At one point or another, many divers have found themselves alone during a dive, whether it was intentional or not. SDI’s Solo Diving is the practice of self reliant scuba diving without a “dive buddy.”Solo diving, once considered technical diving and discouraged by most certification agencies, is now seen by many experienced divers and some certification agencies as an acceptable practice for those divers suitably trained and experienced. Rather than relying on the traditional buddy dive system, solo divers should be skilled in self-sufficiency and willing to take responsibility for their own safety while diving.

Being one of SDI’s most popular courses, the Solo Diver course stresses proper dive planning, personal limitations, and accident prevention, as well as the benefits, hazards, and correct procedures for diving solo. You will also learn the additional equipment that is required for solo diving including assembly, rigging and maintenance. This is the perfect course for underwater photography and underwater videographers, as well as those diving with children or buddies that may not be very experienced in scuba diving.

The Training

The SDI Solo Diver Course includes two parts:

• Online learning – once you have signed up for the course, we will provide you a code to sign up for the online learning in advance of your practical training to work through at home. You will then go through key areas in greater detail with your instructor and cover areas such as plus many others:

• • Why solo dive?
  • History of buddy diving
  • Pros and cons of buddy diving and solo diving
  • Who must solo dive?
  • The solo diving mentality
  • When not to solo dive
  • Equipment for solo diving
  • Planning and conducting a solo dive
  • Navigation
  • Management of solo diving emergencies
• Open water training – After you have reviewed the key knowledge areas and ready to go you will then join your instructor for 2 open water dives where you will cover the following plus much more:
  • Solo pre-dive checks and dive planning
  • Responding to simulated emergencies through use of carried redundancies
  • Compass navigation
  • Gas and no stop limit monitoring

Pre-requisites

• Age: 21 years old and above
• SDI Advanced Adventure Diver and above, or equivalent, from an alternative agency 
• Minimum of 100 logged dives
• Be able to swim 200 meters on the surface in full equipment without stopping
• Good physical health – You will need to fill out a self certification medical statement. If you have any medical conditions you think may prevent you from scuba diving please feel free to contact us