Diving Items of Interest

	NORAD
	Cave Diving

What is Cave Diving ?

Cave Diving is an extreme sport that combines caving/potholing and sub aqua into a single activity. That means that a person dives underwater in a flooded passage where there is no overhead air space, normally a flooded cave or mined passage. It's prime reason for being an extreme sport is the higher risk of dying than for a normal sport. Cave diving can be split into two activities, the diving of passages that are to be found within a cave and the diving of a spring. The first requires caving skills to get there, whereas the second needs enhanced diving skills unless the spring surfaces into existing cave.

But, is it dangerous ? The answer to this is no, but only if you are adequately trained and carry the correct equipment. Skills required revolve around being able to carry on the dive if an equipment malfunction occurs; to be able to find your way if the visibility in the water is lost; to be able to find your way out of the underwater cave. The processes involved in cave diver training teach ways of overcoming all of these tasks and help to make the sport a much 'safer' pastime. 

Note that when deaths do occur they are mostly caused by open water divers who are untrained in the cave environment entering springs and suffering one of the three problems mentioned above. 

Before you try cave diving, GET TRAINED.