CAVE DIVER TRAINING

info@underthejungle.com

OUR TRAINING PHILOSOPHY

(SCROLL DOWN FOR INDIVIDUAL COURSES)

Cave certification is a process, with progressive steps to gradually increase your skills. Our end goal is that you are confident to independently cave dive without a guide. Accomplishing this requires much more work than simply training someone to follow a guide, and you will notice that our courses are longer and more rigorous than most. While the initial investment to reach this level is high, cave diving with a buddy is inexpensive once you are certified – and we have an alumni network to help you find buddies! We also offer unique opportunites for our former students at low or no cost, such as science and mapping projects.

CAVE TRAINING PATH

How to become a cave diver

INTRO TO TEC

Don’t waste time during your cave course. Before you head into the cave, or even start your course, take the time to learn the basics of tec diving. This course refines your buoyancy and propulsion techniques while building the core skills required for cave diving. Your cave course will go more smoothly and efficiently if you take this course first.

INTRO TO TEC (BACKMOUNT)

INTRO TO TEC (EXPERT SIDEMOUNT)

CAVERN DIVER

Are you crazy for wanting to dive into dark, flooded holes? We don’t think so. In fact, we’ll get you started. The cavern course is the first step of the journey to becoming a cave diver. This course is full of information: you’ll learn line work, navigation, and emergency management skills that are the basis for every other cave course we offer.

CAVERN COURSE DETAILS

INTRO TO CAVE

What’s even better than Mexico’s caverns? Mexico’s Caves! The Intro to Cave Course builds logically on your cavern course, applying the skills you learned in cavern diving to the cave environment and adding new skills such as lost diver and lost line. Certification never expires and there’s countless beautiful dives to be made in Mexico at this level.

INTRO TO CAVE DETAILS

MORE CAVE COURSES

FULL CAVE

Are you tired of the mainline? Are the side passages calling you? They tend to do that. For divers with the soul of an explorer, Intro to Cave isn’t enough for long. Once you’ve gained a little experience at the introductory level, the TDI Full Cave Course will take you down jump lines, through restrictions, and into dreamscapes you never imagined.

FULL CAVE DETAILS

STAGE CAVE

Stage diving is great: you can make one cave dive a day instead of two without sacrificing total bottom time. Stage diving takes you to the most pristine parts of the cave, and allows you to easily and safely recalculate gas to check out side leads during your exit. You work less and see more, and still make it out of the cave in time for a late lunch.

STAGE CAVE DETAILS

DPV CAVE

Screaming through passageways on a DPV is pretty much the most fun you can have on the planet. It’s like flying and diving all at once, jetting over bizarre topography, flying through bedding planes . . . you’ll never want to swim again. Technically speaking, DPVs are a “tool” to get your farther into the cave. And that’s why we use them. Really. I promise.

DPV CAVE DETAILS

EVEN MORE CAVE TRAINING

UNDERWATER CAVE SURVEY

Learn underwater cave survey from actual cave explorers. This course is open to cavern and cave divers with experience at their current certification level. Under the Jungle’s cave survey course covers the basics of manual cave survey, the use of cutting-edge electronic survey devices, and plotting using modern survey software. Get ready to make your own surveys!!

CAVE SURVEY COURSE DETAILS

ADVANCED SIDEMOUNT

Is tighter really better? Yeah it is! It’s also much more difficult. The stakes go up, as reduced visibility and entanglement become more likely, and you can’t always turn to your buddy for help. This course refines your self rescue skills as you learn to remove gear underwater to squeeze into all those tight passageways that only the completely crazy cave divers want to go. Divers like you.

ADVANCED SM DETAILS

SIDEMOUNT CROSSOVER

You’ve heard about this side mount thing, and it looks pretty neat . . . before you go and buy a side mount system online and just try it yourself, realize there’s a lot more to cave side mount than meets the eye. A dedicated side mount course will help you fly through the water effortlessly while getting the full benefit of your new system immediately.

