Is it okay to be a quasi-solo diver in certain situations?

[IBjones]

I'm a big believer in commitment if you're diving with someone else ... but that said, there's times when you SHOULD leave some guy all to his own to fend for himself. Once in Bonaire I got paired with a fellow who was determined to go all the way to the bottom ... regardless of how deep that was. We had a plan, based on the fact that this was our fourth dive of the day. The plan was for a max depth of 60 feet. That fellow headed straight down the reef. I followed him down to about 105, and then pulled up. I tried tapping on my tank to get his attention, but he kept on going. I wasn't willing to go there, so I leveled off and stayed above him. He was at least 30 feet below me, and showing no inclination to come any shallower, even after he looked up and saw me above him, signaling frantically for him to come shallower. After a few minutes, I headed up on my own ... leaving him there to fend for himself.

If your buddy makes a conscious choice to do something stupid, you are not under any obligation to indulge his stupidity. At that point, you're safer as a solo diver ... although if you're not properly prepared for it, your solo dive should be limited to making a controlled ascent and ending the dive.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I agree. I was more referring to your average diver guy who wasn't doing anything inherently reckless. I'd certainly go solo when I realized I got paired with the "Here hold my beer and watch this" kind of buddy. LOL

I had a similar experience (with an instructor, no doubt). He decided to join me on a jetty dive and when we got there and started descending, he just sped off on his own to go get crab claws for his supper. We're both experienced divers so I wasn't alarmed, I went on and did my solo dive. He finally showed back up about 20 minutes after I surfaced an hour later. I was just a bit surprised a "professional" who is an instructor would just speed off like that without even asking if I was OK with it or at least telling me so I'd know he wasn't "missing and presumed dead" when I couldn't find him.

I was actually starting to wonder as I sat there on the shore after my dive how long I should wait before calling the Coast Guard. I knew from experience that an 80 only lasted me about 60 minutes on this jetty at the max depth and when 75 rolled around and still no buddy I was starting to get concerned.

I've done plenty of solo dives but if I was going to split a buddy dive and go off on my own I'd at least tell the other guy what I intended to do if it was intentional.