Our choice for gas

I owe Lamar and
Lee Ann a helluva
lot, so they always get a free plug

What You Need in
Terms of Equipment

By far the biggest single expense in learning to cave dive, for most students, is equipment. Of course, with proper care and maintenance, this is the expense that will pay off years down the road.

In so far as most students already have some training and/or experience in technical diving, you may already have some or all of these items. If not, this is the time to acquire them.

Unlike recreational diving, there is no cost-effective way to rent this stuff. The exception would be if you are flying in from some distance away to take the course. Then, by necessity, you will need to rent the heavier items, such as cylinders. We recommend Amigo’s Dive Center for this.

The list appearing below is for students taking part in Cavern, Intro, Apprentice or Full Cave Diver courses. Students in Specialty Cave Diver courses, such as Stage and DPV Cave Diver, will (obviously) need additional items. Sidemount students will need entirely different equipment all together.

Here is the list. Each item on the list is also a link to a page where you will find some general recommendations to help ensure you bring the right equipment and don’t waste money.

• Mask and adjustable, non-split scuba fins.
• 7/5 mm full wet suit or dry suit, with hood.
• Twin cylinders with dual-orifice, isolation manifold.
• Primary and secondary regs, set up for cave diving.
• Backplate/harness (or equivalent) for doubles.
• Back-inflation air cell with appropriate lift capacity.
• Primary dive light, suitable for cave diving.
• Two back-up dive lights.
• Dive computer(s) and/or depth gauge and timer.
• Safety reel or spool with at least 30 m/100 ft of line.
• Small knife/cutting tool.
• Dive tables with decompression stop information.
• Slate or wet notes.
• At least three directional and nondirectional line markers.

If you already have an O2 deco bottle and are not flying here, bring it. Otherwise, plan on using one of mine.

Learn More

Access Tutorial

If all this is new to you. take the time to go through the accompanying tutorial on the differences between recreational and cave diving equipment. (Consider this the first part of your course.) The tutorial opens in a separate window, which you can close when done.

What I Expect
From Students

At one time, if you armed prospective students with a list like this, you could all but guarantee they’d have difficulty finding all the items and/or show up with equipment that was just plain wrong. Worse, they were often sold the wrong equipment by a well-meaning local dive store owner who just plain didn’t understand what was really needed.

Today, good cave/technical equipment is available from a wide variety of sources. Better still, what constitutes “the right stuff” in terms of equipment configuration is well documented, on the Internet and elsewhere.

The standardization of tech equipment in general, and cave equipment in particular, has a number of benefits that go beyond just the fact students are less likely to show up ill equipped. Not the least of these is the fact that, in an emergency, you know how your team mates’ gear is configured. (It’s just like yours.)

As long as it falls within the generally accepted standards of practice for modern cave diving equipment, I’m not overly picky about what students use. Nevertheless, if you are not sure, ask me before you spend money.

Fins »

[Top of Page]

Here’s a good story that explains why you need Cave Diver training

Another reason to get
your Cave Diver cert: Going with Connie to Mexico

Our recommendation
for manatee tours

Own a dive store? You should be reading this

“Here’s Your Sign…”