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At the risk of being severely flamed by many on this list, I have to disagree on the solo diver issue. =A0I think that, for certain individu= als, there is nothing wrong with wanting to dive solo. =A0Aside from freedom= of choice, which presumably we all agree on, there are valid reasons for s= ome divers to want to dive solo. =A0Underwater photography is a perfect exa= mple. Most of the time the buddy is bored to tears or nowhere to be found, as= the photo diver moves very slowly and may spend a lot of time (maybe the en= tire dive) around a single subject. But let's get to the point that seems to= irritate most of those against solo diving. =A0You see it as a greed is= sue for the agencies. =A0That's pure bullshit. =A0Most of the time, the age= ncies are well behind the diving community, only finally creating new trainin= g after there is a proven demand for it. =A0Come on, use your heads, is a= n agency going to spend lots of $$ creating training materials, spending legal fees, etc. for a course that only a very small number of people w= ill pay for. =A0Of course not. =A0The agencies are for-profit businesses. =A0= They provide a service that a reasonably large group of divers will want -- enough so that they can make money. =A0And making money isn't bad. =A0A= nyone else on this list in business ?? =A0Do you want to make money -- or go = broke ?? =A0In fact, profit at the agencies allows them to do research, creat= e new training approaches and other things that have made this sport safer ev= ery year. So, to the question of solo diving. =A0Why not allow a capable di= ver that has appropriate training and experience to dive alone if he/she chooses ?? =A0At a minimum, the agencies might require advanced/rescue = level certification, minimum of 100 dives, max. depth 80-100 ft, completely redundant gas supply with min. volume, say a 13 cf pony, etc. as prerequisites. =A0As a recreational diving instructor, I can tell you t= hat when I have a group of non-certified open water students underwater on their training dives, I am diving alone. =A0Who's going to help me if I= have a problem ?? =A0One of the students ?? =A0Not a chance in hell. OK, I'v= e said my piece. =A0Flame on. Safe diving -- KOB.= -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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