Buddy Bailed on me

[Tigerman]

I think you'd be fine solo diving, but you may want to stay shallower than 40 feet. Are there platforms that you could hang around at say 25 feet to work on the skills you mentioned?

Also, check the rules at your quarry. Some don't allow solo diving, some allow it only with a solo certification.

One flaw with staying shallower than 40 feet I.E 25 feet is that although it might be easier to bail to the surface, its also easier to get into trouble with regards to expansion injuries in the shallower waters. The largest change in pressure is in the shallowest part of the water column..

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

I got a little problem and I would like a little advice. My buddy from got sick and can't dive this weekend. All of my other contacts have different plans. I have rented gear sitting in my living room for this weekend. I am debating just going it alone on Saturday and Sunday and working on buoyancy and navigation. It will be at a local quarry and I plan on keeping my depth at a max of 40 feet. I am well aware that this is not a standard practice. I will have Safety tube and other signal devices. I think feel very confident about my boundaries. I am just looking for advice and additional safety I should adhere to thanks. Please only serious comments.

Hey JTH2711:

I enjoy diving solo. With 25 years of diving and almost a few thousand dives, IMHO, you are not ready for this yet. You asked for opinions, so here is my .02. Don't do it. You may be able to go to the quarry and make a friend or two. 99-44/100% of divers are cool. Just let them know upfront, in a pre-dive plan that you are new to diving. I'm sure you are watching your SAC rate for air, your bouyancy and weighting, and all the other related topics that new divers are practicing. Maybe you have some of these skills becoming more natural to you. But not with 25 dives or less. It does take practice, and that is what you want. So, see if a group at the site will let you join them. A big box of donuts will grease the skids a little! Or maybe contact the LDS. Maybe they are doing an OW cert, or better yet, a divemaster cert. They would most likely welcome you to join. Dive in teams, and work your way up to the solo diving later on in your diving career.

When I solo dive, I have a set of double 85's on, with a reg on each port. I also take at least a 30 cu ft pony bottle with me, with its own reg and SPG. So I have a lot of gas, and a lot of redundancy. Even with this, and knowing I am really going to enjoy diving by myself, I am always on guard about the little things that can happen, that manifest into big things.

So go to the quarry, make some friends and go diving. Don't be put off by someone turning you down. Another group may be open to you joining them. Just play it safe and dive with a group. Like you, I want to dive as much as I can. But, the worst that can happen if you make the prudent choice is to drive home from the quarry dry.

Safe diving to you.

 

[Ana]

what goals are those? You can find people but consider them incompatible?

I don't know the goals of the OP but I think it is a reasonable thought.

The most incompatible kind are the ones that fill their mouth calling themselves divers but are always busy to go diving, if by any chance they do commit to an actual dive it takes almost nothing for them to cancel (usually at the last minute too)

Then comes the normal differences:
Some divers may want to have perfect buoyancy skills while others are satisfied by not bumping into things. Some divers want to dedicate a portion of each dive to just skills other don't. Not in a quarry in particular but diving in general, you can have spearfishing and photography. Shell collectors and the "no touch" divers. Divers covering the greatest amount of area as possible and the ones that stay in the same spot for an hour checking some tiny creature. So many other ways people dive that may or may not match your style.

And that is without taking into account the actual personality of the potential buddy, let's face it there are many opportunities top side when the "wrong" buddy can ruin your diving day.

 

[JTH2711]

The issue I have with an "insta-buddy" for lack of a better term was a dive I made at the coast during my vacation where I had to be assigned a buddy. I didn't know this guy from adam's house cat. We entered the water and and signaled to descend, everything seemed to be going well and he let go of his deflator to adjust his bc. I signaled to him if he was okay and he said yes. We continued on our decent. I looked up and saw what seemed to be a lot of air being vented from his deflator, I signaled to see if he was okay and signaled back yes. Something didn't seem right so I asked him about his air supply. He signaled back what he had and it was half of mine and I realized he had be holding his purge button on his Air 2 not the deflator. So I surfaced with 2000psi in my tank. He had about 700psi. The second dive was even worse he couldn't equalize and we called the dive. In my book a buddy needs to be someone I can trust not someone I don't know. If I don't know them how can I trust them. That's just my how I see it. There's a lot of good points here. Maybe I'll contact my instructor and see if I can tag along with a class and practice in off to the side

 

[JTH2711]

what goals are those? You can find people but consider them incompatible?

