OK, 'fess up.... the Dark Side of Solo...

[Stoo]

I was in Saturday for what will probably be my last dive of the season up here, with my regular "non-buddy" buddy. He dove while I tended the boat, then we switched.

The last 6 dives I have done were all done with a friend and former student who decided to get back into diving after dumping her non-diving b/f. I suppose it was an unofficial refresher course. She is quite good in the water, but I was very much being a baby-sitter. We stuck to no-deco limits and followed all the rules to a "T".

Saturday, I was able to do a nice dive to 115', stay there for 25 minutes, enjoy my deco in the lovely 39 degree water and not have to worry about anything.

I dive alone not because I have to when I can't find a buddy, but because I just like it way better than diving with someone else...

 

[seaducer]

There is only one buddy I can trust as a backup system, my wife.

Not me The key word here is...beneficiary

 

[Stoo]

LOL... I have a friend who has been working as a sat diver in the North Sea for many years. They have tenders of course, rather than buddies, but he says the key is that you always want to let your tender beat you at poker.

The more you owe him, the better he'll look after you on those 700 footers~

 

[Ketos]

So i posted on here about a month ago but recently broke my old depth records. I did 2 repetitive dives to 120ft. researching on some off shore ledges out of NC. I was videotaping gag grouper for a fishing regulations grant. The dives were fantastic but i had way to much gear to carry by myself. (V Camera, Chum pot, Distance Markers) On the second dive i met up with 12 sand tigers... i guess i wasn't solo by that point, and had a few of the more curious ones come in for a taste of the bait. It was a little nerve racking but way exhilarating.

 

[Stoo]

The dives were fantastic but i had way to much gear to carry by myself.... On the second dive i met up with 12 sand tigers...

As the saying goes... "Sweeet..."

These sounds like dives with a little more "task-loading" than normal, and perhaps you expanded your comfort zone somewhat. As long as you can manage everything without compromising your safety, then it's all good.

Were you decked out with redundant "everything" (other than sharks I mean...)? My concern would be that if you are occupied with lots of "stuff" like filming, fending off sharks etc. (!) is there any risk that you might become a little "relaxed" about gas supply etc....

All the same, they sound like nice dives. Congratulations!

 

[randy54]

I enjoy diving with good buddies, problem is not all buddies are good.

That and most of the other reasons posted, including I don't go around justifying it, unless someone challenges me.

 

[seaducer]

That and most of the other reasons posted, including I don't go around justifying it, unless someone challenges me.

Hmmm, interesting. I suppose if you feel the need to try and justify something unchallenged, perhaps it is something you shouldn't be doing.

 

[jorgie]

I understand the man in the grey suit thing. Last winter I was diving solo off the Juno Ledges North of the Palm Springs inlet. My goodness there were sharks every where. Lemons, Bulls, Reefs, Nurses. Now a couple of these don't need to be worried about, but others can be a little bit much. It can make you very nervous. I mean it's not like you can hear them swim up on you! But realistically the only problem was no one to share with and no camera as I was lobster hunting.

 

[Ketos]

As the saying goes... "Sweeet..."

These sounds like dives with a little more "task-loading" than normal, and perhaps you expanded your comfort zone somewhat. As long as you can manage everything without compromising your safety, then it's all good.

Were you decked out with redundant "everything" (other than sharks I mean...)? My concern would be that if you are occupied with lots of "stuff" like filming, fending off sharks etc. (!) is there any risk that you might become a little "relaxed" about gas supply etc....

All the same, they sound like nice dives. Congratulations!

I really appreciate the concern.
I agree with you about the task loading. We've been doing these dives as often as possible since June and its usually not so stressful. As for safety, I try and take all the steps possible to be safe. I was brought up by an Instr that pounded it into me day after day and the guys i work with are the same way haha. I dive with a st. 120, 19 ft³ pony. I like to hang a bottle at the safety stop also.

*If anybody is from the North Carolina area and has any good ledge coordinates off of cape fear let me know. We're working the NC Sea Grant to help prove that the grouper populations aren't dwindling* thanks -ben

 

[Sas]

I've recently started solo diving and I have noticed one of the attractions is that I can be as immature as I want. A few people have mentioned doing things like somersaults and playing dead and things like that, that is pretty much what I like to do Though yesterday I was swimming along after a large stingray, imitating it so was flapping my arms and wiggling my legs like a tail, but turns out I was not as solo as I thought as there were two divers watching me :blush: I have been caught out a number of times by other divers doing stupid things... I did feel bad in particular though for the guy that happened to run into me when I was trying to see how much silt I could create.

The other reasons are all the 'zen' stuff of being alone in the ocean. I used to love swimming alone and solo diving is fun like that. I can watch critters for ages and ages, spend way longer down as I don't have to worry about other's air consumption limiting my dives, no one runs into me on a dive (I have a few buddies that frequently swim into me, which totally ruins the atmosphere to me) and I don't need to worry at all about anybody but myself.