For those of you who dive solo . . .

[Nemrod]

"This question is put very sweetly...sweet?...but it somehow irritates me a little bit."

and

"Probably because it's much like any DIR mantra?"

Same here, not really interested in others approval of my diving activities nor would I feel compelled to dive with the "perfect" buddy. If my clone wanted to dive with me I would probably ask him to find his own dive site. I do enjoy diving with other divers, buddy or not, perfect or not but when I want to be alone, I want to be alone--period. Being completely alone in the water is magical, it is entirely different from having a buddy, a totally different universe of diving. Alone I can become one with the sea, with another human along, I am just yet another interloper down for a visit. N

 

[gcbryan]

I'm in the rarely dive solo but enjoy it when I do category. It's also not about the list. What is not on the list is personality. I enjoy diving with my buddies who are also friends and have personalities compatible with mine. I'm not anal retentive and don't join groups of any kind easily so diving with divers that are capable but irritating to be around is not for me.

 

[TSandM]

I really put the list together the way it is for two reasons: One, I've read a lot of posts on this board by people who have discussed why they dive solo, and a common theme is that they feel that a buddy is as likely to be a liability as an asset. So I wanted to put together a set of characteristics that would defuse most major criticisms of a potential buddy. In addition, those are the characteristics of the people I'm diving with now that help make them such great buddies.

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.

On the other hand, I had two great dives on Saturday and Monday with my regular buddy, and one of the things that made those dives so much fun was that both of us were scanning for things of interest, and both of us found them, and we shared them with one another. Watching Kirk come over and then grin and nod with pleasure over the nudibranch I found just added to my enjoyment.

So I can see there is good on both sides. I just wondered if people dove solo mostly because they want to be alone, or because they figure they might as well be.

No mantra intended.

 

[homo maris]

Perhaps there is too much emphasis on the ideal buddy and not enough on self reliance and responsibility. May be the question should be what are the behavior differences between diving with a buddy and solo? Are these differences causing the same risk management for buddy divers and solo divers? Surely, nobody expects the risks of diving to change just because there is another person in the water, they are just managed differently.

My buddies are always insta-buddies and thus rarely match the ideal buddy description. This is the reality in a 6 pack: you have at best 5 choices of buddy. Some are great, others scary. I see so many wait for the DM to ask them if they have 1500psi left instead of pro-activelly checking tieir gauge. I see soo many answer 1000psi or 500psi! I see so many ending the dive on the DM's octo.

So what false confidence is a buddy giving me that I would not have if I was diving solo? Why are so many folks who dive with buddy still keeping in their mind they dive solo? Is the buddy system compensating for poor gas management (what agency teaches rock bottom, rules of third or any other gas management techniue for their beginner level?).

How many of us are as lucky as TSandM with an excellent dive buddy? Not I. For me, the gross variance in insta-buddy skills is what is pushing me to dive solo and if I had a better-than-I buddy, would I behave differently? I hope not, the risks of diving are the same.

JL

I'm finding myself luckier and luckier these days, in that I'm acquiring a nice circle of excellent dive buddies. In thinking about this, and thinking about WHY they're excellent dive buddies, it occurred to me to wonder -- Those of you who dive solo, would you do it if you had a dive buddy who:

Had skills equal to or better than yours;

Had equipment similar to yours and properly maintained;

Was on the same page you are with respect to the way a dive should be planned and conducted;

Had excellent buddy skills and underwater communication;

Had excellent training in emergency response, and kept those skills sharp by regular practice;

And, of course, was regularly available to dive

 

[Diver Dennis]

Good post Nemrod. I like that train of thought.

Homo maris, I usually dive, when in a group, with new buddies too and the gross variance can make diving not so fun anymore. I agree too with divers being more self reliant, even in buddy teams.

 

[Cacia]

Tsandm, I will predict you will end up solo diving occasionally. Even if just hanging out under the boat, listening to your breath. You are naturally a very curious person and I relate to that. I understand why you asked the question...you were eliminating variables...

I do really resent the hell out of the legal climate and that has recently pushed me over the edge a bit as far as what I am willing to do. I do not want an operator, a diver, anyone to shift the liablity to me and have some buddy diver sue me for not fulfilling my buddy responsibilities. Adventure is not a shared risk endeavor, at least in the legal sense.

 

[Diver Dennis]

TSandM, in my opinion you can have a terrific buddy with all the skills but until I saw their reaction in a panic situation, I would always have a little doubt. That said, I do have a group of people I dive with in Mexico from time to time that are very well versed in the dark art, joking, and I know have experience in overhead and cave dives as well as emergency situations far beyond what I have or will experience. I know they can take care of themselves and although they dive in teams 95% of the time they could handle themselves if they were alone. They know me as well so they don't worry if I'm not in sight all the time. My point is I think there should be a little solo diver in all of us because trying to plan for every eventuality should include what you would do if you found yourself alone.
For photographers, we can share our pictures with everyone after the dive.

