Advice - Planning on Doing First Solo Dive - Not Certified for It

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!

discokat

Registered
Messages
52
Reaction score
6
# of dives
100 - 199
I'm only going about 30 feet deep maybe 300 feet from shore. I have a buoy and there isn't much boat traffic in the area at all.

Any words of wisdom, tips or advice?


Thanks!
 
I'm only going about 30 feet deep maybe 300 feet from shore. I have a buoy and there isn't much boat traffic in the area at all.

Any words of wisdom, tips or advice?


Thanks!
 
Yeah, I Have often struggled with not being certified, for anything
in over forty years, and yet am bewildered at what I suppose is an
accumulated ability, better than most certified, from doing diving?

Only you are able to answer your questions, and overcome doubt
 
You have less than 50 dives, you're not trained for solo diving, and you think this is a good idea?
What redundancy do you have planned?

Best advice: Find a buddy or don't do the dive.
 
Solo dive
Words of wisdom, this is not a smart thing to do.
If you are going to still do the dive, make sure somebody knows you are going and where they can send the recovery team to if you don't return.
50 dives is not a whole lot of dives , and you still don't know what you don't know yet.
Find a buddy to do the dive with you.
But , if you are stil going to do the dive, make sure you have a compass, knife, light, spare air supply, signal device, back up lift device, and the sence God gave you.

jim Breslin
 
Most people would recommend against it. That is a given.
We are assuming by your profile that you have less than 50 dives.
If you are going to go, and no one here can stop you.
1. Plan the dive.
2. Plan it conservatively.
3. Take some bearings on land.
4. Take some bearings once in the water.
5. I would plan to be back on the surface with 1k psi as a safety factor.
6. Try to find a buddy for next time.
at any time you are uncomfortable, thumb the dive. It is best to dive another day than be fish food.

Best of luck with whatever decision you make.
 
So Discokat you should be in the solo area where they will help you achieve your solo diving safely. You have to set up to log in, then you can post. If you are comfortable with it go for it, it is much safer then a buddy, and you will have a much better experience with the sea life as well.


Happy Diving
 
Anchor your buoy out from your launching point, don't do swim thru's or start grabbing at stonefish- use your compass to navigate to and from the buoy(success in this task alone will put you ahead of the average go on a charter type diver) untill you know that area like a spearfisherman...I am guessing you have good skin diving experience, hence the confidence to go solo.
There is no law against it, nor should there be.
Padi and the other "for profit" orgs. have "rules" that suit their bottom line, mixed up with good safety ideas(mostly learned from solo divers back many decades ago). Really they would like you to only ever dive out of your LDS charter or their worldwide franchises, so they pump in the coin hard and garner more power with governments, they would love their rules to be law!!!!!!
From some of the certified people I've seen diving on charters and overseas, that idea isn't working to make divers more knowledgeable or experienced- practice under different situations and conditions makes better divers!
You should know what you can and can't do, if your being egotistical with your assessment it will become apparent in the water. One positive thing that solo diving gives is freedom to choice what you want to do and how you are doing it. Knowing the factors which you can't control and must still work with is the trick to mastering anything. The inward reflection while solo diving is quite spiritual for me and helps me think straight in day to day life.
Your life, your choice.
Safe diving,
Damo ps- I don't believe in trophies for coming last, it leads to a lowest common denominator mentality, some shouldn't and some can- the only thing you really need is the ability to see the truth who ever you are......YOU ARE YOU AND NOT ME!!!!!
 
discokat


Let's face it, if you dive with random buddy's you are intermittently diving solo already. in this case you are getting in the water to intentionally spend an entire dive experience alone. Are you good with that?

A healthy progression is:
1) New diver: This is easy enough, I can dive solo with my training.
2) Novice diver: I can see a lot of things can happen while diving and a buddy can be beneficial, maybe crucial.
3) Experienced diver with solo aspirations: I have a good understanding of the risks of diving. I have training, experience and equipment to manage these risks on my own.

Where you came to this forum with such an open ended question you are not a 3. With no actual experience diving with you or the site in question an informed permissive response is not possible. Find a buddy to make the dive with you or do a skin-dive to get it out of your system.

Pete
 
I rarely dive with a buddy. Most of my dives are 40ft or less in lakes. I much prefer diving solo BUT I keep it simple. Not saying it is the smart thing to do but I've never felt uncomfortable doing it.

There are certainly dives that I would not do solo but shallow lake dives are more enjoyable solo IMO.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

Back
Top Bottom