Cave diving in Murcia
The Cueva Del Agua cave system in Murcia is one of Europes only warm water Cenotes and is only accessible to suitably qualified cave divers. The fresh water here is a toasty 29 degrees warm all year round and offers pristine visabilty, almost perfect diving conditions. However, to venture into this cave system requires you to have not only the right equipment but also the correct training, skills and attitude to safely dive in one of the most challenging and dangerous underwater environments. To venture into this world without the correct training is to make a fatal mistake in this beautiful but very unforgiving realm.
Having the correct training is crucial for any diver, but in the world of cave diving, high quality training and experience is of the highest priority to ensure the divers safe return. Obviously you need to be a competent diver, confident with your ability and also comfortable with dark enclosed spaces! Cave diving isn’t for everyone and you will quickly find out if you wish to pursue this journey.
If you think that Cave diving is for you, you can enroll onto a Cavern Diver course which will start to introduce you to the correct equipment and skills required for this most challenging of diving environments. The Cavern Diver course is the first step into diving in caves. At this point these are considered recreational dives. The Cueva Del Agua system in Murcia has a beautiful cavern area, large enough to explore in relative safety, under the guidance of a qualified Cave instructor and at only 14 metres deep and 29 degrees in temperature its a perfect place to learn. The entrance to the cave is also partially underground and it can be quite an adventure just getting down to the waters edge!
If you wish to explore further into this unique cave system then the Intro to Cave diver certification comes next, due to the nature of this type of diving there are many steps needed to ensure you are ready to progress. This means that as well as being a certified Cavern diver a technical diving qualification is also reccomended, something like the TDI Advanced Nitrox and Decompression procedures or PADI Tec 50 course would be ideal for this.
The level of skill needed to be a competent cave diver takes diving to another level. The equipment required, the planning process and the teamwork needed, the understanding, practicing and mastering of crucial safety drills, techniques and exercises along side mental preperation of being in the overhead environment all come together to make diving in this alien and beautiful environment as safe as possible.
The next step is the Full Cave Diver course, which takes you into more complex areas, requiring advanced navigation techniques such as Jumps to other lines and circuits that traverse into different areas. Additional safety techniques and crucially more dive planning skills are also learned at this highest level.
It all takes time and practice, but for the dedicated group of divers who make this commitment are rewarded with views and experiences that few people ever get the chance to have.
There is beauty in the darkness of a Cave but to truly appreciate it the mind must be strengthened by Education. At Scuba Murcia we offer this high level of training through Tec and cave diving agency PSAI . If you are interested in starting the cave diving journey please contact us.
Ed Smith is a TDI, PADI & PSAI Technical and recreational diving instructor with over 25 years of experience in the water. The views expressed in these blog posts are personal opinions based on many years of diving experience and teaching, however they may differ from other instructors or professionals. These blog posts are for information only and nothing should replace proper, professional training.
Dive safe.
