I got a little problem and I would like a little advice. My buddy from got sick and can't dive this weekend. All of my other contacts have different plans. I have rented gear sitting in my living room for this weekend. I am debating just going it alone on Saturday and Sunday and working on buoyancy and navigation. It will be at a local quarry and I plan on keeping my depth at a max of 40 feet. I am well aware that this is not a standard practice. I will have Safety tube and other signal devices. I think feel very confident about my boundaries. I am just looking for advice and additional safety I should adhere to thanks. Please only serious comments.
Hey JTH2711:
I enjoy diving solo. With 25 years of diving and almost a few thousand dives, IMHO, you are not ready for this yet. You asked for opinions, so here is my .02. Don't do it. You may be able to go to the quarry and make a friend or two. 99-44/100% of divers are cool. Just let them know upfront, in a pre-dive plan that you are new to diving. I'm sure you are watching your SAC rate for air, your bouyancy and weighting, and all the other related topics that new divers are practicing. Maybe you have some of these skills becoming more natural to you. But not with 25 dives or less. It does take practice, and that is what you want. So, see if a group at the site will let you join them. A big box of donuts will grease the skids a little! Or maybe contact the LDS. Maybe they are doing an OW cert, or better yet, a divemaster cert. They would most likely welcome you to join. Dive in teams, and work your way up to the solo diving later on in your diving career.
When I solo dive, I have a set of double 85's on, with a reg on each port. I also take at least a 30 cu ft pony bottle with me, with its own reg and SPG. So I have a lot of gas, and a lot of redundancy. Even with this, and knowing I am really going to enjoy diving by myself, I am always on guard about the little things that can happen, that manifest into big things.
So go to the quarry, make some friends and go diving. Don't be put off by someone turning you down. Another group may be open to you joining them. Just play it safe and dive with a group. Like you, I want to dive as much as I can. But, the worst that can happen if you make the prudent choice is to drive home from the quarry dry.
Safe diving to you.