Sherpa (disambiguation.

Diving in the spacious third chamber of Wookey Hole led to a rapid series of advances, each of which was dignified by being given a successive number, until an air surface was reached at what is now known as "Chamber 9. " Some of these dives were broadcast live on BBC radio, which must have been a quite surreal experience for both diver and audience.

The number of sites where standard diving dress could be used is clearly limited and there was little further progress before the outbreak of World War II reduced the caving community considerably. A standard diving dress consists of a metallic ( Copper, Brass or Bronze) Diving helmet, an airline or hose from a Surface supplied World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including However, the rapid development of underwater warfare through the war made a lot of surplus equipment available. The fundamental item of diving equipment used by divers is the SCUBA equipment, such as the Aqualung or Rebreather. The CDG re-formed in 1946 and progress was rapid. Typical equipment at this time was a frogman rubber diving suit for insulation (water temperature in the UK is typically 4 °C), an oxygen diving cylinder, soda lime absorbent canister and counter-lung comprising a rebreather air system and an "AFLOLAUN," meaning "Apparatus For Laying Out Line And Underwater Navigation. A frogman is someone who is trained to dive or swim in a military capacity often in combat A diving suit is a garment or device designed to protect a diver from the Underwater environment Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the A diving cylinder, scuba tank or diving tank is used to store and transport high Pressure Breathing gas as a component of SCUBA (Self-Contained Soda lime is a mixture of Chemicals used in granular form in closed breathing environments such as General anaesthesia, Submarines Rebreathers A rebreather is a type of Breathing set that provides a Breathing gas containing Oxygen and recycled exhaled gas " The AFLOLAUN consisted of lights, line-reel, compass, notebook (for the survey), batteries, and more. A distance line or penetration line is an item of Diving equipment used by SCUBA divers as a means of returning to a safe starting point in conditions of A compass, magnetic compass or mariner's compass is a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the earth's Magnetic poles It consists

Progress was typically by "bottom walking", as this was considered less dangerous than swimming (note the absence of buoyancy controls). The use of oxygen put a depth limit on the dive, which was considerably mitigated by the extended dive duration. This was the normal diving equipment and methods until approximately 1960 when new techniques using wetsuits (which provide both insulation and buoyancy compensation), twin open-circuit SCUBA air systems, helmet-mounted lights and free-swimming with fins. A scuba set is an independent breathing set that provides a scuba diver with the Breathing gas necessary to breathe underwater during Scuba diving. The increasing capacity and pressure rating of air bottles also extended dive durations. [3]

Cave diving venues

Grand Bahama Island

The caves and caverns of Grand Bahama, contain an immense underwater cavern, with a vast, flooded, labyrinth of caverns, caves and submerged tunnels that honeycomb the entire island of Grand Bahama and the surrounding sea bed. Grand Bahama is one of the northernmost of the islands of the Bahamas, and the closest major island to the United States, lying just 55 mi (90 km off the state of In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth ( Greek λαβύρινθος labyrinthos) was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer The inland caves are not abundant with life, but do contain creatures living in the caves, other than the migrating Gray Snappers. Residents of these caves include a type of blind cave fish, and remipedia that don't pose any threat to cave divers. Remipedia is a class of blind Crustaceans found in deep caves connected to salt water in Australia and the Caribbean Sea.

The caves in the Bahamas were formed during the last ice age. The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an independent sovereign English -speaking country consisting of two thousand Cays and An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the Temperature of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere resulting in an expansion of continental Ice sheets With much of the earth's water held in the form of glacial ice, the sea level fell hundreds of feet, leaving most of the Bahama banks, which are now covered in water, high and dry. Rain falling on the most porous limestone, slowly filtered down to sea level forming a lens where it contacted the denser salt water of the ocean permeating the spongy lime stone. The water at the interface, was acidic enough to dissolve away the limestone and form the caves. Then, as more ice formed and the sea level dropped even further, the caves became dry and rainwater dripping through the ceiling, over thousands of years, created the incredible crystal forests of stalagmites which now decorate the caves. Finally, when the ice melted and the sea level rose, the caves were reclaimed by the sea.

