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- I'm a Fish!
so there is a couple things.
don't carry a spare snorkel, and I'd argue that you probably have no need for one if you are off the coast of NC, but if you want one, which is fine, carry it in your pocket so it isn't annoying and a potential snag hazard for hoses.
Obviously if you're carrying a pony you shouldn't have an octo on your primary tank, so make sure that's the case.
Now, on the solo, semi solo, and buddy diving. I dive firmly in the quasi-solo realm almost exclusively.
1. You have buddy team diving where you are relying on your buddy for things. In OW they are your source of redundancy so you need to be within one kick cycle of them at all times and have good team skills to do that properly. If you want a boot camp in that, take GUE Fundies. I don't believe in this type of diving personally, especially at the recreational level but it is the industry standard so you have to deal with it.
2. You have proper solo diving. You are truly alone and can't rely on anyone but yourself for anything. This is where redundancy, planning, etc. all come in. I'm not entirely sure I believe in a course for this, but if you want to take it, then go for it.
3. Same-Ocean diving. This is my preferred kind of diving for a myriad of reasons, and is essentially "we are solo diving, at the same time, with the same dive plan". First off. I like the social aspect of scuba diving. I do enjoy solo diving because I can get away from everything and everyone, but I like to share the experience with friends, so it's nice to have them around. Second off, I hate relying on people for anything. This alone makes me not want to adopt the buddy system where someone is either relying on me, or I have to rely on them. This means diving with redundancy, and having oh **** plans. Second and a half off, I don't really trust most people to actually assist me in an emergency based off of real world experience, so I don't want to have to. Most people tend to either lock up and not do anything, or botch something and make the whole situation worse as they start to panic. Bad ideas.
My buddies and I have the understanding that there should never be any situation that you can plan for that we actually require assistance from them. We are their to assist and make a situation easier if you ask nicely for it, but we won't intervene until asked. I.e. if for whatever reason one of us gets hung up in a line in a sidemount passage, we will ask for them to untangle our fin since it lowers the risk of a siltout and breaking the line.
don't carry a spare snorkel, and I'd argue that you probably have no need for one if you are off the coast of NC, but if you want one, which is fine, carry it in your pocket so it isn't annoying and a potential snag hazard for hoses.
Obviously if you're carrying a pony you shouldn't have an octo on your primary tank, so make sure that's the case.
Now, on the solo, semi solo, and buddy diving. I dive firmly in the quasi-solo realm almost exclusively.
1. You have buddy team diving where you are relying on your buddy for things. In OW they are your source of redundancy so you need to be within one kick cycle of them at all times and have good team skills to do that properly. If you want a boot camp in that, take GUE Fundies. I don't believe in this type of diving personally, especially at the recreational level but it is the industry standard so you have to deal with it.
2. You have proper solo diving. You are truly alone and can't rely on anyone but yourself for anything. This is where redundancy, planning, etc. all come in. I'm not entirely sure I believe in a course for this, but if you want to take it, then go for it.
3. Same-Ocean diving. This is my preferred kind of diving for a myriad of reasons, and is essentially "we are solo diving, at the same time, with the same dive plan". First off. I like the social aspect of scuba diving. I do enjoy solo diving because I can get away from everything and everyone, but I like to share the experience with friends, so it's nice to have them around. Second off, I hate relying on people for anything. This alone makes me not want to adopt the buddy system where someone is either relying on me, or I have to rely on them. This means diving with redundancy, and having oh **** plans. Second and a half off, I don't really trust most people to actually assist me in an emergency based off of real world experience, so I don't want to have to. Most people tend to either lock up and not do anything, or botch something and make the whole situation worse as they start to panic. Bad ideas.
My buddies and I have the understanding that there should never be any situation that you can plan for that we actually require assistance from them. We are their to assist and make a situation easier if you ask nicely for it, but we won't intervene until asked. I.e. if for whatever reason one of us gets hung up in a line in a sidemount passage, we will ask for them to untangle our fin since it lowers the risk of a siltout and breaking the line.