I felt my goals were very attainable after class. I wanted to log a minimum of 25 dives by the end of the season. Here that runs well into November sometimes longer in a dry suit. That way come spring I am prepared to enroll in the advanced class and since i am SDI trained they have an advanced diver program that is sort of and independent study with an instructor of my choice. I would then get my next round of 25 dives and if I felt i was up to it I would enroll in the dive master class the following summer. Nothing crazy, a spaced out time line, what I feel are attainable goals.

 

[NC Wreck Diver]

The issue I have with an "insta-buddy" for lack of a better term was a dive I made at the coast during my vacation where I had to be assigned a buddy. I didn't know this guy from adam's house cat. We entered the water and and signaled to descend, everything seemed to be going well and he let go of his deflator to adjust his bc. I signaled to him if he was okay and he said yes. We continued on our decent. I looked up and saw what seemed to be a lot of air being vented from his deflator, I signaled to see if he was okay and signaled back yes. Something didn't seem right so I asked him about his air supply. He signaled back what he had and it was half of mine and I realized he had be holding his purge button on his Air 2 not the deflator. So I surfaced with 2000psi in my tank. He had about 700psi. The second dive was even worse he couldn't equalize and we called the dive. In my book a buddy needs to be someone I can trust not someone I don't know. If I don't know them how can I trust them. That's just my how I see it. There's a lot of good points here. Maybe I'll contact my instructor and see if I can tag along with a class and practice in off to the side

I understand your point completely. You will find this, and especially when you are away from your quarry or dive site in your back yard, or LDS. I don't like 'insta-buddies' either. But think of it this way. If the guy you dove with did it alone, there would be trouble. So, early on in your sport, you learned the importance of him having you as a buddy. Sorry he blew your dives, but it's clear that you enforced the idea of diving as a group or buddies for safety.

Don't let the rental fee, and all the gear in your home push you into a bad idea. Call the shop where you rented, and see if they can help you. Most likely a guy is in your same prediciment.

Safe diving to you.

 

[cruiser]

One flaw with staying shallower than 40 feet I.E 25 feet is that although it might be easier to bail to the surface, its also easier to get into trouble with regards to expansion injuries in the shallower waters. The largest change in pressure is in the shallowest part of the water column..

Whether he dives deep or shallow, he'll still be ascending through the shallow area where it's easier to get expansion injuries. The benefit of practicing at 25 feet is that this depth is one of the more difficult in which to control your buoyancy, and when you can control your buoyancy here, well, that's the hardest part (it was for me anyway).

 

[JTH2711]

Right because that is before your suit really begins to compress if I am not mistaken.

 

[cruiser]

If you're thinking at this early stage of your diving career that solo diving is a possibility for you, check out your local dive shops and see if a solo class if offered in your area. As far as I know, SDI/TDI is the only agency offering a solo cert. They have a minimum dives requirement, I think it's 100. Anyway, what you learn will make you a better buddy, too, even if you don't choose to solo dive.

 

[cruiser]

I have .02 more cents to add...

There may be dive groups in your area. After you meet up with other groups, do some research at home. Pull up the diving group's website and look at their calendar, if they have one. How often do they get together? Are the get-togethers to eat / drink, or do they actually meet some place to go diving ? We have many diving clubs where I live, but they don't dive enough for my taste, since I like to be in the water every weekend. Not saying that's good or bad, just my personal preference, and something to think about.