Diving solo?

[DerrickMcD]

I recently got my PADI OW, AOW and EAN certification and am about 20 dives in to this great hobby. I'm looking at planning my next trip but just curious what I should expect as a solo diver as I don't have much experience to draw on.

Some of the places I've been looking at offer unlimited shore diving along with a couple of boat dives a day. This appeals to me because I would like to be able to work on my fining techniques and general positional control when I'm not worried about banging into a reef. It seem like it would be a pain trying to find someone to buddy up with for some kicking in the shallows (I’m thinking in the 20-25' range). Would they let me out solo from shore, would they even ask, care or even notice? It’s not that I wouldn't buddy up with someone to do this more that should I expect to be allowed to go out alone from shore. I would do this at a swimming pool but its a 10 hour round trip to a city where a dive shop or club has regular pool time.

Here's my experience so far as a diver:

As far as my actual training went I did the eLearning spent 30 min in the pool and did 3 dives then another 30 min the next day and 2 more dives. Then on to AOW and a bunch more diving. One thing that really wasn't emphasized was the whole buddy aspect of diving. When I was training I was one on one with the instructor but in the group dives I would tend to drift to the back of the pack looking at this and that. I also was more comfortable keeping an eye out for people in front of me rather than worrying about who was behind me and was I going to kick their mask off. In the blue hole the guy I was buddied with took off ahead of me so he could be near the DM. So besides my training event though I've been in a group I've been diving with no buddy.

Anyway this may be a lot of words for what may be a simple question but I'm new and don't know any better.

 

[Kharon]

Solo diving safely is a lot more than just not having a buddy close by. Get the SDI training manual for the Solo Diver Course. Read it and plan to put it into practice AFTER you perfect what you were (should have been) introduced to in your OW course. I don't know what kind of course you took but a total of an hour in the pool and five dives wouldn't qualify you for certification with SDI and I doubt with any other certification agency. Was this a resort course? I can't imagine how you got to, let alone through, AOW - but the experience you describe indicates, at least to me, that you've got a lot of skills to perfect before even thinking about solo diving.

As far as being "allowed" to go out alone from shore - it depends where you are. On Bonaire no one would notice. In a lot of other places you might be restricted. If I were you I would limit my practice when alone to 5-10 feet. Then again it's your life.

 

[nimoh]

If you are going to work on finning technique, it would be better to have someone to watch and give you feedback.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Based on your description I'd strongly advise against solo diving yet. There's a reason they require a minimum of 100 dives before allowing you to take the SDI solo course, and it has everything to do with getting into the water enough to put some context around what you "learned" in class. There's a massive difference between learning and understanding, and that difference gets reconciled through experience.

As human beings, we are fundamentally not designed to be underwater. Your classes don't teach you enough to learn how to deal with emergencies on your own ... you'll be fine as long as nothing goes wrong, but I wouldn't like your chances for a good outcome if you should suddenly find yourself entangled, or caught in a current, or any number of things that can go wrong underwater that require a calm, reasoned response. There's a tendency in stressful situations for instincts to take over, and instincts were designed to help you out of trouble on land ... underwater they can get you killed quick.

Depending on where you go, you may be perfectly free to dive in whatever way you like ... in places like Bonaire and Maui there are tons of shallow shore dives and nobody to tell you how to dive them. It's up to you to make prudent decisions. That's why it's important to make good ones, and know your limitations. Most of us have a tendency to think ourselves more capable or skilled than we really are ... often assuming our skill levels without ever really having tested them in real-world circumstances. Remember what Dirty Harry said ... "a man's got to know his limitations". This really applies a lot to solo diving.

I won't tell you don't do it ... that's your decision to make. As someone who solo dives, I will say that based on your post, I wouldn't have a good feeling about telling you that you're ready for it.

Some years back I wrote an article that you might find helpful in deciding for yourself ... NWGratefulDiver.com

Best of luck with whatever you decide ... diving's as much about making good decisions as it is about having good skills ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[uncfnp]

Ditto all the above. And there is absolutely nothing to prevent you from practicing fin work, trim etc when buddy diving. I am constantly refining my skills, every dive, solo or buddy.

 

[razorbackdiver]

I had similar experiences to you during my intial training. So like you I looked into solo diving. Here are few of the things
you need to consider before solo diving.

How many problems have you had underwater? If the answer is none, then you have no idea how you will react if things get sideways and should only attempt to solo in extremely shallow, calm, and familar waters.

How reduntant are you? If you are only diving a single tank with a K valve, you are not reduntant at all should only attempt to solo in extremely shallow, calm, and familar waters.

If you have the equipment that makes you reduntant, have you practiced using it until you can deploy it in your sleep? If not you are not reduntant should only attempt to solo in extremely shallow, calm, and familar waters.

I've know how will I react because I've had the problems. I have the reduntant equipment and know how to deploy it because I've practice with it. But given the option of a bad buddy or intentionally going solo, I'll take the buddy even in extremely shallow, calm, and familar waters.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'll not reiterate the good solo diving advice given. As far as whether it's allowed from shore -- when you ask be sure. In Panama I assumed solo shore dives was OK. They e mailed that there was unlimited shore diving--no mention that a buddy was required. Then they ADVISED that the DM from the boat go with me. At the end I found I owed $50 for each of the 2 dives with the DM. Since a fee was never mentioned I did not pay it. They got paid plenty anyway plus a nice tip for the DM for the 5 boat rides. Obviously I'm the last one who objects to DMs making any money. But I wasn't a DM then and just assumed he was shore diving with me because he wanted to dive some more. What did I know--later on I realised the two $50 fees were probably for him--I hope the op paid him the hundred.

 

[mick allein III]

I am in agreement with the others. You need to build experience slowly over time. There's really no short cut.


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[Nemrod]

While I agree that the OP is not sufficiently experienced to dive solo there is a tendency to over analyze and over complicate things on this forum.

Many of us have been life long solo divers, since I was a child I have dived solo. At first my mother, laugh as you like, would sit in the boat or dock or on shore and yell my name constantly to see if I was okay. Later she gave that up and away I went. And this was before BCs and spgs. I do not know at what point somebody is ready to dive solo, it is not a magic number of dives or even some canned course. It depends upon the ability to fiend for oneself, to understand limits, read the water (conditions) and exercise reasonable caution and to if need be, rescue yourself.

I do not believe in relying upon layers of equipment, I rely instead upon myself. The surface is my redundancy. I carry minimal equipment, I depend upon my strong swimming skills and a solid level of physical fitness/stamina. And, I always ask myself, can I do this dive and if it is a local that I am unfamiliar, I do not solo it until I have dove it with a buddy guide or at least gotten the advice of locals.

If a person, the OP in this case, it intending to use solo diving to work on a basic skill, "finning" or whatever, then the answer is no. A solo diver should be a competent diver and be ready and capable of "finning" like a demon from Hades and a master of all basic skills as well as a superb swimmer.

N

 

[DanLW]

If you're interested in learning finning and buoyancy, do what I did. Ask to join in on a pool dive so you can do your own thing while they take the OW students through their basic skills. It's much cheapr than burning a full-blown dive on fin practice, and it doesn't burn somebody else's dive on your practice. I've found this sort of "quasi-solo" diving to be very helpful.

Just to keep it interesting, try to do some other things in the pool such as swim a lap with just one fin, try to read guages without a mask, work on manipulating your equipment, etc. And throughout the dive, try to stay as close to the bottom as possible without touching it or dragging anything.