TDI Full Cave

Course Overview

TDI Full Cave is the third stage in TDI's cave-diver development program and expands the skills learned in Cavern and Intro to Cave. The official TDI page describes advanced cave dive planning, practical execution in different cave systems, and skill perfection through actual cave penetration. This is not a casual overhead course; it is built around disciplined planning, continuous guideline use, gas management, emergency response, and judgment.

The course is for certified TDI Introductory Cave Divers, or equivalents, who want to broaden their cave-diving capabilities. TDI lists minimum age 18 and Introductory Cave Diver or equivalent certification as prerequisites. If decompression dives are conducted during training, the diver must hold TDI Decompression Procedures or equivalent, or complete that training concurrently while meeting the full requirements of both courses.

Training covers cave policies, equipment configuration, gas management with dissimilar volumes, psychological factors, communication, propulsion, physiology, decompression theory, conservation, accident analysis, line markers, lost line and lost diver drills, jumps, gaps, circuits, traverses, light failures, air sharing, anti-silting techniques, and specialized propulsion in flow. In High Springs, Florida, it is a core qualification for serious spring cave divers. Successful students should leave with a mature framework for independent cave diving within TDI limits.