For those of you who dive solo . . .

[Nemrod]

Well, it is like this, I hear the door bell and I answer and it is a couple of nice fellows with black books asking me if I am Christian. OH, OK, I think, they are about to read me the Bible! You sound the same way. I am Christian, I am not DIR. The answer to your question, I dive solo because I can and because I like it and if I meet my end as a result of it, throw roses to the sea for me, I have gone to meet my maker. N

 

[Dive-aholic]

...I had my first opportunity to be in the water alone on our BVI trip -- I wrote a little about it, but in short, I was diving cleanup for a group and had sent two buddy pairs up while the leader went on, and I found myself right under the boat and by myself. I spent about ten (very guilty) minutes like that, and really enjoyed it. I got a glimpse of why somebody WOULD dive solo...

It is rewarding that way There's some guilt in that I'm not sharing the enjoyment with my usual buddy (my wife), but if I was with her, I wouldn't be enjoying the solo moment! There's nothing wrong with diving solo. It can be a very rewarding, peaceful time.

BTW, I didn't get the DIR thing from this post at all. And I'm not really a DIR believer.

 

[Dive-aholic]

ditto.

I never knew there were so many solo divers living quiet lives of desperation!

I, too, have wondered why there was never anybody home in the solo forum. Recently, I realized it is probably wrong for me to try and defend it in the general Scuba Discussions....just like I grew out of being so critical of DIR, but in here we could exchange ideas more freely. This may be our light bulb moment.

You have to opt in to the solo forum to view the posts. There's actually quite a bit of activity in that forum.

 

[Cacia]

I thought I was opted in...my profile says I am. hey, I am there!


Tsandm, I know what you mean about the ballet of a good buddy... You and Peter should be so thankful you like talking about things, since you are married. So many people don't bother after awhile. I know my comment about DIR was in the context of: I used to be critical and since I like much of the philosophy ( not the no solo part), I came to the conclusion that PADI certainly wasn't perfect either and I began thinking in terms of what DIR OFFERS me instead of what it does NOT offer. I would rather be a hybrid/fusion version of a diver anyway. To collect and adopt ways of being, is far more adaptive.

I had to laugh as you were describing Peter. It KILLS me to have to get on a shuttle or something like that, really bugs me.

 

[Diver0001]

I never said that there were bunches of solo divers, I expect actually that for real solo divers are fairly rare. More than that, despite the Solo Forum supposedly being a no troll zone it keeps having threads similar to this one justifying and questioning it rather than discussing methods and practices and equipment etc for the advancement of solo diving.

Well....There really isn't much to discuss..... Solo diving isn't really complicated. I think everything that needs to be said about materials and technique can be said in 2 short paragraphs.

What there should be added in the Solo forum is a link to the fitness forum because when you're totally alone, there is nobody to drag your flabby butt back to shore if you can't do it yourself.... and that, in my mind, pretty much defines the crux of the additional risk you run.

Everyone can learn in 15 minutes what the need to dive solo but that doesn't mean everyone should do it, which leaves me wondering if we should be trying to "advance" solo diving at all.... Maybe we're even better off thinking of it as a deviant behaviour

R..

 

[waterpirate]

Well this is a nice little surprise to have with my morning coffe.

Solo divers hmmm?

We do exist, we all do it for a variety of reasons. We all will probably never stop.

This is the thing i have found curious since we were all brave enough to open the closet door. Apart from the why or how of your solo diving, the one common thread to all of it is the strenght of mind and body to be totally responsible for for your on actions and well being/safety, up to and including being responsible for your own demise.

Please do not find this thought to be morbid, it is simply truth. So manny of the people who have chimed in on this thread and in the solo forum share this commanality. We as thinking rational beings, not lemmings, we make decisions that to others seem crazy and dangerous.

I solo dive because it is a Zen like experience for me, and hunting with a buddy in 5 to 10' vis is dangerous.(welcome to the mid-atlantic).

My biggest concern is with the Agencys move to try and extort more money from divers by recognizing solo diving goes on, and providing a cert. for it. What that cert card can never determine is that persons mental disposition to dealing with problems by themselves, and being mentaly responsible for the outcome of their actions.

