Solo dives

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Waterpolo

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Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Location
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
# of dives
25 - 49
Hello everyone;

I want to get your views or take on solo dives. I realize this is a hot topic and one that is not supported during training but I would like to hear from divers who have done a few solo dives and get your feedback with regards to the safety aspect and if you personally feel it's ok.

Having said this, I do realize that there's a risk evertime you dive, solo or not,and having a competent partner may actually save your life but I think the main point here is having a competent partner; one you can trust and one that will follow some of the protocol we've been taught during an emergency. Unfortunately you never know exactly how your dive partner will react until you do encounter an emergency.

I recently completed 2 solo dives and as taught during my training..."dive according to your skill set and what you are comfortable with" I did 2 shallow dives (10 meters max) and I have never felt more relaxed and at ease. Being alone allowed me to focus on nothing else but my own dive. I did not have to keep tracking my partner, checking our air, bearings, etc.; I just had a very relaxing dive and to tell you the truth, the most fun yet. I concentrated on navigation techniques, my breathing, my buoyancy and my euipment.

Again, I realize this is not an accepted practise and I am in no means trying to promote this; I just want to get some feedback on people's experiances and your honest opinion on diving solo.

Thanks everyone
Wayne
 
There's a Solo Divers forum that is likely to give kinder responses than this one.
 
Wayne, why not move this to the Solo Forum? It will improve the noise-to-bandwidth ratio considerably IMO.

If I'm diving solo I prefer to sling a redundant gas source, such as an Al 30, you don't mention any redundant gas supply....
 
I will do a solo dive from time to time and I don't see a problem with it as long as you are aware what could possibly go wrong and are prepared for it. I pretty much will limit my depth at a max of 50 ft. when I do a solo dive. I don't carry a second source of air with me and feel very comfortable doing an CESA from that depth. If I were to go deeper then I would most likely have a pony with me.
 
I'm going to answer this in the context of assuming that the information in your dive profile is accurate ... diving for 10 or more years, with 0-24 dives.

Let me state first that I do solo dive ... and am a proponent of people being able to choose the amount of risks they feel are acceptable. Diving, to my concern, is all about the freedom to choose and the responsibility to deal with the consequences of your choices.

That said, I think that new or inexperienced divers shouldn't solo dive. As a new diver, you are placing yourself into an environment that you have little to no experience with. As such, you are not competent to realistically assess the risks, and therefore are making choices in a vacuum. You have not yet developed the tools to deal with the consequences of those choices. And frankly, you're relying on luck.

Sure, solo diving's relaxing ... it's one of the attractions. It's also a degree of freedom you simply cannot get from diving with someone else, regardless of the level of skill and the buddy proficiency of the diving partner. But that's just when everything goes right. In diving, you don't ... ever ... plan your dive around the premise that everything's going to go right. That's a great way to end up injured or dead.

You're dealing with an environment your body and brain were not designed for ... and when something goes wrong, stress sets in. And if you find yourself in a situation you don't know how to get out of, stress can rather quickly lead to panic. Panic removes the rational thought processes that could get you out of that situation alive ... and without the resources that a buddy can bring to the situation, you can find yourself in a really bad way.

Fortunately, we are adaptable. We can ... and do through experience ... "rewire" our instinctive responses to be able to deal with the underwater environment. And our abilities to do so expand as we gain experience.

But there are no shortcuts. People with little actual diving experience fool themselves into thinking they can "handle" an emergency ... or that staying shallow somehow reduces the potential consequences of diving beyond their capabilities. And as long as nothing goes wrong, they have some validity in thinking so.

It's when things go wrong that reality sets in. Getting yourself through a stress event is nothing like sitting in front of your keyboard and typing about what you would do. The stress inhibits rational thought processes ... and a real-time event can often make itself worse the longer it takes you to respond to it. And an incorrect response can take a bad situation and make it a worse situation.

Are you prepared?

As a diver with very little experience, I don't think that you are.

The issue with solo diving isn't usually about being solo at all ... it's about putting yourself into a situation you aren't prepared to deal with. We humans are incredibly good at believing ourselves to be more capable than we actually are. And the reason most experience divers ... particularly solo divers ... believe that a certain amount of experience is needed before embarking down that path is that it gives you an opportunity for a few "reality checks" before you put yourself into a place you may not be able to get yourself out of.

The real risk isn't about being solo ... it's about suddenly finding yourself requiring answers to questions you didn't even know existed ... and being underwater by yourself in a stressful situation isn't the best way to find out about those.

If you want to know what some of the questions are, I've written an article that can help you get started ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
There's a Solo Divers forum that is likely to give kinder responses than this one.

Wayne, why not move this to the Solo Forum? It will improve the noise-to-bandwidth ratio considerably IMO.

I don't think the solo diving forum is the right place to ask the question posed by the OP.

The purpose of the solo forum isn't to discuss whether or not solo diving's right for any given individual ... but rather to discuss the techniques of solo diving. Posting it in the solo forum precludes anyone advising the OP that solo diving is probably not a good idea for someone at his stated experience level ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
If you want to know what some of the questions are, I've written an article that can help you get started ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)


All of Bob's articles are worth a read... especially the one on gas planning!


"The very young don't always do as they are told"
"If you have to ask...."
"It's what you don't know that will kill you"
"Plan your dive, dive your plan"
"What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"


SDI offers a course for solo diving that will at least give you some idea of potential issues that, while not unique to solo diving, could cause complications... but there is a 100 dive minimum for a reason.


If you want to discuss the subject in detail by all means join us in the solo forum.
 
I just want to get some feedback on people's experiances and your honest opinion on diving solo.

I can't agree more with your description of the joys of solo diving. Another side of the coin is that I have a hollow joy when I come across something of interest and have no buddy to share it with. Life is full of trade-offs

In general a healthy progression is to want to go solo, but not do so. Then to say "no way" since you now recognize more of what can go wrong. This is followed by a stage where you have come to grips with the many risks but through training and experieince and feel you are in a position to deal with all but the most severe situations.

When you get to stage 3 and are rescue certified you will poised to revist solo diving. Until then it's a self indulgent risk.

Pete
 
I can't agree more with your description of the joys of solo diving. Another side of the coin is that I have a hollow joy when I come across something of interest and have no buddy to share it with. Life is full of trade-offs
...........
Agree completely! I did one solo dive in Bonaire this summer and saw my first manta about 30-40 ft away. My wife was not along to enjoy it. I felt bummed on her behalf. As you say, a hollow joy.
 
I recall when I was taking OW, the divemaster was a cave diver. He said that in cave diving, "the first mistake is fatal". That is one of the reasons I don't cave dive.

But solo diving is really pretty similar but not the same as cave diving. You have to be able to handle emergencies. An equipment failure could easily be fatal. So you should dive with a some redundancy. I would think that you would be totally nuts to dive without a pony bottle.

I can see solo diving in shallow water, with good vis, without meaningful currents, in warm water and a shore dive. Even then, I would read up and take a fair bit more equipment then I dive with now. I would also be at least rescue certified.
 

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