The Full Cave Progression: Cavern, Intro to Cave & Full Cave — Playa del Carmen

I teach cave diver training at every level, in either sidemount or backmount doubles — whichever configuration you're diving. Open circuit cave training runs through three levels to reach Full Cave status, and once you're certified, specialty programs like Stage Cave Diver open up from there.

The full immersion Overhead Environment Diver Course combines all three levels — Cavern, Intro to Cave, and Full Cave — into one program. It's physically and mentally demanding by design: built to take a diver with zero cave or cavern experience and, through extensive repetition and practice, turn them into a genuine Full Cave Diver. Playa del Carmen is about as good as it gets for this training, given how close we are to the best cenotes for it.

If you're training in sidemount, you'll need to show proof of sidemount certification first. No prior sidemount or twin-tank experience? The 3-day TDI Sidemount Diver Course gets you there before we start on cave skills.

If you're training in backmount doubles and haven't dived that configuration before, the TDI Intro to Tech Course covers that groundwork first — same logic, you need to be comfortable in doubles before we layer cave training on top.

The program's divided into three sections, each with its own skills and standards. You don't move to the next one until you genuinely have the last one down.

First Level: Cavern Diver

Your starting point into overhead environment diving. This level is for any certified diver who wants to enjoy the natural daylight cavern zone on its own — or who's starting the road toward Intro or Full Cave.

Second Level: Intro to Cave Diver

This is where it gets real — out of the cavern zone and into the cave, out of natural light and into the dark zone. You'll build the survival skills that let you safely operate in cave zones once you've mastered the required exercises.

Third Level: Full Cave

This is the level most cave divers are ultimately chasing — and reaching it means you've mastered the skills needed to operate safely in this environment. It's not something to take lightly, and getting here is rewarding in its own right.

From this point on, you're certified and qualified to dive, practice, and enjoy the full underwater world of penetration cave diving. Combined, Cavern through Full Cave runs a minimum of ten days.

Who this course is for:

• The certified and experienced diver who has interest in moving forward with overhead environment diving and expanding their diving techniques, capabilities, range, and more!

What you can expect to learn:
The TDI Full Cave Diver Course takes an in-depth look at all of the following and more.

• 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