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The beauty and splendor of the underwater world is beyond words.  The great depths of the oceans hide a world of colors and life of which only a fraction has been discovered.  The excitement of finding the unseen and roaming uncharted territories has always enticed adventurous souls.  There is no better way to explore the fascinating world under the oceans’ depths than by diving in.  Deep sea divers see a little more of this unseen world with every new dive and with every new expedition.  Cave diving is the ultimate form of exploration of the underwater world.

Cave Diving
There are three levels of diving: open-water diving, cavern diving and cave diving.  All divers start with open-diving as this is how they learn the basic skills.  While doing open-water diving, the diver can access the surface any time by swimming vertically.  Cavern diving is more precarious because after entering the natural caverns, the diver does not have direct contact with the surface.  However, the entrance of the cavern is always kept in sight so the diver does not stand the chance of getting lost and the natural light is within sight.  These two types of diving are considered recreational.

Cave diving is quite different from the other two types; the diver does not have vertical access to the surface and the entrance of the cave and the natural light are left way behind.  Visibility in a cave is also inconsistent and can very quickly go from very good to no visibility at all.  The diver has to be careful to not disturb the natural environment inside the cave.  Cave diving duration can be anywhere from one hour to several hours.  It is certainly not recreational and is considered technical diving, which requires rigorous training, certifications, extensive diving experience and specialty equipment and gear.  According to an estimate, only one percent of the divers may be capable of successfully venturing into cave diving. 

National Association for Cave Diving: This is the official website of the association and provides information about all of its activities and services for the cave diving community
Extreme Cave Diving: Enjoy this amazing video by PBS about the journey of a team of scientists to the most beautiful and dangerous waters
Snorkel Scuba: An information filled blog about all things diving including cave diving, diving sites, diving gear, diving certifications, etc.
Scuba Diving Place: A Malaysian cave diver’s site that provides information about cave diving and scuba diving

Equipment Needed for Cave Diving
The equipment used for cave diving is very different from other types of diving.  The divers have to be absolutely sure that they have all the necessary equipment and backup.  These are the things necessary for cave diving:

• Masks: Instead of carrying snorkels like other types of scuba diving, cave divers use standard black masks to prevent distraction from light which can cause problems for the diver.
• Fins: For proper propulsion, fins are used but cave divers do not use the fancy types used in recreational diving.  They use simple, relatively inflexible fins which help with the movement around a cave without creating the risk of disturbing the sand and silt.  These fins also minimize the risk of line entanglement which can be deadly.
• Dry/Wet Suits: Cave diving requires excellent protection from exposure to waters of varying temperatures. For longer dives and colder waters, divers often use dry suits made of synthetic rubber, which seal off water from the body and also better control the heat loss.
• Buoyancy Control: BC/harness is used by cave divers to control and manage the buoyancy under water.  It consists of several individual components.
• Gas Supply: One of the most important pieces of cave diving equipment is gas supply.  It consists of dual oxygen cylinders, dual-orifice isolation manifold, primary regulator and a secondary regulator.
• Instruments: Cave divers use a mixture of nitrogen, helium and oxygen gases while diving in caves.  In order to maintain the proper concentration and levels of these gases, they use a computer mounted on their wrists as well as a depth gauge and bottom timer.
• Light: Having proper lighting equipment is absolutely necessary for cave diving because it is often pitch black under water inside the caves.  The lights used in cave diving are powered by a battery canister mounted on the waist of the diver.

National Speleological Society:  This website provides authoritative information about cave diving including cave diving articles, cave diving training, cave diving sites, etc.
Cave Chat: The official forum of the National Speleological Society.  A lot of useful information and insightful discussions can be found here.
Cave Diving: You can find answers to all of the fundamental questions about cave diving such as what is cave diving, cave diving destinations, best times to dive, diving techniques, etc.
Cave Exploration: A site dedicated to providing information about cave diving in Yucatan.

Cave Diving Techniques

Propulsion: The difference between cave diving and recreational diving extends to diving and swimming techniques as well.  Cave divers have to make sure not to disturb the silt and sediment on the cave floor so they swim with their faces down, knees bent and fins above the rest of the body.  The divers try to use as much of the environment to move forward as possible with the least amount of additional work.  They usually try to find crevices and other places within the rocks to hold-on to and pull themselves.  This maneuver helps them glide forward without too much effort.  Movements of the feet are very important for directional control in cave diving.  In addition to the manual techniques, divers also use battery-powered propulsion vehicles to move around.  Since these vehicles help conserve a diver’s energy, they can remain submerged for long periods of time.

Guidelines: Due to dangers inherent in cave diving, ensuring safety is extremely important for divers.  While moving around in treacherous caves and unknown territories, it is easy to lose the way.  Guidelines are used to make sure that the divers don’t get lost inside the cave.  This is a string tied about 50-100 meters from the entrance of the cave and then carried throughout the cave.  If the cave has multiple tunnels in different directions, additional lines are used to navigate, but these additional lines do not connect to the main line.  These lines are permanently placed by the early divers in the cave.  In addition to these lines, each diver also places an entry line that comes from open-water to the main line.  Different markers like directional arrows are also placed on the lines to guide the divers.

World Underwater Federation: A very comprehensive and detailed document on cave diving standards and training systems.
Water Wide Web: An informative article about cave diving.
Caves.org: A very good article about the gases which are present in caves.
 
“The Good Divers Are Living”
This phrase reminds the divers of five general rules of safe cave diving which were adapted from Sheck Exley’s book about cave diving. 

• Training: Cave diving is a matter of life and death so nothing can be left to chance.  Extensive training is mandatory for cave divers because without sufficient training and experience, they almost certainly put themselves in harm’s way.  Cave diving training is not a one-off training session; it is a gradual process where each level builds on the preceding one.  Theory and real-world experience and practice go hand-in-hand because without practical experience, divers can’t handle emergencies.
• Guideline: The primary connection of a cave diver with the outside world is the guideline. The guideline should be carefully placed and strictly in accordance with the standard practices. 
• Depth rules: Ocean depths hide treasures as well as many dangers especially inside the caves.  The effects of gas consumption and then decompression can be very tricky and any negligence can cause great harm.  Divers must stick to their dive plan for the gas mix they carry.  When divers venture into excessive depths they should be extremely careful of the depth effects.
• Air management: Cave divers use the 'rule of thirds,' for gas usage.  This means that one-third of the gas should be used for entry into the cave, one-third should be used for exit and one third should be maintained to help another diver in distress. 
• Lights: Proper lighting is essential for cave divers, therefore they should have one primary source of light and two backups and all of these lights need to be independent of each other.  Malfunction or failure of any one of the lights is cause enough to abort the dive. 

Cave Diving Group: A very detailed, informative article about cave diving in the UK.
DJMICK: Great cave diving pictures.
Dive Territory: An extensive collection of information on cave diving as well as diving in general
Top Cave Diving Destinations
There are many cave diving destinations around the world such as Sardinia in Italy, Brazil, the UK, Yucatan in Mexico, Hawaii, California and Florida, which is considered the top cave diving destination.
Scuba Spy: A substantial list of interesting cave diving sites around the world.
Cave Diving Down-under: This site is the definitive resource for cave diving in Australia. It includes: expedition and dive reports, equipment reviews, information on cave diving sites across the country, cave maps, cave diving systems and training information.