So, can someone shed some light on what the actual course involves and what equipment is required (i.e. Pony or doubles?). What skills are covered/evaluated in the training dives?
Thanks!
The PDIC Solo Diver Course covers:
Equipment:
The student must be equipped with a primary air source and a redundant air source that is separate or can be isolated allowing the diver access to two independent air sources. The following equipment configurations are acceptable:
1. Rebreather with adequate bailout gas for the depth, distance, and duration of the dive.
2. Double cylinders with isolation manifold.
3. Double independent cylinders
4. Single tank with H valve
5. Single tank or double tanks with stage “buddy” bottle
6. Single or double tanks with pony bottle
7. Sidemount
Classroom:
Note: Instructors may adjust lecture material for the training level of the student. The recreational student may be informed about technical configurations for knowledge and to initiate an interest in technical training if the instructor desires. Or, the instructor may omit technical information for the recreational student. The technical solo student would benefit from all information provided and the technical instructor should cover all information. Instructors may choose to add information and use additional support materials to achieve the highest quality education for PDIC Solo students.
A. History of solo and team diving
1. Most early endeavors were solo dives
2. How the buddy system began
3. Pros and cons of buddy diving
4. Pros and cons of solo diving
5. Legal concerns for solo and team diving
B. Unplanned solo dives
1. Planning for and coping with buddy separation or team breakdown
2. Dealing with diver stress and rescue
C. Planned solo dives
1. Considerations for the ability to dive solo
a) Experience
b) Health and Physical Fitness
c) Intellectual aptitude
d) Psychological and emotional stability
e) Keen diving knowledge
2. Types of dives and their risks to the solo diver
a) Shore
b) Boat
c) Recreational
- night
- deep
- wreck
- limited visibility
- nitrox
- underwater photography
- hunting
- other recreational dives
d) Technical
- caverns and caves
- wreck penetration
- deep decompression diving
- rebreathers
D. Emergencies
1. Dealing with problems alone underwater
a) Out of air/gas
b) Entanglement
c) Stuck
d) Unplanned decompression
e) Omitted decompression
f) Currents, upwellings, downdrafts
2. Dealing with problems upon surfacing
a) Lost at sea
b) Injuries in remote areas
c) Bleeding
d) Shock
e) O2 toxicity
f) DCI/DCS
g) In-water recompression
3. Managing equipment malfunctions
a) Free-flowing regulators
b) BCD inflator malfunction
c) BCD loss of buoyancy
d) Lost mask
e) Lost fin
E. Equipment for solo diving
1. Air/gas sources
a) Pony bottles affixed to cylinder(s)
b) Stage mounted pony bottles
c) Independent doubles
d) Double tanks with isolator manifolds
e) Buddy bottles
f) Bailout bottles
2. Equipment configurations
a) Recreational
b) Technical
- back mount
- side mount
- rebreathers
3. Standard equipment for solo diving
a) Masks
b) Fins
c) Regulators
d) BCDs
e) Exposure suits
f) Cutting tools
g) Gauges
h) Compasses
i) Reels and spools
j) Deployable Surface Marker Buoys
k) Whistles and audible signaling devices
4. Specialty equipment for solo diving
a) Signal mirrors
b) Dye markers
c) Flares
d) Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs)
e) Analog watch as compass on surface
f) Locating beacons
F. Planning and conducting solo dives
1. Dive site selection and conditions evaluation
a) tide tables
2. Filing a dive plan
- with someone
- leaving a note
- cell or computer message
3. Planning for contingencies
4. Gas planning
5. Pre-dive checklist
6. Performing self-bubble checks and equipment checks
7. Streamlining gear
8. Avoiding entanglements, becoming stuck or loss of equipment
9. Use of no-decompression tables, decompression tables, and software
G. Navigation
1. Electronic tracking systems
2. Compass navigation
3. Directional awareness
- direction
- topography
- environment
4. Emphasis on superb navigational skills for the solo diver
Open Water:
Note: Four (4) training dives is the minimum requirement for PDIC Solo Diving certification. The instructor may exceed the Four (4) minimum dive requirement at his or her discretion and may change the order of the skill work to suit the conditions and the environment. PDIC International encourages instructors to provide the best and most thorough training possible within a sensible time frame. Therefore, instructors may tailor the open water requirements to exceed minimum standards in the interest of student education and safety.
