What should be a key consideration when planning a cavern dive?

When planning a cavern dive, personal limits based on experience and comfort are paramount. Ensuring that divers are aware of their own capabilities is crucial for safety in a potentially hazardous environment like a cavern. Understanding one's comfort level with factors such as depth, visibility, and maximum dive time helps in avoiding situations that could lead to panic or unsafe decisions underwater.

Divers should assess their training, physical fitness, and familiarity with cavern diving techniques, including buoyancy control and emergency procedures. This self-awareness enables divers to make more informed choices about dive conditions and may lead them to alter their plans if they feel uncertain about any aspect of the dive.

While factors like the number of other divers, local wildlife, or the latest technology might also play a role in planning, they are secondary to the diver’s personal readiness and capacity to handle the dive safely.