Pining over the state of diving, including how it affects soloing

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sarysa

Registered
Messages
57
Reaction score
15
Location
Tampa area
# of dives
200 - 499
I have a bit on my mind right now as my trip is winding to a close, and hopefully this post won't be too stream-of-consciousness, but here goes. :)

My background: I'm trained in both technically deep and cave, the deep training is roughly halfway finished. (3/5 in terms of classes) Next step will be hypoxic trimix, in a somewhat narcotic (but affordable) curriculum that lacks normoxic trimix. I've been a solo diver over a year now. While I do admit to having a somewhat pessimistic and less trusting nature than most, my primary motivation for diving solo is "I'd like to do X, but I can't find a buddy." I have certain qualities that make it difficult for me to connect with others, the most significant being an eating disorder (birth defect) that causes my body to "reject" most foods -- and ordering french fries at the restaurant and staring into space during long food-related conversations becomes a problem over time. This has also made me more willing to do rather spartan-seeming things, like taking long drives with few breaks and doing three dives in a row with a 5:3 bottom:surface ratio. People think this is being "tough", but I just nom on slow-perishables in short amounts of time and would just be bored otherwise. It's weird having a highly divergent outlook on life -- but it's probably this divergence that gave me my solo bent.

Anyway, I built up an excessive amount of PTO and my work gives me over a week off around Christmas, so I combined the two and drove to Quintana Roo for some cave diving. (muy lejos...) Except for one dive, this has been an entirely solo trip. It's been executed safely, of course, with an 80cf stage bottle on backmount dives and extra conservativism on sidemount dives. Aside from the understandably shellshocked lady at Chac Mool (reason why) no landowners gave me trouble as a female solo cave diver. (guess that was worth mentioning earlier, since I also have to counter protective instincts on a regular basis)

It's been an interesting experience. I've done restrictions that would have blinded a buddy (or blocked a more zaftig buddy), I've seen magical halocline effects as only a solo diver could and have let myself "fly" for minutes above the surreal looking second lake, not to mention being able to take in the various optical illusions with more patience and detail than ever before. I've had the rare (in buddy situations) opportunity to take my time for photos and when using the reel, particularly with the rare reel jams. (Buddy ProTip: don't stare at your buddy when they're fixing these) I've also had a couple stinker dives, but they weren't burdened with the responsibility and pressure of entertaining another person. I had a freak incident with my primary light late into the trip, but without the panic, fire alarms, and blame games that often happen on the trip out of the cave and when the day is lost.

On the flipside, carrying a dive shop's inventory of reels is a minor nuisance, but not too much of a problem. (spools are great for those 5 foot jumps that are everywhere) In the end, I don't see it as some macho pursuit as it is often framed as being, instead I see it as a nice way to fly through caves -- most of this trip is just cave tourism anyway. (I can poke around and explore all I want, but with my limited resources all I find are quick dead ends and obscure jumps :p )

In a couple days I go back home, to the local diving community/clubs, and while I describe my trip I'll probably appear to them as if my skin was green and I had antennae peeking out from my hair. A number of locals simply don't approve of diving solo -- not sure how they'll react as I describe my trip. A few of the locals are to-the-letter agency literalists who refuse to use any tool unless they've been certified for it. (and despite my background, my dry suit (90% of all my dives) is one of those tools, heh...)

So the point of this post (yes, there is one) is not only address solo diving, but the culture of complete control in the diving community. It's been bugging the hell out of me from the start of my diving career. Various curricula have some utterly ridiculous aspects to them that nobody dares question. "My way or the highway" is not an uncommon attitude among instructors. "Different" is often regarded as "we'll be fishing your corpse out later". Innovation is discouraged. Experimentation, trying things out even to the smallest degree is looked upon as if you have a death wish. There seems to be an overarching push to convince individual divers that they are incompetent, delusional, and will perish for any deviation. And, of course, the cult of the buddy is more far powerful than the other oft-cited diving cult. :wink:

As a local of Monterey, this state of things is particularly frustrating because one of the most gorgeous areas is closed (by the state park system) to solo diving. Incidentally, it's also one of the most protected (aka easiest) shore entries around, which says a lot in an area where the shores all become inaccessible at varying frequencies. All the lakes within 80 miles of where I live are also unavailable to divers in general, which can be extremely stifling since a calm lake is a good place to try new things. Needless to say, I've been a bit spoiled by the comparatively laissez-faire Quintana Roo and I dread returning home.

I'm starting to sound like an activist here, but I'm really just trying to make sense of what "just is", I guess. How did diving get to be this way, and where is it going? Is the pendulum finally swinging in the other direction? (i.e. with the oxymoronic solo diver certs...) Or will the fact that tort reform is never gonna happen just going to make things worse for us? (or perhaps better, with solo divers using liability reasons to make their case...)

