An American Transplant

cavedivinggirl · June 27th, 2009, 09:05 AM

Hi,
Just moved to the UK from the USA. I am an NSS CDS (National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section) member and active in my grotto back in the States. I took a long route (through many miles of cave) to getting my full cave certificate since I was living in Florida and visiting Mexico. I had almost 100 cave dives most with great explorer divers such as Forrest Wilson and Steve Gerrard before I took the full cave class. Since those dives do not count... I started from scratch and am now close to achieving my Abe Davis award. Love all kinds of diving and just got back from a diving expedition to Antarctica with Jeff Bozanic.

My dive buddy is my husband. Now that we are in England we are looking forward to exploring the caves in Europe.

Any advice or directions would be great. Second week here I dove Hodge Close and Chert mines. Planning to head to France next week.

**neilh** · June 27th, 2009, 10:21 PM

Hi and welcome!

Ali Fikree · June 28th, 2009, 06:14 PM

Welcome

I did the NSS-CDS Cavern and Intro to Cave with Matt London in Thailand many years ago.

Rubis · June 28th, 2009, 06:16 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by cavedivinggirl)

Hi,
Just moved to the UK from the USA. I am an NSS CDS (National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section) member and active in my grotto back in the States. I took a long route (through many miles of cave) to getting my full cave certificate since I was living in Florida and visiting Mexico. I had almost 100 cave dives most with great explorer divers such as Forrest Wilson and Steve Gerrard before I took the full cave class. Since those dives do not count... I started from scratch and am now close to achieving my Abe Davis award. Love all kinds of diving and just got back from a diving expedition to Antarctica with Jeff Bozanic.

My dive buddy is my husband. Now that we are in England we are looking forward to exploring the caves in Europe.

Any advice or directions would be great. Second week here I dove Hodge Close and Chert mines. Planning to head to France next week.

Hi, congrats on the move.
I replied to your thread on cave diving in France.
France, has caves everywhere, the Lot is probably the most "touristic" place, with resurgence type caves like Florida and Mexico.
Another region is Ardeche and there are caves close to Marseille as well (Port Miou, Bestouan, ...).
If you are in France, buy the IGN maps, caves locations are indicated.
You can also get to Plongee-souterraine - Page d'accueil.
Italy (and Spain) have good cave diving.
Italy has 4 major caves close to Vicenza, the water is cold, caves get deep, but they are breathtaking (Cogol dei Vecchi e dei Siori, Elefante Bianco, Fontanazzi).

A part from cave diving, there is great wreckdiving in Europe, from Scapa Flow in Scotland, the Irish sea, the Channel, the mediterranean ...
France has great wrecks in Marseille and Cavalaire ... Italy has great wreck diving close to Genoa (the Haven is probably the biggest wreck in the Med).
What is great about the Med, is that it gets deep fairly quickly, so boat rides are pretty short. Visibility is usually good and water is deep blue.
Water temps are anywhere from 50F to 75F, depending on the season and the thermocline.

Also, being in Europe is easy to get to Egypt. Flights and liveaboards are quite inexpensive, and you can get there quick.
There is some great wreckdiving in the North, close to the Gubal Straits.
Strait of Gubal,Strait of Gubal dive,Strait of Gubal diving,Egypt, Wannadive.net, The dive site atlas, maps, GPS location, photos of scubadiving sites.

Cheers

Cris

cavedivinggirl · July 13th, 2009, 04:54 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Rubis)

Hi, congrats on the move.
there is great wreckdiving in Europe, from Scapa Flow in Scotland, the Irish sea, the Channel, the mediterranean ...

Thanks this is our second hop over the pond. The last time we were in Germany. We dove wrecks. After living in Florida a few years we dove caves. Now we dive both

Thanks these are so many great leads.

I am trying to figure out my schedule. I want to go back to Scapa Flow but my husband wants to cave dive. We spent the much of this year either preparing for or diving Antarctica. So he wants to get back into caves.

Unfortunately we both have to work for a living. It is cutting into our diving.

**keri.lewis** · July 13th, 2009, 05:12 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by cavedivinggirl)

Unfortunately we both have to work for a living. It is cutting into our diving.

Shame isn't it! I'm sure there are many more than just me that feel the same.

