lamarpaulski
Contributor
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.