For those who carry Solo-diver certification card?

[caruso]

You must be a TON of fun at parties.

I don't go to parties.

 

[Basking Ridge Diver]

I don't go to parties.

Ha ha ha - this is my shocked face...

 

[EFX]

Haigh quarry in Kankakee, IL would ask who my buddy was and if I said I was diving solo they required to see the cert. They also asked if I had a redundant air source with me.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

How useful has it been? How many times have you been asked for it on dive boats and quarries etc. Thanks.

It was absolutely essential at the quarries I used to dive (Gilboa mostly). It has been somewhat helpful on dive boats. Most let me dive solo as long as I have redundancy but I have had to produce it a time or two. They then did let me dive solo so it therefore proved itself useful.

 

[stuartv]

Had to show it at Lake Phoenix.

Never jumped off a boat without either a nominal buddy or as part of a group.

 

[Wookie]

I have it, I teach it, I’ve never been asked for it, I required it if you wanted to dive solo. I believe the class has value for recreational OW or AOW divers and PADI divemaster. I believe it is wasted on caverns or anyone who understands dive planning.

 

[markmud]

HI OP,

I have used my solo cert.

• JimBlay mentioned Gilboa in his post; yeah, me too.
• I was questioned on a group outing at Tahoe--an instructor verified that I was a certifiable solo diver.
• At Curacao.
• On a dive boat in Monterey, the DM tried to insta-buddy me; the captain jumped into the conversation and stated that Mark was a solo diver and did not need a buddy. There was one diver who was not buddied up, and appeared to be a competent diver, so I offered to dive with him. He was a good diver. We both enjoyed it.
• The Yukon wreck in San Diego.

I have used the solo cert at a few other locations, but then my wife did dive with me after all.

It is handy to have.

It used to be hit and miss, and now it is becoming more accepted.

More than 15 years after SDI introduced the cert, and it is now becoming known and understood. The scuba diving community can be dogmatic and entrenched.

If you have a solo/self-reliant/independent cert, please use it wherever you dive, even if you are group diving. The more dive ops and instructors see them the better.

markm

 

[jlcnuke]

I don't have it. I will have it later this year. My local quarry does not allow solo diving (including getting in and just checking out new gear by yourself) without it, but they do allow it with the card. I wanted to dive on my birthday, my "internet buddy" from a local facebook group went silent after posting they'd like to dive that day, and my real-life buddy didn't feel up to it in the morning, so no diving like I had planned despite having a backup buddy planned all week long. If I'd had the cert, I would have been diving on my birthday instead of being upset that I couldn't go diving that day.

 

[stuartv]

My local quarry (Millbrook) allows solo diving with an SDI Solo card, but not a PADI Self-Reliant card. Not sure why, since the management teaches both PADI and SDI... I never have asked but I guess it's something to do with their insurance company and the actual verbiage of each regarding what it says the diver is certified for/to do.

It seems like I've seen a few posts here on SB from other people who have reported the same disparity at other places. OTOH, I have never hard of anywhere that allows solo diving on a PADI card but not an SDI card.... So, if you're thinking of getting it, that might be a reason to specifically go for the SDI Solo instead of the PADI Self-Reliant.

 

[tkaelin]

On our last trip to Cur, two dive ops, one that had a no solo policy posted, allowed me to solo after showing them my solo cert card and having redundant air.