How Many Scuba dive by them selfs

[budgy]

I feel less relaxed with a buddy than diving solo, but then I'm an instructor.

 

[SOUTH DEVON]

budgy once bubbled...
I feel less relaxed with a buddy than diving solo, but then I'm an instructor.

So do I and I'm only a novice !
When you're on your own you can go in whatever direction you like, stop to examine things and go out your own pace!
With a buddy if you stop to examine something interesting your buddy's disappeared, and you have to keep constantly looking around to make sure he's still there!
This is probably due to inexperience in buddy skills !
I know that you're supposed to dive next to each other, but no matter how slow I went he was always behind me !

 

[budgy]

Hi South Devon,
In the low vis conditions I dive in, I often find the buddy diving ability of many recreational divers is inadequate. I must concur they appear to have little understanding of procedures for diving and staying together. I think its a part of training thats often neglected or not understood. Strange and ironic but amongst buddy divers a large proportion of accidents/incidents occur after seperation.
I know to well the oblivious buddy, suprisingly some of them even have many dives experience.

 

[CaribbeanDiver4]

I dive alone and if I do dive with someone it has to be a woman.
Its more fun for me and her that way! (lol)

 

[domino22]

I rather dive solo than getting hooked up with someone on a dive boat I do not know and can not trust! And I am all for a pony bottle and a seperate reg. I should dive that system even with a buddy.

 

[SOUTH DEVON]

budgy once bubbled...
Hi South Devon,
In the low vis conditions I dive in, I often find the buddy diving ability of many recreational divers is inadequate. I must concur they appear to have little understanding of procedures for diving and staying together. I think its a part of training thats often neglected or not understood. Strange and ironic but amongst buddy divers a large proportion of accidents/incidents occur after seperation.
I know to well the oblivious buddy, suprisingly some of them even have many dives experience.

Yes it's something we weren't taught during our open water course, much of what I have learnt is from reading this board and books!
But I've recently joined a dive club which I'm going out for the first time with on Saturday so I'm hoping to learn a lot more from the experienced divers. Although a little scary as it is my first boat dive, first club dive, and first open water dry suit experience.......

 

[divad]

Karl_in_Calif once bubbled...
Robert Maier wrote a book about solo diving. Its on the DAN book list.

Read it thoroughly, if you are thinking about solo diving.

Solo divers should be expert divers, such as instructors or divemasters. So finish a D/M course at least, first.

Maier has a whole lot of good ideas for configuration and gear. Make sure you study his systems and protocols.

There's not much in that book; a glossary, twenty three pages of opinions, basic stuff you already know, and a recommendation for Spare Air [sic]. There aren't any systems that warrent study.

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

kENO once bubbled...
i was wondering if ther a large number of scuba diver dive by themselves, and if so my question is a second reg the octpus really necessary to have if your diving alone, should i carry a spare air kit or what

Man, I love solo diving but I can't endorse it due to the agencies I teach for. I've thought of picking up MDEA just for the solo diving training. You should definetly carry a redudant air source with you when solo dive like a spare air or pony bottle.

 

[Belushi]

They are the biggest wastes of time in the world.

If you are in the situation where you have to use a spare air, then your dive-planning sucks, your buddy diving is lousy and if you dive solo with only this then you need all your bumps felt.

They are dangerous and unreliable.

The only good thing about a spare air is that it fits nicely in the trash!

 

[CincyBengalsFan]

Man, I absolutely LOVE your logo but I disagree with your spare air opinion. If you never abuse your air supply because of a redudant system a spare air can save a life. A buddy has one and we used it from 90 ft. to the surface down in Panama City, Fla. diving off of a wreck one time. I was suprised it lasted that long but it did. By the way we used it to see how long it would last not as an actual OOA situation.