The surface water you see in these caves is fresh and pure. It's rainwater that seeps through the porous limestone just as it did when the caves were created, forming a giant lens that floats on the under layer of sea water. When you dive in the caves, at a depth of about 25 to 30 feet, you can see the fresh/salt water interface, or halocline, as a distinct line separating the liquids, and if you watch a diver passing through the halocline, their image is momentarily blurred and distorted by the mixing of the fresh and salt water. In Oceanography, a halocline is a strong vertical Salinity Gradient.

Northern Florida, U. S.

The largest and most active cave diving community in the United States is in the panhandle of northern Florida. Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the The North Floridian Aquifer expels groundwater through numerous first-magnitude springs, each providing an entrance to the aquifer's labyrinthine cave system. An aquifer is an underground layer of Water -bearing Permeable rock or unconsolidated materials ( Gravel, Sand, Silt, or Clay A spring is a point where Groundwater flows out of the ground and is thus where the Aquifer surface meets the ground surface These high-flow springs have resulted in Florida cave divers developing special techniques for exploring them, since some have such strong currents that it is impossible to swim against them.

The longest known, underwater cave system in the USA, The Leon Sinks cave system, near Tallahassee, Florida, has multiple interconnected sinks and springs spanning two counties (Leon & Wakulla). One main resurgence of the system, Wakulla Springs, is explored exclusively by a very successful and pioneering project called the WKPP, although other individuals and groups like the US Deep Cave Diving Team led by Dr. Wakulla County is a County located in the US state of Florida. The Woodville Karst Plain Project or WKPP grew out of a Cave diving research and exploration group established in 1985 (by Bill Gavin and Bill Main later joined by Parker Turner Bill Stone and Jill Heinerth, have explored portions of Wakulla Springs in the past. Heinerth accomplished a woman's deep cave diving penetration record during the advanced sonar-based cave mapping project.

The deepest known, underwater cave in the USA is Weeki Wachee. Due to its strong outflow, divers have had limited success penetrating this first magnitude spring until 2007, when drought conditions eased the outflowing water allowing for Karst Underwater Researchers to penetrate to depths of 400 ft.

The Florida caves are formed from geologically young limestone with moderate porosity. Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 The absence of speleothem decorations which can only form in air filled caves, indicates that the flooded Florida caves have a single genetic phase origin, having remained water filled even during past low sea levels. In plan form, the caves are relatively linear with a limited number of side passages allowing for most of the guidelines to be simple paths with few permanent tees. It is common practice for cave divers in Florida to joint a main line with a secondary line using a jump reel when exploring side passages, in order to maintain a continuous guideline to the surface.

Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

While there is great potential for cave diving in the continental karst throughout Mexico, the vast majority of cave diving in Mexico occurs in the Yucatan Peninsula. While there are thousands of deep pit cenotes throughout the Yucatan Peninsula including in the states of Yucatan and Campeche, the extensive sub-horizontal flooded cave networks for which the peninsula is known are essentially limited to a 10 km wide strip of the Caribbean coastline in the state of Quintana Roo extending south from Cancun to the area of Tulum and the Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, although some short segments of underwater cave have been explored on the north-west coast (Yucatan State). Tulum ( ( Tulu'um in Modern Maya); in Spanish orthography, Tulum) is the site of a Pre-Columbian

In the Yucatan Peninsula, any surface openings where groundwater can be reached is called cenote, which is a Spanish form of the Maya word d'zonot. A cenote (pronounced in Mexican Spanish and in English, plural cenotes; from Yucatec Maya dzonot) is a type of Sinkhole The cave systems formed as normal caves underwater, but upper sections drained becoming air filled during past low sea levels. During this vadose, or air filled state, abundant speleothem deposits formed. The caves and the vadose speleothem were subsequently reflooded and became hydraulically reactivated as rising sea levels also raised the water table. These caves are therefore polygenetic, having experienced more than one cycle of formation below the water table. Polygenetic coastal cave systems with underwater speleothem are globally common, with notable examples being on the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca) of Spain, the islands of the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cuba, and many more.