I'm betting that many others in this forum share my bent, and have some creative and "out there" thoughts on this topic...
 
So the point of this post (yes, there is one) is not only address solo diving, but the culture of complete control in the diving community. It's been bugging the hell out of me from the start of my diving career. Various curricula have some utterly ridiculous aspects to them that nobody dares question. "My way or the highway" is not an uncommon attitude among instructors. "Different" is often regarded as "we'll be fishing your corpse out later". Innovation is discouraged. Experimentation, trying things out even to the smallest degree is looked upon as if you have a death wish. There seems to be an overarching push to convince individual divers that they are incompetent, delusional, and will perish for any deviation. And, of course, the cult of the buddy is more far powerful than the other oft-cited diving cult. :wink:

I have watched the diving community change over the last 40+ years to what you are seeing today. Out of necessity I have been solo diving almost from the very start and I am not dead yet. I have out lasted both agencies that certified me and all of the people I knew who used to dive. I also do my own repairs, make some of my own equipment, dive with far less gear then most think is required and I am still not dead yet. The short answer to most of what you see today has evolved from the need to sell more gear and more instruction. The attitude you see has evolved along with that and to me is the most troubling & dangerous of all. For 10 of my 40+ years I was a commercial diver and unlike your instructors I do NOT know it all. Other then a few areas of specialized knowledge most of what I know comes from the Navy. The Navy does not know it all either so they are constantly doing research and testing. The only divers I ever meet who are sure that they "know it all" have come from the sport diving group and in my opinion are the most dangerous divers out there today.
 
Sarysa, I share your feelings for solo diving and can not help making an analogy to current political thinking. You are living in a part of the country that thrives on the "it takes a village" philosophy and seems to discourage individualism. I have nothing against diving with a buddy and prefer this when it is someone I know but I think that all divers should progress toward a level of comfort and skill that allows them to be capable of self-rescue and solo diving. If the individual is strong then the village becomes stronger, not weaker.
 
Sarysa, I share your feelings for solo diving and can not help making an analogy to current political thinking. You are living in a part of the country that thrives on the "it takes a village" philosophy and seems to discourage individualism.

I figured this had to be said, but it was best said by someone who isn't me. I fully agree with you, and I even deleted a section of my post that I felt was too much like a Libertarian Party ad. :D California has it rough in this regard, but it's not just us...

And I still do dive with buddies -- the great majority of my deco dives are group affairs.
 
I suspect it's more local culture. I recall a town a bit further south of you banning solo diving altogether and requiring people to wear snorkels. I think I remember reading that those laws have since been overturned.

Where I live, there's only one dive site that specifically bans solo diving via town ordinance ... and people occasionally do it there anyway. But that same dive park also bans scooters ... because when they made the ordinance to keep boats out of the dive park they described them as "motorized vehicles", and interpret scooters to fall under the same category.

You can't stop ignorant people from doing foolish ... if well-intentioned ... things, and sometimes those people sit on City Councils, or own dive businesses. Last year I went to three different dive destinations on Vancouver Island. Two of them had no issues at all with my solo diving. The third one did ... and has a strict "no solo" policy. Knowing that ahead of time, I chose a buddy I could trust and enjoy diving with and took her with me.

I can't give you any advice except to ignore what other people think and do what makes you happy. Sounds to me like you're taking a responsible approach, and have the chops to get out and enjoy your pastime with your eyes open. There are, and will be, limitations along the way. You just have to learn how to deal with them. Perhaps you can develop a core of buddies that you can "solo" together with. It's a shame to have to play that game ... but until solo diving becomes more culturally acceptable it seems like a reasonable approach for dealing with those who have the authority to impose their prejudices on the activities we want to do.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
Diving solo has been my normal practice for 50 years now. Initially it was because we had only one kit between several of us so we had to share it and take short dives using up our share of the gas supply. Now it is my normal practice because no diver I know here can do over 300 dives a year as my buddy... most are instructors who are involved in training dives or very infrequent recreational divers.

If anyone asks about my solo diving (few do these days as they are quite used to me doing it), I tell them I don't advocate it for anyone else. It is MY decision and I can't make that decision for anyone else... especially if I don't know their level of skill and (perhaps more important) their response to an emergency situation. Instructors coming to our dive park, and know me, may tell their classes that diving with a buddy is preferred practice but that I have both solo training and years of experience (and so far, so good). I encourage them to tell their students that.
 