To use a bad cliche' the volvo was said to be the thinking persons car, Solo diving is the thinking divers realm.

I do not mean to belittle or demean anyone or their cert agency, simply to provoke meaningfull thought. Their is no magic recipe or clearly marked path to solo diving, you simply are there.

For more on this topic, meet me in the solo diving forum.
Eric

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

(Home life can be a little "iffy" with this attitude however.)

Well, if some of the responses in here are anything to go by ... that's because you share a home with Darth Vader ... :11:

I dive solo because I can and because I like it

That really answers the lady's question ...

Some of the responses in this thread remind me of an interaction I had with an instructor last September at the local DUI DOG Days event. I was doing beach support with another friend of mine (a PADI AI). A couple of divers came down the beach to get paired up with an escort for the dive. One of them was wearing a TLS350. While waiting for the escort, one of them asked me why the DIR divers preferred that suit. I started to tell her ... not proselytizing, simply answering a question. This instructor, who was not part of the conversation, came walking by, overheard the conversation, and immediately jumped in with all the reasons why he didn't like DIR. In fact, he got rather insulting about it. After letting him rant for a couple of minutes (by which time, the people who asked the question had walked away in disgust), I said ... "so, I dive for fun ... how about you?"

I've always found it odd that people who are vocal about someone else's perceived behavior are so quick to emulate it ...



... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Hank49]

That really answers the lady's question ... did tossing the gratuitous insults at her make you feel better?


... Bob (Grateful Diver)

TSsndM's question may have been innocently conceived and asked but by the same token, if a newer diver who got into solo diving and loved it and loved sharing the experience went and asked the question, (and I'm not against DIR, it's merely an example because it's an approach and discipline to diving) "to all you DIR divers....would you dive solo if your gear was immaculately maintained, the conditions were perfect, you were only going 40 feet deep.....etc etc." It would surely get some heated responses. And honestly, I think TSandM knew better before she asked it. She's obviously very intellegent.

 

[Charlie99]

TSsndM's question may have been innocently conceived and asked but by the same token, if a newer diver who got into solo diving and loved it and loved sharing the experience went and asked the question, (and I'm not against DIR, it's merely an example because it's an approach and discipline to diving) "to all you DIR divers....would you dive solo if your gear was immaculately maintained, the conditions were perfect, you were only going 40 feet deep.....etc etc." It would surely get some heated responses.

There is an interesting connection between the "DIR attitude" and peoples opinion of solo diving.

One way to describe DIR is that it is a philosophy and methodology with the goal of reducing the risks of diving as much as possible. In keeping with that philosophy, if solo diving is more dangerous than diving with a trusted, well-trained buddy, then one should not ever dive solo.

A simpler way to phrase is that both buddy diving vs. solo diving, and DIR vs non-DIR diving in many ways come down to "safest vs. safe enough".

My non-DIR way of looking at things is more to look at the absolute risks, rather than the relative risks of different ways of diving. I consider solo diving more risky than diving with a trusted, well-trained buddy, but will go ahead and solo dive if the absolute risk is acceptable.

In a similar fashion, it is non-DIR to use a yoke valve on a tank, since the DIN connection is more secure and safer. In most dive situations, I consider the additional risk of using a yoke valve an acceptable tradeoff for the convenience of using available rental tanks. A truly DIR diver would not accept that additional, unecesssary risk and would do what it takes to have the better gear available.

 

[dbg40]

Wow! lot's of good stuff here. I like to dive with others, and have two regular buddies that are great divers, and I enjoy their company. But, not every dive is a party. And I know of no other place where I can turn off the noise of life. Just slipping under the water alone is a wonderful thing, and I enjoy the time by myself. I have to wonder if critics of my habit are afraid to be alone, because they have no one to rely on but themselves. Maybe they dont like what they hear when it's too quiet, but for me, I like the time to meditate. And I feel a little better when I can find time to do it. So no,, it has nothing to do with the "perfect" buddy, only about being out of the noise for a while, and hearing nothing but your own thoughts. It's a good place to go for answers.