If you dive alone, you die alone ...

[aquacat8]

No ... in fact, I think if you're attracted to risk then solo diving is not something you should engage in. Solo diving, if anything, requires a mindset that's more than usually ready to mitigate risks ... and call a dive if something doesn't "feel" right. Of the people I've known who pursued solo out of an attraction to risk, two are dead, one is permanently disabled, and several quit diving after incidents that made them realize they're not as ready yet to die as they once thought they might be.

If you're an adrenalin junkie looking for a thrill, I'd recommend base jumping or some other thrill sport ... solo diving really isn't that thing. It requires almost the opposite mindset.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Wow I am so sorry to hear about your friends! That is certainly very serious advice and I appreciate you sharing that.

 

[Steve_C]

You should come dive in NC. In my experience the question is "Does anybody need a buddy?" A number of folks dive solo especially some of the photographers and spearos if any are on the boat. For that matter the DM when they set and unset the hook are diving solo. Sometimes during a SI one of the DM who is working on the boat will drop down with a spear for a while. Now if they see somebody who looks uncertain or seems to have some issues they will either set up a buddy or require a DM be hired. As far as sending folks up by themselves or paired with somebody else that is going up that is often done as long as it is arranged ahead of time and both buddies agree they are comfortable with it. On the other hand many of the divers are fully equipped for solo diving including the photographers.

 

[DaleC]

What's really funny is when people get worried about me solo bicycling... I recently did a trip and everyone asked the same thing:
Who you going with?
By myself.
What if something happens to you?
It's the Trans Canada Hwy, I'm sure the police will call.

The other night my wife asked me:
"You aren't going to eat that whole bag of chips by yourself are you?"
I said:
"Shhh.. no talking while we're making whoopee."

 

[AfterDark]

What's really funny is when people get worried about me solo bicycling... I recently did a trip and everyone asked the same thing:
Who you going with?
By myself.
What if something happens to you?
It's the Trans Canada Hwy, I'm sure the police will call.

The other night my wife asked me:
"You aren't going to eat that whole bag of chips by yourself are you?"
I said:
"Shhh.. no talking while we're making whoopee."

I've noted that after a certain age others are concerned about anything anyone does alone; even those that are close that know us well. My own wife expresses concern when I go off Striped Bass fishing alone in my kayak these days. Or if I go Largemouth Bass fishing alone for a weekend in upstate NY. What if somethings happens? If I press hard enough (like what?) the words heart attack or stroke will come up. Well yeah if I get a heart attack alone in the wilds of upstate NY that will probably be game over, but then even if someone who's not a cardio MD fully equipped is with me the results will be the same. It's a 6 hour paddle in or out with a 1/8 of a mile portage. That's a long way from help even a serious cut or a broken limb would be a problem. You pays your money and takes your chances, we ain't livin' forever. I'm enjoying the ride not worrying about it ending.

 

[Wookie]

I have no experience dying alone, but surrounded by my family screaming as the car goes over the cliff (both metaphorically and literally) doesn't sound like very much fun. And at the end of the day, don't we all die alone, regardless of who is there?

 

[chillyinCanada]

="Wookie, post: 7795510, member: 9047"]I have no experience dying alone, but surrounded by my family screaming as the car goes over the cliff (both metaphorically and literally) doesn't sound like very much fun. And at the end of the day, don't we all die alone, regardless of who is there?[/QUOTE]

Agreed Wookie. Obviously, I didn't actually die but it was near and I believed I'd die and yes, definitely very very alone. It was nice when I got better.

 

[aquacat8]

A few years ago an abalone diver was found headless. White sharks being an ambush predator that like to come up from underneath, I imagine the diver descending and the shark coming up and bam... game over.
I have to admit that to me that sounds like the perfect death

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

A few years ago an abalone diver was found headless. White sharks being an ambush predator that like to come up from underneath, I imagine the diver descending and the shark coming up and bam... game over.
I have to admit that to me that sounds like the perfect death

I doubt the diver thought so ... and as I recall that guy was free diving, rather than on scuba ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[aquacat8]

Yes definitely free diving- you can't take ab on scuba legally. I have no idea what the diver thought but hopefully he didn't have much time to think or feel anything! I know what I said might sound weird, and I didn't mean to be uncompassionate, but the point is the kind of long, lingering, undignified, painful, expensive hospital death so many experience in the modern world is to me more frightening than this...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yeah, me too. I watched my mom languish in a bed for 30 months before she passed away, and my most fervent wish is to not go out like that. But if I'm going to go out on scuba gear I hope to postpone it until I'm well into my 80's ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)