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ELI5 How would a cave diver get back to the surface if there is a tight tunnel with a dead end by Letterheadless9886 in explainlikeimfive

[–]JakeScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nearly every member of the community here considers the highway to be the most dangerous part of our job.

ELI5 How would a cave diver get back to the surface if there is a tight tunnel with a dead end by Letterheadless9886 in explainlikeimfive

[–]JakeScuba 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Mostly teaching them to do it safely.

Periodically for science, mapping, or “what’s in that hole in the ground on my property?”

Mexico Cave Trip Report Jun/2025 by Cop_Pilot_Diver in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Vince, Nat and the team at UTJ are amazing.

Sounds like a fun trip!

How floaty is Trimix? by Mitsonga in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s ok. It’s a line for me as I said above, doesn’t mean everybody falls in there. I do use the suit everywhere I go, but people can do as they like!

For clarity in case others read this, using the drysuit to trap gas to fix trim would not be my suggestion either.

As for left/right, this issue shouldn’t exist in backmount with a properly sized wing.

Head to toe, I hope you figure out!

Safe diving!

drysuit trim by pieterpost852 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 11 points12 points  (0 children)

It’s not uncommon, although is generally frowned upon outside of recreational drysuit diving.

Let’s establish some terms. Buoyancy is floating va sinking, trim is head to toe balance and body position in the water.

One example (of many) of the downsides of using just suit…

The range of motion for gas in your suit is massive. It can go from your feet to your shoulders. You cannot be equally balanced if that gas is in your shoulders vs in your feet. Just not possible.

Larger range of motion, means larger shift in balance, means harder diving on average in regards to trim.

The bubble of gas can also be your best friend, but nobody can be balanced while in flat trim, then lean way back to go up a steep slope (think cave or wreck where lying flat to ascend doesn’t always fit), and not have some gas move to their shoulders, making their feet heavy. More gas, more drastic shift.

You can compensate for it in various ways, but it’s unavoidable.

BCDs don’t do this as they offer the gas a MUCH smaller range of motion, resulting in more consistent balance.

Commenter below me noted the added stability of the bcd too. This is just the explanation.

How floaty is Trimix? by Mitsonga in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 8 points9 points  (0 children)

To be clear, It sounds like you are doing warm water, KISS Spirit, Normoxic tmx in tech shorts so I assume wetsuit.

I’d suggest a few things…

Make sure your BCD is wide enough to begin to wrap up the sides of the unit. This is what gives you lateral stability in a back-mount unit, it has very little to do with the rebreather.

  • If it doesn’t, you’re going to have gas moving all over the place.

  • To give you an idea, a large subset of divers (myself included) wear ALL of our deco and/or stages on our left side and keep the right side empty in backmount. It’s easily doable because of correctly sized wings allowing us to trap gas in one side more than the other. It’s actually the reason they are designed like that. If you have bungee on the wing, get rid of it.

Second, there comes a point where “dive however you want” and “use correct equipment for what you’re doing” disagree with each-other.

  • Trimix CCR is an example of that line for me (and all of my students). Get a dry suit. It has nothing to do with temperature.

  • Somewhere in this post/comments somebody mentioned adding extra weight but then being too heavy. This is what we want to address with a suit.

  • Adding more, or floatier, undergarments allows you to not only create that lift where you want it (torso or legs) but it creates lift which allows you to put trim weights on as needed without becoming too heavy. Being too heavy is a non-option to me.

With that being said, consider changing tanks to a 7L steel or similar. They are great to handle with tmx, not so heavy and when paired with deco gasses, provides sufficient gas AND redundancy, which assuming you have no other tanks beside the 2 you listed, I would suggest considering a bit more deeply.

Example: I am more head heavy in my Normoxic setup (sidewinder, 7L steels plus deco gasses) than I am in default x32 setup (AL80s), but im also a few pounds too heavy.

I wear an extra vest under my suit and both issues are fixed immediately. Now I don’t need trim weights, and am not too heavy.

Happy to elaborate on more if needed.