A. Swimming Skill Evaluation
1. Swim 200 yards on the surface in full scuba gear with empty BCD
B. Open Water Dive #1: Critical Skills
1. Instructor teaches proper pre-dive planning, safety checks and entry
a) Dive Tables
b) Gas management calculations
c) Filing a dive plan
d) Equipment assembly and check
e) Bubble check, flow check, regulators working, equipment
2. Instructor demonstrates basic skills and propulsion
a) Horizontal trim
b) Buoyancy control
c) Frog kick
d) Modified frog kick
e) Flutter kick
f) Modified flutter kick
g) Helicopter turns
h) Backward kick
i) Shuffle kick
j) Basic-5: Reg remove/replace, reg exchange, S-drill, mask flood/clear, mask remove/replace
k) Remove/replace scuba unit in horizontal trim
l)DSMB deployment
m) Horizontal ascent
3. Exit
4. Debrief
C. Open Water Dive #2: Use of guideline
1. Student demonstrates proper pre-dive planning, safety checks and entry
a) Dive Tables
b) Gas management calculations
c) Filing a dive plan
d) Equipment assembly and check
e) Bubble check, flow check, regulators working, equipment accounted
2. Pilotage and Guideline dive
a) Student uses pilotage and/or primary reel to navigate dive site
b) Student demonstrates environmental and situational awareness
c) Student demonstrates proper tracking of bottom time and other limits
3. Emergency Scenario
a) Student demonstrates ability to remove entanglements
b) Student demonstrates removal and replacement of scuba unit underwater while entangled
4. Deploy Surface Marker Buoy
a) Student demonstrates ability to satisfactorily deploy a DSMB
b) Student demonstrates ability to follow dive plan and ascend on planned time making proper safety or decompression stops
5. Surface
a) Student removes and replaces scuba unit at surface
6. Exit
7. Debrief
D. Open Water Dive #3: Compass navigation
1. Student demonstrates proper pre-dive planning, safety checks and entry
a) Dive Tables
b) Gas management calculations
c) Filing a dive plan
d) Equipment assembly and check
e) Bubble check, flow check, regulators working, equipment accounted
2. Compass navigation
a) Student demonstrates proficiency for dead reckoning traveling either:
- pre-planned course with way points
- circle, triangle, square
- search patterns
b) Student demonstrates situational and environmental awareness
c) Student demonstrates ability to follow dive plan
3. Emergency scenario
a) Student demonstrates ability to handle failures of primary scuba unit
b) Student demonstrates ability to breathe from a free-flowing regulator
c) Student demonstrates ability to handle BCD/wing failures
4. Deploy Surface Marker Buoy
a) Student demonstrates ability to deploy DSMB
b) Student demonstrates proper ascent rate and ability to make safety or decompression stops
5. Surface
a) Student explains how to handle being lost at sea, how to avoid boat traffic, and how to signal for help
b) Student explains how he or she would cope with DCI/DCS
6. Exit
7. Debrief
E. Open Water Dive #4: Experience dive
1. Student demonstrates proper pre-dive planning, safety checks and entry
a) Dive Tables
b) Gas management calculations
c) Filing a dive plan
d) Equipment assembly and check
e) Bubble check, flow check, regulators working, equipment accounted
2. Student executes his or her dive plan performing all tasks independent of the instructor, tracking all pertinent depth, time, decompression and directional information while maintaining good situational, environmental and personal awareness and making a proper ascent with any planned safety or decompression stops.
3. Student exits water and debriefs the dive
Written Examination:
A. The student must pass the written examination with a minimum score of 90% of the questions answered correctly.
B. The student will submit in writing a course debrief stating what he or she thought of the PDIC Solo Diving course, how he or she would evaluate his or her performance, how he or she would evaluate the instructors performance, why he or she enrolled in solo scuba diver training, and what opinion and intentions that the student has regarding solo diving.
Certification:
Upon successful completion of all self-study, classroom, open water and written work, the student will be issued a PDIC Solo Diver certification card. Certification is not guaranteed and the evaluation of the instructor as to whether or not the student is mature, knowledgeable, and capable of solo scuba diving is the final criterion for a certification card to be issued to the student.