As with all cave speleothems, the underwater speleothems in the Yucatan Peninsula are fragile. If a diver accidentally breaks off a stalactite from the ceiling or other speleothem formation, it will not reform as long as the cave is underwater so active cave conservation diving techniques are paramount. A stalactite ( Greek stalaktites, (Σταλακτίτης from the word for "drip" and meaning "that which drips" is a type of Speleothem

In plan form, the Quintana Roo caves are extremely complex with anastomotic interconnected passages. When cave diving through the caves, the pathways then appear to have many offshoots and junctions, requiring careful navigation with permanent tees or the implementation of jumps in the guideline.

The beginning of the 1980s brought the first cave divers from the U. S. to the Yucatan Peninsula, Quintana Roo (Q. Roo) to explore cenotes such as Carwash, Naharon and Maya Blue, but also to central Mexico where resurgence rivers such as Rio Mante, sinkholes such as Zacaton were documented.

In the Yucatan, the 1980s ended with the discoveries of the Dos Ojos and Nohoch Nah Chich cave systems which lead into a long ongoing competition of which exploration team had the longest underwater cave system in the world at the time, with both teams vying for first place. Dos Ojos is a flooded Cave system located north of Tulum, on the Caribbean coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo, Sistema Nohoch Nah Chich is an extensive water filled cave system connected with the Caribbean Sea via a coastal spring called Casa Cenote or Tankah Cenote and extending to approximately

The beginning of the 1990s led into the discovery of underwater caves such as Aereolito on the island of Cozumel, ultimately leading to the 5th biggest underwater cave in the world.

By the mid 1990s a push into the central Yucatan Peninsula by dedicated deep cave explorers discovered a large number of deep sinkholes, or pit cenotes, such as Sabak Ha, Utzil and deep caves such as Chacdzinikche, Dzibilchaltun, Karkirixche that have been explored and mapped. To this day these deep caves of the central Yucatan remain largely unexplored due to the sheer number of cenotes found in the State of Yucatan, as well as the depth involved that can be only tackled using technical diving techniques or rebreathers. In the end of the last millennium closed circuit rebreather (CCR) cave diving techniques where employed in order to explore these deep water filled caves.

By the end of the 1990s, the The Pit in the Dos Ojos cave system located 5. 8 km from the Caribbean coast in the state of Quintana Roo had been discovered, and it is presently (2008) 119 m deep. At that time, technical diving and rebreather equipment and techniques became common place.

By the turn of the millennium the longest underwater cave system, called Ox Bel Ha was established by cave diving explorers whose combined efforts and information helped join segments of previously explored caves. Ox Bel Ha is a Cave system in Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is the longest known underground river and underwater cave in the world The use of hand held GPS technology and aerial and satellite images for reconnaissance during exploration became common. New technology such as rebreathers and diver propulsion vehicles (DPVs) became available and where utilized for longer penetration dives. As of January 2008, Ox Bel Ha includes 170 km of underwater passage (See QRSS for current statistics).

Active exploration continues in the new millennium. Most cave diving exploration is now conducted on the basis of "mini projects" lasting 1 - 7 days, and occurring many times a year, and these may include daily commutes from home to jungle dive base camps located within 1 hour from road access.

In 2006 and 2007 a number of large previously explored and mapped cave systems have been connected utilizing sidemount cave diving techniques and many times no-mount cave diving techniques in order to pass through these tight cave passages, creating the second largest connected underwater cave systems on the planet, Sac Actun, which presently has a length extent of 155 km (See QRSS for current statistics).

Many cave maps have been published by the Quintana Roo Speleological Survey (QRSS).

United Kingdom

UK requirements are generally that all people wishing to take up cave diving must be competent cavers before they start cave diving. This is primarily because most British cave dives are at the far end of dry caves. There are individuals that begin cave diving directly from the recreational diving, but they represent a minority in the UK, and represent only a few percent of the Cave Diving Group (CDG). Recreational diving or sport diving is a type of diving that uses SCUBA equipment for the purpose of leisure and enjoyment The Cave Diving Group (CDG is a United Kingdom -based diver training organization specialising in Cave diving.

