International Cave Diving Conference Coming to Columbia County/Lake City
Posted May 10, 2017 05:25 am
Information about the conference, speakers, sponsors,
prizes, and more is here.
COLUMBIA COUNTY/LAKE CITY, FL – Columbia County and Lake City will be hosting the 2017 National Speleological Society Cave Diving International Conference June 2nd and 3d at the Florida National Guard Armory on Lake Jeffery Road. The Conference, “Cave Diving – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” will focus on the history of cave diving, current happenings, cave conservation, and the future of cave diving with noted national and international speakers from the sport.
The NSS-CDS is a 501c3 non-profit corporation that promotes cave diving safety, training, environmental education, conservation, and cave exploration. It is the largest cave diving organization in the United States and is an international group with instructors and members from all over the world. Each year, the NSS-CDS hosts the International Conference to bring together its membership for organizational business and to share information on the sport of cave diving.
The
2017 International Conference promises to be one of the
largest in recent years with special guest speakers,
equipment demonstrations, meetings, and social
gatherings.
Speakers include pioneers in cave diving like Florida’s Hal Watts and Lamar English. Eduardo Macedo, one of Brazil’s first cave diving explorers, will talk about renewed exploration in his country. Forrest Wilson and Joshua Shouse will discuss current exploration work. Dr. Dawn Kernagis, formerly with NASA’s 21st Undersea Mission NEEMO and now a Research Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, will give insight on human performance optimization and risk mitigation for operators in extreme environments.
Along with these great speakers will be technical diving equipment manufacturers from around the world. There will be demonstrations of the latest rebreathers, diver propulsion vehicles, underwater lights, and other equipment.
According to the organizers, there will be good food, thousands of dollars in raffle prizes, and a chance to meet with friends, old and new.
