Here in central Florida, we are home to one of the largest concentrations of freshwater caves and caverns in the world. Our recreational 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.

For students looking for a stand-alone recreational cavern course, our recreational cavern 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.

Are you looking to progress onto cave training? For students looking to progress onto cave, our technical cavern class is taught in backmount doubles or sidemount, and forms the first step in the cave sequence.

Our cavern instructor, Peter Kibler, is an active tech instructor and cave diver, with extensive personal experience of Florida cave and cavern systems. He is certified through the Full Cave/Cave DPV level, as well as Advanced (Hypoxic) Trimix, and proficient in both sidemount and backmount doubles. He is currently a TDI Intro to Cave instructor candidate. For more on his tech/cave teaching philosophy, see here.

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

Gear Configuration: Single tank

Course Details: TDI Cavern

Total time commitment: 2 days (4 dives)

Recommended Reading (optional): Basic Cave Diving: A Blueprint for Survival by Sheck Exley

Minimum age: 18 or older

Maximum Course Size: 2 Students

Course Cost: $400 USD* - Complimentary rental gear is available for recreational cavern upon request, at no additional cost. Reels and spools are provided. You may be required to provide your own lights; please contact instructor for details. Additional fees may be required for air fills, transportation, and dive site entrance cost. Contact us for more information.