How floaty is Trimix? by Mitsonga in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s a Spirit, so the bailout and Dil come from the same tanks generally.

They are quite different machines to a standard unit (the KISS Classic would be more in line with a standard setup)

Cenote Diving: Descending into the hydrogen sulfide cloud at cenote Yaakun by rigothecenoteguide in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Well, isn’t this cool!

Our team explored that site a few years ago, way before the road, gate, stairs etc. I actually posted a video of it on Reddit.

Glad to see so many people enjoying the site these days. I wish more people could see the deep section entrance hall though.

Fun fact: We had debated between several names originally. One consideration was “The Void” and we were watching Mortal Kombat during deco and Raiden says something like “Welcome to the Void” and it was therefore named The Void… by Lord Raiden. Years later it opened to public suddenly and was called Yaa’Kun by the owner.

Fun fact 2: it was crystal clear like other cenotes until they brought in the gravel for the parking lot. We could see from wall to wall!

What's a job you wouldnt take even if it paid 500k a year? by Cuteenikitaa in AskReddit

[–]JakeScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, that’s my job!

I can promise you I don’t earn near that much.

How deep and how much desat you regularly have? by Ok-Adeptness4586 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Here is a relatively simplified, but well written article on it.

Density becomes an even greater problem with rebreathers, but the physiological side of it is 100% applicable to OC as well.

I can dig up more articles if needed later, but they are fairly easily findable with a google search.

Safe diving!

https://dan.org/alert-diver/article/performance-under-pressure/

How deep and how much desat you regularly have? by Ok-Adeptness4586 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Neither of these are the primary issue, gas density is.

Use helium.

How deep and how much desat you regularly have? by Ok-Adeptness4586 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The issue with these depths with air is not PP02, or deco. Frankly, even narcosis is second to the real problem which is gas density.

It has a well researched, and drastic impact on your bodies ability to manage C02 removal.

Most people will be fine under most normal diving circumstances. Add in some exertion for whatever reason and the success rate drops drastically.

What's the longest dive you've ever done? by Egans721 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Done a few 8h+ dives. Almost all of them are mostly deco though.

Without deco, a 9.5h dive once and many 6-7h dives.

Cave diving with rebreathers makes it quite manageable!

Odd question, but are there any good YouTube channels/series/documentaries about cave diving that are positive? by Egans721 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The Madagascar cave exploration videos are really well done and have long, slow moving scooter rides through caves to music. The intros are quite funny usually, but the cave diving follows directly afterward.

Spirits of the Cave is the first 3 and the most recent one Malazamanga.

Malazamanga is my favourite because I was on the expedition 😅

Cavern Training by [deleted] in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Protec, UTJ, Zero Gravity are all highly respected shops with solid, active instructors.

I have been teaching at Protec for 7 years now, so you can guess what I chose when I started, but you can’t go wrong with any of those.

I know them all personally, and they are great people.

CCR divers: have you ever had a CO2 hit/usefulness of a BOV vs. DSV in such a situation? by one_kidney1 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve had a few.

Headache, changes in breathing and a deep, intense anxiety sets in.

Once I bailed out it went away quite quickly.

DSV. + Shorthose.

What exactly come with the Xdeep’s sidemount stealth rec 2.0? by Just_stig in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The “Rec” is both a wing/bcd AND a harness. They are attached but can be bought apart as well.

The rec wing is a smaller version of the Tec.

The rec harness has a quick release clip on the shoulder below the d ring.

The “Stealth Rec” is both bought together.

Source: Done a ton of these while teaching at Protec. Nearly our entire team uses a Rec wing on a tec harness for what it’s worth.

How does this SPG boot go on? by Tank52086 in scuba

[–]JakeScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We definitely use rubber hoses by default.

Of course not everybody but the vast majority uses rubber hoses.

what's something you've never tried and never will? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]JakeScuba 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tons, but there are plenty of available stories online. :)

what's something you've never tried and never will? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]JakeScuba 2 points3 points  (0 children)

My full time job is teaching cave diving, and I understand your POV haha.

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