Harald Franzen · July 13th, 2009, 07:43 PM

Quote: (Originally Posted by cavedivinggirl)

Thanks this is our second hop over the pond. The last time we were in Germany. We dove wrecks. After living in Florida a few years we dove caves. Now we dive both

Thanks these are so many great leads.

I am trying to figure out my schedule. I want to go back to Scapa Flow but my husband wants to cave dive. We spent the much of this year either preparing for or diving Antarctica. So he wants to get back into caves.

Unfortunately we both have to work for a living. It is cutting into our diving.

If you want to go cave diving in the Lot, do not hesitate to get in touch. I live there and am busily setting up a -DIR- cave diving center (a process that has now taken more than a year just to get the required permits; darned French bureaucrats

).

More details in my signature, but you can also contact me via mail:

harald (dot) franzen (at) lotcavediving (dot) eu

Cheers,

Harald

p.s.: you need to give me a little time to get everything started; I am working my behind off to do the ground works right now (find me on Facebook for photo's of that).

cavedivinggirl · July 20th, 2009, 09:17 AM

Quote: (Originally Posted by Harald Franzen)

If you want to go cave diving in the Lot, do not hesitate to get in touch.

Great news to hear. We were there just days before Lynn passed away.

We have been invited to join the Germans we met there earlier in July. We will join up with them end of Aug early September.

The invite was, "We have a house and helium!" How could we refuse

Thanks.

June 27th, 2009, 09:05 AM	#1 (permalink)
cavedivinggirl(Offline) New Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: St. Neots, UK Posts: 14	Hi, Just moved to the UK from the USA. I am an NSS CDS (National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section) member and active in my grotto back in the States. I took a long route (through many miles of cave) to getting my full cave certificate since I was living in Florida and visiting Mexico. I had almost 100 cave dives most with great explorer divers such as Forrest Wilson and Steve Gerrard before I took the full cave class. Since those dives do not count... I started from scratch and am now close to achieving my Abe Davis award. Love all kinds of diving and just got back from a diving expedition to Antarctica with Jeff Bozanic. My dive buddy is my husband. Now that we are in England we are looking forward to exploring the caves in Europe. Any advice or directions would be great. Second week here I dove Hodge Close and Chert mines. Planning to head to France next week. __________________ One Life Live It Blog: http://cavedivinggirl.blogspot.com Last edited by cavedivinggirl; June 27th, 2009 at 09:09 AM..

June 28th, 2009, 06:14 PM	#3 (permalink)
Ali Fikree(Offline) Instructor Candidate Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Dubai Posts: 1,016	Welcome I did the NSS-CDS Cavern and Intro to Cave with Matt London in Thailand many years ago. __________________ "A community that excludes even one of its members is no community at all." -Dan Wilkins

June 28th, 2009, 06:16 PM	#4 (permalink)
Rubis(Offline) cave deprived and Kissed Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Broadway, (lost in Central NC, USA far far way from Caves SIGH !!!) Posts: 322	Quote: (Originally Posted by cavedivinggirl) Hi, Just moved to the UK from the USA. I am an NSS CDS (National Speleological Society Cave Diving Section) member and active in my grotto back in the States. I took a long route (through many miles of cave) to getting my full cave certificate since I was living in Florida and visiting Mexico. I had almost 100 cave dives most with great explorer divers such as Forrest Wilson and Steve Gerrard before I took the full cave class. Since those dives do not count... I started from scratch and am now close to achieving my Abe Davis award. Love all kinds of diving and just got back from a diving expedition to Antarctica with Jeff Bozanic. My dive buddy is my husband. Now that we are in England we are looking forward to exploring the caves in Europe. Any advice or directions would be great. Second week here I dove Hodge Close and Chert mines. Planning to head to France next week. Hi, congrats on the move. I replied to your thread on cave diving in France. France, has caves everywhere, the Lot is probably the most "touristic" place, with resurgence type caves like Florida and Mexico. Another region is Ardeche and there are caves close to Marseille as well (Port Miou, Bestouan, ...). If you are in France, buy the IGN maps, caves locations are indicated. You can also get to Plongee-souterraine - Page d'accueil. Italy (and Spain) have good cave diving. Italy has 4 major caves close to Vicenza, the water is cold, caves get deep, but they are breathtaking (Cogol dei Vecchi e dei Siori, Elefante Bianco, Fontanazzi). A part from cave diving, there is great wreckdiving in Europe, from Scapa Flow in Scotland, the Irish sea, the Channel, the mediterranean ... France has great wrecks in Marseille and Cavalaire ... Italy has great wreck diving close to Genoa (the Haven is probably the biggest wreck in the Med). What is great about the Med, is that it gets deep fairly quickly, so boat rides are pretty short. Visibility is usually good and water is deep blue. Water temps are anywhere from 50F to 75F, depending on the season and the thermocline. Also, being in Europe is easy to get to Egypt. Flights and liveaboards are quite inexpensive, and you can get there quick. There is some great wreckdiving in the North, close to the Gubal Straits. Strait of Gubal,Strait of Gubal dive,Strait of Gubal diving,Egypt, Wannadive.net, The dive site atlas, maps, GPS location, photos of scubadiving sites. Cheers Cris __________________ Petition against M26

