Cave training, stage by stage
12 organisations38 official courses
How cavern and cave training is structured, what each stage allows, and the official course pages of the organisations that teach it.
Reading is not training. Nothing here replaces instruction by a qualified cave instructor. Similar course names are not automatically equivalent: each organisation sets its own prerequisites and limits, and a site may accept some cards and not others.
4 stages
The usual stages
1. Cavern
Within the daylight zone near an entrance, with strict limits on distance and depth.
2. Intro cave
First steps beyond daylight on a continuous guideline, with tight limits.
3. Full cave
Complex navigation (jumps, gaps, circuits) and longer, deeper dives.
4. Advanced cave
Exploration-level skills such as survey, long penetrations and staged gas.
Sidemount, rebreather, scooter and survey courses sit alongside these stages; names, order and limits differ by organisation.
38 courses
Courses by organisation and stage
Links open each organisation's own course page. A dash means we found no published course at that stage, not that none exists.
6 guides
Guides
Cave diver training stages and terminology
Most agencies move divers from cavern to an introductory or limited cave level and then to full cave, before...
Cavern and cave diving: what is the difference
Cavern diving stays in the daylight-lit entrance area of a cave; cave diving goes beyond it. Agencies define the...
How to choose a cave instructor or training provider
Questions to ask before booking cave training: which standard applies, whether the instructor is currently...
Keeping skills current: continuing education, currency and mentoring
Most cave cards never expire, but agencies build currency into their limits and progression rules: dive within...
Specialist areas: sidemount, rebreathers, scooters, surveying and scientific diving
What cave specialities involve, what agencies require before them, and the limits they publish. Nearly all assume...
Training, conservation and decision-making
Accident reports keep pointing back to judgement: staying within training and site rules, ending dives and rescue...
11 organisations
Training organisations
Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques
The World Underwater Federation, based in Rome, whose international standards include a three-level cave diver...
Fédération Française d'Études et de Sports Sous-Marins
France's underwater sports federation; its national cave diving commission runs a Plongeur Souterrain 1-3 ladder...
Global Underwater Explorers
A US 501(c)(3) nonprofit diving organisation that trains recreational, technical and cave divers using its own...
International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers
A technical diving agency formed in 1985 and based in Lake City, Florida, which pairs each of its overhead courses...
National Association for Cave Diving
A US cave diving organisation based in Macon, Georgia, focused on safety, education, conservation, service and...
National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section
The cave diving section of the US National Speleological Society, founded in 1973, which trains cave divers,...
Professional Association of Diving Instructors
A large recreational diver training organisation founded in 1966 whose public catalogue includes a Cavern Diver...
RAID International
A diver training agency with a recreational Cavern Diver course and a technical Cave 1 and Cave 2 sequence taught in...
Scuba Schools International
A recreational and technical diver training organisation whose Extended Range (XR) line includes Cavern Diving, Cave...
Technical Diving International
A technical diving training agency founded in 1994, whose overhead programme runs from Cavern Diver through Intro to...
Unified Team Diving
A recreational, technical and cave training agency whose cave track runs from a non-certifying Overhead Protocols...