Solo diving, or not, from the Explorer Ventures Turks & Caicos Explorer II

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

2018 EAN card, the 40% max wasn't isn't on the plastic card, but it was on the temp card. The plastic card references the ISO standard, but the temp card doesn't.
That standard can be looked up, same with OW, AOW, and their standard courses.
I don't think PADI publishes standards for specialties. If you aren't an instructor for that course, you don't know the standards.
A card that says you met standards is worthless if you don't know what those standards are.
 
I don't think PADI publishes standards for specialties.

They don't publish any standards openly. Which is something I would like to see changed.

You can probably send an email to PADI and they can send you the standards since you have a good reason to ask for it even though you aren't a PADI instructor.
 
If the insurer is leaving it to you to make the determination, it seems it would benefit your customers for you to take a closer look at the prerequisites and training specifications for the PADI certification. As I posted earlier it's virtually identical to the SDI cert. Given the size and nature of Explorer Ventures, you might even be able to get clarifying documentation directly from PADI that would satisfy your insurer. I would think if you're going to the hassle of allowing solo from your boat, you would want to please as many customers as possible with as little negative feedback as possible.
Honestly I'm surprised you allow solo. I've dived your boat/itinerary and enjoyed it. :) IMHO, the benefits of solo would be minimal and I solo dive alot (though I appreciate the effort). Thanks for your input and participation in the thread. All IMHO, YMMV.
In eight years with EV I've had maybe five guests do solo. All photographers , equipped and SDI certified. Not to hijack the thread but I think all serious photographers should be solo. Never an issue until it is I guess. As operator we should know he's solo before he jumps on dive 1. Repeat guest, he should have known better if his cert was valid
 
Would PADI have issues with an instructor openly posting the standards for any course?
 
Would PADI have issues with an instructor openly posting the standards for any course?
I would assume they keep them locked up for some reason? Who knows.
You can't complain the course doesn't meet standards if there aren't any?
 
They don't publish any standards openly. Which is something I would like to see changed.

You can probably send an email to PADI and they can send you the standards since you have a good reason to ask for it even though you aren't a PADI instructor.
I doubt it, they have never replied to an email about a course I was in when the instructor ran out of air.
They have definitely not read any of the e-mails asking them to stop emailing me to renew my instructor certs.
But I haven't ever asked them for standards. It hasn't come up. The few solo divers I have gotten have had solo cards.
 
I doubt it, they have never replied to an email about a course I was in when the instructor ran out of air.
They have definitely not read any of the e-mails asking them to stop emailing me to renew my instructor certs.
But I haven't ever asked them for standards. It hasn't come up. The few solo divers I have gotten have had solo cards.

Strange I emailed them about a standards question as a normal diver looking to take a class and they answered.

I personally have a PADI Self-reliant card. And it is definitely a solo card. The graduation dive is literally a solo dive with the instructor staying on the boat. I actually had to complete the final dive twice, as I forgot to factor in currents, and swam to the wrong boat after doing a boat check.
 
So, I went and looked at PADIs Self Sufficiency diver advertising blurb online, and they have indeed softened their stance over the years.

Because this is what Drew Richardson put in writing....

Solo Diving: PADI Worldwide's Position
By:
Drew Richardson Senior Vice-President, Training, Education, Environment and Memberships, PADI Worldwide


Why PADI advocates the use of the buddy system

The buddy system in use today for scuba diving came from a decades old water safety concept found in swimming and lifeguard training. It was adopted because it applied to diving and because it made good safety sense. Early support of buddy diving safety procedures was referenced by Jacques Cousteau and the crew of the Calypso in the book "The Silent World". The goals of training divers include developing the skills to take responsibility for themselves and to be self-reliant. The buddy system provides divers in training with a safety redundancy to this skill base that diving alone simply cannot provide. PADI has, and will continue to, train divers using the buddy system based on its proven benefit to diving, divers and diving safety.

Practicality & Convenience

The buddy system has provided tangible contributions to millions of dives. Buddies provide an extra set of eyes and hands for each other. Providing assistance in putting on equipment, adjusting straps, assisting with weights and tanks, entering the water, helping to load and unload gear are but a few practical arguments that support the buddy system.

Safety:

The roots of the buddy system arise from diving and water safety. Early days of diver training heralded the buddy system as an important safety procedure because only through the buddy system could a diver reasonably expect to escape from entanglement, entrapment, out of air situations, disorientation, a head injury, chest pains, cramping and dozens more. Diver training and diving equipment have improved, yet these same values apply today. Like all safety-based systems, the buddy system is not perfect. However, the simple fact is that without a buddy in the water, the distressed diver has little or no chance of assistance.