July 13th, 2009, 04:54 PM	#5 (permalink)
cavedivinggirl(Offline) New Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: St. Neots, UK Posts: 14	Quote: (Originally Posted by Rubis) Hi, congrats on the move. there is great wreckdiving in Europe, from Scapa Flow in Scotland, the Irish sea, the Channel, the mediterranean ... Thanks this is our second hop over the pond. The last time we were in Germany. We dove wrecks. After living in Florida a few years we dove caves. Now we dive both Thanks these are so many great leads. I am trying to figure out my schedule. I want to go back to Scapa Flow but my husband wants to cave dive. We spent the much of this year either preparing for or diving Antarctica. So he wants to get back into caves. Unfortunately we both have to work for a living. It is cutting into our diving. __________________ One Life Live It Blog: http://cavedivinggirl.blogspot.com Last edited by cavedivinggirl; July 13th, 2009 at 05:06 PM..

July 13th, 2009, 05:12 PM	#6 (permalink)
keri.lewis(Offline) Wreck Ferret Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Hampshire Posts: 1,057	Quote: (Originally Posted by cavedivinggirl) Unfortunately we both have to work for a living. It is cutting into our diving. Shame isn't it! I'm sure there are many more than just me that feel the same. __________________ Even a "bad" day diving beats a day in the office... Keri The more I learn.. the more ignorant I realise I am..

June 27th, 2009, 10:21 PM	#2 (permalink)
neilh(Offline) Wreck Enthusiast Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Barnsley, UK Posts: 2,667	Hi and welcome!

July 13th, 2009, 07:43 PM	#7 (permalink)
Harald Franzen(Offline) New Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Lot, France Posts: 136	Quote: (Originally Posted by cavedivinggirl) Thanks this is our second hop over the pond. The last time we were in Germany. We dove wrecks. After living in Florida a few years we dove caves. Now we dive both Thanks these are so many great leads. I am trying to figure out my schedule. I want to go back to Scapa Flow but my husband wants to cave dive. We spent the much of this year either preparing for or diving Antarctica. So he wants to get back into caves. Unfortunately we both have to work for a living. It is cutting into our diving. If you want to go cave diving in the Lot, do not hesitate to get in touch. I live there and am busily setting up a -DIR- cave diving center (a process that has now taken more than a year just to get the required permits; darned French bureaucrats ). More details in my signature, but you can also contact me via mail: harald (dot) franzen (at) lotcavediving (dot) eu Cheers, Harald p.s.: you need to give me a little time to get everything started; I am working my behind off to do the ground works right now (find me on Facebook for photo's of that). __________________ Centre de Plongée Souterraine

July 20th, 2009, 09:17 AM	#8 (permalink)
cavedivinggirl(Offline) New Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: St. Neots, UK Posts: 14	Quote: (Originally Posted by Harald Franzen) If you want to go cave diving in the Lot, do not hesitate to get in touch. Great news to hear. We were there just days before Lynn passed away. We have been invited to join the Germans we met there earlier in July. We will join up with them end of Aug early September. The invite was, "We have a house and helium!" How could we refuse Thanks. __________________ One Life Live It Blog: http://cavedivinggirl.blogspot.com