Inexperienced solo divers
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Best advice in the whole thread!
(I spent many happy weekends in Santa Cruz and Capitola when I was in school in the '80's).
DaleC
Contributor
Rather than something specific (which seems to have been covered pretty good) I'll add something of a general nature that I believe in:
Learn to become comfortable diving in uncomfortable (sub optimal) conditions.
So much of scuba seems to be centered around having the best performing regulator, most efficient BC, correct hose routing etc... it's easy to become habituated to needing/wanting optimal conditions and experiencing stress when they are not present. You simply cannot plan for or predict every adverse event but you can practice maintaining a certain level of functionality when thing go as otherwise planned.
Dive without using your BC, breath off a slung stage for the dive, stick the reg upsidedown or sideways in your mouth, use a lift bag to haul some heavy objects around on the bottom, use a leaky mask once in a while etc...
You will discover (or not) that it is entirely possible to keep your cool and function adequately when things are the pits. This will help you approach real problems from a much more relaxed perspective when they do occur.
"Making do" used to be a skill that was very important to those who shaped and defined scuba. Unfortunately, except in some vintage or minimalist circles, it now seems to be something to be ashamed of.
Learn to become comfortable diving in uncomfortable (sub optimal) conditions.
So much of scuba seems to be centered around having the best performing regulator, most efficient BC, correct hose routing etc... it's easy to become habituated to needing/wanting optimal conditions and experiencing stress when they are not present. You simply cannot plan for or predict every adverse event but you can practice maintaining a certain level of functionality when thing go as otherwise planned.
Dive without using your BC, breath off a slung stage for the dive, stick the reg upsidedown or sideways in your mouth, use a lift bag to haul some heavy objects around on the bottom, use a leaky mask once in a while etc...
You will discover (or not) that it is entirely possible to keep your cool and function adequately when things are the pits. This will help you approach real problems from a much more relaxed perspective when they do occur.
"Making do" used to be a skill that was very important to those who shaped and defined scuba. Unfortunately, except in some vintage or minimalist circles, it now seems to be something to be ashamed of.
Last edited:
OP
Actually, I think he dives an E-7 tank, so make that 3442
That is a consideration for selecting an alternate air source. Small cylinders designed to be filled by cascading from your main cylinder should have a similar pressure rating. It is easy enough to calculate if the transfer would drop the pressure in both so the smaller cylinder would not be unsafely over-pressurized.
After re-reading my comments, I hope EnderW didnt take offense to the observation. Pointing out the over-looked risk factor and adding levity was my intent. If so, please accept my apologies.
novicediver
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My unoriginal take on solo diving is pretty simple. Do what it comfortable, stay within personal limitations, understand risks and make informed decisions. I just restarted diving this last summer and in getting re aquainted, I "dove" solo in a 12' pool several times. We have some small diving ponds in the metro area that are less than 20' and I would go on my own just to putz around in murky cold water just for the sake of being wet. Do I recommend it? Not for me to say. I know that I am not diving in an overhead environment, nor do I have to worry about currents, and I know I can swim to shore easily from anywhere in the pond.
Lorenzoxs
Registered
Hello folks, I'm an infrequent poster, but have read through many of these threads. Don't tell my SSI instructor, but I almost always dive solo, which he forbid me to do.
The reason is simple: I have no close dive friends and choose to dive solo rather than just watch TV instead. I have confidence in my skills, I practice them regularly, and I think I can handle dicey situations in a calm, logical fashion. Of course, confidence isn't overconfidence until one finds himself in over his head.
My few experiences with dive buddies have been such that I do not think that buddies lend a significant measure of safety. My first moves, given an emergency, would be self rescue, buddy or not. There is always someone ashore who knows when I went in and when I should emerge. I seldom have the opportunity to dive deeper than 45 feet or so, and do not linger in the depths, mostly being in the 20-30' range. To keep my skills up and create dive opportunities I often dive in the local lakes where visibility is very low and there's not much to see in any event. Other, clearer lakes are more interesting, but I would rather dive them on my own schedule. My friends who do dive usually ask "Why would you dive there? There's nothing to see", so I don't seek out buddies for these tune-up dives.
It usually comes down to dive solo or don't dive very often. I would not encourage someone to dive solo, but I bristle at those who berate me for going solo as if I were betraying the faith. One of the things that struck me in my dive course was the focus on disasters. It was sort of like teaching driving by studying car wrecks. In fact, I often felt that my DI resented the fact that I was comfortable and enjoyed the instruction rather than fearing it (aslo, he spent a good deal of time giving personalized instruction to the busty gal who was having trouble with mask clearing). I've wanted to scuba my whole life and just recently invested the resources to make it happen.