SM CROSSOVER DETAILS

INSTAGRAM @UNDERTHEJUNGLE

underthejungle

Zoom zoom. And just like that, Pandora turns 10 ye

Zoom zoom. And just like that, Pandora turns 10 years old and 18 km long. @vrc_mexico, @tdidivers, @xdeep_dive_gear , @kissrebreathers

Big beautiful caves! As much as I love squeezing t

Big beautiful caves! As much as I love squeezing through tight wiggly passages, there's something truly awe-inspiring about some of the tall, wide tunnels winding underground in Mexico. It's a cave diver's dream, and I am thankful every day to teach cave diving for a living. What an amazing place!

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Miranda!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb
The model is @mirandajebowman
Lighting with @keldan lights
Training by @tdidivers

Some old favorites from a few years ago with cave

Some old favorites from a few years ago with cave diver Andy Preas at a cenote very near our dive center. Andy swims over a fallen stone drapery covered with delicate dripstone formations.

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Andy) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb
Lighting with @keldan lights
Training by @tdidivers

Spirals of tree roots waver and drift in the flowi

Spirals of tree roots waver and drift in the flowing water. This underwater cave, near Tulum, Mexico, is so shallow that it is filled with forests of tree roots that have forced their way down through the limestone and into the underground river systems of the Riviera Maya. Cave diver Ramon Siliceo illuminates one of my favorite spots on the dive.

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb
Model: @ramonsiliceo
Lighting by @keldan lights
@tdidivers

Cave diver Ramon Siliceo has been our winter inter

Cave diver Ramon Siliceo has been our winter intern this season. He's been assisting courses, helping around the shop, and generally being a delight to have around. He's spent more time helping on courses in training caves than he has diving off the beaten path, and it was fun to take him to one of the prettiest cave lines I know for a photo shoot before he leaves. Well done, Ramon.

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

• Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb
• Lighting by @keldan lights
• Shout out to our training organization @tdidivers that makes all this fun possible!

Something about the start of a cave dive is so mag

Something about the start of a cave dive is so magical: the soft ambient light and the sense of the unknown are irresistible for divers with a sense of adventure. Here, @ramonsiliceo hovers under the calm surface and pretends to swim into the cave (after we spent 4.5 hours shooting). You get the point, though.

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb.
@tdidivers

Continuing my obsession with photographing roots i

Continuing my obsession with photographing roots in Mexican caves -- here is another shot from my dive with @ramonsiliceo this week. Here, he hovers expertly under an archway of tree roots that have forced their way underground to reach the aquifer. No wonder the jungle is so green!

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb.
Lighting by @keldan Lights.
@tdidivers

Maybe it's because I grew up in the desert -- I ha

Maybe it's because I grew up in the desert -- I have always found great beauty in the smooth calcite dunes covering the floors in some of Mexico's shallow cave diving sites. I love the fall-off of the light over their crests and the contrast they provide to the dense clusters of stalactites on the ceiling.

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle is a @tdidivers training center, and teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

The model is @ramonsiliceo
Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb.
Lighting with @keldan Lights.

Some of my favorite cave dives are incredibly shal

Some of my favorite cave dives are incredibly shallow! @ramonsiliceo and I enjoyed an over 4-hour dive on just 3 cylinders where we spent the majority of our time underground at just 10-12 feet/3-4 meters of depth. In places where there are air domes above the tunnels, the shining surface of the water creates a mirror-like effect.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb, using a ridiculous number of @keldan lights. As always, a friendly shout-out to our training organization @tdidivers for making all this cave diving accessible to our students.
---

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Along the way to one of the most beautiful (in my

Along the way to one of the most beautiful (in my opinion) cave lines in the Riviera Maya, we passed through a cenote. The sunlight bounced off the surface of the water and made it look like an interface between two worlds. Which I guess it is. @ramonsiliceo and I paused on our return from our 4.5-hour dive to grab a few images in this magical place. I only had one light left. Turns out, you can shoot at 1/15th shutter speed if both the photographer and the model hold still enough. Ramon is a buoyancy beast.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb.
Light with one @keldan light on half power. A friendly shout out to our training organization @tdidivers.
---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Cave diver @ramonsiliceo and I wandered off to one

Cave diver @ramonsiliceo and I wandered off to one of my new favorite dives a few days ago to capture some of the beauty of Mexico's caves. Here, he floats in front of a massive tree root, which has forced its way through the limestone bedrock and into the shallow flooded cave. Phenomenal job as a first-time model, Ramon!

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb, using a large number of @keldan Lights. Shout out as always to our training organization that makes all this possible, @tdidivers.

