Solo diving in Coz....

[luscioman]

I was trying to make multiple points but the primary point was being that OW divers "should" have already received all the training they need to dive solo and utilizing the buddy system is only "recommended". Now, with what many of us see today we have to wonder just what dive op certified these people... Perhaps watching training videos on a smart phone that are interrupted 50 times with ventures into one's various social media accounts followed by self tests that don't actually score someone but just tell them what the correct answer was and why doesn't work quite as well as spending two FULL weekends of hours in an old fashioned class room environment in a group setting with in-pool training. Oh well, times change I guess and in an era in which people are too lazy to go to a grocery store and have an anxiety attack if their smartphone loses coverage for more than a few minutes how can one expect them to sit in a class room at a dive op for 2 weekends of classes and training without being medicated?

So, if today an additional "solo certification" may make these people somewhat better divers because they didn't learn much from their initial certification, I can see it. I just don't want some dive op telling me after 17 years of diving and taking REAL dive classes that I can't dive solo if I don't have a buddy or to be forcefully buddy'd up with one these modern smartphone certified divers in order to dive. Heck, years ago I went out on a dive boat in the FL Keys that enforced the buddy system. The buddy I was assigned wanted to drop to the bottom under the anchored boat and squirt 3 cans of Easy Cheese into the water feeding the fish for an hour! I looked at her and gave her the "you OK" sign, she responded and off I went on my own... Later "Buddy".

Yes, I do exclusively dive the 3rd world and have been for years now because for what I personally like to see, the diving is better but to each their own. Furthermore, most dive ops in the 3rd world are not going to enforce this nonsense because $ talks and when one signs the General Waiver that everyone is required to sign be it there or in the US, in the 3rd world that wavier actually means something. In the US dive ops know that waiver is worthless in a US court of law.

Deepsea21,
I have enjoyed reading your posts on this thread. I am just curious if you were a navy diver and if not what type of REAL dive classes have you taken?

 

[deepsea21]

Deepsea21,
I have enjoyed reading your posts on this thread. I am just curious if you were a navy diver and if not what type of REAL dive classes have you taken?

My OW dive certification consisted of reading the entire PADI dive training book that was provided with our certification fee and watching several VHS training videos that were loaned to us by the dive op performing the certification. After that it was 2 weekends of REAL Saturday and Sunday classes in a class room environment during which the material we were assigned to read and watch was reviewed and then we were tested on it. No one failed the tests everyone's tests were reviewed and all the wrong answers that everyone had were reviewed and discussed in the group forum. In-pool training was also completed on the second weekend. As we completed our class work and in-pool training in Boston, there was no way we were going to do our 4 OW cert dives in an ice cold rock quarry up there. We flew to Key West, FL and completed our 4 OW dives for final certification with Captain's Corner dive center which I understand is still there.

Anyway, to each his or her own but IMHO there is something wrong with the certification process these days based on the skill level displayed by newer certified divers.

Navy diver? No way. As far as Navy/military divers... I was lucky enough to enjoy a few beers with a retired diver from the Royal Navy. He was perhaps in his early 60's. He said he couldn't dive anymore because of the damage that diving did to his body and had no interest in recreational diving as a pastime as he made his living diving during his years of service and has seen everything. He said lots of premature deaths and health issues were experienced by many of his fellow divers in the Royal Navy. I had that discussion with him maybe 13 years ago as he was a friend of a friend and we ended up at the same BBQ. My friend asked if I'd like to chat with a military diver as she knew we were certified and had been into this pastime for about 4 years so I jumped on the opportunity. We chatted for an hour or two. Maybe times have changed but he and other military divers pay a big price for those serious levels of pressure they operate in, may have to sustain for several days, and then decompress from over a LONG period of time... Coming up in a pressurized capsule from depth and migrating to a pressurized chamber on the ship with no change in pressure anywhere along the way. Then decompressing in that chamber with no flowing water, no showers and no drains. Sponge baths, a self contained toilet, and food/water provided through a sealed compartment that would be equalized to the internal pressure of the chamber before being opened from the inside. Who knows, maybe he was just an old military diver who wanted to screw with some young recreational diver! I'll never know but it all made perfect sense to me.

