Here in central Florida, we are home to one of the largest concentrations of freshwater caves and caverns in the world. Our TDI Technical Cavern course is taught in doubles or sidemount, and gives you the knowledge and skills to explore these caverns safely. This course serve as the first step in the progression towards cave certification with TDI and other technical agencies.

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. We will also work on fine-tuning trim and buoyancy, and anti-silt propulsion techniques (e.g., frogkick) to reduce contact with the cavern and prevent silt-outs.

For students looking to progress onto cave training, our technical cavern class is the first step in the cave sequence. As such, you will be expected to take the course in doubles or sidemount. Please note, you should be proficient in your chosen configuration prior to starting class. If you are new to these configurations, we offer an Intro to Tech (ITT) course that will introduce you to backmount doubles, and assumes no previous experience. We are also happy to refer you to local sidemount instructors.

Are you a recreational diver looking for a stand-alone cavern course? We also teach a single-tank cavern course in a standard single tank configuration, for open water recretaional divers looking to explore the Florida springs and caverns safely!

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. For more on his tech/cave teaching philosophy, see here.

Prerequisite: Open Water + minimum 25 logged dives and good buoyancy control (AOW + 50-100+ dives recommended); prior experience/training in backmount doubles or sidemount

Gear Configuration: Backmount doubles or sidemount

Course Details: TDI Cavern

Total time commitment: 2-3 days

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: $600 USD* - does not include the cost of rental gear (if required). 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.

This price includes certification/training through TDI.