Australian cave diving and the CDAA

Australia has many spectacular water filled caves and sinkholes, but unlike the UK, most Australian cave divers come from a general ocean-diving background. A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline or Cenote, is a natural depression The "air-clear" water of the sinkholes and caves can be found in the Mount Gambier area of south-eastern Australia. South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country The first cave and sinkhole dives here took place in the very late 1950s, and until the mid 1980s divers generally used single diving cylinders and homemade torches, and reels, resulting in most of their explorations being limited. A diving cylinder, scuba tank or diving tank is used to store and transport high Pressure Breathing gas as a component of SCUBA (Self-Contained A distance line or penetration line is an item of Diving equipment used by SCUBA divers as a means of returning to a safe starting point in conditions of

A series of tragedies between 1969 and 1973 in which 11 divers drowned (including a triple and a quadruple fatality) in just four karst features - "Kilsbys Hole", "Piccaninnie Ponds", "Death Cave" and "The Shaft" - created much public comment and led to the formation of the Cave Divers Association of Australia (CDAA) Inc. in September 1973. As a consequence of the CDAA's assessment programs, divers are rated at various levels, and today they comprise Cavern, Cave, Sinkhole, and Penetration.

During the 1980s the Nullarbor Plain was recognized as a major cave-diving area, with one cave, Cocklebiddy, being explored for more than 6 kilometers, involving the use of large sleds to which were attached numerous diving cylinders and other paraphernalia, and which were then laboriously pushed through the cave by the divers. In more recent years divers have been utilizing compact diver-towing powered scooters, but the dive is still technically extremely challenging. A Diver Propulsion Vehicle or a DPV is an item of Diving equipment used by scuba divers to increase their range while underwater where their endurance is A number of other very significant caves have also been discovered during the past 10 years or so; the 7+-kilometre long Tank Cave near Mount Gambier, other very large features on the Nullarbor and adjacent Roe Plain as well as a number of specific sites elsewhere, and nowadays the cave diving community utilizes many techniques, equipment and standards from the U. S. and elsewhere.

The CDAA is responsible for the administration of cave diving certification in Australia and mixed-gas and rebreather technologies are also now able to be used in many sites. A rebreather is a type of Breathing set that provides a Breathing gas containing Oxygen and recycled exhaled gas All cave diving in the Mount Gambier area as well as some New South Wales sites and the Nullarbor requires divers to be members of the CDAA, whether in the capacity of a visitor or a trained and assessed member.

Brazil and IBAMA

In Brazil there is cavern diving in Fernando de Noronha, in Pernambuco state; Chapada da Diamantina, in Bahia state; Bonito, in Mato Grosso do Sul state; and Mariana, where there is also cave diving (visiting Mina da Passagem), in Minas Gerais state. Fernando de Noronha is an Archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, part of the State of Pernambuco, around 354 km offshore Pernambuco (pɛxnɐ̃ˈbuku is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country Bahia (baˈia is one of the 26 States of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast Bonito (Spanish and Portuguese for "beautiful" is a name given to various species of medium-sized Predatory fish of the genus Sarda, in the Mackerel Mato Grosso do Sul (ˈmatu ˈgɾosu du ˈsuw is one of the states of Brazil. Mariana is a poem written by Lord Alfred Tennyson in 1830. "Mariana of the Moated Grange" first appears in William Shakespeare Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, the second most populous and fourth largest by area in the federation

IBAMA - Instituto Brasileiro de Administração do Meio Ambiente is the federal organ which authorizes cavern and cave diving in Brazil. Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources ( Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis) is the Brazilian For this kind of technical diving the diver must have specific certification by one of the agencies accepted by IBAMA. For "try dives" or "discovery dives" open water diver certification by an agency accepted by IBAMA is enough.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Cave diving - Hazards. William Stone (b 1952) known as Bill Stone, is one of the world's foremost expeditionary Cavers exploring deep Caves sometimes with " Oneness Commitment. 1 1 <http://www.experiencefestival.com/cave_diving_-_hazards>.
  2. ^ Jack Sheppard. Cave Diving Group. The Cave Diving Group (CDG is a United Kingdom -based diver training organization specialising in Cave diving. Retrieved on 2007-12-29. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1170 - Thomas Becket: Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II
  3. ^ Farr, Martyn. The Darkness Beckons. The Darkness Beckons (ISBN 0-939748-32-0 is the definitive Book on the history of UK Cave diving. ISBN 0939748320.  


Sources

External links

Training organizations

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