Bad attitudes about solo diving are still prevalent

[stepfen]

Lol, the causes of the crisis go waaaaaaay beyond that lol, kai to kseries file.

That's another looooong discussion - maybe I didn't explain properly. My point is that unclear laws help corruption which I think, was one of the root causes (of course not the only one) of the crisis.

On topic now. I fount the law. Maybe you can download it here:
http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/p...IubO2v8XRUUAS5uOMNhLPYp82gt9h42uA2e7GUG1h4eeD
It's a pdf, if you can't get it pm me your e-mail and I will send it.
Article (Arthro) 11.6.e goes something like this: It is forbidden to dive without another (certified) diver/buddy (doesn't need to be professional, any certified buddy would do), hence no solo diving indeed.
So @wetb4igetinthewater indeed it seems you had to go through all these - I hope the result you've got worthed all this trouble.
Regards

 

[stepfen]

Let me clarify. You always have to be with a guide. You cannot go off by yourself.

From the law I posted above this doesn't seem true. According to that law (article 11.4) professional guidance is required only for night dives (or the divers should be out of the water no later than 1 hour from sunset).
For the usual day dives just a certified buddy would do (article 11.6.e - see previous post). Go figure.

 

[Christopher Griffin]

If someone answered my question, then I missed it. Are there any other certification levels that dive ops may accept as being equal to or instead of "Solo?" For example, would a diver with a Master Scuba Diver card be exempt from being required to have a separate Solo card, at least with some ops?

Short answer is no, you would have to hold DM or above as this is a low entry level commercial ticket, which allows them to dive in a solo capacity.

 

[Ana]

My resentment is only to a point, because I would be stopped only once, next time I'd go to another location, or another, or another until I can dive the way I LIKE to dive.

You are fortunate. Many of us live in areas of the country where the opportunities to dive are more limited.

I do feel fortunate but in reality is one of those things where you make your own destiny, or at least you steer it. Lived in 3 different continents but never more that 30-40 minute ride to a salt water shoreline, that was no accident. Could have a much bigger bank account if being by an ocean without snow wasn't my main condition for accepting a job offer.

This type of statement is nothing more than the usual nonsense, there are more diving incidents where buddy teams have become split up, or poor buddy skills have been the primary cause

I wish there was an option to "double-like" a post, I haven't look but it wouldn't surprise me to find out there are more injuries while taking a shower than solo diving.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

That's another looooong discussion - maybe I didn't explain properly. My point is that unclear laws help corruption which I think, was one of the root causes (of course not the only one) of the crisis.

On topic now. I fount the law. Maybe you can download it here:
http://www.et.gr/idocs-nph/search/p...IubO2v8XRUUAS5uOMNhLPYp82gt9h42uA2e7GUG1h4eeD
It's a pdf, if you can't get it pm me your e-mail and I will send it.
Article (Arthro) 11.6.e goes something like this: It is forbidden to dive without another (certified) diver/buddy (doesn't need to be professional, any certified buddy would do), hence no solo diving indeed.
So @wetb4igetinthewater indeed it seems you had to go through all these - I hope the result you've got worthed all this trouble.
Regards

Thanks for the link, but isn't that from 2005? I'll read through it over the weekend.

Right now, things are looking like it was worth it. But as I tell my friends, this could be great or this could fall apart. But the potential for great success is there.

 

[drbill]

I've been diving solo since 1962 and haven't died yet. I don't recommend to anyne I don't know that they should dive solo. Being ready for solo diving is not just having done a number of dives, it is knowing how you respond to emergency situations. I know I respond with a clear head and don't panic. I don't know how others might respond and neither do they until they experience a few emergencies.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Not sure but believe the Solo card is required by most dive ops. The Solo course teaches you about redundant equipment needs as well as techniques. Solo is one of the specialties offered in order to get the Master Diver card.

I thought it might be one of the specialties offered or required for the MSD card. After reading this thread it seems that it is unusual to not be paired off with a buddy on most dive boats, and yet that has happened to me only once. I just happen to have a MSD card however they rarely look at it, they just ask me to write down my certification number.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I've been fortunate. Other than Laguna Beach, California I've never dived anywhere that did not allow solo diving. I've never had an instabuddy other than someone showing up at the beach asking to tag along.
I have zero interest in diving caves, quarries or babysitting dives.

 

[Colliam7]

The best outcome for all parties (us, the agencies, and the industry) is in the mutual pretense that solo diving does not exist.

I disagree completely with this. In fact, self-reliant diving is something that divers should aspire to, something for which they should seek opportunities to train, a style of diving for which they should equip themselves. If EVERY diver was trained, equipped, and mentally prepared to dive in a self-reliant manner - whether or not there was a buddy somewhere in the water - diving overall would be (even) safer, more enjoyable, and expressions of concerns about insta-buddies would cease to exist.

 

[tursiops]

Short answer is no, you would have to hold DM or above as this is a low entry level commercial ticket, which allows them to dive in a solo capacity.

Commercial diver, maybe, Recreational diver, No. DM is recreational; professional, Yes, but commercial No. And not jsut DM, but all the way to Course Director/Training Director (agency dependent); none of them are commercial tickets. And none of them confer solo diving certification automatically.