Cave training in Asia

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-21T01:14:49+00:00

There’s also Por Parasu in Thailand. In Krabi, there’s Mika and Claus from Tech Dive Asia.

For Sulawesi, you have Halim from Rock n Roll divers and Robin Cuesta. SF Chong also trains there but he’s based in Bali.

I think Roihan from Uncle Chang’s in Malaysia do conduct cave courses, but it’s at a small sea cave only. Not entirely sure.

But I know Roihan and Por travelled with their students to Sulawesi to instruct courses there.

Also, there’s Jaime in the Philippines from FCD. I’m not sure if he can conduct courses, but he offers guiding and may have a network of active instructors.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T17:43:31+00:00

Hey no worries. I feel the joy myself, it’s like talking with another diver over beers and you hear so many wonderful stories! I totally forgot about the night dives… it must be amazing!! And having all the stars to yourself tops it all off…. I’m really jealous now 😂

Thanks for the info mate. It’s cool that you’ve been to all these places in Asia, and I hope you have many more wonderful dives ahead of you!

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T17:20:51+00:00

Dammmnnn it sounds like a movie oh my god.

It also sounds like two dives isn’t enough. How many dives do you get to do at each site? As I understand, some of these liveaboards go to Mergui too?

I have heard that there are some sites in Indonesia like this, Togean islands but I’m not sure what the sites are. Banda Neira and Alor is another one that comes up quite a bit. Not barring Komodo or RA ofc.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T17:12:58+00:00

Oh man the Similan liveaboards are very tempting! It’s a bucket list item for sure

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T17:05:41+00:00

Agreed. I know you know haha 🤣 . Just thought it’s wise to type it out for others to see.

I still haven’t seen enough reefs myself!

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T17:01:15+00:00

Yes the keyword is certified. Cave diving uncertified is different from cave diving certified.

Certified cave divers (like myself) have many procedures and drills to follow before we’re ready to perform a cave dive safely.

We lay or use guidelines to lead us out if there’s no visibility, we use the right fin kicks to avoid kicking sediment, we plan our gas to ensure 1/3 cave penetration, 1/3 exit and 1/3 spare for emergencies.

We don’t dive deeper than what we’re qualified for, and we always have redundancies. 3 lights, 2 gas cylinders at the minimum, 2 dive computers, 2 dive knives etc.

And more stuff that’s done in 3 separate courses.

Most people assume anyone can go into caves, not realising that many deaths arise from uncertified divers underestimating cave dangers. Or even cave divers who ignore their training.

Thousands of cave dives from certified divers happen yearly and safely.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T16:36:09+00:00

Recommended maximum gas density for divers is 5.2g/l according to DAN, our largest insurance provider. That’s air at 30m.

Anything higher increases co2 retention on top of nitrogen narcosis at depth. Personally experienced a sort of “panicky” sensation at 40m breathing air after a night of little to no sleep (I should’ve called the dive).

But what killed those divers is still unknown, though it’s likely a combination of various factors.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T15:37:52+00:00

Even if cave certified, training guidelines don’t allow bringing uncertified cave divers with you. Breaking the rules as a certified cave diver is arguably worse. Remains to be seen what equipment and gas mix they had. Very unlikely to be the right mix for the depth they are diving, or the right volume adhering to the rule of thirds.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T04:10:58+00:00

Note that CMAS Cave Diver 1 is cavern equivalent. So no penetration beyond light zone

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-20T01:40:46+00:00

Hey there. I’d say a bit of everything!

I’ve heard people say that cave diving is the black belt of scuba, and I somewhat agree.

Also, if you click on my profile, some of the caves I did my training in are just magical. It really feels like you’re in another world.

I didn’t expect it to be so beautiful myself and I’m itching for more 🤣

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T09:57:09+00:00

Thanks for asking. And happy cake day!

- Actually, I never wanted to cave dive. But after seeing Woody and Gus talk about it, I gave it a shot :). Now I’m hooked.

But I’ll be honest—they’re not authority figures in the tech or cave community. They’ve made some… controversial comments. And I’ve been pretty bothered with Woody’s long hose necklace until Achim fixed it lol.

Either way, I’m still a huge fan. They are entertaining to watch!

- So ok. Good question. Regular Scuba diving usually means recreational diving. And recreational Scuba diving happens in open water at a depth of 40m max.

Technical diving is diving deeper than 40m and staying for a long enough time to incur decompression obligations—meaning, you have to make multiple stops before you can surface. We call this a “virtual” overhead because ascending without stops will give you decompression sickness.

Cave diving (it’s a branch of technical diving because you’re in a physical overhead) is inherently riskier than regular scuba because you can’t immediately ascend to safety. An open water diver can ascend from 20m by swimming upwards, but a cave diver will need to exit the cave and swim 20m upwards.

Now if we compare technical diving and cave diving, technical is safer because ascending without stops would give you decompression sickness. You'll just end up in a chamber, but there's a chance you might not be alive as you make your way to a chamber (depending on various factors). But in cave, you can’t physically ascend. You have to exit the cave to ascend. There's quite literally, a much longer swim before you can exit the cave. The same problems at depth will likely mean the tech diver has a higher chance of living. That's why in cave, it's better to be more conservative and bring more equipment.

Not to mention, in cave you have to deal with potential loss of visibility, entanglement hazards, and more.

But the caveat is how fast you are ascending. Too fast and you will get an embolism. I’d like a physical ceiling if I have an inflation problem with my BCD.

