Diving solo?

[Nemrod]

Nemrod brings up an interesting point- minimalist solo diving. The more I solo dive the more gear I put on. My first solo dives were shallow 30 ft or less in a wetsuit with no pony. Now I dive a Drysuit, 40, reel and lift bag. 3 cutting devices. The more gear the more task loading. I'm wondering how others dive? What are the essentials. Is less equipment simpler and thus safer? Thoughts?

This is a hijack, sorry, it has also been discussed before and it is beyond a beginner level forum thread. But, I do not mean to imply that the "minimal" equipment needed for a shallow, benign, 30 foot dive is the same as would be (maybe) required for a 120 foot dive solo in challenging conditions.

I am not one who always dives the same kit, my gear evolves and changes as does the dive and my needs for that dive based on my experience and comfort level.

The older I get, especially after 3.5 years ago slamming into the pavement and shattering my left femur and a bit of a stroke, I now have congealed a thought in my peabrain head that perhaps I am not invincible. This occurred to me as I lay there, paralyzed on 115 degree smoking hot day, on frying pan hot asphalt, with a pit bull chewing on my leg, such as it was, and not being able to move even enough to reach my cell phone only about five inches from my finger tips.

We all got limits, do not over extend yourself. I do not rely upon extra equipment to make me safe.

N

 

[DerrickMcD]

How do you get AOW with only 20 dives? SSI requires minimum of 24 I believe PADI DOES AS well... dive your experience not your card level. I would challenge your instructor for building false confidence....

If you look around quite a few PADI dive shops offer OW/AOW/Nitrox combo packages. I was actually AOW certified after 10 dives. Also no worries on the false confidence. PADIs AOW eLearning was garbage and the main reason I did it was to get the deep diver training, as I was diving the Blue Hole with another DO, which was covered well enough. Turns out the guys going to the blue hole didn't check my certs anyway but I was glad for the training as I did feel some narcosis at 130' that I hadn't at 100.

---------- Post added January 25th, 2014 at 12:55 AM ----------

The more self reliant you are, the easier it is to deal with less than stellar dive buddies. Also, based on your post you may want to work on your own buddy skills.

I for sure need to work on my buddy skills and my skills in general. I'm sure as I spend more time in the water I won't be side tracked by every little thing I see.

 

[Tony387]

I find it incredible that divers with so little experience are so comfortable diving at the extreme end of recreational depths.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[razorbackdiver]

Dude, there is nothing wrong with taking time to smell the coral. I stole that from somebody on here. Just ask to be the lead. Then if they are good buddies they will be where you are for as long as you want to be there (within safe limits). If they don't like the way you sightsee they can find a new dive buddy.

 

[EastEndDiver]

I find it incredible that divers with so little experience are so comfortable diving at the extreme end of recreational depths.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

That's what Nitrogen Narcosis does for you.

 

[AfterDark]

How do you get AOW with only 20 dives? SSI requires minimum of 24 I believe PADI DOES AS well... dive your experience not your card level. I would challenge your instructor for building false confidence....

A friend of mine told me that his wife was certified OW in one of those 3 day wonder courses. As the "instructor" is handing the OW card to her he asked if she wanted to start on her AOW! My friend nixed the idea, he thought she should get some diving in first! A diver that needs skills improvement shouldn't be too hard to find.

 

[Bentley Hamm]

...It’s not that I wouldn't buddy up with someone to do this more that should I expect to be allowed to go out alone from shore. I would do this at a swimming pool but its a 10 hour round trip to a city where a dive shop or club has regular pool time....

Where in Alberta are you located?
I realize that the water currently is too hard to dive, but in the summer people go to many places in Alberta to dive and work on their skills. Some of the more common ones are; Cold Lake, Twin Lake, Patricia (I think, in Jasper park), Minny in Banff park, Waterton, and there is an active club in Wainwright...that covers a large part of the province.
With the predominance of shift work in the province, I would think you'd be able to find somebody who could dive with you on almost any schedule...

 

[DerrickMcD]

I'm in the Fort but I spend much of my days off hiking in the banff and jasper area in the summer. I'm not sure how tempted I am to dive in lakes that are right beside the glaciers that fill them . I was told our local lake is so silty that you can't tell the buttom until you hit it but that could be hyperbole.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'm in the Fort but I spend much of my days off hiking in the banff and jasper area in the summer. I'm not sure how tempted I am to dive in lakes that are right beside the glaciers that fill them . I was told our local lake is so silty that you can't tell the buttom until you hit it but that could be hyperbole.

If you're talking about McMurray I was there in '79 (30K people then...) and swam in Gregoire Lake. Came out a bit oily...

 

[CT-Rich]

If you look around quite a few PADI dive shops offer OW/AOW/Nitrox combo packages. I was actually AOW certified after 10 dives. Also no worries on the false confidence. PADIs AOW eLearning was garbage and the main reason I did it was to get the deep diver training, as I was diving the Blue Hole with another DO, which was covered well enough. Turns out the guys going to the blue hole didn't check my certs anyway but I was glad for the training as I did feel some narcosis at 130' that I hadn't at 100.

---------- Post added January 25th, 2014 at 12:55 AM ----------



I for sure need to work on my buddy skills and my skills in general. I'm sure as I spend more time in the water I won't be side tracked by every little thing I see.

Lets start with the buddy issue. When you travel, or dive period, you have two choices for dive buddies; BYOB or insta-buddy. The convenience of having someone traveling with you is obvious. picking up one while you are there is less attractive because, hey you might end up with someone like yourself. Even though you don't know what you are doing at least you will have the benefit of someone else's judgment (poor as it may be) to gauge the wisdom of your actions. As an experienced diver I would probably be fine with you as a buddy, but I don't think I would be going down to 130 fsw. I would probably also be happy to give you pointers and if you ask, I might even give you and opinion or two... (perhaps without even being asked). But you will learn more about diving with someone with you even if they are just as clueless as you appear to be. Nothing teaches like laughing at your buddy falling in the sand seconds before you do the same damn thing.

I know you think a dive buddy will be a millstone around your neck when you are trying to figure out how to deploy an SMB, but he will be there for you when your finger spool is tangled around your ankle and pulling it towards the surface. And you will see what not to do by watching him as he gets entangled.

I sit down and right out a time table of dives that you want to do and how many dives you will need to do before you attempt them. 130 fsw is an advanced dive because you are going to skirt very close to the NDL. You consume air a lot at that depth and coming up you can shoot right past your Safety Stop if you forget to bleed out air of your BCD on the way up. A whole bunch of things can go wrong that you might not know about until you've screwed up. Not mention the reduced mental faculties of diving at that depth. Plenty of stuff to see at 60'