 

[ggunn]

Maybe times have changed but he and other military divers pay a big price for those serious levels of pressure they operate in, may have to sustain for several days, and then decompress from over a LONG period of time... Coming up in a pressurized capsule from depth and migrating to a pressurized chamber on the ship with no change in pressure anywhere along the way.

There are still divers who do that in the offshore oilfield. They stay pressured up for long periods of time and move from rig to rig in pressure vessels. Not me!

 

[cruiser]

I was recently at Marine World and they said the same thing, and for the same reason. They also don't want anyone going out to the reef from their dock. A few months ago it was an option but recommended only for experienced divers.

Ugh, another one bites the solo dust. Thanks for the info.

 

[JamesBon92007]

Ugh, another one bites the solo dust. Thanks for the info.

I have no doubt that it's still possible to rent a tank from somebody and do a solo dive, it's just a matter of finding the source. I don't know the name of the place next door to Marine World (just to the North) but it appears that they do a lot of Discover Scuba or something. I'm guessing that they rent tanks but don't know for sure. Anyway, there are often so many divers there that it might be easy to get away with "I'm with that guy over there" or some such creative statement. You will be in the same ocean so it's not like you're lying or anything I'm terrible at remembering names but it wasn't Antonio or Jorge or the other young guy, it was the guy that I think is part-owner with Jorge (Manuel, Miguel maybe?) who told me but he didn't mention anything that might indicate that it was OK with a Solo certification. Come to think of it, I've seen plenty of "alone" divers at Scuba Club. It's possible to dive with them if you are not staying at SCC and when I asked about renting a tank for a shore dive Jose said it was about six or seven dollars. I have not done a shore dive there but my girlfriend has and supposedly it's pretty interesting. At Marine World there are some coral gardens to the South and more to the North plus they are building an artificial reef and there are at least three busts of famous oceanographers including Jacques Cousteau plus a head that I'm guessing is Maya. You will also see lots of snorkelers and SNUBA and hookah divers there. I think they enter and exit from steps next to Marine World, and at Marine World we just jump off the dock and exit on some steps just South of the dock. Lots of boat traffic so bring a SMB. They also do SNUBA at Jeanie's restaurant. And then there's the place that's just down the street (South) from SCC and I'll bet they do shore diving there too. We are going to the Coral Princess in October and I'll ask Pepe if they allow solo shore diving there. They get $15 for a tank but we got two hours from an AL80 because it's only about 15 feet deep along the shore and there is lots of sea life. You can go out deeper, away from the shore but it's mostly just sand.

 

[cruiser]

Thanks for the info. I would like to see the coral gardens and statues.

I have tank and weights and a fill source--entry/exit is what I'm looking for. I dive a lot from Blue Angel (they are south of Dive Paradise) To be on a shallow, warm, shore dive is heaven. I can spend 3 hours just looking at stuff. And I bought an underwater camera for more play time.