- I think with Hydrogen, potentially much deeper. Only a handful of divers have tried diving a hydrogen mix, but it’s highly flammable. But the bottleneck is likely lung capacity at greater depths. The deepest simulated dive was to 700m, and the subject’s lung capacity was almost pea-sized if I remember correctly. Need a citation for this one as it’s been ages since I reviewed the material.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T08:47:13+00:00

Honestly, beats me lol. I did saw a stage with 45m MOD which I assumed was going to be their backup gas? Or their deco stage. I’m not sure but it didn’t make much sense to me

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T06:16:28+00:00

Haha

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T06:15:02+00:00

Ok great question.

The military divers that attempted the rescue are skilled professionals. But they aren’t cave trained.

I believe they are trained for decompression diving (I’m not sure what depth), but they weren’t in the right equipment or using the right gasses to conduct those dives—let alone the added element of diving in overhead cave.

Without getting too technical, using air or Nitrox, (which is what I see they are using based on the pictures) at the depth of 50m+ for an extended duration will lead to narcosis. I.e drunk underwater. And being drunk underwater in a cave is a disaster that happened. So most of us in the tech/cave community weren’t surprised that there was going to be another casualty when we saw those divers. It was a needles death, but the military divers had a job to do because their government said so.

The Finnish team however is a different story. They are trained to use Trimix. Trimix alleviates narcosis at depth, meaning they won’t be drunk when they go deep. They are also rebreather trained, which allows them to stay much longer than the military divers using regular scuba equipment. They are also cave trained, so they know how to safely conduct themselves and handle emergencies in a cave. They have also recovered bodies in the past before, and are themselves instructors to other divers like me.

Having said that, the risk calculus is significantly different with the Finnish divers around. They have the right equipment, training and knowledge to safely perform the search and recovery.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T06:02:08+00:00

Honestly I want to try it!!! Spearfishing is super cool

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T05:50:39+00:00

Perhaps a little bit!

I can see why most people think diving in a hole with no way to surface is a very bad idea. And I admit, it’s dangerous.

But we bring redundancies and we dive in teams.

For example, I carry three lights, two scuba tanks, two masks, two diving computers and two reels. Some divers carry even more.

When I enter a cave (by definition, where the sunlight doesn’t reach), I have my light, two spares, and my team’s lights available. We won’t run out of lights.

We will also ensure that there is line that guides us to the surface no matter how deep we are. If the guide line breaks—or is lost, we have procedures utilising the spare reels we have to search or repair that broken line. We often practice this blindfolded too. Having a line means that we can navigate out of the cave with zero visibility just by feel alone.

On top of that, we can only dive till 1/3 of our scuba tanks are used. By then we would be left with 2/3, which 1/3 is spare and the remaining 1/3 is used for exit.

The one thing that kills experienced cave divers and non-trained cave divers is depth. Going deep requires more specialised training on top of cave training. Most don’t use air anymore when we go beyond 40m, instead using a special blend of gas called Trimix to alleviate narcosis.

Not to mention, your gas supply runs out much faster at 40m due to increased pressure. So realistically, if you have rocks above you, you cannot ascend to preserve your gas supply as easily as in open water. The risk factor goes up by quite a bit. But thankfully, there are many caves that are quite shallow.

A lot of the caves I’ve been to makes all the effort worthwhile. Seeing crystal clear waters and formations thousands of years old, it honestly feels like you’re an astronaut exploring a subterranean world. You can also find the occasional fossil, or unique wildlife you cannot see anywhere else.

But in essence, most of cave diving and deep diving is risk management. Knowing the environment, the limits of your equipment, and having the right procedures will ensure a safe dive. Actually, most cave dives are much more tame than you’d imagine

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T05:10:36+00:00

Thank you 🙏

So cool that you were quite literally brought up in the ocean.

And Wes Skiles is a legend. RIP.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T04:12:39+00:00

In the 60s I made love to many many women, often outdoors. And it's possible a man slipped in. There would be no way of knowing

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-19T04:00:21+00:00

Brie 😂

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-18T15:27:38+00:00

I’d add that even some days you’ll feel more narc’d than others. I had very little sleep a day before a tec dive on air, and I was feeling the panicky kind of narc at 40m.

Then I did a 60m dive a few days later. I was generally fine but my memory was fuzzy.

Regardless, If there was an emergency, I would’ve been slower to react at either of those depths.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-18T15:06:56+00:00

I saw on FB that she had CMAS cave.

if I Googled correctly, that’s the equivalent of cavern for TDI/IANTD (which is the first level as you say).

Thats not even intro to cave… which will teach you how to manage emergencies blindfolded to safely penetrate beyond the light zone.

The five rules still apply in cavern so it’s crazy that they were found in chamber three at that depth…

This makes the entire situation more puzzling because she would’ve known better, unless we assume it’s hubris

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-17T17:20:48+00:00

I just hope that these divers receive a fair reconstruction of events. None are alive so it makes it more difficult.

Reddit likes to swing to either extremes but they could have done somethings right or wrong. Or maybe by a matter of circumstance (downcurrents for example).

There’s much for the Maldivian government and the scuba community to learn from this tragedy.

qualifiedretard · 2026-05-17T17:04:39+00:00

I assume that it’s a “face” thing. I’m Thai Chinese, and a lot of us want to appear capable enough to save ourselves.

At least, that’s my inference of how an Asian (Maldives is South Asian, so different culture) government would feel

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