First Solo Dive

[biz_nate]

Last Saturday (11/22/08) I found myself without a single dive buddy. Amazing. The excuses ran the gamut from sickness to a recent robbery (he was robbed, not the robber). I've been toying with the idea of soloing since I stepped into doubles, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to give it a shot.

I decided that Breakwater (BW) Cove in Monterey would be an appropriate site for a first dive. It's a fairly popular place, which inspired confidence that if something dire happened, chances were high that I'd be discovered sooner or later. I've done a fair share of diving there, and was familiar with the site. Finally, it's a fairly shallow dive, making a quick, safe ascent possible should I encounter any insurmountable problems.

High level details-
Equipment: double steel 100s, EAN32, drysuit, hog setup
Max Depth: 55ft
Time: 75 minutes (I had plenty of gas and NDL at the end, but was running late for an event that night)
Vizibility: around 15 feet

In short, the experience was bliss. Being alone that day was exactly what I needed. Solitude is comforting, and it's hard to find greater solitude than alone under the waves. The experience imparted a peace difficult to rival.

Ok, enough of the zen stuff. I also appreciated that I was free to go where I wanted, when I wanted, at whatever pace suited me. I had a depth/time/gas plan, but no constraints apart from that. When I unwittingly ascended 10 feet while trying to back kick over an interesting looking rock, there was nobody to call me out. Perhaps most importantly- when I wanted to stop and pee, I stopped and peed. My relief valve is still kind of new to me, and I've not yet worked out the mechanics of utilizing the technology while kicking.

I'm not about to abandon my buddies. I've made some great friends out here: people that I love spending time with both above and under the water. I certainly appreciate the contribution another set of eyes can make, especially given my utter blindness to anything of interest. I generally like people, and am actually toying with the idea of renewing my DM specifically so that I can spend time underwater with students. I like it.

That said, I view this dive as the first step in a longer journey. I intend to continue diving this way when I feel the need, and I suspect it will become a somewhat regular discipline for me. Few experiences inspire a greater peace and satisfaction than quiet isolation under the waves. I expect that exploring the kelp forests on my own will only enhance those feelings.

So there it is.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

There are times when I enjoy the company of a buddy and there are times when I just like the freedom to do my own thing in terms fo dive plan, pace, solitude, etc. It is one of the big appeals of solo diving.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Welcome to the fold. For those of us who choose to practice this discipline regularly and accept the risks, the rewards are enormous. Sounds like you found that out.

 

[ScubaSteve]

This is something that I have very cautiously entered into (some would still consider it ridiculous) however it is something that I want to continue with once in a while. You are right that it truly is a Free feeling. I love almost any dive, but I can almost describe the feeling I felt with the couple very shallow solo dives that I have done. I felt as if I was Pioneering because what I was seeing, nobody else was. Being so quiet and peaceful (thankfully) it was easy to focus entirely on myself and my diving. I will never give up buddy diving but I am going to enjoy the instances where I find myself beneath the surface alone (on purpose).

 

[spectrum]

Being solo does take it to a new dimension of freedom. You sacrifice the social experience and the the common experience of encountering something cool with someone else and I do miss that. Given a choice I prefer to share the dive with someone but solo is a nice way to augment the dive calendar when logistics with others just are not happening.

It sounds like you made some solid choices of site, gear and dive plan. Too bad you had to be drawn away buy topside commitments but :75 is a nice run.

Good to hear you planned your dive, dove your plan and found it enjoyable.

Pete

 

[Diver0001]

Dude's got the bug....

One question. I see you're using redundant gear. Good.

When was the last time you practiced valve drills?

R..

 

[Land Locked]

Congrats on your first "Zen" diving. Sounds like you really had your head around your first solo.

I still enjoy diving with my buddies and will not give that up. On a recent trip to Bonaire I grew tired of the group diving and insta-buddie concept. On the fourth day I joined in another boat trip, growing old quickly, and decided out of the blue to not do it. Best dive of the trip! Not being redundant and in new waters, I hung out in 30' of water and within 100' of the boat anchor line and just did my own thing capturing a bunch of video.

Sometimes it just turns out to be a spur of the moment thing that only you know when and where it should happen......

 

[biz_nate]

Hey all, thanks for your comments. It's especially nice to get some of the positive reinforcement you're doling out. I learned the hard way last weekend, when catching up with your parents on your dive adventures, that sometimes it's best to lie about who you do (or don't) go with.

Diver0001, one of my concerns (and reasons to stay relatively shallow) was that I haven't practiced valve drills in a while. The first thing I did when I dropped was to reach them and turn a bit to make sure I still can, and the response time was pretty slow. That's something I'll have to work on before I do anything more aggressive. Additionally, the isolator valve is pretty stiff. I'm having the rig serviced soon, so hopefully I can get that taken care of.

 

[spectrum]

I learned the hard way last weekend, when catching up with your parents on your dive adventures, that sometimes it's best to lie about who you do (or don't) go with.

That was the sticking one for me.....

Mom brother sister etc. all kept harping never dive alone. (risk averse non divers)

My wife (a diver) was good with it way before I began. In fact on one challenging entry she decided to abort and said "Go, you've been wanting to solo!" The genie was out of the bottle.

Pete

 

[Sas]

I did my first two 'proper' solo dives today. I've dived without a buddy before, but generally have followed around other divers, and it was a different feeling than what it was today.

In short, the experience was bliss. Being alone that day was exactly what I needed. Solitude is comforting, and it's hard to find greater solitude than alone under the waves. The experience imparted a peace difficult to rival.

This summed up how I felt very well...

I have a regular buddy who I dive with each week (he was overseas today, hence the solo dives) and enjoy that a lot but I really think I need to do some dives by myself occasionally as I just found it so enjoyable today. I hope he understands... It was nice to be able to watch a nudibranch crawl around for 10mins, and just watch a big school of salmon for even longer. Other times I just floated around in the same spot for a while looking at the sunrays. My buddy is fairly understanding of stuff like that but I still worry I am boring to dive with sometimes given my snail pace and also liking for watching critters for ages so today it was nice just not to have to worry about what anybody else is thinking of my dive plan!