Solo diving certification?

[Sas]

I know you said they were people you'd seen do this. You, Saspotato, have always struck me as a girl with sense.
We have had some do it too. And I am sure some have done it and gotten away with it too. But, if I catch it, I am one mean b@#$#.
And there are boats that just don't care to know. I know that I like my license and my instructor rating, and my house, and my income........ and all the things I would lose if I allow it and something happens. It is hard, because I LOVE solo diving. I understand their feelings, but I just won't open myself or my shop up for liability.

From what I have seen, I kind of suspect charters can avoid liability if they make certain recommendations. If people choose not to follow their recommendations, then the charter is not really responsible for what happens as they can say 'well we advised them differently'. There aren't actually any laws regarding scuba diving in my local area, other than having to display a dive flag so solo diving isn't illegal as such but I am sure the boat could still be liable if they were shown to be encouraging or even knowing about certain things. This would vary between areas though so I understand your point.

 

[Palaupete]

Thanks for the info - I preferred getting it from divers rather than googling it. I completely understand the boat owners point of view from a legal standpoint. Unfortunately, I was paired twice with divers who both ran out of air including a lady who was too tired to swim back to the boat so I had to drag her back while she breathed off my octopus. Both of these incidents occured in tourist areas of Florida where I don't dive anymore so it probably won't happen again. However, it did prompt my purchase of the spare air. I decided that if I dove with a stranger whose skills and panic proneness were unknown I would rather hand them a spare air and point to the surface rather than having them hanging on to me trying to buddy breathe. Another thing about Wakatobi. Spare airs are not allowed as the sole backup. When the divemaster noticed I had a spare air rather than an octopus he immediately took my regulator and installed an octopus. That was fine with me but I told him good naturedly that if he gave me the "out of air" sign that I would hand him the spare air first and the octopus later if necessary.
One great thing about the replies on this was that I was concerned I would I would get several lectures on the "danger" of solo diving. Glad that didn't happen. I think i probably share something with most other solo divers in that I respect the water but I am not afraid of it. I think anyone who dives that actually worries about drowning should definitely stick to buddy diving.