The buddy system is the most basic form of scuba diving fail-safe. Buddies have helped each other in subtle and profound ways for decades. Often the smallest buddy intervention averts a string of error chains occurred and negative outcomes or tragedy. The safety record of scuba diving has improved dramatically over the past few decades, while the number of certified divers has increased. During this time, buddy system training techniques have been an integral component of this training. While there is no way to quantify the accidents that were prevented or did not happen because of one buddy looking after another, empirical outcomes support the relevancy and integrity of this training.

Enjoyment:

Diving is a social activity, so the buddy system is more than a safety rule. Diving with someone you know and are comfortable with adds to the fun. Most divers actually enjoy companionship in and out of the water. It is fun to share exciting adventures and experiences with others. Fundamentally, the buddy system is about dive companionship, something that won't appeal to misanthropic personality types.

Can Solo Diving be done responsibly?

Yes, but let's be clear about what responsible solo diving is and what it is not. It requires experienced scuba divers willing to make the necessary commitment to train and equip themselves to accept the added risks involved. That is to say, a person with the required attitude and aptitude to pursue responsible solo diving. This is true in other adventure sport activities such as solo rock climbing.

It is important to clarify what responsible solo scuba diving is. PADI views it as a form of technical diving and not for everybody. To responsibly engage in solo scuba diving, a diver must first be highly experienced, have a hundred or so buddy accompanied scuba dives, be absolutely self-reliant and apply the specialized procedures and equipment needed to engage in the activity. (Emphasis Mine) This includes, but is not limited to redundant air sources, specialized equipment configurations, specific dive planning, and management of solo diving problems and emergencies. When solo diving is performed within this description, we see a place for it. Responsible solo diving is not diving alone without the mental discipline, attitude or equipment. That said, no amount of redundant equipment can effectively back up a diver's brain better than another individual.

What concerns does PADI have with regard to solo diving

When a problem occurs on a solo dive, or when the diver is alone in the water, there is little or no chance of assistance for the distressed diver. This decreases the chances of a diver surviving the problem or having a favorable outcome. Diving alone reduces the chance of survival regardless of the problem. Since 1989, there were at least 538 fatalities where it was clear divers were either intentionally diving solo, or became separated from a buddy and were de facto alone.

PADI is concerned by certain proponents of solo diving within the dive industry, including a major diving publication, who attempt to promote solo diving by bashing both PADI and the buddy system with headlines touting " Why the Buddy System is dangerous". This is both irresponsible and reckless. To suggest that the buddy system fosters a false sense of security and increases the likelihood of panic is outrageous and contrary to the empirical evidence. To claim that divers shouldn't use the buddy system for fear of being sued by a diving companion is ridiculous. The unfortunate reality in the litigious U.S. is that folks have sued one another for nearly anything. It is no surprise that there have been a handful of cases where one buddy has brought suit against another. Outside of the U.S., this argument doesn't hold up and smacks of the fear mongering to sell magazines. Besides, how long will it be before a solo death results in a suit against a magazine or other forum endorsing solo diving, a practice that is contrary to community practice. There is nothing to prevent such lawsuits from arising.

PADI's position is clear; solo diving proponents should advocate responsible solo diving on its own unique merits, requisite training, and equipment needs and not through sensationalized attempts to disparage a proven safety system, that has served the majority of recreational scuba divers well.

So what the orange bit says to me as an operator is that you really should have self-reliant skills before you take the (technical) Solo Diver class.
“Since 1989, there were at least 538 fatalities where it was clear divers were either intentionally diving solo, or became separated from a buddy and were de facto alone.”

Wookie, so this is the PADI softened stance on solo diving?….it’s pretty crunchy around the edges.

SDI solo diver here. Also, TDI technical diver here. I love how two completely different categories are lumped together in the PADI article: intentional solo and separated from buddy solo. Not very statistically accurate to blend the two. A trained solo diver has equipment, gas redundancy and parameters for the solo dive. A separated buddy has none of these, and perhaps panic at being separated.

IIRC the vast majority of the 538 divers who died alone were separated buddies. It’s disingenuous of the author not to mention the actual breakdown.

Of course, operators of charter boats and resorts will be constrained by their insurance coverage. When I took the SDI Solo course in 2008 there was no confusing “self-reliant” course offing on the horizon yet from PADI. And IIRC at that time, PADI was not yet offering technical training.

It’s funny to me that when that article was written, PADI considered solo diving to be technical diving. SDI is the recreational side of SDI/TDI. Technical Divers International clearly doesn’t put recreational solo diving in the technical category. In fact, the overwhelming majority of technical dives are done in buddy pairs due to the complexity of the dive plan involved. Last time I checked, solo technical diving is frowned upon by technical agencies.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom