If you dive alone, you die alone ...

[scubadada]

I'm confused. Is "solo" diving the same as diving alone? I do both. There's actually a certification for this?

Several, SDI solo, PADI self reliant, IANTD self reliant...

 

[JamesBon92007]

Those that can remember--Weren't you kinda maybe sorta ATTRACTED by the risk in the old days when diving was right up there with landing on the moon for crazy adventure?

Scuba diving was fairly well-established when I began ('69) but yes, part of the appeal was discovery and adventure. Now I do much of my diving with bunches of people who drift above the reefs with their arms folded across their chest and have no idea what's below them under the ledges and in the holes etc. I suspect most of these people would never even make it past the surf on a moderate day in California.

 

[scubadada]

Scuba diving was fairly well-established when I began ('69) but yes, part of the appeal was discovery and adventure. Now I do much of my diving with bunches of people who drift above the reefs with their arms folded across their chest and have no idea what's below them under the ledges and in the holes etc. I suspect most of these people would never even make it past the surf on a moderate day in California.

Who did you get certified with? I did LA County 1970, I can relate to what you're saying

 

[JamesBon92007]

Who did you get certified with? I did LA County 1970, I can relate to what you're saying

I got certified with NAUI at Pacific Divers Supply in Long Beach. Rumor has it that LA County had an excellent program too.

 

[AfterDark]

I'm confused. Is "solo" diving the same as diving alone? I do both. There's actually a certification for this?

Diving alone doesn't have a certification, divers can do that anytime they are alone. Solo diving is different, a diver is solo diving when diving from a boat full of people without a buddy, that requires a certification. See the difference?

 

[Fossil_Diver]

@markmud
Death in a can. That's funny. I think I may stencil Can O' Death on my pony bottle. Maybe even put a skull and cross bones on it.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Diving alone doesn't have a certification, divers can do that anytime they are alone. Solo diving is different, a diver is solo diving when diving from a boat full of people without a buddy, that requires a certification. See the difference?

OIC. I wonder why nobody ever asked me for my solo certification.

 

[markmud]

OIC. I wonder why nobody ever asked me for my solo certification.

Hi Bond, James Bond,

Were you diving of a SoCal boat? The SoCal boats I dive off of use the "water taxi" model for litigation defense. On SoCal boats, you the diver, are responsible for yourself once you hit the water and they don't interfere with your decisions--good or bad. They provide a surface swimmer and a diver on stand-by who is ready to recover your body from the bottom.

I don't know why, but SoCal divers are very good and responsible. They all dive fairly well (as an averaged group). Are they better or are they just responsible for themselves? They all find their way back to the boat.

In other places, the dive op lives under a different set of laws/rules. They do check for certs and many don't allow solo diving at all. The Solo Police nabbed me while diving off Miami. The Solo Police put me on strict supervision for my remaining dives. Once you board one of these boats, you become their child and their responsibility (they must be good mommies, or democrats).

markm

 

[Wookie]

Hi Bond, James Bond,

Were you diving of a SoCal boat? The SoCal boats I dive off of use the "water taxi" model for litigation defense. On SoCal boats, you the diver, are responsible for yourself once you hit the water and they don't interfere with your decisions--good or bad. They provide a surface swimmer and a diver on stand-by who is ready to recover your body from the bottom.

I don't know why, but SoCal divers are very good and responsible. They all dive fairly well (as an averaged group). Are they better or are they just responsible for themselves? They all find their way back to the boat.

In other places, the dive op lives under a different set of laws/rules. They do check for certs and many don't allow solo diving at all. The Solo Police nabbed me while diving off Miami. The Solo Police put me on strict supervision for my remaining dives. Once you board one of these boats, you become their child and their responsibility (they must be good mommies, or democrats).

markm

Not to drag the subject too far off, but that defense didn't work so well for Kyaa. Or a great number of other socal dive boats. Neither in a civil case nor in front of the ALJ. I'm going to try the model with my next boat. We shall see how it works for me.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Diving alone doesn't have a certification, divers can do that anytime they are alone. Solo diving is different, a diver is solo diving when diving from a boat full of people without a buddy, that requires a certification. See the difference?

Solo diving only requires a certification if you're doing it with a dive op who won't let you solo dive without one. You can acquire the skills without taking a dedicated class, as I did. Many of those skills came from an assortment of tech classes I took where the objective wasn't diving alone so much as training you to deal with problems you would face underwater ... the skills are the same, and the emphasis is on redundancy, keeping your wits about you, and maintaining enough awareness throughout the dive to recognize the onset of a problem that, if handled promptly would head off bigger problems.

By the time there was such a thing as a dedicated solo class, there was nothing in the curriculum that I hadn't already learned through some other means. Taking the class would've given me nothing more than another piece of plastic that would likely just get tossed in the drawer with all the other ones I've accumulated over the years.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)