Diving without a buddy?

[pterantula]

I'm still new to diving, but my two dive buddies live about 30 minutes away, all scheduled dive clubs are intermittent and i live on a lake that I'd like to dive regularly. I'm an extremely cautious person, but for diving in a like that the max depth is 30 feet I don't see the problem in diving solo. I have yet to dive solo, but may go for my first this week.

Any suggestions for my first solo dive? My max depth will be about 20 feet

I'd have to say it's less about the depth than your training and comfort. Have you taken a Stress & Rescue class? With good fitness and proper training there is no reason you couldn't safely solo dive to 60ft (-if there were any issue, you could make a safe ascent within one minute).

 

[Spiiina]

It is nice to see that some divers are open to solo diving. I did my first solo beach dive a couple days ago and stayed an average of 14ft with 18ft as the deepest. I'm sure I could use more experience before doing this, however I have dove and snorkeled this particular area enough that I am familiar with it and decided to go for it with my lobster gear to see what I could come out with. I focused on lobster for about 10 minutes with no luck, but thoroughly enjoyed the dive.

So a buddy of mine is quite upset about this and after I made the statement "I think diving solo is safer than snorkeling solo" it is now his goal to make me to look like an idiot. He insistently (and of course condescendingly) is telling me to ask the dive instructors what they think and report back to him(so he can give me the "told you so" bit or at least imply it). My goal by writing this is quite the opposite and more in attempt to validate my thought process and possibly make him more open-minded. I know that everyone will have their own opinions on the right way, but the thing that "grinds my gears" (trying to stay PG) the most is when someone isn't willing to hear you out.

So, of course, I'm not going to the dive shop because they obviously will say it's a bad idea 1)for legal reasons and 2)because they don't want you putting yourself in more harm than necessary (they want you as a customer, right =).

His arguments (which are valid) are that weights keep you on the bottom and you are breathing compressed air, which I understand can have serious risks associated with it.

Here's why I think diving alone is safer than snorkeling alone (please let me know if these are valid or if I'm way off base):
- You can stay closer to the bottom to avoid fighting the current
- You also avoid boat traffic staying closer to the bottom
- You are less likely to swim into a manowar tentacle (I saw them the day I went and I have been stung while snorkeling)
- You have a BCD which can double as a life preserver, God forbid you need it.
- You can still technically snorkel/swim on the surface with the gear and drop your weights if need be (hell, drop it all and snorkel)


I don't trust boaters or manowars and prefer not to fight the current. As far as breathing compressed air, I make it a point to stay aware of my breathing and proceed with caution in order to not push my boundaries... and my computer starts yelling at me at 1500psi and again at 1000psi.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?


Thanks in advance for the input!
Spiiina

 

[Akimbo]

Spiiina: Since this is your first post, are you aware there is a Solo Diving Forum on Scubaboard?

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/solo-divers/

It requires joining to access so you won’t be drown out by divers trained to consider solo diving heresy. Recommended.

 

[j2s]

I wonder how many experienced divers choose not to have a buddy when doing recreational dives. I don't think I've had a buddy for 7 or 8 years. When I do have someone with me I'm usually instructing the other. A buddy gives me nothing like a warm & fuzzy feeling, and I feel happier without the responsibility.

Rarely dive w/a buddy any more and that includes deep and cave diving......I don't avoid it and will gladly dive w/some one if asked [just to stay in practice] but enjoy the independence of solo.......

 

[tracydr]

I know all too well, that 20' deep is just as dangerous as 100' deep. It's been my experience that it's at shallow depth that people are most complacent.

The two life threatening circumstances I was in this year were in less than 10' of water. One was my fault, one was no one's fault.

No kidding! It takes inches of water to drown! I almost drowned this summer with water just over my head. I stepped in what I thought was a "wading pool" to flood my wetsuit and fell in a hole. Unfortunately, since I had just changed my tank and hadn't turned it on yet, it was turned off. I had a steel tank, a thin skin, no air and not much bouyancy. I was in a world of hurt with nobody looking my way when it happened.
As I get older and more experienced, I am much less likely to dive solo. I seem to have become less risk adverse the more experienced I've become.

 

[DaleC]

Solo diving isn't any more dangerous than buddy diving if one acquires the skills to do so correctly. Using an unrelated case of neglect to decry the activity falls a little short of precautionary.
Like...
I once got so drunk I stumbled and stepped out of an airplane doorway - that's why I believe skydiving is dangerous.

 

[Spiiina]

Spiiina: Since this is your first post, are you aware there is a Solo Diving Forum on Scubaboard?

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/solo-divers/

It requires joining to access so you won’t be drown out by divers trained to consider solo diving heresy. Recommended.

Thanks Akimbo

 

[DogDiver]

Been diving since 1966. Instructor and Full Cave. When recreational open water diving in the Keys or in Roatan I usually stay with the group, but enter and exit myself. Learning and practicing self reliance as an experienced cave diver and accepting the consequences is enough for me.

 

[Rich Keller]

I wonder how many experienced divers choose not to have a buddy when doing recreational dives. I don't think I've had a buddy for 7 or 8 years. When I do have someone with me I'm usually instructing the other. A buddy gives me nothing like a warm & fuzzy feeling, and I feel happier without the responsibility.

I have been diving without a buddy almost from the start. I dove with my cousin when I first started diving but he did not stick with it very long and at that time there were not a lot of divers around so I continued diving alone. It freed me up from having to dive only when I could find someone else to go with me so I got a lot more diving in then I would have otherwise.

 

[Ana]

So a buddy of mine is quite upset about this and after I made the statement "I think diving solo is safer than snorkeling solo" it is now his goal to make me to look like an idiot. He insistently (and of course condescendingly) is telling me to ask the dive instructors what they think and report back to him(so he can give me the "told you so" bit or at least imply it). My goal by writing this is quite the opposite and more in attempt to validate my thought process and possibly make him more open-minded. I know that everyone will have their own opinions on the right way, but the thing that "grinds my gears" (trying to stay PG) the most is when someone isn't willing to hear you out.

You realize that whatever someone else thinks is out of your control, if your buddy wants to give you the "I told you so" he will always find an argument to say it.
You want to MAKE him more open-minded? ok if you manage that, please aim for world peace next.

Solo diving is a polarizing subject, the people that do it on a regular basis (I'm in that group) can't understand the people that only buddy-dive. It almost feels like we come from different planets, and that's fine, the problem only starts when people try to change each others philosophy.

For me I find it unacceptable that a diver will depend on another for their safety. I don't consider it a cowboy attitude, I'm not an adrenaline junky, it just fits my way of life to dive solo. I definetly don't appreciate people coming to preach the error of my ways, and I make a point to not preach to people that aren't self reliant.

For the non-solo divers, there are many arguments they hold true and works fine for them. Many of them don't have a problem with solo diving, they just believe it isn't for them.

...and then there are the ones that consider it their mission in life to "save" others.

Thoughts? Am I crazy?

Spiiina

if you think you can control what others think, you may be a bit crazy.