Cave Diver Level 3

Course Outcomes

GUE’s Cave Diver Level 3 course is designed to develop proficiency in planning and executing extended exposure cave dives at depth while utilizing due approved rebreathers, DPVs, and multiple gas mixtures (helium-based and oxygen-enriched). Other course outcomes include: the ability to execute and support dives in teams utilizing PSCR and CCR configurations, use of hypoxic gas mixture protocols; gas management; oxygen management; extended decompression; accelerated, omitted, and general decompression strategies; dive planning; management of multiple stages and decompression cylinders.

Prerequisites

Applicants for a Cave 3 course must:

1. Submit a completed registration form, a medical history, and a liability release to GUE Headquarters.
2. Be physically and mentally fit.
3. Hold insurance that will cover diving emergencies such as hyperbaric treatment, e.g. DAN Master-level insurance or equivalent.
4. Be a nonsmoker.
5. Obtain a physician’s prior written authorization for the use of prescription drugs, except for birth control, or for any prior medical condition that may pose a risk while diving.
6. Be a minimum of 18 years of age. Documented parental or legal guardian consent must be submitted to GUE HQ when the participant is a minor.
7. Hold a GUE Cave Diver Level 2 certification.
8. Hold a GUE Diver Propulsion Vehicle Cave certification.
9. Hold a GUE Closed-Circuit Rebreather Diver Level 2 and a GUE Closed-Circuit Rebreather Cave Diver certification if utilizing a CCR during the course, or hold a GUE Passive Semi-Closed Circuit Rebreather Diver certification if using a PSCR during the course.
10. Have conducted at least 25 non-training Tech 2 or CCR 2 dives in open water following completion of GUE Technical Diver Level 2 or GUE Closed-Circuit Rebreather Diver Level 2 certification, whichever is applicable.
11. Have conducted at least 50 non-training Cave 2 dives in the GUE-approved rebreather configuration (CCR or PSCR) to be used during Cave 3 training.
12. Have conducted at least 25 non-training Cave 2 dives utilizing GUE-approved DPVs following completion of GUE Diver Propulsion Vehicle Cave certification.
13. Have conducted at least 500 non-training dives following completion of autonomous scuba diver certification. At least 100 dives must have utilized the rebreather configuration that will be used during Cave 3 training.
14. If using a drysuit during the course, have conducted at least 100 non-training dives in a drysuit or have conducted 50 non-training dives utilizing a drysuit following completion of GUE Drysuit Primer certification.

 

Course Content

The Cave Diver Level 3 course is normally conducted over four days. It requires a minimum of four dives (including three trimix experience dives) and at least thirty hours of instruction, encompassing lectures, land drills, and in-water work.

GUE CCR divers who hold certification under past versions of Standards will undergo an assessment of their CCR skills at the start of the course. The program is extended to seven days to encompass comprehensive training in CCR 2 skills before advancing to Cave Diver Level 3 lectures, land-drills, and in-water work.

Cave 3 Specific Training Standards

1.  Student-to-instructor ratio is not to exceed 4:1 during land drills or surface exercises; it cannot exceed 2:1 during any in-water training.
2. Maximum depth of 330 ft/100 m.
3. Dives must not be planned to incur more than 180 minutes of unadjusted decompression time, as established by GUE’s DecoPlanner.
4. Students must complete GUE Rescue Primer or equivalent from a recognized training agency prior to certification.

 

Training Materials

GUE training materials and recommended study as determined by the course study packet available online or via download after GUE course registration.

 

Academic Topics

1. Introduction: GUE organization and course overview (objectives, limits, expectations)
2. Extreme mixed gas diving, including severe hypoxic protocols
3. Risks of decompression diving
4. Gas management during cave dives at depth
5. Thermal considerations
6. Accelerated, omitted, and general decompression strategies
7. Extended range/exposure overhead dive logistics and planning
8. Stage configuration and gas choices
9. Mixed rebreather team logistics
10. DPV considerations
11. Habitats

 

Land Drills and Topics

1. Dive team order and protocols
2. Gas switching procedures and protocols, including severe hypoxic protocol
3. Use of multiple bottom stages and decompression cylinders
4. Cave set-up and clean-up
5. Staging/picking up stage/decompression bottles
6. Unconscious diver recovery
7. Decompression gas sharing
8. Surface and in-water support

 

Required Dive Skills and Drills

1. Must be able to swim at least 500 yds/450 m in less than 14 minutes without stopping. This test should be conducted in a swimsuit and, where necessary, appropriate thermal protection.
2. Must be able to swim a distance of at least 60 ft/18 m on a breath hold while submerged.
3. Demonstrate a safe and responsible demeanor throughout all training.
4. Demonstrate basic equipment proficiency and an understanding of the GUE equipment configuration.
5. Demonstrate proficiency in safe diving techniques, including pre-dive preparation, in-water activity, and post-dive assessment.
6. Demonstrate awareness of team member location and a concern for safety, responding quickly to visual indications and dive partner needs.
7. Demonstrate proficiency in underwater communication.
8. Demonstrate safe ascent and descent procedures.
9. Demonstrate good buoyancy and trim, i.e., approximate reference is a maximum of 20 degrees off horizontal while remaining within a range of 3 ft/1 m from target depth.
10. Comfortably demonstrate at least four propulsion techniques that would be appropriate in a delicate and/or silty environment, including competence in the backward kick, and helicopter turn.
11. Demonstrate strength required to egress an unconscious teammate and manage all of the equipment needed for a dive for entry and exit.
12. Demonstrate proficiency in the ability to plan Cave 3 dives while accounting for environmental conditions, available gas, and required decompression.
13. Demonstrate clean and effective removal, drops and pick-ups, as well as an exchange of multiple stage cylinders while hovering horizontally (tank rotations).
14. Demonstrate proficiency in gas failure and rebreather failure procedures.
15. Demonstrate proficiency in managing gas-sharing scenarios, particularly gas management during prolonged exits (including managing small/silty areas).
16. Demonstrate proficiency in managing multiple DPVs while navigating small/silty areas.
17. Demonstrate proficiency in effective decompression techniques, including depth and time management, while also managing multiple gas switches and other tasks such as tank rotation skills.
18. Demonstrate diver rescue techniques, including effective underwater management of an unconscious diver.
19. Demonstrate proficiency in setting up drop tanks, briefing the surface team, and effectively receiving and deploying drop tanks.
20. Demonstrate proficiency in working with safety divers and a surface team as well as effectively receiving and deploying extra gas and managing tanks during decompression.

 

Equipment Requirements

GUE PSCR or GUE CCR configuration as outlined in Appendix A, plus:

1. Five stage/decompression stages with stage regulators
2. Three stage leashes
3. One safety spool
4. At least two jump spools
5. One primary reel per team
6. One GUE-approved DPV
7. At least one spare GUE-approved DPV per team
8. At least twelve line markers; six directional and six non-directional
9. Drysuit inflation system independent from back gas cylinders (while breathing a helium mixture, if using a drysuit)

Excluding:

1. Surface marker buoy with spool

Prior to the commencement of the class, students should consult with a GUE representative to verify equipment requirements and the appropriateness of any selected equipment.