It's time for a Solo Cave Diver certification

[Rick Palm]

It's time for agencies to offer a solo cave diver course for advanced practitioners, develop appropriate standards on, for example, gas management like the rule of thirds, and issue a Solo Cave Diver cert card that might ultimately be accepted by the Florida State Park system for solo diving at sites like Jug Hole, Peacock, Madison, and other state parks.

Solo diving has been safely conducted by many practitioners for years at sites such as Little River, and Jackson Blue. There is an argument to be made that it can be safer than diving with a partner: you're responsible for only one diver, not two.

[Brent]

A solo diving card has been around for quite a while with IANTD. I've issued several of those cards. Granted, all agencies are not going to offer a card that has the controversy that this card has, and even if you have the card, some dive sites will draw a line in the sand.
Rick, your points are well made but it goes without saying, this is an uphill battle. Don't hold your breath on changes in our industry any time soon!!

[Rick Palm]

Additional solo cave diver protocols might include:

1) Carry five backup lights for a total of six lights. (A two-diver team also has six lights).

2) Carry spare mask.

3) No change to gas management: keep rule of thirds for margin of safety.

4) Strict use of primary and jump reels.

5) Notice on dashboard of vehicle of dive plan.

6) Test buoyancy control with near-empty tanks before diving with filled ones.

[mdax]

I don't see any reason for agencies to create a solo cave diving certification, nor does six lights seem reasonable to me.

Either you are self sufficient full cave diver with enough experience to approach solo cave diving, or you aren't.
Certs can't make up for experience, progressively learning the cave coupled with being really conservative

I don't think being safe solo diving has to do much with education, but rather how the person approaches risk and makes decisions.
Some very well trained instructors make some dip shitted decisions and rarely do solo divers die from a lack of understanding.

[Scuba Al]

Just another way for Ginnie Springs to restrict divers like requiring a CCR/Cave card.
Al

[Diverlee]

What brought this subject on , again. ??


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[Kelly Jessop]

What brought this subject on , again. ??


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Boredom? I guess with isolation we will see unique postings and 9 months from now a run on labor and delivery rooms. This subject has been beat to death, and a certification card won't get the state parks to change their policy,but somebody that has the time, take it to Tallahassee,because nobody here has the ability to make change.

[MORGAN]

...and 9 months from now a run on labor and delivery rooms.

When I worked in the ER and we'd have more than the usual number of women in labor come in, someone would always remark that there must have been nothing good on TV 9 months ago.

[Rick Palm]

Surprised at some of the fatalistic, surrender responses, including from a moderator. I wish I had included the following in my original post: Solo cave diving is not about mere access to systems when you don't have a partner. It's about the exquisite, visceral feeling of being in a harsh but beautiful environment and relying solely on your own training, experience and resulting sixth sense of when things are right, or wrong. It would be wonderful to enjoy this aspect of the sport in systems currently off limits to it.

As far as revisiting a subject ad nauseam as some have suggested above, sometimes that's what it takes to effect change. This one is worth it.

[Kelly Jessop]

Surprised at some of the fatalistic, surrender responses, including from a moderator.

I am not being fatalistic,but responding from past experience. I have worked with the state to open a couple closed systems, sat on a couple management plan committees, interacted on many other items. They are some great people to work with from the local park level all the way to Tallahassee level, and very dedicated to their job. I have learned what items are worth beating my head on a wall, and what not to. Where you have called us fatalistic, I would challenge you that instead of engaging in a long discussion that has happened several times in the past on this forum, and never netted any change, why not speak to them.