Here in central Florida, we are home to one of the largest concentrations of freshwater caves in the world. Our TDI Intro to Cave Diver course is taught in doubles or sidemount, and gives you the knowledge and skills to do your first cave dives, limited to main “gold” line dives with no navigation, using up to 1/6th of your starting pressure. This course serves as the second step (Cavern → Intro Cave → Full Cave) in the progression towards cave certification with TDI and other technical agencies.

During your intro cave class, you’ll build on the skills that were introduced in your cavern class, including light discipline and communication with your team, how to handle a reel, how to run and pull a primary line, and how to safely use permanent and temporary guidelines to navigate in and out of a cave.

You’ll also experience new challenges, such as how to handle light failure, loss of visibility and/or gas, and what to do if you lose your buddy - or the guideline. Throughout your training, we will continue to fine-tune your trim and buoyancy, and work on anti-silt propulsion techniques (e.g., frogkick) to reduce contact with the cave and prevent silt-outs.

Most of our caves in Florida are “high flow,” meaning that the force of the water pushing out of the cave can be considerable. We will introduce and practice new propulsion techniques (e.g., “pull and glide”) for navigating high flow caves, as well as special considerations, such as gas management and how to “read” the cave to manage areas of very high flow. We will spend at least one day of class in a low flow cave system (such as Peacock Springs) and at least one day in a high flow cave system (e.g., Ginnie Springs), conditions permitting.

Our cave instructor, Peter Kibler, is experienced in both backmount doubles and sidemount; students are welcome to take the Intro Cave course in either configuration. Please note, you should be proficient in your chosen configuration prior to starting class. If you are new to doubles 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.

This class can be combined with our Technical Cavern course, for experienced divers who do not have prior cavern training in a technical configuration.

Our cave 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/Cave CCR level, as well as Advanced (Hypoxic) Trimix, and proficient in CCR, as well as both sidemount and backmount doubles. For more on his tech/cave teaching philosophy, see here.

Prerequisite: TDI Cavern or equivalent; prior experience/training in backmount doubles or sidemount

Gear Configuration: Backmount doubles or sidemount

Course Details: TDI Intro to Cave

Total time commitment: 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.