Can I dive without an octo?
- Thread starter alex_can_dive
- Start date
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
Of course you can! Technically, at least.My octo broke and is being fixed(probably takes a week or two).
Can I go without it for week or two?(is it illegal or something?)
Laws do vary from country to country and from state to state. I would be surprised though, to find a mention of an octo in any law. Duty of care maybe, if you are a professional... This is not legal advice, remember.
You need to do contingency planning. Are you diving at a depth from where you can reach the surface would your reg fail?
This, however, is important:
A dive buddy near panic would require an octo.
An experienced (experienced in incidents, preferably) diver could dive at shallow depths (say 60ft) with one reg quite safely. One has to be prepared to solve some problems, though. If you dive with a buddy and the buddy is not prepared to tackle a number of problems, not having an octo could lead to someones death.
Depths below 90ft require, in my opinion, two first stages and two cylinders and two regs.
johndiver999
Contributor
What you do in a pool is far different than what happens 90 feet down when your are ascending in an emergency situation. Sorry if you think it was a cowardly thing to do (not readily giving my only regulator when signaled to do so); perhaps it was. It did most definitely scare me and I remember thinking as we ascended, "if you make me drop my speargun and catch bag, you are definitely paying to replace them". So I was still thinking on several levels, not a mindless panic.
I shared the incident in an attempt to emphasize that "things can feel a lot different in the open water" compared to a pool or the internet, peanut gallery, LOL.
I've donated air on ascent with people on my octopus several times. At least three emergency out of air incidents and MANY times when someone was just low or wanted to practice or wanted to save residual air in their tank for a second dive. Having a regulator in your mouth is far, far different than not.
I was talking about what I would do, and not making a statement about you. I know for certain that ascending with a full lungful of air from 90 feet would be easier than doing the same swim in a pool. I don't prioritize my possessions over life though. A speargun, or the fish you shot, are easy to replace; a life is not.
SeaRat
NYCrecdiver,
I’m curious, what part of my statement do you disagree with?
SeaRat
I’m curious, what part of my statement do you disagree with?
SeaRat
johndiver999
Contributor
But there was lobsters in the bag too. We were catching them until the very end, that is how we got into that situation! Can't loose those!!!
Russell Bowyer
Registered
This was an older post that has been revived...when I first started diving we didn't have octopus rigs, and we were trained to rescue our budding sharing our regulator.
Part of the training we had to bring someone to the surface from 20 metres sharing air, and they were not allowed to help with the ascent. So the rescuer (i.e. me in this case) had to control both their and my own buoyancy, share the regulator back and forth taking two breaths each, and control the ascent to the surface so it was a controlled ascent.
So on that basis it is possible to dive without an octopus yes absolutely, but would I go diving without one now, probably yes, but probably only with a buddy who has been trained in buddy air sharing, and someone who is a confident diver.
Part of the training we had to bring someone to the surface from 20 metres sharing air, and they were not allowed to help with the ascent. So the rescuer (i.e. me in this case) had to control both their and my own buoyancy, share the regulator back and forth taking two breaths each, and control the ascent to the surface so it was a controlled ascent.
So on that basis it is possible to dive without an octopus yes absolutely, but would I go diving without one now, probably yes, but probably only with a buddy who has been trained in buddy air sharing, and someone who is a confident diver.
Chavodel8en
Contributor
Although I imagine the OP has resolved his gear issue by now, I think the OP's questions is the wrong one.
The operative question is probably: "Will my buddy dive with me w/out an octo?"
My answer would be no. I am not trained or set up for solo diving, so I expect my buddy to be my redundant air source, and I dont like the idea of buddy breathing.
The operative question is probably: "Will my buddy dive with me w/out an octo?"
My answer would be no. I am not trained or set up for solo diving, so I expect my buddy to be my redundant air source, and I dont like the idea of buddy breathing.
SlugLife
Contributor
I agree with most of the post. It's an unfair and outside modern normal expectations, to not have an octo (or 2nd regulator) available for your dive-buddy in case of emergency.
I must slightly nit-pick the underlined part. Depending on a buddy (much less insta-buddy) to be your redundant air-source is a good way to find yourself at 100ft with no air, because they swam off to look at some fish. It's not something a diver must acquire day-1, but something I encourage everyone to consider, and treat it like health-insurance.
(More about redundant air in the post linked)
What Are Your "Pro-Tips" for Safety, Redundancy, and Accident Handling
What are your "pro tips" (or amateur tips) for improving one's safety when diving? This can be equipment, redundancy, skills, training, mindset, pretty much anything! This can also be relevant to accident-prevention, incident-handling, self-rescue, other-rescue, etc. Disclaimer: Per usual...
Similar threads
