how deep max. when diving solo?

[dytis-sm]

And of course, that redundant air supply will give you identical problem-solving time regardless of depth, right?

Again the comparison is between diving solo and diving with a buddy at the same depth...You have the same air capacity in either case and in some cases maybe less if your buddy is careless... At depth sometimes the buddy can be the problem. See the Farnsworth accident report from a few weeks ago where the buddy bailed and survived an OOA situation, and a diver drowned on his own.

We can go into greater details and define "with a buddy" a bit better, like a buddy with good diving practices, experience, yada, yada, yada... But I think conceptually assuming every possible external factor being the same, the only thing that depth adds is gas management issues (which should be identical for both solo and w/ buddy) and air redundancy since CESA may not be an option.

 

[Steve_C]

assuming every possible external factor being the same, the only thing that depth adds is gas management issues (which should be identical for both solo and w/ buddy) and air redundancy since CESA may not be an option.

CESA is always an option from 3 ft. The differences you cite are not a small difference.

 

[AfterDark]

CESA is always an option from 3 ft. The differences you cite are not a small difference.

If one keeps their cool CESA from any rec depth is doable. My one and only for real blow and go was from 70', scared sh!tless all the way, never panicked, lived. Our submariners have a training tank 90' deep they use to practice CESA from the bottom. It's kind of a joke these days when subs are 40' in dia. that makes a 90' escape from a sub 50'.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Again the comparison is between diving solo and diving with a buddy at the same depth...

I agree you seem fixated on that comparison, but it is not what the OP asked. Rather, the question posed was what depth/deco limits do solo divers here impose on themselves, if any. The relevant comparison is between the risks of solo diving at one depth versus another. The fact that most buddy/team divers are solo diving is irrelevant to the issues at hand.

 

[Stoo]

I do the same dives solo as I do in a buddy team.

Come to think if it, most of my buddies suck as buddies, so we kinda dive solo together anyway.

I think that this is one of those questions that if you have to ask it, you already know the answer. If you think a dive is too deep to dive solo, then it is. Nobody here can really answer that question, since it depends on you comfort level, your gear, and your experience.

And in spite of the comment above, depth makes a HUGE difference when resolving problems. I would think a guy would have to get pretty creative to kill himself in 3' of water. Not so at 100' or more...

 

[Searcaigh]

I frequently solo within NDL on a wreck at 30M using Nitrox, now that I am Trimix certified I have thought of doing longer dives on that site, but I would probably not do them solo.

 

[victorzamora]

I do the same dives solo as I do in a buddy team.

This is my rule. It's also the one I set for my wife. If we think we can safely perform a dive solo, we do it. If not, we don't. I draw the line farther out than she does, as I'm a more experienced and better trained diver. The rule, however, doesn't change.

Come to think if it, most of my buddies suck as buddies, so we kinda dive solo together anyway.

This is my typical rule...unless I'm with my wife. Then that's the rule I say we've got, but I'm always a little more cautious about being a good buddy when I'm diving with her.

 

[dytis-sm]

I agree you seem fixated on that comparison, but it is not what the OP asked. Rather, the question posed was what depth/deco limits do solo divers here impose on themselves, if any. The relevant comparison is between the risks of solo diving at one depth versus another. The fact that most buddy/team divers are solo diving is irrelevant to the issues at hand.

You are right but the question implied is that those will be different if diving with a buddy...

 

[Dr. Lecter]

You are right but the question implied is that those will be different if diving with a buddy...

You and I would probably agree that most dives are no safer with a buddy and many are potentially much more hazardous with a generic buddy than as a properly prepared solo diver. Even when the buddy/team is well trained and experienced together, there are still (IMO) diver that are safer solo. The team diving crowd would tend to avoid that issue by saying they only dive to Xfsw END and no deeper, but I digress.

But there are dives that are pretty clearly safer (and perhaps only possible) if done with a buddy or in a team. An example would be fairly deep/long CCR dives outside the relatively protected environment of a cave, like the OP seems to be doing, which can quickly become a logistical nightmare if you're solo. Rigging and carrying all the BO gas you need to handle the possibility of 4-5 hours of drifting, blue water deco after your CCR dies on you at the end of a long exposure below 300' gets tricky. In that situation, team BO may allow for sufficient gas while keeping sheer physical logistics risk to an acceptable level.

 

[Taliena]

I agree with the long deep dives safer are with a buddy (or a team), and impossible are solo.
I have done solodives till a max of 60m as I said, oc and ccr. Did some wreckdives and the longest solodives where 2 hours (and that was in shallows). The 60m dives where done with 2 decogases and a diveplan where you could finish the dive with just 1 decogas. Never done a solo cavedive. The deep dives I did (60 to over 120m), that was done with 1 or 2 buddy's. But I am most times the person that makes the gasplans and decoplans. I have had some buddy's on deep dives that gave you feelings like diving solo.
Problem with divecenters is most times that they don't want you to dive solo, but they won't organize a good deep dive for you if you come without a buddy (as customer you pay of course, so that is not an argument). It is for a divecenter easier to drop all 'techdivers' on a 50m wreck where all divers can dive, than organize a deeper dive.