What is your motivation to solo dive?

[MB NZ]

1) Buddy availability and shared interests. Time underwater is valuable, make the most of it!

2) My day job requires me to take responsibility for other people's lives in a very real hands on way. I don't want that in my recreational time.

3) In nearly 1000 dives, the only incidents I've been involved with underwater have been caused by other people. I would rather avoid that risk. I genuinely consider solo diving safer than buddying with some people. Am I perfect and infallible? No I'm not, but when something goes wrong, I'll only have myself to blame.

4) I like it!

 

[MikeHoncho]

Read the book Solo Diving by Robert Von Maier. Although I don’t solo dive (yet) the book really opened my eyes to the idea of insta-buddy and what a capable buddy can and can’t do.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

For the purpose of the this discussion, can we please agree that "solo" can be interchanged with "self reliant"?

After all the PADI vs SDI "course" names have been debated ad nauseum.

But, but, we embalmed that horse so we could beat it until the end of time!

 

[Celt]

I'm not sure that serves any purpose. This is a thread about solo diving in the solo diver forum - the terminology is clear and with no room for misunderstanding. Solo diving means diving alone. There is no point in confusing the terminology, and the posts about buddy or team diving is a sidetrack. Being self reliant is an essential skill in all diving, and is not unique to solo diving. Other than these incidental similarities, solo diving has nothing to do with team diving.

Agree, the realisation that you're on your own, isolated and no hope of help of any kind is a totally different mind space than having a buddy with you or on the boat. When the land recedes behind you and there's nothing but you and the ocean, you do things differently than with mates. I'd squeeze through places and do stuff with a buddy that I wouldn't dare attempt solo. Everything from getting in to getting out must be done differently solo. You know there's no room for mistakes.

 

[admikar]

Easy. Choice of my dive buddies makes me safer being solo.
And also what @Vicko said.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Why solo?

I can can go where I want anytime I want and not have to bend to anybody else’s schedule.
I dive some pretty off beat places where most people would never consider diving.
I can do as many or as few dives that day as I want, or maybe no dives if I get out there and change my mind.
I’ve had many buddies who I called up and somehow they decide where we are going and want to run the show.
I’ve had too many control freaks who turn out to be buddy nazis.
I hunt, and hunting to me is a solitary activity not only for safety but for success. Buddies get in the way for a hunter.
I’ve had too many buddies show up hung over and useless.
Too many also show up with some gear issue; always something, short fill, leaking drysuit, forgot a glove, hissing reg, etc. Anything and every problem imaginable I’ve seen.
Chasing buddies around trying to stay together. Having them split then me being blamed for getting separated. I’ve had them get hunters fever and as soon as we descend and get to the bottom they take off like a jack rabbit abandoning and forgetting about any dive plan we might have had, then again they get all pissed off because they claim I abandoned them.
It is so rare to actually find a good buddy that works, so I finally gave up.

**However,
I do have a guy I dive with but we are a loose buddy team, same ocean same day type diving. I’ve been diving with him now for quite some time. We understand each other.
We might descend together and start the dive together but if one if us get’s involved harvesting scallops or dealing with a large lingcod and the other buddy slips off it’s no big deal. We are both okay with solo diving and we most times just continue the dive solo and meet up after the dive. We will raft up our kayaks together and if one if us needs a hand gearing up in the water we help each other out and/or getting stuff back in and put away.
It’s a very good system for both of us.
If it turns out to be a deeper scarier dive then we will tend to stick together more.
But I have no problem doing a 40’ to 50’ dive alone with just regular gear. My redundant air source if ever needed (has not happened yet) is the surface via an ESA.
I prefer high quality impeccably maintained (and minimal) gear for streamlining and agility over redundant clutter.
If I croak solo diving then so be it. Nobody’s fault but my own, and I own that.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Why solo?

I can can go where I want and any time I want and not have to bend to anybody else’s schedule.
I can do as many or as few dives that day as I want, or maybe no dives if I get out there and change my mind.
I’ve had many buddies who I called up and somehow they decide where we are going and want to run the show.
I’ve had too many control freaks who turn out to be buddy nazis.
I hunt, and hunting to me is a solitary activity not only for safety but for success. Buddies get in the way for a hunter.
I’ve had too many buddies show up hung over and useless.
Too many also show up with some gear issue, always something, short fill, leaking drysuit, forgot a glove, etc. Anything and every problem imaginable I’ve seen.
Chasing buddies around trying to stay together. Having them split then me being blamed for getting separated. I’ve had them get hunters fever and as soon as we descend and get to the bottom they take off like a jack rabbit abandoning and forgetting about any dive plan we might have had, then again they get all pissed off because they claim I abandoned them.
It is so rare to actually find a good buddy that works that I finally gave up.

**However,
I do have a guy I do dive with but we are a loose buddy team, same ocean same day type diving. I’ve been diving with him now for quite some time. We understand each other.
We might descend together and start the dive together but if one if us get’s involved harvesting scallops or dealing with a large lingcod and the other buddy slips off it’s no big deal. We are both okay with solo diving and we most times just continue the dive solo and meet up after the dive. We will raft up our kayaks together and if one if us needs a hand gearing up in the water we help each other out and/or getting stuff back in and put away.
It’s a very good system for both of us.
If it turns out to be a deeper scarier dive then we will tend to stick together more.
But I have no problem doing a 40’ to 50’ dive alone with just regular gear. My redundant air source is the surface via an ESA.
I prefer high quality impeccably maintained (and minimal) gear for streamlining and agility over redundant clutter.

I 99% agree with everything Eric states with the acceptation that I personally feel that some of the redundant items are important.... Mostly, cutting devises and redundant gas supply. ESA from 50ft is a good option, but a 13 or 19 pony is preferable for me. Since I dive with an Air 2, , a back mounted 13 does not create any more "clutter" than a standard single tank set-up with an octo.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I 99% agree with everything Eric states with the acceptation that I personally feel that some of the redundant items are important.... Mostly, cutting devises and redundant gas supply. ESA from 50ft is a good option, but a 13 or 19 pony is preferable for me. Since I dive with an Air 2, , a back mounted 13 does not create any more "clutter" than a standard single tank set-up with an octo.

Cutting devices around here are always standard gear even for solo diving and it goes without saying. I carry three no matter what.
Pony? I have one, and if I was doing 60’ plus dives solo then yeah. But for just poking around the rocks in 40’ on a shore dive shooting a few fish then no.

 

[rx7diver]

... But I have no problem doing a 40’ to 50’ dive alone with just regular gear. My redundant air source if ever needed (has not happened yet) is the surface via an ESA.
I prefer high quality impeccably maintained (and minimal) gear for streamlining and agility over redundant clutter. ...

+1

For me, regular gear down to ~30 ffw, two complete regs on a Y-valve on a single cylinder down to ~60 ffw, and two complete regs on (baby) doubles below ~60 ffw.

Simple, minimal, and streamlined. Minimal drag. Agile.

rx7diver

 

[scubadada]

What solo cert do you have, has it ever been turned down?

These questions have been asked numerous times before, but never subjected to a poll that I could find. Please designate which solo certification you have and whether it has never, or has been turned down by an operator that allows for solo diving. If you have been certified by other than PADI...

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