Question Solo Cert for Technical Dives?

[Nick_Radov]

When I first read "pinnacle dives" I interpreted the phrase to mean diving at the edge of one's ability. i.e. you shouldn't solo dive at the edge of your ability. However, upon googling I see Pinnacle Dives are those which:

...explore underwater rock formations that rise vertically from the seabed, creating a "pinnacle shape", often with challenging features like narrow crevices, overhangs, and strong currents, typically requiring a higher level of diving skill and experience compared to a standard reef dive.

I have only dove freshwater quarries and Florida caverns. Having no experience with current, it sounds like a dangerous, anxiety-inducing environment to me.

Some of our tech dives in Northern California are on granite rock formations that would qualify as pinnacles under that definition. You need a scooter to deal with the current but there's nothing particularly dangerous or anxiety-inducing about the environment. Those offshore sites are often where we have the best visibility and most abundant marine life.

I wouldn't recommend solo diving there (or anywhere). For one thing if your scooter fails it's nice to have a buddy who can tow you back near the top of the pinnacle before starting a drifting ascent (in a serious emergency you can ascend from anywhere but it's safer to send the team's marker buoy up where the boat crew is expecting to see it).

 

[SpaceX Aquanaut]

Some of our tech dives in Northern California are on granite rock formations that would qualify as pinnacles under that definition. You need a scooter to deal with the current but there's nothing particularly dangerous or anxiety-inducing about the environment. Those offshore sites are often where we have the best visibility and most abundant marine life.

I wouldn't recommend solo diving there (or anywhere). For one thing if your scooter fails it's nice to have a buddy who can tow you back near the top of the pinnacle before starting a drifting ascent (in a serious emergency you can ascend from anywhere but it's safer to send the team's marker buoy up where the boat crew is expecting to see it).

Scootering Solo in Open Water, the most common -and potentially very dangerous hazard especially at deep depth- is entanglement in monofilament line/net. Sometimes you can't even see or sense it until you feel it bind you up. . .

 

[Nick_Radov]

Scootering Solo in Open Water, the most common -and potentially very dangerous hazard especially at deep depth- is entanglement in monofilament line/net. Sometimes you can't even see or sense it until you feel it bind you up. . .

Yes, good point. Monofilament line can be nearly invisible underwater. One of my friends got entangled and tied down to the rock structure at the end of a tech dive. If his buddy wasn't there to cut him free it could have been really dangerous. Solo diving is particularly stupid anywhere that has loose fishing tackle floating around.

 

[grantmac]

My counterpoint is that scootering in low visibility and high current is something that is very challenging/useless with a buddy (but possible with a teammate) to the point that the dive just isn't going to be worthwhile.
I won't scoot with anyone who isn't in redundant gear and confident solo.

 

[hroark2112]

At 200’ no one is checking your card.

 

[Celt]

A lot of divers end up solo for various reasons. Friends move away or give up, get old, die. Don’t have the time, whatever. So you organise yourself and your gear, to manage on your own. You say to yourself you won’t go beyond a certain depth or do any deco but sooner or later you end up doing the same diving you did with friends on your own.

 

[Nick_Radov]

A lot of divers end up solo for various reasons. Friends move away or give up, get old, die.

Make new friends.

 

[Celt]

Make new friends.

Once you start diving on your own and find you like it, there’s no going back. Everything is geared towards managing on your own. This is my fifth year and today I’ll fit two rollers I built for my boat trailer in order to launch and retrieve on remote beaches on my own.

 

[Nick_Radov]

Once you start diving on your own and find you like it, there’s no going back. Everything is geared towards managing on your own. This is my fifth year and today I’ll fit two rollers I built for my boat trailer in order to launch and retrieve on remote beaches on my own.

A guy I knew in the local dive community used to do solo boat dives. The Coast Guard recovered his boat but they never found the body.

 

[34109411]

A guy I knew in the local dive community used to do solo boat dives. The Coast Guard recovered his boat but they never found the body.

this is unfortunate.