DevonDiver, i dont understand what that one means either, please explain.
Well, basically, unless you have gills... then any venture into the underwater environment has its risks. To judge the potential risk of a solo dive upon the depth is an illusion. If you can't get to the surface, or you can't get air, or you suffer any sort of incapacitation - then you're just as dead at 10' as you would be at 100'.
I've done all sorts of solo dives. Solo deep-air-night-wall dives to 260'. Solo technical wreck penetrations beyond-the-light-zone at 160'.. etc etc
Nonetheless, I still regard
any solo dive, regardless of depth, as a serious proposition. It takes just one thing to go wrong and, without support, your life can come to an abrupt and miserable end.
Of course, you can mitigate against the risks of things going wrong. That takes
training and
appropriate equipment. Even then, without buddy/team support you can still get into situations that are beyond your capability to resolve.
To safely solo dive, you need to understand the risks. Once you understand those risks, you can plan to mitigate them. You also need to know yourself - and have an uncompromised understanding of your
actual capabilities. It's easy to
imagine that you can deal with problems. Sadly,
imagining your skill threshold and
knowing it are very different issues.
.... I feel comfortable in doing this.
This is the crux of the issue.
Why do you feel comfortable doing this?
Is it because you have sufficient training and experience to hold uncompromised insights into the risks that you will be facing...and your capacity to deal with them?
Is it because you fully understand the all risks and have ensured that your training, equipment and experience are sufficient to reasonably mitigate them?
Or is it because you are unaware of the risks and making assumptions about your capacity to reasonably safeguard yourself against them?
What do you more experienced / Instructors think?
I think it is delusional to base a risk assessment on the basis of depth.
I think that developing a true understanding of the risks involved in solo diving takes training and experience.
I think that inexperience and lack of risk awareness often leads novice divers to develop a high level of over-confidence in their abilities, relative to the risks they may feel content to expose themselves to.
I think that mitigating the risks involved in solo diving requires appropriate equipment beyond that used for open water buddy diving.
I think that the odds for a fatal incident occuring on a solo dive are substantially higher than when supported by a buddy/team. Whilst those odds remain low, it only takes 'one bad roll of the dice' for a terminal and unpleasant outcome to arise.
I think that being a prudent and safe diver involves having the mindset that you will do everything possible to mitigate the risks that you expose yourself to.
I don't think that it is possible to mitigate those risks until you fully understand them.
I don't think that anything you learn on an open water course, or read on the internet, will ensure that you fully understand the risks involved.
I don't think that it is possible to ascertain your capabilities without expert feedback and advice based upon your in-water skills. You cannot hypothesis or imagine how capable you will be in a life-threatening, high-stress underwater emergency.
I think that you don't know what you can and cannot do, until you have done it. The first time you do something, should not be alone and unsupported underwater. You have not done any of the emergency measures needed in a solo diving situation
In short... do the dives when you feel confident that you have enough experience and knowledge to fully understand the risks....and you have taken comprehensive measures to mitigate all the risks involved through adoption of the correct skills and use of the correct equipment.
Be aware that your confidence may stem from a lack of understanding, rather than an effective and uncompromised assessment of your true capabilities relative to the
known risks you will be facing.