Looking forward to hearing about the Coral Princess and if they've gone no solo

I have no doubt that it's still possible to rent a tank from somebody and do a solo dive, it's just a matter of finding the source. I don't know the name of the place next door to Marine World (just to the North) but it appears that they do a lot of Discover Scuba or something. I'm guessing that they rent tanks but don't know for sure. Anyway, there are often so many divers there that it might be easy to get away with "I'm with that guy over there" or some such creative statement. You will be in the same ocean so it's not like you're lying or anything I'm terrible at remembering names but it wasn't Antonio or Jorge or the other young guy, it was the guy that I think is part-owner with Jorge (Manuel, Miguel maybe?) who told me but he didn't mention anything that might indicate that it was OK with a Solo certification. Come to think of it, I've seen plenty of "alone" divers at Scuba Club. It's possible to dive with them if you are not staying at SCC and when I asked about renting a tank for a shore dive Jose said it was about six or seven dollars. I have not done a shore dive there but my girlfriend has and supposedly it's pretty interesting. At Marine World there are some coral gardens to the South and more to the North plus they are building an artificial reef and there are at least three busts of famous oceanographers including Jacques Cousteau plus a head that I'm guessing is Maya. You will also see lots of snorkelers and SNUBA and hookah divers there. I think they enter and exit from steps next to Marine World, and at Marine World we just jump off the dock and exit on some steps just South of the dock. Lots of boat traffic so bring a SMB. They also do SNUBA at Jeanie's restaurant. And then there's the place that's just down the street (South) from SCC and I'll bet they do shore diving there too. We are going to the Coral Princess in October and I'll ask Pepe if they allow solo shore diving there. They get $15 for a tank but we got two hours from an AL80 because it's only about 15 feet deep along the shore and there is lots of sea life. You can go out deeper, away from the shore but it's mostly just sand.

 

[cruiser]

Gordon--

What's your take on the solo/no solo thing? You've been going to the island for a long time.

Isn't the internet wonderful? There is no shortage of people who will tell you what you should have done and how you are a terrible person for doing what you did, no matter what it was.

 

[cruiser]

Bamafan--I'll be bringing down tanks and weights and have an air fill source. Shore dive entry/exit places is what I'm lacking.

The problem in Cozumel with solo shore diving is access, tanks and weights . I don't know anyone that specifically rents weights so you can store stuff at Cozumel Scuba Repair or maybe buy weights somewhere or haul your own. Tanks are fairly easy as there is Merdiano's and the new fill station near Casa Mission. Merdiano's is under $3 / tank last time I checked. You will have to know Spanish at Merdiano's.

 

[nippurmagnum]

It's called Self-Reliant Diver specialty.

I think a lot of the debate over solo diving involves people talking past each other.

Yes, most divers have no business diving solo. But then again, consider the universe of PADI-certified divers. What percentage can competently assemble their own gear? What percentage have good buoyancy control? What percentage could navigate underwater to save their life? What percentage have dived in the last 12 months? What percentage would actually increase your safety if they were your buddies, as opposed to being a liability?

PADI drills into everyone that safety depends primarily on close proximity to a buddy. Given the dismal ratio of inexperienced to competent divers, over-reliance on the buddy system is just downright dangerous.

I've done about 100 solo dives, and over 400 dives in various buddy/group situations. I can categorically say that the solo dives made me a much better diver. Skills refined in solo diving also made me a much more useful buddy when I do buddy dives.

If someone showed me a shiny PADI "Self-Reliant Diver C-Card", I wouldn't quite know what to make of it. I wouldn't hold the certification against anyone (necessarily), but I would certainly worry about overconfidence by the holder.

I think self-reliance in diving can be gauged the same way the Supreme Court defines obscenity -- you know it when you see it. I would be far less concerned with whether a solo diver had a PADI Self-Reliant card in his wallet, or a pony bottle strapped on (and yes, I've dived with pony bottles) than whether the diver was generally experienced, alert, sensible, and appropriately humble before Mother Nature.

I don't fault any dive operator for asking some challenging questions to anyone who just walked in off the street looking to rent equipment to go out on a solo dive. But it should be within the skill set of any experienced dive operator to figure out pretty quickly whether someone has the chops to dive safely -- whether with a buddy or not.

 

[ReefHound]

Same could be said about an instructor card. I wasn't at all suggesting that a PADI Self-Reliant card meant that one was a qualified and competent solo diver. Someone had mentioned that PADI doesn't offer a solo card and I was just saying that, while PADI does not use the term "solo" and continues to drill the buddy system, they have found a way to get that particular diver's dollar.