I am a little bit leery of the "Something bad might happen"-attitude lawmakers seem to take. Motorcycling, sky diving, kayaking, flyfishing, smoking, eating, jogging, screwing...all of these activities have inherent risks. I think there's greater harm in letting someone tell you that you are not allowed to take the risk because something bad might happen. Someone mentioned "think of those left behind" when considering solo dives in the thread about the Salinas guy who died at the breakwater. Of course we should do that, but not to the extent that we fail to live our own lives. I have done that when I planned to dive a new site and the entry looked too rough, or I didn't feel 100% physically (Monastary taught me those lessons), and I have abandoned a planned dive because the small percentage of risk increased beyond my daring threshold. I try to keep an eye on my "risk-o-meter" and stay out of the "foolish" red zone.
Anyways, thanks for the venue and the knowledge that I'm not the only damned fool solo diver. Now I think I'll go start another SpareAir thread....
The reason is simple: I have no close dive friends and choose to dive solo rather than just watch TV instead. I have confidence in my skills, I practice them regularly, and I think I can handle dicey situations in a calm, logical fashion. Of course, confidence isn't overconfidence until one finds himself in over his head.
My few experiences with dive buddies have been such that I do not think that buddies lend a significant measure of safety. My first moves, given an emergency, would be self rescue, buddy or not. There is always someone ashore who knows when I went in and when I should emerge. I seldom have the opportunity to dive deeper than 45 feet or so, and do not linger in the depths, mostly being in the 20-30' range. To keep my skills up and create dive opportunities I often dive in the local lakes where visibility is very low and there's not much to see in any event. Other, clearer lakes are more interesting, but I would rather dive them on my own schedule. My friends who do dive usually ask "Why would you dive there? There's nothing to see", so I don't seek out buddies for these tune-up dives.
It usually comes down to dive solo or don't dive very often. I would not encourage someone to dive solo, but I bristle at those who berate me for going solo as if I were betraying the faith. One of the things that struck me in my dive course was the focus on disasters. It was sort of like teaching driving by studying car wrecks. In fact, I often felt that my DI resented the fact that I was comfortable and enjoyed the instruction rather than fearing it (aslo, he spent a good deal of time giving personalized instruction to the busty gal who was having trouble with mask clearing). I've wanted to scuba my whole life and just recently invested the resources to make it happen.
I am a little bit leery of the "Something bad might happen"-attitude lawmakers seem to take. Motorcycling, sky diving, kayaking, flyfishing, smoking, eating, jogging, screwing...all of these activities have inherent risks. I think there's greater harm in letting someone tell you that you are not allowed to take the risk because something bad might happen. Someone mentioned "think of those left behind" when considering solo dives in the thread about the Salinas guy who died at the breakwater. Of course we should do that, but not to the extent that we fail to live our own lives. I have done that when I planned to dive a new site and the entry looked too rough, or I didn't feel 100% physically (Monastary taught me those lessons), and I have abandoned a planned dive because the small percentage of risk increased beyond my daring threshold. I try to keep an eye on my "risk-o-meter" and stay out of the "foolish" red zone.
Anyways, thanks for the venue and the knowledge that I'm not the only damned fool solo diver. Now I think I'll go start another SpareAir thread....
Dive Bug Bit Me
Contributor
I am concerned that you sound a little too relaxed about the risks involved in going solo, particularly with less than 50 dives under your weight belt.
As long as you spend time (and money) to minimize the risks this is fine. My point of view is as long as you have redundancy and know how to use it, you are in as good a position as you will be with most insta-buddies.
My solo instructor also made me think through how I should react to various problem situations (loss of buoyancy, failed regulator, lost, over NDL, etc) as part of the planning so that I am not trying to figure it out while on the dive.
For example, on a solo dive with a failed regulator, I would usually go with the following sequence of options:
1. Switch to alternate air and turn off right tank if necessary (I use doubles). End dive.
2. CESA
3. Breath from BCD. End dive.
4. Die (always the last option)
So far I am fortunate and my only equipment failures have been torches. Trying to avoid option 4 at all costs.
OP
I won't criticize if you prefer diving solo, but if you're ever short of a dive buddy feel free to send me a PM.
scuba=dude
Contributor
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Giving solo info has got me busted, banned, shund and kicked off of some of these scuba boards before and now I just say if you really think your ready to solo then you can also look up all the info you need right on your computer.
If you think about it you can find all the stuff you need to make a nuk so why can't you find what you need to dive solo?
If you think about it you can find all the stuff you need to make a nuk so why can't you find what you need to dive solo?
DevonDiver
N/A
Obtaining info and obtaining skills are two very different pursuits.
Confusion between possessing knowledge and possessing ability is born through inexperience.
Too much knowledge can be a bad thing. In scuba diving, that can be a very bad thing.
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