Diving without a buddy?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Early in my diving life I worked cleaning boat hulls and diving for urchins. I got used to being alone and don't have the anxiety that may come with solo diving. I admit I often prefer being alone...no responsibility outside yourself. I used to frequent the Golden Doubloon dive boat and Capt. Eddie Tsukimura allowed me to dive solo as much as I wished. Other boats were/are not too cool with it. Sometimes you are required to buddy up and usually it works out well BUT if I had spent a fortune traveling somewhere and got stuck with a truly lousy diver I'd be real P'O'd. Sometimes buddies cramp my style BUT it is enjoyable too to share the adventure. BS ing later about the dive and all that social stuff is good too. I still mix solo and buddy diving (with my sons). Often the choice is solo diving or no diving. I am retired in law enforcement and once did research on 2 officer versus one officer patrol safety. You would think 2 officers would be generally safer but there was no real statistical benefit. Probably because (like diving) a false sense of safety (or machismo) led partners to do things they would never do alone. Sometimes you ended with 2 dead instead of 1. I would suspect the same pitfalls exist for divers. I do think having a strong, very alert partner combined with judicious caution on both your parts is probably optimal situation for safety.
 
Interesting approach. I look at it the other way around: shallow recreational dives are the ones where I'm most likely to put up with the extra risks and obligations presented by having a buddy. It's the deeper, more complex dives where I'm happiest without worrying about someone else and carrying gas for them to boot.

Might not have explained myself very well. I don't believe that DECO diving and solo diving mix very well. Has nothing to do with having a buddy or not having a buddy. DECO diving, with a hard ceiling, has other risks that can be reduced by having some sort of surface support. Solo diving, at least as I can see people talking about it, means solo on the surface also. If one had all the necessary backup and humans on the surface, and was doing a solo dive...would not have an issue then.

Regarding the computer..well if you are doing a 20 ft dive...the computer is not needed, so why would there be a need for two? Doing a 60 ft dive...might be an issue, but if you planned the dive, and your computer breaks...well just go to the surface. I dive with a backup watch..so if I was planning a 75 ft, 40 minute dive, I would just continue on.

If you are doing a deep dive (not DECO)...then just abort the dive. A backup would allow the dive to continue to it's normal completion, but in either case works, and an extra computer may be nice, but it is not required (I carry two, by the way)
 
Might not have explained myself very well. I don't believe that DECO diving and solo diving mix very well. Has nothing to do with having a buddy or not having a buddy. DECO diving, with a hard ceiling, has other risks that can be reduced by having some sort of surface support. Solo diving, at least as I can see people talking about it, means solo on the surface also. If one had all the necessary backup and humans on the surface, and was doing a solo dive...would not have an issue then.

Regarding the computer..well if you are doing a 20 ft dive...the computer is not needed, so why would there be a need for two? Doing a 60 ft dive...might be an issue, but if you planned the dive, and your computer breaks...well just go to the surface. I dive with a backup watch..so if I was planning a 75 ft, 40 minute dive, I would just continue on.

If you are doing a deep dive (not DECO)...then just abort the dive. A backup would allow the dive to continue to it's normal completion, but in either case works, and an extra computer may be nice, but it is not required (I carry two, by the way)

No, you explained it fine, I think we just disagree. I am happy to have a buddy for a NDL dive where gas planning is extremely simple. I do not want to worry about a buddy, communication with the buddy, and shared gas planning when I'm inside a wreck, have a deco obligation, or both. YMMV. I personally use a computer and a watch/gauge/table for a backup.

Generally there is some form of surface support on such dives in the form of a dive boat and its surface-based safety/first aid gear... but that's not part of what I consider when whether I would call what I'm doing "solo diving." If you have no buddy you need to include in your dive and gas planning, I would consider that a solo dive.
 

Back
Top Bottom