Solo Diving- Absolute No-No?

[turnerjd]

Well said large diver.

There is one other reason for diving with a buddy, that is you have some-one to share the experience with.

This works less if you turn up at a shop and get paired off with a random, however, when you have a group of regular buddies, they become drinking friends etc.., and if you have done some memorable dives you then have good memories with good freinds.......

Keep it social! Humans after all are social animals.

Jon T

 

[large_diver]

TJD,

Couldn't agree more!

 

[Mario S Caner]

Guys,
Not that I'm saying I disagree with your opinions, because I don't. It's just that I dive solo for two reasons. I dive so often the only one(s) available on such short notice are the remora's. If I had a dollar for every time I couldn't sleep, packed up my car and drove 10 minutes to get one of many beach dives, I'd be rich! The second reason is because sometimes the scope of my dive objective prevents me from having a buddy.

As for catostrophic disasters: I'm afraid most of the time, the only thing a buddy is useful for in these cases is to bring back your body. There is little to nothing you can do for someone who's heart fails while in the water. The timeframe required to get that person to the appropriate medical facility is usually much too great to save them.

 

[large_diver]

Super Mario,

Didn't mean to rain on your parade. My thoughts are based on my own diving and what I feel comfortable doing. My intent was not to chastise solo divers :yelling: ...just wanted to say that I personally would never solo dive (even with my new life insurance policy that doesn't have depth limits!) given my current life situation and risk tolerance.

I'm jealous -- dive sites 10 minutes away from where you live!

DSAO.

-LD

 

[Mario S Caner]

LD,
No offence taken, I'm just offering my opinion. It took me many many dives to dive be comfortable enough to dive solo. Istill remember the day, it was in LaJolla during shark mating season. There is a spot called Shark City where 3 or 4 dozen! sharks show up to get a little something I really wanted to dive it and there wasn't anyone else available in the middle of the week, so I went on my own to be 'one' with the beautiful, graceful creatures in heat. It was a wonderful dive, full of adrenaline and memories.

San Diego is full of great dive spots, it's truely a magnificent city to live in, the variety and the scope of the dives are very diverse and you can dive year round. Hence is the reason I can average 250-300 dives a year.

 

[Iguana Don]

Large_diver et al.

I don't believe anyone here, (certainly not M & M) are advocating the demise of buddy diving, we are just saying it's OK to solo dive IF your training is adequate, you are comfortable in the water alone and you have the necessary skills and equipment to do so. Like Mario said, there are times when you want to go and there just isn't anybody available.

But each diver has to make the decision whether or not to solo dive, it is up to you and nobody else. If you don't want to, you will never here me criticize you for not doing it, nor would anyone else.

You will find out in your diving career that just because there are 2 of you in the same vicinity doesn't always mean you are buddy diving. The others here know what I'm talking about. Lots of times they have a buddy and you don't. (Outta be some new word for that). So in essence you are or will be diving solo. This is just reality, as fewer an fewer people develop good buddy skills.

So is it an option whether to or not, I think it is not an option and everybody needs to know the skill. whether you use it or not is up to you. But believe me you will need to know this skill.

ID

 

[Beachman]

I happen to have my own boat behind my house on deep salt water. I started diving and got my certs one by one over the years, but always had this thing in the back of my head about "solo diving" not being the thing to do.

Then one year I got brave and bought the O2 kit and put tank holders on and assembled the hang lines and bought the marker buoys and flags. I said "this boat is going to be a dive boat".

After going through the motions, I said "I'm ready to go!" But my son, and dive buddy, got a job out of state and moved. So I said "I'm going to do it anyway".

Well, the day I went out by myself, found the wreck on the GPS coordinates myself, hooked up myself, back rolled in by myself, went down and tied off myself, spent 45 minutes down there by myself, watched my computer by myself, played with the fishes by myself, shot a snapper for dinner by myself, collected a few mussels for dinner by myself, untied, came up and re-boarded by myself, and then drank a couple of beers by myself as I went home to my wife.....well, that was the day I said "solo diving is for me".

I'd say now about a third of my dives are solo. It's sort of like guys that like to fish. It's great to have company sometimes, but when there's no company, it sure is good. They fish alone a lot 'cause they like to fish, and I dive alone a lot 'cause I like to dive.

Personally, I feel that anytime I have serious trouble I'll be in mostly a self-rescue situation anyway....for all the reasons stated audnausium above. At least I'll have had the experience of diving freedom that many do not know. If I ever have a diving situation I can't handle, I know I'll be at peace with the world and thankful for the experiences I've had....by myself.

DSAO