Getting Certified Solo

[Aotus]

OP is asking about whether he can take his cave class without another student,
NOT asking about SOLO diving.

Poor choice of words only.

 

[DWMoore]

Solo cave diving is common but I'm not sure how much you'll get an instructor to support it. Especially straight out of a cave diving course. I certainly wouldn't recommend it. It is better to have a few friends in the sport right off the bat but if you get into it, you'll probably make a few. If you can get to Florida on a regular basis you can pick up some buddies here and there. If your fiancee isn't into the cave diving thing, it's smart not to push her into it. BUT you could see if she would be interested in a cavern class. It's the first step into cave diving and you can do it with a single tank (doubles not required).

Either way, get plenty experience in cave diving before you start solo cave diving. It's not for everyone. But neither is cave diving for that matter.

Good luck!

 

[Aotus]

OP is asking about whether he can take his cave class without another student,
NOT asking about SOLO diving.

Poor choice of words only.

why do I even try?

 

[tursiops]

Solo cave diving is common but I'm not sure how much you'll get an instructor to support it. Especially straight out of a cave diving course. I certainly wouldn't recommend it. It is better to have a few friends in the sport right off the bat but if you get into it, you'll probably make a few. If you can get to Florida on a regular basis you can pick up some buddies here and there. If your fiancee isn't into the cave diving thing, it's smart not to push her into it. BUT you could see if she would be interested in a cavern class. It's the first step into cave diving and you can do it with a single tank (doubles not required).

Either way, get plenty experience in cave diving before you start solo cave diving. It's not for everyone. But neither is cave diving for that matter.

Good luck!

See post 21. The one just above your post.

 

[Redshift]

Find and instructor and say you are interested. They may do a course only with you or already have someone waiting or keep you waiting for a buddy. I didn't go into my cave nor trimix courses already with a buddy.
I second the opinion that it's much better to do your course with another diver, not just the instructor.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Find and instructor and say you are interested. They may do a course only with you or already have someone waiting or keep you waiting for a buddy. I didn't go into my cave nor trimix courses already with a buddy.
I second the opinion that it's much better to do your course with another diver, not just the instructor.

I'll go even further and suggest it's much better to do your course with another diver who is at about the same ability level that you are. In my first cave class we had a third guy join my buddy and me, and for the first couple days ... because his skills and familiarity with the gear weren't at the same level we were ... it held us back and made the class overall less enjoyable. Our instructor recognized it and separated us at that point ... and then things went much more smoothly.

Cave training isn't something you want to do one-on-one. Although there is an emphasis on self-reliance (to a degree), many of the skills and exercises require you to work as a team. Communication and awareness are critical, and the instructor needs to evaluate you on those skills ... which becomes more difficult to do if he is at the same time trying to be your buddy.

Choose a good instructor. Talk to them about it ... chances are they're having the same conversation with someone else, who may (or may not) be a good option to take the class with. Cave diving, more than any other training I've ever taken, requires you to put some effort into choosing the right instructor and dive buddy. If you want to get the most out of your class, don't leave it to chance.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Michael Guerrero]

Additionally, after I'm certified will I have any issues finding buddies to dive with? It seems like a specialty like cave diving could make finding buddies even harder as the pool of certified cave divers is rather small in comparison to rec OW.
Thanks

Your ability to find insta-buddies for technical diving probably depends on where you live/dive, and as you stated will be from a smaller pool of potential candidates. My dives down in Pensacola off boats have been sans-buddy and mostly there wasn't anyone on the boat who could have partnered with me--to include a DM. Same for CA.

Likewise, depending on where the cave is, this will be more or less difficult. Some places in Florida have lots of traffic. The cave I dove in MO was not frequently visited.

 

[boulderjohn]

I may be misreading this, but I think the OP's concern is with signing up for the class without a buddy more than doing the class as the only student. I believe he assumes that if he signs up for a cave class by himself, he must therefore be by himself in the class. If I am reading that right, then he should know that signing up for the class alone does not mean he will be taking the class alone. In fact, an instructor with a single student will work hard to get another student, if only because they make more money per day that way.

I signed up my initial cave certification by myself, and I signed up for cave sidemount by myself. On all of those classes, I was only actually by myself a couple of times. The sidemount class had 3 students total. In my initial cave classes, I was indeed the only student, but that was just because no one else signed on then. I could have had another student. On several of the days, we were joined by another diver who was interning to become an instructor, and he served as my buddy. In the later classes, I was joined each day by another student each day, and it was not the same student. Some people were working on the class a little at a time, and they would show up for the day.

When I later interned as a trimix instructor, I served as the buddy for the single student who signed up for he class.

In summary, you can sign up for the class by yourself and have other students with you throughout the course.

 

[abnfrog]

if its cost effective I teach a single student, with my facility on the water, with accommodation on the property I can teach most courses including instructor with one student .........some instructors are not that lucky . just ask your instructor of choice if he /she can do it..............steve

 

[northernone]

I signed up for a course as the only cave interested diver I knew. Till now all my cave training has been one on one with the instructor, makes for a excellent experience and prepared me well for being part of 2 diver team.

In my first 3 diver team I needed mentoring to know my role with confidence. Otherwise, I received great focused attention and a customized course with the reduced student ratio and less distractions.

Are you in touch with some potential instructors yet?


Enjoy your diving.
Cameron