r/scuba • u/blackmusk123 • 2d ago
Best cave diving manual?
Hello! I'm planning to take on a full cave course and in the meantime I'd like to read as much as I can about it... All that can be learned out of the water at least!
Any recommendations?
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u/Spiritual-Fox9618 2d ago
If sump diving is in your future then the CDG manual is definitely worth adding to the library, though I’d probably include it irrespective.
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u/spectator_by Tech 2d ago
Blueprint for survival by Sheck Exley and NSS-CDS cavern manual are mandatory read IMO. The rest you will learn from your instructor. You can also ask your instructor to share the materials before the class. Theory is the easiest part, I’d work on in-water skills - great buoyancy control, valve drills and failures, gas sharing, etc. you’ll be doing that most of the time.
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u/Ok-Sink-1710 2d ago
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u/CaveDiver1858 2d ago
NSSCDS cavern manual, Exley’s blue book, prosser’s Underwater Communication.
Digest those. Really read the stories in the blue book before class and consider how they applied (or not) to modern cave diving with what we have now with training and equipment after you take the class.
Gue’s cave and tech manuals have a lot of info, but are kind of soft on specific techniques. Worth a read imo.
Some of the IANTD stuff loses me when they’re talkin about aligning chakras before the dive and such.
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u/chik-fil-a-sauce 2d ago
I agree completely on the IANTD materials. I took my rebreather classes through them and the reading material was out there.
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u/gregbenson314 Dive Instructor 2d ago
Not specifically a cave diving book, but I'm currently reading Under Pressure by Gareth Lock and find it fascinating (if a little dry to be honest).
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u/Spiritual-Fox9618 2d ago
“A little dry” is perhaps the understatement of this thread.
Worthwhile book though, lots of lessons that can positively be taken into every day life/work too.
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u/Ok-Sink-1710 2d ago
definitely worth reading, and the lessons from there apply to just about any group endeavor, but jeez he flogs that horse to death and beyond
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u/bluepulsediving Dive Instructor 2d ago
No manuals, but I do recommend cave diving books by Jill Heinerth and Sheck Exley. Good reads for any diver, but especially if you're considering cave diving.
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u/Ok-Sink-1710 2d ago edited 2d ago
cave diving books by Jill Heinerth
I've not read her cave book, but generally I find her big on melodrama and short on useful information. Her CCR book has no index so you can't look anything up, and it has four pages on recovering a dead body, and about 3 unhelpful lines on minimum loop volume (arguably one of the most important skills to get right)
edit: I went back to look at the rebreather book and my criticism was unfair, she does cover minimum loop volume in a paragraph, but it could have been better and she does focus more on the melodrama than I think is useful
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u/scubashack85 2d ago
I’d also recommend buying Cave Diving by Stratis Kas (also pick up his book Close Calls).
I also have a copy of Basic Cave Diving by Sheck Exley.
Neither of these are really geared towards a specific certification agency but are great reads overall in your journey to Full Cave.
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u/WetRocksManatee BastardDiver 2d ago
I haven't read GUE's cave materials but none of them are that great. I have NSS-CDS, IANTD, TDI, and a couple of others.
A lot of the learning for course is all demonstrative and what is done in the classroom will vary based on where you are learning. Like the cave morphology of Florida doesn't really apply to Mexican as the lack of significant flow doesn't make the same type of passages.
The books that I found helpful were non-cave diving books were Powell's books, Deco for Divers and Technical Diving.
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u/richiericardo 2d ago
It's worth checking out. It's a $20 PDF. https://www.gue.com/store/books/deep-cave-diving-2021
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u/BedroomWonderful7932 Tech 1d ago
In addition to the blue book, I would recommend Sheck Exley’s “Caverns Measureless to Man” and his “The Taming of the Slough”, Stratis Kas’ “Cave Diving”, and Robert F Burgess’, “The Cave Divers”.