jim T.:
How does one prove/validate a solo dive? No buddy sig.
From the fact I hear people going on and on about buddy signatures, I'm going to conclude that *someone* tells new divers that they need them. I can say quite assuredly, however, that I have found not one mention of buddy signatures in the NAUI materials (including everything from Scuba Diver, the first class, through Master Scuba Diver, which is more thorough academically than some agencies' early professional levels).
I have seen referral SSI divers on checkout dives with my shop who have been passing logbooks back and forth for buddy signatures, so perhaps SSI teaches it. (Perhaps PADI or others do, too, but their logbooks must not stand out as much as the SSI ones, which I notice.)
jim T.:
Do shops EVER count solo dives (on the word of the diver) towards dive counts for DM/Instructors, shop "prizes", whatever?
Do any boat operators consider them offical logged dives?
Of all the places I've been, I've not yet had the displeasure of finding anyone who *doesn't* take me at my word. Of course, there's some dive-six-sites-to-enter drawing going on this summer, or something like that, and they only count logs stamped by their commercial partners or verified by a divemaster, regardless of how many people you dive with.
Of course, just in case I ever run into a boneheaded boat or something, all my solo dives are signed by my buddy, who just so happens to me my imaginary friend. He was certified at the same time I was, but he doesn't quite have as many dives as I do. Unfortunately, he doesn't bother with a phone, but you can email him for verification and he'll reply when he gets it.
jim T.:
I know that rarely are log books asked for on charter boats
but for those that do-are diver claimed and logged solo dives count with them?
I don't see what difference it makes to a dive if one unknown person claims it or apparently two unknown people claim it.
jim T.:
Does anyone know if having an agency's solo diver card makes any difference? (Sigh) don't really want to have to
get another card unless it would make some real difference
in enough circumstances to be worth getting one.
I've heard rumor that there exists at least one site that actually cares about the SDI solo card. For the life of me, I can't remember where it may have been. Those sites I've been to that don't allow solo simply don't allow solo. The rest don't care about a collector's edition cert.
I'm (still) waiting for my LDS to start a DM class. When I expressed interest, they merely asked how many dives I had. I told them the number and rattled off a list of some of the interesting sites. They didn't start an audit or anything; they just kinda shook their heads and commented that I must be crazy to dive all that dark, cold water (and that they'd keep the Carribean, thank you kindly).
There simply isn't any way for anyone to verify your dives other than for them to have had their witness diving with you. The most they can do is talk about your experience and ask questions about your logged dives (if you say you've been to Alabama Blue Water and you don't know about a sailboat, expect to be thrown out on your neoprene-covered bottom, for instance).
Basically, though, the more you dive, solo or buddied, the more experience you gain and (hopefully) the more you learn. That experience should be *plainly* obvious when any experienced diver is talking to you. I'm nowhere as experienced as many divers I know, but even I can spot dangerously green divers with no perceivable effort on my part.
