Here in central Florida, we are home to one of the largest concentrations of freshwater caves and caverns in the world. Our Cavern course gives you the knowledge and skills to explore these caverns safely - allowing you to enter far enough for adventure, but staying within the light zone for an easy exit to open water. This certification not only opens up new dive sites off-limits to open water divers (such as Jug Hole at Ichetucknee), but also allows you to legally carry dive lights in the Florida State Parks and Devil’s Run at Ginnie Springs.

During your cavern class, you’ll learn to handle a reel, how to lay and follow guidelines, and safely navigate in and out of a cavern. Your instructor will provide a variety of reels and spools, and we will practice linework both in and out of the water. This course offers a standalone recreational experience, or can serve as a first step in the progression towards cave certification with other technical agencies.

For students looking for a stand-alone recreational cavern course, this class can be taken in standard recreational gear with a single tank. You will learn to tweak your existing gear to dive safely in overhead environments, while staying within the limits of natural daylight.

For students looking to progress onto cave training, cavern is the first step in the cave sequence. As such, you may wish to take the course in doubles or sidemount. Please note, students taking the class in doubles or sidemount should already be proficient in their chosen configuration. If you are new to tech configurations, we offer an Intro to Tech (ITT) course that will introduce you to backmount doubles, and assumes no previous experience.

This course is taught in-person in the classroom, with additional eLearning for students selecting the TDI option (recommended).

Our cavern instructor, Peter Kibler, is an active local cave diver, with extensive personal experience of Florida cave and cavern systems. He is currently a TDI Intro to Cave instructor candidate, and plans to offer Intro Cave courses through Spring Run in the future (stay tuned!). In the meantime, we are happy to provide referrals to local cave instructors following successful completion of the course.

For more details see: https://www.padi.com/courses/cavern-diver

Prerequisite: PADI: Advanced Open Water (AOW); TDI: Open Water + minimum 25 logged dives (50-100+ dives recommended)

Course Details: PADI Cavern Diver or TDI Cavern (pick your agency when booking; TDI recommended)

Total time commitment: 2 days (4 dives)

Minimum age: 18 or older

Maximum Course Size: 4 Students

Course Cost: $250 USD* - Complimentary rental gear is available upon request, at no additional cost. You may be required to provide your own lights; please contact instructor for details. Reels and spools are provided. Additional fees may be required for air fills, transportation, and dive site entrance cost. Contact us for more information.

This price includes certification/training through TDI; alternatively, you may request certification through PADI for an additional $150/student.