solo diving info please

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I think you need to do a little research on the solo forum and how to join it before calling those in it AH's.

I've been a solo diver since the early 60's. No certification to do it, just decades of experience (but I could always learn something new).

I do not make recommendations re: solo diving to people. I have no basis to judge their skills and reactions unless I have been diving with them for a long time.

What I do say to people considering solo diving, is that they need experience that gives them a picture of how they react (1) to nitrogen narcosis if diving at depths and (2) to emergency situations when they occur at any depth.

As for the first, I've seen folks who are smitten with the "rapture of the deep" and just keep descending (dangerously) if in deep water. These are NOT good candidates for solo diving IMHO. I've dived with some, including one in Fiji who I would not accompany and called in the DM to bring him back.

As for the second, unless you have had personal experience with emergency situations (OOA, equipment failure, etc.) and know how you respond to it, I strongly recommend you do NOT solo dive. Of course experiencing an OOA situation may mean you aren't good at gas management and that is a red flag in my mind. If you respond calmly and rationally to problems, and recover, then you may be a good candidate under this criterion.

There are agencies which offer solo certifications. However most of this is a "recent" phenomenon. I've never taken any of the courses so I can't comment on how well they might prepare you.

Final advice... if you do decide to dive solo, always carry a fully redundant system unless your dive sites are very shallow (say 40-50' or less). Make sure you have appropriate cutting tools to free yourself from entanglement. Practice ditch and recovery, CESA's and other skills with some frequency.
 
drbill words of wisdom, good stuff, just logging in to echo, endorse same. Solo is being able to take care of self. In fact, it's a facet of getting a flying private pilots license. But really be honest with your self on are you up to it. Good Luck!

Hoa!
 
reeldive:
Ok here goes-- I tried to look into the SOLO DIVER sub forum to find out about training and certification only to find out that , if I ain't one I ain't welcome== THANKS you bunch of sanctamonious AH's. Maybe that is why there are so many UNCERTIFIED solo guy's out there.

Your welcome. If you come asking for permission to do it, you're not ready. Sorry if that hurts your feelings. I don't remember what you ever said in the solo forum.

Second, "THANKS you bunch of sanctamonious AH's" Is a violoation of TOS.

Have a great life.

Comrade Stroke
 
I don't understand this thread, first it begins with insults and then something about needing instruction to do what most dive charter buisneeses will not allow even if you have some card that says your a solo diver. I hope that solo course is a little more in depth than most of todays one day wonder courses. The card is useless and for the most part so is the course unless it is universally accepted--which it is not--at all.

Quote:
"I've seen a few DM who think that it is fun to make people huff and puff to follow them on a drift dive."

Yes, I don't understand why they do this exactly but I have broken a few of these guys of that.

N
 
reeldive:
Ok here goes-- Know that I'll catch a lot of flak but want to know

Seems that SOLO DIVING is one of those things that needs to be adressed. I dive with a cameras more than any thing else. Locally most divers are steel slingers, ie. spearfishing. They are. by practice, solo divers!! not one of them can produce any thing that says they'er certified as solo divers. What this means to me is that I frequently find my self in a solo diver situation. That means that I cut my dive short and do a slow accent( with saftey stop) and spend the next 20 - 30 min watching bubbles. I tried to look into the SOLO DIVER sub forum to find out about training and certification only to find out that , if I ain't one I ain't welcome== THANKS you bunch of sanctamonious AH's. Maybe that is why there are so many UNCERTIFIED solo guy's out there.

Any way now that I've got that offf my chest=== what agencies do such training? Are there any in the Panama City, FL area.

Maybe I just need to give up on local diveing as it just ain,t safe as there just aint such a thing as buddy diveing in the PC area

Well, if your interested me and a couple guys are planning on going diving in PC at the jetties on March 10th and you're welcome to join us. We're planning on being there for high tide at 12:30PM
 
Solo diving is nothing more than experience and mindset. All the training in the world will not prepare you for it if you don’t have the mindset and experience to go with it. :wink:

Gary D.
 
Hmm... I may have to inquire about crashing your party, too. It's been a while since I've been able to get to St. Andy's jetties for a daytime slack high tide. :D
 
ClayJar:
Hmm... I may have to inquire about crashing your party, too. It's been a while since I've been able to get to St. Andy's jetties for a daytime slack high tide. :D

You guys are welcome to join us. By the way the 12:30PM time that I mentioned earlier is CST time zone. I've solo'd a couple times in about 20' in a lake, but that's about it. I usually don't have that much of a problem finding buddies.
 
draperb@hcsmail.com:
Well, if your interested me and a couple guys are planning on going diving in PC at the jetties on March 10th and you're welcome to join us. We're planning on being there for high tide at 12:30PM

Just might do that . How many are we talking about?
If the seas are < 3ft and we're talking about 4 divers total (19ft boat) I'll bring my boat (the ReelDive) and maby dive the east jetties or one of the inshore sites if your interested PM me
 
drbill:
I think you need to do a little research on the solo forum and how to join it before calling those in it AH's..

Sorry to start out on the wrong foot and apologies .

I was trying to do a little research which is why I found out that the solo forum was not open to the general membership. THanks to DO IT Easy, Carribeandiver,
1Tsubmariner and others for telling me that I all I had to do is reggester via "User CP. "Any way there is a difference between makeing the decision to go solo and finding yourself in that position by default.
 

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