Accident analysis over the years has played a big role in developing the safety guidelines for safe cave diving. The NSS-CDS in the late 1970s organized a study of the cave diving fatalities for which information existed. As a result of this study, Sheck Exley discovered that three primary safety violations accounted for, at least [...]

by David Miner
Merritts Mill Pond is located just outside Marianna, Florida in the Panhandle part of the state. It is easily accessed via I-10 from either the east or west.
Merritts Mill Pond is over four miles of crystal clear water, beautiful cypress trees, and steep hills lining its banks. The Pond’s beauty can only be [...]

Weeki Wachee Karst Project - Where Few Men Want to Go
by Jeff Petersen
The Beginning
What started as surveying and water sample collecting quickly turned into some of the most logistically demanding cave diving exploration in Florida. Initially, David Miner and I were hired by the South West Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) to generate an [...]

Diagrams below by Curt Bowen
Proper set-up of your side mount cylinders is essential to maintain proper buoyancy and streamlining. Cylinders mounted on your side must be positioned correctly for ease of use, safety, comfort, and proper swimming techniques. If your cylinders are hanging low and riding on your torso, the ability to navigate tight restrictions [...]

by Andreas W. Matthes
Cave diving in Romania is something not offered all the time and when friend, Underwater cave cinematographer and photographer Wes Skiles of Karst Production was asking me some years back during a NSS-CDS cave diving convention in Lake City, Florida if I like to go cave diving in Romania naturally I was [...]

Buford Spring/Siphon Tops the List of Cavern Dives Anywhere in the World!
by David Miner

Deep in the Chassahowitzka swamp lies the cavern diver’s dream. A semicircular pool, with a run flowing further into the swamp, sits quietly providing a home for alligators, fish, turtles, and snakes. For thousands of years this little gem has gone unnoticed, [...]

by Geoffrey May

I was ecstatic as I punched “send” and officially bought my airline tickets to the French Riviera. I really would be flying to La Cote d’Azur on the Mediterranean Sea, and my heart pulsed wildly as the primal urge to go cave diving began to kick in.
Immediately I began banging my computer keys [...]

by Sergio Granucci

A new cave to explore just 5 minutes from my house…
Over the past years, the Labnaha exploration team has explored more than 80 cenotes north of Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico.   In this area, a great number of cenotes are still waiting to be discovered and explored.

Cave diving has been taking place since the 1960s, and unfortunately, there were some accidents. But, after reviewing many of the accidents, cave diving instructors and explorers, like Sheck Exley, determined that many of the accidents had resulted from the same mistakes. As a result, the following five rules for safe cave diving were developed.
Proper [...]

The Diver vs. Murphy’s Law
by Jeff Petersen
11/2005
Hogarthian diving is generally considered a specific “configuration style ” of back mount cave diving and there are numerous articles out there on the specifics of the Hogarthian configuration. Instead, this article is more about the psychological underpinnings and guiding principals of Hogarthian diving. The Hogarthian mindset and its [...]