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I'll usually ask them which they believe is more dangerous: solo or checkouts with students. This has worked with everyone but my wife.
Yes, but are they permitted to fly at night or other adverse conditions? Isn't it true that there are significant restrictions placed on new pilots? Pilots are trained from the start to solo, where divers receive no training specific to solo diving in OW class and are taught to rely on a buddy for support.
You can't get here from there.
See, while i wish "freaking out" were an exaggeration, sadly it wasnt. I was at a dinner table with people (all non-divers, but most of which who know people who dive), and i mentioned to them i was interested in solo diving, and they literally did scream out "OHHHHH NONONONONONO DONT YOU DARE DO THAT!!!" and it wasnt even people i knew....
The problem I see with your argument, captain, is that divers aren't trained today as they were when you received your OW training. For the most part, they are not trained to dive ... they are trained to breathe underwater and survive until they learn how to dive. The learning takes place, for the most part, after they receive their certification.
Most divers you see in places like Cozumel these days aren't even capable of diving independently of a divemaster. They rely on someone else to check their gear, check their air, check their buddy ... hell, it takes most of their concentration just to hold themselves in position underwater (usually flailing arms and legs furiously) while trying to look at something.
People shouldn't even attempt solo diving until they can hold position without any more thought than they'd give to walking down a hallway ... or until they have trained themselves to look around and take note of their surroundings without losing their sense of direction or position ... or until they have adequate control and mental bandwidth to be able to do something simple, like clear a mask, take a compass heading, or shoot a bag, without sinking to the bottom on their knees.
Most people fresh out of OW today can't do any of those things ... and have no business even THINKING about solo diving until they've developed their basic skills to the point where they'd be capable of dealing with problems underwater.
Solo diving is really easy ... anyone can do it ... until something goes wrong. Then, you'd BETTER have the chops to deal with it without help, or about the best outcome one can hope for is that you don't forget to breathe as you're clawing your way to the surface ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
Bob, I agree with what you are saying, the problem is diver training not solo diving. Just as I said a "properly trained" open water dive should be capable of a solo dive in similar conditions. All divers do not receive bad training so a blanket "newly trained divers should not solo" is putting them all in the same box.
Not to mention some shouldn't be doing any kind of diving no matter what their training .