There seems to be an overarching push to convince individual divers that they are incompetent, delusional, and will perish for any deviation. And, of course, the cult of the buddy is more far powerful than the other oft-cited diving cult. :wink: ..

richkeller hit the bullseye with "the need to sell more gear and more instruction". That is the true and simple answer.I also watched it happen over the years. In today's diving atmosphere, the younger divers are totally convinced that they DO NOT and CAN NOT dive solo, take a photo or video, dive after sunset, dive below 80 ft., dive a shipwreck, dive in a dry suit, dive in any overhead environment, dive with a scooter, dive without a spool (reel) and SMB, dual lights, dual masks, compass, redundant gas, shears and/or knife, any and all without first taking a $200.00 certification course. Then a new word entered the vocabulary: "Advanced"! Now they can start the instruction all over again, only go "advanced". My young friends know that I have a standing joke about dive certifications: "It won't be long before you'll have to be certified to install a pee valve in your dry suit". Many of them are so washed in this dive card certification culture that when I make my pee valve comment, they look at me like "really?" like I'm not really just joking around. I have been to 150 - 180 feet many times; I am not technically certified. Yet, today I am locked out of certain wrecks in the Great Lakes because I don't carry that particular piece of plastic. i got my AOW only because I was locked out of the deep side (130') of my local dive hole without it; total waste of time and $180.00. Yes, I realize there are now legal issues for dive ops. These certs are to help cover their butts if something should happen.

Cave diving, (not cavern), advanced Deco, Nitrox and Advanced Nitrox, Trimix, CCR, and rescue all need further instruction and certification; everything else is empirical learning and common sense. If you are a diver from the1990's to the present, I know my words really ring "wrong, wrong wrong" to your ears. But, as richkeller said, "I am still not dead yet."
 
Yeah. I only have OW & Nitrox certs. Tried to get AOW by taking deep, night, & nav over a long weekend trip with my local club. I got sick (tooth infection) and couldn't dive so couldn't get the certs necessary for AOW (SDI). At this point I don't think it's worth bothering with. I might if the LDS let me take the dives without paying the fee again (about $300), but otherwise ... I asked a couple of times and didn't get too much of a positive response. We'll see if they come through at Rogert's Rock this year. If not, well I guess I don't really need them anyway.
 
. . . Various curricula have some utterly ridiculous aspects to them that nobody dares question. "My way or the highway" is not an uncommon attitude among instructors. "Different" is often regarded as "we'll be fishing your corpse out later". Innovation is discouraged. Experimentation, trying things out even to the smallest degree is looked upon as if you have a death wish. There seems to be an overarching push to convince individual divers that they are incompetent, delusional, and will perish for any deviation. And, of course, the cult of the buddy is more far powerful than the other oft-cited diving cult. :wink: . . .

I don't disagree with anything you say, but change is happening all the time. Who would have thought 10 years ago that many of the agencies would now be offering certs for solo?

Yeah, I wish the State Parks in FL would allow solo cave diving. I wish more instructors actually had some real experience. I wish . . .

You might be surprised to know just how many divers are pushing the limits all of time; You just don't hear about it. Most - not all - are solo divers who just say, "You know, I think I'm just going to go off by myself and dive the way it works for me!" They just ignore the sneers because their gear looks different, for example. I'm sure everyone reading this understands what it feels like to "go against the standard way" in diving.

I could go on for pages with this, but let me just say that in the 20 years I've been doing this stuff I've seen a lot of changes. Frustrating that it all hasn't been worked out, but if you stick around long enough I think you'll see what you're looking for.
 
Regarding the 'culture of control' (formally or informally enforcing standards/social norms, Big Brother, etc...) and diving, you will not get everyone on the same page.

The issue is paternalism vs. liberty; how do you balance some peoples' view that the ignorant don't know what they don't know & need their scuba betters to protect them (e.g.: in Cozumel, eval.s skills with check out dives, refuse to take non-advanced divers to moderate sties even if they want to go, dictate that they'll hire private DM's, etc...) vs. others' view favoring liberty - that I'm an OW certified adult and if want to solo dive, dive past 130 feet on air, do some deco. diving, etc..., that's my business and live or die, it's not yours.

Vs. those fearing the deaths of the liberated will bring down governmental regulation - e.g.: closing some caves to diving.

Regarding tort. reform, Bwah-hah-hah!!! Who makes laws? Lawyers. And with Democrats in power, I don't think so.

Most of us aren't extremists either way. It's a rare mainstream ScubaBoard veteran who'd advocate diving without getting at least a basic OW cert., or cave diving without being cave cert.'d.

But start a debate on whether seasoned divers with 'just' OW should be barred from charter boat dives to over 60', or vintage divers told to use modern equipment, or just the 'Deep Air' debate, and BOOM, back off Scuba Police!!!

Question to O.P.: Let's say diving culture changed so that individual discretion in dive practices was much more widely accepted. Nobody anywhere would deny you or anyone else solo diver access to any scuba site. Dive as deep on air or whatever as you want. Etc, etc... But let's say this change would double the # of scuba-related deaths world-wide each year.

Would you choose the culture changes you desire, if you knew that would be the price?

Richard.
 
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