SDI specialty training for solo diver

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Ha! Believe me, by the end of the semester-long course I (and, later, my daughter) took, we had done many more than "an average of 17 successful [buddy breathing] training experiences"! And that was even before the week-long open water checkout session!!

That's not the typical open water training length however. The loss of gas of one diver and the loss of the alternate regulator of the other diver with gas is so incredibly small. I fear humboldt squid in at Cove 2 (they have been sighted in the Strait of Juan de Fuca but not the Puget Sound) more than that possibility.

But, again, I see no downsides to being trained in the skill of buddy breathing--you know, in order to have another safety option in one's toolbox.

I see the value of this training as building confidence/remaining calm in an emergency situation. But that's it. I don't see it as a realistic tool in ones' toolbox. The probability of having to use it is just too low. I'd rather focus training on monitoring gas supply instead: I assign the task to my students to tell their buddy first and them me when their cylinder pressure hits different values - and I recommend them continuing that habit with their buddies and dive guides. And abiding by min gas.

The only time I did buddy breathing was during the equipment exchange when I became a DM (a useless exercise in my opinion). I'll never do it again, nor will I recommend it, but I won't tell people not to do it. How other people spend their time underwater is their business.

 

[Fastmarc]

I've been SOLO diving for the past 40 years, but recently (this past year) made the decision to go ahead with the certification.. Although I have previously been vocal on this board about my opinion that a "certification" is not needed, I've changed my tune and glad that I took the course...

Quick recap:

A good buddy of mine and our wives recently took a 10 day trip to Bonaire this May (to celebrate our 68th birthdays upcoming in June) and my buddy and I decided to go ahead with the SDI certification. We used Bryan Crafts at the TDS center located onsite at Captain Don's. Excellent instructor.

Prior to arriving Bonaire we completed and passed all of the knowledge based work and also completed and submitted all paperwork, medical forms, liability waivers. etc.... The process could not have been any more easy to navigate. We simply contacted Bryan back in February, signed up for the course, pre-scheduled our open water day (s) and he emailed us the log-in code for the academics as well as any forms that needed to be downloaded, completed, then uploaded.....including our headshot photos for the cert cards. We asked ahead of time if the OW work could be completed in one day and the response was "maybe....... it will depend on our evaluation of your ability to master the required skills. We'll be doing a minimum of 2 dives."

My buddy and I are both back-mount pony divers. I have both a 13 and a 19cf. I brought the 13cf with me then trans-filled it once in Bonaire....

We met Bryan on May 5 at Capt Dons and spent much of the morning going over the academics, calculations, pre-planning, etc.....then took lunch and prepped for the OW work. After the required 200 yard surface swim we did a quick descent to 60ft for evaluation of all general skills, buoyancy, gas consumption, etc.....then we ascended to 30 ft and spent the next 45 minutes on the required SDI Solo skills.... such as switching to alt gas source, swapping to spare mask, remove and replace fins, replace broken fin strap, access to multiple cutting devices, deployment of DSMB's, signaling devices, etc, etc.... My buddy and I dive with both a DSMB and a SMB. Bryan brought no less than 6 additional DSMB's clipped to his harness and had us deploy all of ours and all of his on this first dive. All skills were performed neutrally buoyant at horizontal hover.

Then back to the class to debrief, discuss and plan the next dive. At this point Bryan stated that he felt that we were both competent and asked our permission to "ghost" us on the next dive. We asked what that meant and he basically stated that he would &%#^ with us during the dive to check reactions... We said sure. Even though we had the basic advantage of knowing what what was was coming, it was still "interesting" to have someone sneak in behind you at 60ft, turn off your primary gas, pull your mask off and take off a fin, etc.

After the 2nd dive we met back in the shop to discuss / debrief. He congratulated us and then actually had the machine right there to print and issue the plastic cert cards. I thought that was a nice bonus and it was unexpected...

All in all, a worthwhile course and I highly recommend Bryan at the TDS center at Capt Dons on Bonaire.

Sounded like a great experience.
I had a solo course lined up in Cayman in 2020 with a TDI center, then the pandemic hit. Was forced to cancel and was issued a full refund. I was so disappointed.
I pretty much didn't dive during the pandemic and only started full time this year. I will be lining up that course again soon. Hopefully the outfit is still there as well as the trainer who I heard was quite good. The person was also a cave instructor. I figured I would have learned a lot.