What's the benefit of a Solo cert card?

[lloyd_borrett]

G'day,

I dive solo on a regular basis, though on recreational dives rather than technical dives. Although I've never asked to dive solo while on a dive trip or liveaboard, this option has been given to me from time to time, and I've used it. (Every time I was using my technical rig with independent twins while doing recreational diving.)

This makes me wonder just what I'd be likely to gain in terms of recognition from various dive operators were I to actually get a Solo diving cert card?

Best regards, Lloyd Borrett.

 

[tstormdiver]

The things that come to the top of my mind is, there may be useful skills that you may learn that you may not be aware of. Then again,... you may have them already squared away, being you say that you are a technical diver, you probably have what you need, skills- wise. Difficult to say. The card itself, tells the operator you have the skills & is a kind of CYA assurance to them. Some operators demand such a certification, some are more lenient & will let anyone they *think* is qualified dive solo or some will not allow solo diving period. The quarry I frequently dive requires solos certification, or the owner's express knowledge of a technical diver's skill to dive solo.

 

[w ripley]

...The quarry I frequently dive requires solos certification...

The reason I got one.

 

[redacted]

I have been on live-a-boards that permit solo diving only if properly certified and equipped. But, unfortunately, some ops refuse to recognize that card.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I dive solo, never bothered with the card. It seems a large number of ops I have used either won't allow solo at all or will allow it regardless of the card. Sometimes they say solo if trained, but if you present enough experience and/or other credentials it becomes viable. It probably has more to do with location than anything else. Vacation destinations obviously have a lot of once a year divers they need to protect from themselves. It might prove useful there, but in the end it may just be another card in your collection.

There is something to be gained from the education for the recreational diver. Learning in a class is more structured, faster and less risky than the learning by experience I have relied on.

 

[Akimbo]

More and more, the solo-card is required to reduce liability for charter boat operators. You may find this thread useful:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/solo-divers/432809-solo-friendly-charters.html

 

[markmud]

Lloyd_Borret,

I (this is a me-thing; therefore, the singler pronoun "I") like to dive, occasionally, by myself. I don't want the responsibility of diving with my SOB diving buddy (wife) or with my dear freind who is AOW (and more) PADI certified, but doesn't know that she is 2 minutes from staged decompression unless I read her computer and tell her that we are slowly ascending, RIGHT NOW! True story.

She does not understand the difference between decompression diving and staged decompression diving (I wrote that correctly, PADI marketing aside, we all perform decompression diving when diving within "no-decompression limits"). REMEMBER, when we are "no-decompression" diving, we can't shoot to the surface from 80 fsw as we may get bent. A slow controlled ascent is the same as decompression diving. Her PADI instructors have been going around the world diving with this lady for about 70 dives. And they have not advanced her training while taking her money for these organized trips. They did not need to perform formal training with this lady, they could have used an informal approach to help her knowledge level.

Captain Wiz from Anchor Dive in St. Croix is a good example. He gives us one suggestion every trip. All of his singular suggestions have helped my wife and I. My wife is a PADI master scuba diver with Rescue Diver under her belt.

I tried to get my PADI instructors to explain "staged decompression" just so I could understand it; they refused as that discussion is VOODOO talk. I knwew what to do if my freind had exceeded "no-decompression" limits as I have read books and studied TDI manuals so that I could respond in the situation described above.

I will never be a technical diver because of my pshycological make-up. However, as a former fishboat and tugboat captain, I know that the ocean kills those who are not prepared with knowledge, contingency plans, and redundant gear.

Back to the topic: I want a cert card that makes Solo diving as easy as it can be when diving from dive boats. Sometimes, an operator will not allow Solo diving whatsoever. Oh Well! The cert will help when diving with operators who are reasonable.

markm

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The card allows yo to dive solo on charters and in quarries that allow solo diving. Some won't even with the card.

The training however teaches you to be self reliant, moves you toward much greater redundancy in your configuration and assists you in better assessing environmental conditions and risks and planning accordingly to ensure you dive within your limitations. I think there is a great deal of value in that for any OW diver, even if they never plan to dive solo, especially as most of that used to be taught in OW and AOW classes (until the mid 1980s) but is now glaringly absent given the greater reliance on DMs for the touristy divers the dive [-]training[/-] travel industry now targets.

 

[cruiser]

I got my solo cert to dive Mammoth Lake.

Blackbeard's now allows solo diving with a solo card and a pony bottle.

 

[drbill]

When traveling, the pony bottle is the rub. I wear mine at home and have solo dived for over 50 years now. I don't travel with it though.

Just yesterday I asked about the PADI self reliant diver card and was told by an instructor friend that he'd have no trouble signing m,e off on it given my thousands of solo dives. I think I'll get it just to have it. It may help, it may not. We'll see. I'd probably prefer a true solo diver card from a different agency, but most of ours here are PADI.