Anyone ever have a close call going solo?

[String]

Anyone ever have a close call going solo?

If so, what did you learn from it?

Thanks

No but that's possible because when going intentionally solo my gear and redundancy is tailored as such and my limits are more conservative. If i'm with a buddy or teaching then sometimes my kit config is a little different.

Had more close calls with a buddy than without and seen more on large group guided dives than anywhere else.

 

[hlsooner]

I will echo what many others have said. Never so much as a minor hitch while diving solo. But I have had numerous chances to deal with emergencies and near emergencies arising from instabuddies. These instabuddies have been the only ones to ever use my redundant gas supply I always carry.

 

[schocked]

Been solo diving for years,never a problem becuase had a good plan and never take a risk. Most of our diving is 75' + Jacksonville

 

[matjo1]

Huh??

What's your question?

 

[Potapko]

Rick, you ask, "Why would you tell on yourself?" Because it might keep someone else from making the same stupid mistakes.

Not if we don't know exactly what those mistakes were

 

[Richesb]

If you are a hunter, you basically solo all the time.
You learn/understand diving at depth 80 - 130+ft. that only you can save you. There are no buddies. They may be in the area but usually not that close. As long as you have air, there is no "emergency".
I have been entangled on wreckage at over 100ft. deep. Stay calm, analyze, cut/remove as needed. Move on and enjoy the dive

 

[Walter]

If you are a hunter, you basically solo all the time.

Only because hunters don't like to share, not because it has to be that way. A hunting team is very effective.

 

[BiancaC]

Interesting discussion. I love to be solo (diving).
As an Instructor I treat every dive as a solo dive.
Any problems ever had been with "buddies" or going over the limits.
As a shop owner I can not allow it, unless certified to do so (SDI offers that cert.) for liability reason.
An interesting story from a good friend:
He's a certified DM and Solo diver and photographer. He went to the Red Sea, a place with a nice house reef.
He wanted to go solo to take pictures. They would not let him go.
When he asked, "if I go with my 10 year old daughter (that I had just certified), will you let me go?" - guess what they said?: Yes.....
Happy bubbles, Peter

 

[KeysCuda]

Two hammerheads followed me back to dive boat. I never saw them.
Was diving on the deeper reef at Sombrero, off Marathon in Keys.
Surfaced behind boat (no current so no biggie). Calm day, so I snorkeled back on surface.
At boat, captain (also a non-diving acquaintance) was on the platform. "A nice dive..." I start to say.
He interrupts, calmly, firmly: "Just get on the boat, (my name). Get on the boat now."
When aboard, he says, "You never saw the hammerheads, did you? They followed you back in, crossing back and forth...But they were only about four or five feet. They'd only take little bites."

I was upset. Because I've never seen a hammerhead over 2 feet long in the wild, and I really want to.

 

[micklock]

I came face to face with a man-eating carp today, he was four foot if not fourty foot long. It was the first fish I've seen in our lake this year besides minnows. The only real problem I had is I'm still trying to patch all the seems on my 9yr old neoprene drysuit.