 

[PaulChristenson]

TSandM, in my opinion you can have a terrific buddy with all the skills but until I saw their reaction in a panic situation, I would always have a little doubt. That said, I do have a group of people I dive with in Mexico from time to time that are very well versed in the dark art, joking, and I know have experience in overhead and cave dives as well as emergency situations far beyond what I have or will experience. I know they can take care of themselves and although they dive in teams 95% of the time they could handle themselves if they were alone. They know me as well so they don't worry if I'm not in sight all the time. My point is I think there should be a little solo diver in all of us because trying to plan for every eventuality should include what you would do if you found yourself alone.
For photographers, we can share our pictures with everyone after the dive.

http://home.earthlink.net/~divegeeked/couple.htm

Couple Communication

by

Larry "Harris" Taylor, Ph.D.

This material is copyrighted and all rights retained by the author. This article is made available as a service to the diving community by the author and may be distributed for any non-commercial or Not-For-Profit use.

All rights reserved.

A young couple met on a dive boat while on a dive charter near Catalina Island, California. Because hormones were quite active, and the chemistry between the two was in sync, the couple was thinking about post-dive activities and not about their diving. The girl was a novice and was depending on the "macho" male for her safety. During the dive, the girl ran out of air. So, in a near-panic, air-starved state, she went to the man she had dreamed about and gave him a very vigorous "out-of-air" signal. Unfortunately, this guy had only been trained to share air with an octopus (single regulator buddy breathing in many circles has been designated an "unnecessary skill") and his secondary regulator was in the shop. So, when the object of surface fantasy approached him, he had no octopus and thus, no available option to assist her with her crisis!

So, to defend himself from this approaching air-starved-dive-parasite, he kicked the girl in the chest to drive her away from him. She then bolted for the surface and embolized on the ascent. The good news was that Catalina is one of the best places in the world for emergency management of dive accidents. Fortunately, the girl was rapidly transported to the chamber on Catalina island. After regaining consciousness in the chamber, she told her story to the chamber attendant and he told the story to me.

Now, it turns out that this particular chamber attendant is a real 'hard-***" about dive safety and training procedures. This was, historically, at a time when single regulator air-sharing was first being removed from most recreational training. He wrote the training agency involved and asked them to comment on the male diver's behavior. The response he received was. "Our diver acted appropriately 'cause buddy breathing causes accidents!"

The points are:

1. 100 feet down, out-of-air is NOT the appropriate time to find out about potential air sharing difficulties.

2. The buddy system works best when each diver is self-reliant.

3. Depending upon strangers (some cave divers called it a "trust me dive") is generally not a good dive travel strategy.

So, it is just good practice to establish signals and emergency procedures before a dive.

 

[cyklon_300]

http://home.earthlink.net/~divegeeked/couple.htm

So, when the object of surface fantasy approached him, he had no octopus and thus, no available option to assist her with her crisis!

He had a fully functioning regulator in his mouth he could have donated.

 

[jim T.]

I have been wondering for a long time,
if there are so many folks here diving solo, why the Solo Diver forum has never had any posts? Wouldn't that be the perfect place to share ideas, techniques, equipment issues, love of the solitude, etc.? I'm glad that this thread has finally addressed this somewhat.
I'm not urging that this be moved to that forum or anything like that but maybe it's time for solo divers to express their views there also? What do you all think?

I went on a group dive with two buddies last weekend. I'm "religous" about staying within almost an arm's reach but they weren't and BOTH of them completely vanished on me/behind me, near the end of the dive, in low viz. I was alone, headed up the slope in shallow water and admit that I rather enjoyed it for the couple of minutes I spent swimming up to and completing my safety stop but it only affirmed my firm conviction to have my own reduntant air supply. Our dive plan agreement was to accompany whoever used up air lst or wanted to surface for whatever reason, watch them get out of the water (shore dive) and then have the other two divers descend to complete their dives.
That didn't happen and I felt fine on my own but once I'd surfaced to look for them or even their bubbles, I felt annoyed that the plan hadn't been followed. I hadn't run low on air and in fact had had one of my longest dives thus far on a tank, but the look around for 1 min. and then surface/ possibly call for help procedure was not followed. (except by myself) In fact it was 2-3 minutes before they surfaced.
This isn't the lst time a similar buddy disappearance act has occured. I'm gradually meeting and diving with buddies I can trust to stay close and enjoy sharing sights with, but they aren't always available. I feel proud that my lst solo dive moments were comfortable and even enjoyable but they certainly weren't by my choice. I would dive again with these guys but not without some discussion first. (I dove with one of the two guys previously on a boat dive and he stayed in close proximity and was an excellent buddy on that dive.)