Solo dive....plan for the really unexpected?

[porgyhunter]

Well said jai bar!!!!! I guess to the young pups they aren't as worried, just trying to minimize my risks and not show up on fatalities!

 

[Rhone Man]

I was thinking about this during my shower this morning. In this part of the world, pretty much everyone dives and leaves their boats unattended. That's just normal practice.

So is it that this becomes a particularly bad idea when you are diving solo, or is it just a bad idea generally? I suspect it is slightly less sensible because you are solo, but if you come up and the boat is gone, you swimming to shore either way - alone or in a group.

 

[AfterDark]

I was thinking about this during my shower this morning. In this part of the world, pretty much everyone dives and leaves their boats unattended. That's just normal practice.

So is it that this becomes a particularly bad idea when you are diving solo, or is it just a bad idea generally? I suspect it is slightly less sensible because you are solo, but if you come up and the boat is gone, you swimming to shore either way - alone or in a group.

New England is a not as perdictable as some places. Buzzards Bay is even more so.

I seen a wave at a reef called Hens and Chickens on a otherwise clam sea raise to over 20 feet between the reef and the tip of Gooseberry Island. My own experience a few miles off Cuttyhunk Island taught me not in underestimate this area. Freaky things happen lucky people (like me that time) make it others don't. I did every thing right like the op is planning resetting hook and putting second one out etc. I suppose my luck could said to have been self made but, bobbing around miles from land with only a few small islands to stop me before being taken out to the open ocean that possiblity left an impression. Currents change and squalls kick up and die down just as fast.

The op said solo diving might be considered bad by some in refernce to leaving a boat unattended. Combining 2 "bad" ideas isn't going to make things safer.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I was thinking about this during my shower this morning. In this part of the world, pretty much everyone dives and leaves their boats unattended. That's just normal practice.

So is it that this becomes a particularly bad idea when you are diving solo, or is it just a bad idea generally? I suspect it is slightly less sensible because you are solo, but if you come up and the boat is gone, you swimming to shore either way - alone or in a group.

Hi Rhone Man,

My feeling is that it is just a bad idea in general.... but it is entirely dependant on the enviroment you dive in. As I mentioned, some environments are very benign, and leaving a boat securely moored or anchored is safe for short periods of time.

However, the "environment" sadly includes other humans with less-than-honorable intentions that may happen upon your moored or anchored boat.

About 2 years ago here in Hawaii a pair of divers left their small boat unattended on a calm day to shoot some underwater video. Near the end of the dive they were returning to their anchor line and heard a boat motor (not their boat, a different boat) nearby.... And moments later watched their anchor line go slack, and heard/saw the other leave quickly.... The more experienced diver new instantly what had happened, handed his camera to his confused buddy, and surfaced as quickly as possible. He had to swim hard on the surface, and just barely reached his boat before it drifted away... They were anchored off a rugged and remote section of coast, with no easy exits, and no other boats in sight, and could have died had he not been able to reach his drifting boat.

Once he got aboard his boat and picked up his buddy, the the dive leader found that the anchor line had been cleanly cut, not broken. Someone had thought it would be "fun" to set the boat adrift.

This type of thing, while pretty rare, can and does happen. Most people are decent and good, but a few are not.

Best wishes.

 

[AndyNZ]

If redundancy is everything, and everything is redundant..... just get a second boat if you are diving from an unattended boat. It'll be fine.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Cold Water Images, Photography by Kawika Chetron
LEGACY OF THE DEEP / Kawika Chetron lived for his time spent at sea, and his time there spawned a treasure of ocean images - SFGate

McMurdo Fastfind PLB/Dive Canister

 

[drbill]

I've solo dived many thousands of times but would never do it from my boat if it were unattended... and I still had one. Down in the Sea of Cortez I was solo diving with a crew member topside in the support Zodiac. He was called back to the ship, leaving me alone.

When I surfaced, I thought "no big deal," I'll just climb up the ladder. Well the rope holding the ladder onto the Zodiac broke and I was stuck with my video camera in hand. I couldn't just toss it into the boat without risking damage and therefore couldn't climb into the boat with one hand. It took quite a while for me to reenter the Zodiac safely... and I had no injury or other problem to affect my normal abilities.

 

[porgyhunter]

I've solo dived many thousands of times but would never do it from my boat if it were unattended... and I still had one. Down in the Sea of Cortez I was solo diving with a crew member topside in the support Zodiac. He was called back to the ship, leaving me alone.

When I surfaced, I thought "no big deal," I'll just climb up the ladder. Well the rope holding the ladder onto the Zodiac broke and I was stuck with my video camera in hand. I couldn't just toss it into the boat without risking damage and therefore couldn't climb into the boat with one hand. It took quite a while for me to reenter the Zodiac safely... and I had no injury or other problem to affect my normal abilities.

Yes exactly; Boats are a whole other element added to the difficulty of diving, need those lines to secure catch bag, weight belts, tank. Forget to put those out and you have to somehow chuck them in before you get in, Jeez now I have to worry about someone taking my boat?

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Yes exactly; Boats are a whole other element added to the difficulty of diving, need those lines to secure catch bag, weight belts, tank. Forget to put those out and you have to somehow chuck them in before you get in, Jeez now I have to worry about someone taking my boat?

I think boats add a lot of opportunities for fun and adventure, but once you are farther offshore than you can swim, or if you are diving along a coastline that has very shear cliffs and large boulders and no safe exit point, there are huge safety issues to consider.

The single big question (for me) would be: "If I were to surface and the boat was gone, or I could not get back to the boat because I drifted too far down-current, or I was hurt and could not climb into the boat.... how would I save myself?"

Best wishes.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I think boats add a lot of opportunities for fun and adventure, but once you are farther offshore than you can swim, or if you are diving along a coastline that has very shear cliffs and large boulders and no safe exit point, there are huge safety issues to consider.

The single big question (for me) would be: "If I were to surface and the boat was gone, or I could not get back to the boat because I drifted too far down-current, or I was hurt and could not climb into the boat.... how would I save myself?"

Best wishes.

Depending on how bad you screw up and the prevailing currents, it may be absolutely impossible for ANY diver to make it back to the anchored boat.

I won't scuba dive from an unattended boat unless I have a plan B which is swim to shore that is relatively close.