Cave Diving - France

A bit closer to home than Florida and just as worth diving are the caves in the Dordogne, France. Our first trip there was just made at the end of August 2001. The water temperatures are slightly lower here but still very comfortable for a decent length dive. Argon is used as a dry suit inflate, helps keep the body warmer, but it's usually the hands that suffer, well Sues do anyway.

We stayed at a Gites close to Souillac in a way out of nowhere place. Very peaceful with a pool to cool down in - the temperatures at the end of August were in the low 40s (C that is!!).

The dives were good - on average very much deeper than the caves in Florida where good dives average at about 28m, a very nice nitrox depth. OK the caves in the Tallahassee area are very much deeper but for most of these a licence is required to get into them. The caves in the Dordogne average out at 50-60m - trimix territory.