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

[Max Speed]

Moped?



Michael

Only if the other riders have to wear 45lb. weight belts (or wear fins).

 

[DevonDiver]

Experience comes from doing.

It does, but experience is only half of the equation. You need skill also.

The easiest way to increase skill is from the input of another person who already possess those skills. In the case of diving, that ususally means an instructor (a paid course), but it could equally mean a mentor, if you had access to dive with such a person who would give their time for free.

All instructors will advise more training, its in their nature and financial interest.

That is a very short-sighted comment. You think that the instructors who give their time and advice here on Scubaboard do so because we make money out of it? Bwahahah....

How do you explain club-based instructors (BSAC etc) who teach voluntarily/for free?

What about the host of other instructors, who may charge for courses, but make less money than they would if they worked in McDonalds?

You need to decide for yourself if your willing to take the risk

How exactly do you do that? When you don't have a clue what the risks are? When you don't have a clue what your capability is?

Some people need more instruction than others.

Some people might feel that way.... until reality bites them in the arse.

My first scuba dive was solo, in a shallow lake. Friend gave me a setup and quick instruction..... I lived.

And because you didn't die, you felt that it was safe?

Your 'benchmark' for safety is the lack of a near-death experience?

2nd dive was in Mexico, talked my way onto a boat with no cert. Got seperated from the group......

Then your lack of skill and training was evident. Some formal training would provide you with the skills to stay with your buddy/group. This would mitigate many risks.

went down to 100fsw hung out by my self at 80 fsw till the spg said 700 (cause that was the plan).

Your plan? Or someone elses?

You had calculated your decompression limits?
You knew the implications of over-staying on those NDLs?
Your necessary minimum air reserves?
You knew your air consumption and had calculated the air volume you needed to ensure your ascent?

Came up slowly and missed my safety stop due to air in my bcd. floated on the surface for 30 minutes till the boat found me.

Again, survival by luck..... and more evidence that illustrates a lack of skill.

I lived. Great dive.

Again... this self-denial based on having a 'benchmark' for safety that relied on nothing going wrong.

You did a couple of dives and nothing went wrong. You choose to interpret this to mean that you are safe. That's flawed logic.

Some of us are just loners and those who aren't wont understand.

You can be a loner all that you want. Solo diving is an increasingly accepted practice within the scuba community. There are easily obtainable courses and many prudent recommendations on the skills, equipment and mindset that need to be obtained before engaging in that practice.

However, your justification for solo diving without the knowledge and skills to mitigate the inherent risks is very flawed.

If you think it is cool to make scuba diving 'risky', then you have an ego problem. There's plenty of scuba diving activities that do bring extra risks.... and if you are so desperate to feel cool, then you should investigate those.

But if you die on a regular open-water dive, because you have a sloppy attitude and are too cheapskate to pay for some training....or simply to egotistical to recognise that you need training.... then the rest of the scuba community won't remember you as some sort of rebellious hero or pioneer. They will think of you as a deluded muppet.

 

[Doc Harry]

This is a great example of why you should get more experience before going solo.

This is a near-miss for the Darwin Awards.

Experience comes from doing.
All instructors will advise more training, its in their nature and financial interest.

You need to decide for yourself if your willing to take the risk. Some people need more instruction than others.

My first scuba dive was solo, in a shallow lake. Friend gave me a setup and quick instruction. Lasted all of 30 minutes till I got bored looking at sandy bottom in 1' vis. I lived.
2nd dive was in Mexico, talked my way onto a boat with no cert. Got seperated from the group and went over the Santa Rosa Wall went down to 100fsw hung out by my self at 80 fsw till the spg said 700 (cause that was the plan). Came up slowly and missed my safety stop due to air in my bcd. floated on the surface for 30 minutes till the boat found me. I lived. Great dive. I went and got my OW cert after that.

Some of us are just loners and those who aren't wont understand.

Do your research, dive your plan. Live your life. No one to blame but yourself.

 

[jcrews5508]

To build on this topic and im not for or against solo diving as I am still building my expierence(20 Dives) but what is your opinion on solo diving from the shore in less than 20 feet of water. While I agree that I need more expierence unfortunately I live on the Gulf Coast where boat diving is my only option. Because of that, expierence must be bought on boat dives and is quite costly. I do however have access to a beach house in Gulf Shores and as such have easy access to the Gulf. Although there is not alot to see I could get quite a few dives developing basic skills in less than 10 -15 feet of water. What are your thoughts. And FYI I do have all of the equipment for a solo diving but thats because i'm just a big fan of redundancy even when I'm buddy diving.

 

[Doc Harry]

To build on this topic and im not for or against solo diving as I am still building my expierence(20 Dives) but what is your opinion on solo diving from the shore in less than 20 feet of water...

You can drown in only 12 inches of water.

Nonetheless, I agree that starting your solo career in shallow water is probably best. My first ~50 solo dives were shore dives in water only 20 feet deep. And I still spend a lot of time doing drills in 10-20 feet of water (primarily because of a pronounced thermocline).

Although you can still easily drown in 20 feet of water, the shallow depths eliminate all of the in-depth planning that goes into deeper dives (see my post #33 above regarding extremely poor or non-existent dive planning in deep water). And your SAC is so low at 20 feet that you have plenty of time to deal with problems should they occur.