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

What to expect:

After signing up for your course, one of our team will be in contact to send your e-learning information and joining instructions in plenty of time to complete ahead of your practical training.

On the day of your practical training you will meet us at our centre in Larnaca to sort paperwork and get you sized up for any equipment you may need. We will then take you up to Aiya Napa region for the day to complete 2 open water dives in sites no deeper than 15 metres. On the first dive your instructor will introduce skills such as self rescue, bailing out to a redundant air source and dealing mask, navigation and stress situations without the back-up of a buddy. Alongside this they will take you through the process of adequately planning and preparing for a solo dive and what additional equipment you should be carrying. You will then be required to plan and prep your own solo dive as a simulation for the 2nd dive to demonstrate what you have learnt to your instructor, throughout you instructor will be presenting you with various situations for you to respond appropriately to.

On route to the site we will give you the option of stopping at a local bakery to pick up lunch and ensure you have plenty of water with you to stay hydrated throughout the day. All being well, we plan to be back at the centre between 2pm and 3pm. If you are staying in Aiya Napa we can also arrange to meet you in the area to save you travelling backwards and forwards.

Training is personal and unique to the individual so we have a maximum of 3 students per instructor, in a course with children then these ratios are reduced further. This allows for 1 t0 1 attention, a relaxed pace and a much more enjoyable atmosphere.

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