Comment by phrotoma
6 months ago
I met a cave diver recently. Dude is retired now but ran a consultancy for decades through which he and his team would go in and map previously unexplored caves (or someone had died trying).
He was a chill guy but like ... he was just steely af. Can't imagine the nerve it takes to crawl around in those places. Gives me the willies!
My first cavern dive was with a VERY experienced cave cartographer (Yucatan Cenotes, https://www.filoariannadive.com/alex.html ). Cavern is where technically "you can see the light", but if you turn a corner and can't see the surface then it converts into "cave" diving.
For the rank amateur that I was, being able to turn around, orient myself and see a sliver of light ~100ft behind me... yeah, "technically a cavern dive".
I tried to do a "buddy check" w/ him before beginning the dive and he almost pushed me away... the stories of him diving with side-by-side tanks, then pushing each of them through a gap in front of him, one by one, and then wriggling his body through. :insert-shocked-emoji:
Always remember: "Are you a diver, or a dummy?" ...what would a DIVER do? [don't panic, fall back to your training] Good to have that sense of self an security in lots of cases!
Why’d he push you away during the buddy check?
Per his dive stats, he had 7k+ dives under his belt, "discovered" 50 MILES of new cave passages and mapped 25km of them.
Through an accident of fate and the original guide I'd booked getting sick, he was my guide on literally my first dives after getting certified.
He was like: "don't touch my equipment, try not to die, I'll be fine... what are you realistically going to do for me if there's a problem (and there won't be a problem)" ...after I explained that I was just trying to adopt the good habits we were taught in the classes I just took, he chilled out a bit, but still wouldn't let me touch his equipment.
My first open water dive (post certification) was unplanned- a small earthquake closed the cenotes on the second/third day until they could be vetted by "the pros" and make sure everything was safe for tourists again.
Ended up bumping into a shark (aka: "bear in the woods") at ~80ft and my (different) guide went chasing after it to take pictures, so I had to kindof keep up and think to myself: "I probably would stay away from that roughly human-sized shark, but also, I'm supposed to stay within 5-10 feet of my buddy in case he has equipment problems...... I'll just keep him in between me and the shark..."
Good times! :-D