TDI Full Cave Diver course in Playa del Carmen

 TDI FULL CAVE DIVER COURSE IN PLAYA DEL CARMEN

-  4 Days Minimum - $285/day - Price based on 2 divers. If single diver, please add $35.

 

The TDI Full Cave Course builds directly on what you learned in Intro to Cave, and prepares you for dives involving restricted passages, complex navigation, planning, and gas management.

Awareness has to sharpen here, and the psychological demands increase right alongside the complexity of the dives. Full Cave divers set temporary guidelines to run jumps, gaps, traverses, and circuits, navigate through T's and intersections, and cover longer distances where directional markers can shift direction on you. At this level, awareness and communication matter more than ever.

Expect theory sessions, land drills, open water sessions, and a minimum of 8 dives.

 

What you can expect to learn:

  • Standard cave diving policies
  • Gas management procedures and management to include dissimilar volumes
  • Psychological considerations of cave diving
  • Equipment considerations including:
    • Cylinder options
    • Regulator options
    • Buoyancy compensator/harness options
    • Proper weighting
    • Reel options
    • Equipment configurations
  • Communication (light and hand signals)
  • Swimming techniques
    • Body posture/trim
    • Buoyancy control
    • Line following
    • Propulsion (finning) techniques
  • Physiology
    • Breathing techniques
    • Stress management
    • Decompression theory and its application to cave diving
  • Cave environment
  • Conservation
  • Problem solving
    • Emergency procedures
    • Equipment failure
    • Silting conditions
  • Accident analysis
  • Cave diving etiquette

Required skills you will have to demonstrate include:

  • Properly deploy a guideline
  • Properly use directional and non-directional line markers
  • Properly follow a guideline with eyes open and closed (simulating loss of visibility)
  • Air share with a buddy with eyes open, following a guideline
  • Air share with a buddy with lights off and eyes closed, using touch contact while following the guideline
  • Remove and replace mask while in contact with the guideline
  • Demonstrate conservation, awareness, and back referencing techniques
  • Demonstrate light/hand signals and touch contact
  • Demonstrate anti-silting techniques
  • Simulate a primary light failure and use back up light to exit the cave
  • Demonstrate lost line and lost diver drills
  • Demonstrate use of reels to perform jumps and gaps required in circuits and traverses to maintain a continuous guideline to open water
  • Demonstrate buoyancy control, proper trim, and propulsion techniques
  • Demonstrate proper stress analysis (detection and management)
  • Demonstrate specialized propulsion techniques in varying types of flow
  • Equipment check and matching
  • Demonstrate adequate predive planning

 

COURSE PREREQUISITES

  • Minimum age 18
  • Minimum certification of TDI Introductory Cave Diver, or equivalent
  • Minimum of 150 logged dives
  • A full immersion program is available and includes cavern to full cave.
  • If students wish to do course in sidemount configuration, proof of sidemount certification must be provided.

Cave Diving Course Combinations:

Intro to Cave  + Full Cave 

Cavern + Intro to Cave + Full Cave Diver 

Add sidemount training  (extra 3 days)

Exact course duration depends on your pace and experience — I'll confirm timing with you directly once we talk.

Prices Include:

  • Transportation to and from the cenote(s) departing from downtown  Playa del Carmen.
  • Tanks (double tanks or sidemount tanks)
  • Weights if needed

Not Included:

  • Manual
  • Technical Diving Equipment. Can be rented for a fee, but students should have their own equipment for this level of diving.
  • Entry Fees (Mx$300-500/Day)
  • Certification Fees
  • Lunch
  • Personal Diving Equipment - see list of required equipment.

TDI Full Cave Diver Training

What’s in it for you?

Upon successful completion of this course, you may engage in cave diving activities without direct supervision so long as the following limits are adhered to:

  • The diving activities approximate those of training
  • Planned dives do not exceed your current certification level
  • Penetration is limited to the “rule of thirds,” to a maximum depth of 40 metres/130 feet
  • You must maintain a continuous guideline
  • Proper cave diving equipment must be used
  • Safety and decompression stops as appropriate or necessary (if trained as TDI Decompression Diver or equivalent)
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