---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Under the Jungle's winter intern, Ramon Siliceo, h

Under the Jungle's winter intern, Ramon Siliceo, has spent the season with us assisting courses and helping out around the shop. It's only fair that he has his turn in front of the camera. We made a nice long dive to a root window that I have been dying to shoot, and he rocked the photo. It's not easy to float 45° head-up in doubles in moderate flow.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb, with a large number of @keldan lights. @tdidivers
---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Ramon!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

@tdidivers cave diver Tyler Flynn (@tylerdives) i

@tdidivers cave diver Tyler Flynn (@tylerdives) illuminates underwater cave formations at Cenote Concha, near Tulum, Mexico.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb back-lighting my diver with @keldan Lights

---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Tyler!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Under the Jungle co-owner and @tdidivers instruct

Under the Jungle co-owner and @tdidivers instructor trainer, Vincent Rouquette-cathala (@vrc_mexico) rides a DPV through Otoch Ha, a hyper-decorated cave in the Riviera Maya, Mexico. There's not much that is more fun than scootering through an underwater cave.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb once again lighting up Mexico's caves with an obscene number of @keldan Lights.
---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Vince!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Cave diver and cave explorer Arielle Ginsberg (@ar

Cave diver and cave explorer Arielle Ginsberg (@arielleunderwater) was kind enough to model for me at Cenote Taak Bi Ha, a fantastic cave and cavern diving site near Tulum, Mexico. This dive site is accessible to both certified cavern and cave divers and is the starting point for the epic DPV Dive to El Pit. @tdidivers @xdeep_dive_gear

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb using an insane amount of @keldan Lights.

---

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Arielle!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

@arya.irmeli swims into the cavern zone at Cenote

@arya.irmeli swims into the cavern zone at Cenote Carwash, a popular training site for fundamental skills, cavern, and cave diving in the Riviera Maya, Mexico. Arya is a @tdidivers overhead diving instructor, a tech diving instructor, and a JJ-CCR rebreather instructor with our dive center, Under the Jungle.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb.

---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Arya!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

Jinuk Song (@zephyrhope) floats expertly in front

Jinuk Song (@zephyrhope) floats expertly in front of a stationary backlight in Cenote Concha, a flooded cave near Tulum, Mexico. Jinuk finished his @tdidivers Full Cave Course with Under the Jungle last year, and was back to enjoy some independent cave dives with his buddy Tyler. Well done!

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb lighting the caves up with my @keldan Lights as usualy.
---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Jinuk!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

When you just vibe with your cave buddy -- magic h

When you just vibe with your cave buddy -- magic happens. Tyler Flynn (@tylerdives) and Jinuk Song (@zephyrhope) both completed their @tdidivers Cave Diver training with Under the Jungle last year and spent a few weeks independently cave diving all over the Riviera Maya, Mexico. Our shop offers some of the most demanding, lengthy cave training in the area, but when you are confident to hit the caves without a guide immediately after finishing your course, all that effort and work pays off 🙂

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb, lighting the caves with @keldan Lights (as usual).
----
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Jinuk and Tyler!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

@tylerdives (Tyler Flynn) floats among knobbly sta

@tylerdives (Tyler Flynn) floats among knobbly stalactites in Cenote Concha, one of my favorite cave dives near Tulum, Mexico. Tyler recently completed his @tdidivers Stage Cave Diver course with us and then spent a few weeks with his buddy Jinuk independently cave diving all around the Riviera Maya and Cozumel.

Photo by me, Natalie L Gibb, lighting with @keldan Lights (as usual).
---
Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this (and maybe even look as good as Tyler!) If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

A tree root appears in a flooded cave, and a cave

A tree root appears in a flooded cave, and a cave diver looks at it gracefully.

Diver. @mermaid_underground
Photographer. Natalie L Gibb

--

Want to do this? Our shop, Under the Jungle, teaches everything from technical-style open water courses to sidemount/back mount basics to cave diving specialties, rebreathers, and advanced trimix. We can teach you to do this! If you are already a certified diver, you can experience cenotes on a guided cavern tour, and if you are a cave diver, we'd love to guide you in some of our favorite caves.

@tdidivers @keldan @diveshearwater @divedui @xdeep_dive_gear

Load More... Follow on Instagram