Are you "Solo Certified"?

[Trace Malinowski]

Yes, I took the SDI solo course a few years ago with my TDI cave instructor. He made the course wholly worthwhile. I had already had significant solo diving experience as both a solo SCUBA diver and freediver, but he trained me to approach technical diving as a solo diver. The course was very challenging due to the environment in which we trained. I strongly believed that any solo program should be used as a "safety course" for any diver at any level from the recreational diver to the cave rebreather diver in order to provide maximum learning and maximum challenge at a diver's highest level. As a PDIC ITE and former technical training director for PDIC, I created a solo program for PDIC in which the standards allowed for solo diving to be taught at any and all levels. Emphasis is placed upon gas management, dive planning, problem resolution, wilderness first aid and survival, dealing with equipment failures, decompression tables, ratio deco, battlefield math, omitted deco, self-treatment of diving injuries, and challenged to survive Kobayashi Maru situations by being challenged to think outside the box. Skills such as tank valve breathing and removing, repairing and replacing equipment while maintaining trim, buoyancy and planned ascent schedules are a couple of the physical challenges divers face while time pressure, thinking under stress and increasing number of failures test a diver psychologically.

For solo classes the value of a course is very much dependent upon the skill and knowledge of the instructor. For example, a cave diver who wanted a solo card might not get much from a typical SDI recreational instructor who teaches solo. Yet, if that diver sought an SDI/TDI cave, wreck penetration or trimix instructor he may be much happier with the information. The same applies to PDIC solo training. If you are going to throw hard earned money at an instructor for the course or the card, take the time to travel to a top pro who might be worth every penny.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

I would ask them, what do I need to know to be able to dive with a buddy? If he runs out of air do I have to give him mine, look there is no ziptie on the mouthpiece, if i want my octo back,from my, what do you call it a buddy, is only gonna have a mouthpiece in his mouth. At this point I,m In the water and never see anyone.(just kidding always had my wife) now without wife I just don't travel dive.

 

[shoredivr]

That's quite the course content, Trace. I like the wilderness first aid and survivial part, too.

Yes solo certified.

 

[lowviz]

I would ask them, what do I need to know to be able to dive with a buddy? If he runs out of air do I have to give him mine, look there is no ziptie on the mouthpiece, if i want my octo back,from my, what do you call it a buddy, is only gonna have a mouthpiece in his mouth. At this point I,m In the water and never see anyone.(just kidding always had my wife) now without wife I just don't travel dive.

I think that "solo" is supposed to be a level of proficiency, not a warning.

 

[jago]

I am a certified solo diver ... by myself, caus I wanted to take this class in solo.

 

[FritzCat66]

As mentioned by others here, I think a solo certification is really more for the dive ops, to cover them from liability if you go fins-up while on your solo adventure from their boat. That said, mine has paid off twice now, when I checked in with the op first and informed them I intended to dive buddyless and they wanted to see the cert. One op even wanted to verify I had my pony. That done, they let me do what I wanted with no further questions or hassle.

Could I have done the dives solo anyway, without telling them, or by going down with an instabuddy I had no intentions of staying with? Probably. But having the cert made everything more open and honest - and fast - with the operator.

A good buddy is still great to have, especially on a new site, but I like knowing I can dive solo "legitimately", above-board with the op, and being above the accusation of "diving beyond my certifications".

 

[HowardE]

I think that any card beyond open water certified (in recreational diving) is superfluous. Any experienced dive master or instructor should be able to see if you are skilled enough to dive by yourself.

Something like a Solo Cert is just a way for the operators to say NO first without being jerks. They can (at their discretion) allow you to dive however you want, once you've demonstrated the skills required, with or without the card that says so. If you say you have 1,000 dives, and can't maintain buoyancy, then I'd have to guess you were lying, and they would probably NOT let you solo dive. If they see you are competent (on the first day of a 5 day trip) then I'd have to guess they'd let you solo dive - with or without a card.

 

[redacted]

Operators and shops would not enable me to dive without OW certification. Then I wanted to dive nitrox - another card. Then I wanted to be able to dive solo at FGB where the operators honored that cert.

I'm not sure why some believe an OW cert requirement is OK but others certs should not be required. I agree, they serve to protect the enabler.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've dived solo off of several charter boats ... including just a few days ago in the Channel Islands ... and never had a boat operator either ask for a solo card or tell me I couldn't.

Maybe I'm just choosing a better class of dive operator ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Scott L]

Here in Palm Beaches, everyone is considered a solo diver with Gulfstream current seperation issues...